A friend of mine lies sick on her death bed. She cries in pain, every day and every night. The media proclaims how she must live, the government claims to support her, corporations claim to pay her life support bills. Yet she continues to die, slowly, painfully. Her medical chart simply reads "Speech, Freedom of. Affliction: Suffocation"

She's a very important friend of mine, and I imagine yours too, though some of you may not know it, or though you may claim it, you may not know how to truly help her. A tear came to my eye when I read a recent advertisement in the Daily Illini. It must have shot a bullet right through her already weakened physique.

I'm not talking about the Horowitz ad. I'm talking about the response. It pains me to see a group of people who believe they have the right cause, but instead of trying to educate people on their point of view, they use the majority of their valuable resources to run a full page ad in the Daily Illini decrying the very system that would allow them to make the largest difference. The arguments they made in their tiny handout are excellent. These are the arguments that should have been made in their full page ad.

But instead, their leaflets lie crumpled, turned town, or tossed away, while the only message people see are those advocating ignorance, repression, and denial.

The advertisement may have polarized the campus community. But I say let us be polarized. Enough with the fence sitters. At least people who are polarized know what they fight for. No one wins tug of war by pulling at the middle. It is only by being polarized that we can see the opposition clearly, discuss with them our differences, and hopefully come to at least an understanding, if not a conclusion.

So in the interest of understanding, let me close with a few words of advice to all involved.

To the INITIATIVE Project I say: Instead of spending your resources fighting the process, a basic inalienable right, trying to silence the opposition, spend them toward education, promoting information. If your view point is truly correct, the people will realize this when given the facts. Nothing goes away with repression, only education.

To the Daily Illini I say: While I commend you on your stance on free speech, yielding it over to advertisements or regular authors only allows those with money, connections or power to have a voice. (You do have the small two column letters box, but this is not enough).

To the Public I say: If this whole mess infuriates you, I urge you to visit urbana.indymedia.org, and get involved. Modern media is either sensationalist, commercialized, or muzzled in its desire to be "unbiased" (Telling us the what, never the why). The indymedia group is starting work on a global subject guide to inform the people, to promote educated discussion, and to give everyone a voice. If you have anything to say about an issue, contact imc@urbana.indymedia.org. We're working hard to give you a voice. I know you have ideas, voice them. Become the media.

Finally, to the ignorant and apathetic I say: no one is "hiding behind free speech." She's barely alive. We're just trying to hold her up. Don't let our friend die. She's all we have.