If I started this column off with a curse word or a shocking statement, there wouldn’t be any doubt I would get a phone call or an e-mail Tuesday morning. Someone would be going off on how immoral or unethical I was for printing those words, and they would in return feel pretty good sounding off to me.

In the past month, we’ve heard Ann Coulter call John Edwards a “faggot” and I’ve been following a case in which a college newspaper ran a column entitled “Rape only hurts if you fight it.” Shocking – both of them. They have also both stirred up various movements as well – Edwards has started a “Coulter Cash” campaign, so he can raise money to put toward stopping bigotry, and the community at Central Connecticut State University have held various protests and have called for many people to resign from the newspaper staff.

These campaigns won’t stick around for long though, they are just a part of the bandwagon effect that will be strong for a short amount of time, fail at what they are doing or lose momentum, and then quit. These short campaigns are often forgotten about and discourage people from the bigger picture.

The actions were done to shock us and attract their attention. It’s sometimes important to remember that no action may be the best action. In these two cases, Coulter needed some attention she hadn’t been getting, and the newspaper has almost admitted they merely ran the column to become the story.

Well, we gave them their attention and their story – probably more than they wanted, and they got everything they wanted by us getting angry.