Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Ann Premer, Editor Jamie Holman, Business manager Gerry Doyle, Managing editor Sara Cropper, Retail sales manager Angie Kuhn, Management Dan Simon, Sales and marketing adviser Tom Eblen, General manager, news adviser Justin Knupp, Technology coordinator
Wednesday, April 28, 1999
The Chicago Tribune
Editorials
Bill against flag burning tramples cherished value of political speech
a bill in front of the House Judiciary Committee would start the process to enact a constitutional amendment allowing Congress to make the burning of the U.S. flag illegal. This amendment never should become law.
The amendment is supported by veterans groups and already has 275 co-sponsors in the House. Proponents of this amendment claim that burning the flag is a slap in the face for the millions of men who have fought and died for our nation. The proponents claim that burning the flag is a great disrespect to our nation. They are right about both claims.
However, it is a much greater insult to all of our servicemen to legislate away the freedom they fought and
The proposed amendment has support in Congress,but it is oppression.
died to preserve.
These men fought for freedom, including the freedom for citizens to say that they hate the United States. It is the diversity of opinion that makes our country great.
public
Prohibitions about flag burning have no place in U.S. society. They are fit for repressive regimes such as China and Iraq. Our nation is strong enough that it can tolerate dissent being freely expressed. It is strong, in part, because it allows this dissent to be expressed and discussed by the
Our founders meant the First Amendment to ensure freedom of speech, especially political speech. Burning the flag is a political statement, and it is exactly the kind of distasteful and unpopular speech that needs protection the most. If we want to have the right to free expression then we also must be ready to accept that some people will express things we don't agree with.
Students should realize that it is this diverse mixture of opinions that allow us to carry on a vibrant dialogue among people who hold different opinions. Students should contact their legislators and tell them to defeat this amendment before it becomes law.
Timothy Burger for the editorial board
Adult life demands economic savvy
A recent survey by the National Council on Economic Education revealed that American adults lack a basic understanding of economics.
On a test administered to 1,010 adults and 1,085 high school students, adults scored an average of 57 percent while students scored an average of 48 percent. Almost two-thirds of adults did not understand that inflation causes money to lose value. Only 37 percent of adults understood that society must make choices about how to use limited resources.
Nationally, only 13 states require students to take an economics course to graduate high school. Kansas has no economics requirement and does not even require high schools to offer an economics or personal finance class.
A recent survey shows that adults lack basic knowledge about economics.
Students who had been required to take an economics class scored much better than students who had not.
A basic understanding of economic principles is essential.
Without that understanding, citizens will be more likely to make foolish decisions about personal finances. It is important that consumers understand how credit, inflation and interest affect them.
nation that scores an "F" in economies would have problems. Our large national debt, a Social Security system that has been compared to a Ponzi scheme, and leaders who claim we are running a surplus when our government actually is digging deeper into debt every year - all occur because of poor economic choices.
Equally important is the fact that uninformed voters make poor political decisions. It is not surprising that a
Local school boards should implement an economics requirement immediately. It is a national embarrassment that only 6 percent of Americans could score an "A" on this simple test.
Students should test their economics knowledge at the council's Web site, www.nationalcouncil.org, and encourage their local school board to adopt an economics requirement for graduation.
Timothy Burger for the editorial board
Kansan staff
Ryan Koener ... Editorial
Jeremy Doherty ... Associate editorial
Aaron Marvin ... Nees
Laura Roddy ... Nees
Melissa Ngo ... Nees
Aaron Knopf ... Online
Erin Thompson ... Sports
Marc Sheforden ... Associate sports
Chris Fickett ... Campus
Sarah Hale ... Campus
T.R. Miller ... Features
Steph Brewer ... Associate features
Augustus Anthony Piazza .. Photo
Chris Dye ... Design, graphics
Carl Kaminski ... Wire
Carolyn Mollett ... Special sections
Laura Veazey ... Nees clerk
News editors
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Micah Kaffiz . Regional
Jon Schlitt . National
Tyler Cook . Marketing
Shannon Curran . PR/Intern manager
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Steven Prince . Production
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Corinne Buffmire . Zone
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Broaden your mind: Todav's quote
"We hand folks over to God's mercy and show none ourselves." —George Eliot
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and home-town if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
Guest columns: Should be double-
spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. the writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
How to submit letters and guest columns
All letters and guest columns should be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Staufer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions.
For any questions, call Ryan Koerner or Jerome Doherty at 864-4924.
The conflict in Kosovo started when most KU students were spending Spring Break '99 at home or at some Florida, Mexican or Jamaican beach. The commencement of the
As a non-American (I am from Cyprus), what struck me was that nobody seemed to care — or even know that their country was engaging in war. Everybody continued to use that great American invention called the beer bong to get drunk faster.
NATO offensive, led by U.S. forces, found me in Panama City Beach, Fla.
Perspective
If you have general questions or comments,
e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com)
or call 864-4924.
Kosovo conflict ignored by University students
Michael
Hadjithomas
Guest columnist
versities are the nests of the elite of American youth and a lair for activists.
Since classes resumed, there has been nothing in that direction. Well, almost nothing — there was one guest column in The University Daily Kansan. Ironically, it acknowledged the ignorance of KU students about the Kosovo war.
My expectations were that, once back on campus, there would be more activity about the war because uni-
Because this is a operation led by the United States, American college students could influence the continuation of this war. By learning about the situation and being active, students can send messages to the leadership of this country.
My hope is that these messages will lead to an end of the war and allow for talks to resume. This war shouldn't even have started for several reasons:
■ Yugoslavia is a sovereign country. Neither the United States nor any country has the right by international law to intervene in a domestic conflict of a sovereign country.
NATO's purpose is purely defensive. But it is engaging in aggression toward a country that has not presented a threat against a NATO member.
The Yugoslav army was fighting the Kosovo Liberation Army, which seeks independence for Kosovo. A few months back, the U.S. government categorized the KLA as a terrorist group. Yugoslavia was merely protecting its sovereignty the same way the U.S. government would if New Mexico decided to unite with Mexico.
The "humanitarian" government of President Clinton does not react the same way in the case of the millions of Kurds who are being oppressed and cleansed by the Turks. Almost 3,000 Kurdish
villages have been destroyed, creating hundreds of thousand of refugees. (Turkey of course, is a member of NATO.) The same government didn't do anything to prevent the massacres in Rwanda, as it didn't seem to care about Africans.
■ President Clinton said one of the reasons for the intervention was to stabilize the region. What is not understandable, though, is how attacking a sovereign country creates stability. This "wise" and "insightful" decision has backfired. After the war began in Kosovo, at least 500,000 refugees poured into neighboring countries and regions — Albania, former Yugoslavic Republic of Macedonia and Montenegro—destabilizing them.
Another of the objectives was to loosen President Milosevic's grip on the Yugoslav people and possibly even remove him from power. Milosevic never was as popular as he is now, almost a month after Operation Allied Force commenced.
Milosevic should have been removed by other means that wouldn't have caused this suffering and instability in the Balkans.
President Milosevic and the Serbs never will let Kosovo become an Albanian province because Kosovo is of extreme importance to the Serbs, both culturally and religiously. No matter how hard NATO hits them by air, they will keep waiting patiently until they get their chance to fight a ground war for their country. Then we will see more suffering in the region.
It is evident that this intervention has done more bad than good, creating more refugees and causing more lateral damage and casualties day by day. What is more disturbing is that neither of the sides seems to be willing to withdraw.
By withdrawing without achieving its goals, the United States and other NATO countries will be humiliated.
What is sad about this whole story is the amount of innocent victims — Serbians, Albanians or whatever "ethnic tag" each one carries in this multi-ethnic region.
There are bad elements in NATO's side as well. NATO was anxious to find a reason for existence since, when the USSR collapsed, the organization had no real enemy to defend against. This anxiety led them in a foolish war that will have no real winner and already has plenty of losers.
What one can only hope for is for reason, prudence and willingness for peace to prevail. Then, and only then, we might see a decrease in human suffering in the Balkan area.
Jadhijithams is a Famagusta, Cyprus,
sophomore in genetics.
Wondering allows soul to marvel at vivid world
have not wondered lately.
Perryman
opinion@kansan.com
The unconscious consist of those of us who stumble around in a daze — traveling back and forth and back and forth to class or work unaware of what is taking place around us.
I need to get back to wondering. I used to wonder all of the time, but now, I fear the worst has happened: I have joined the ranks of the unconscious.
Mike
I am not talking about understanding what is taking place in Lawrence news or around the world — although I suppose these, too, are important. I'm talking about the little things that we see, hear and touch every day. I'm talking about
seemingly insignificant questions that arise naturally from the use of our senses, such as: "I wonder why even erect yield signs at an inter-section?" Or:
"I wonder why the blender has an ice-crush button when the instructions explicitly say, 'Don't crush ice in blender?'?" Or:
Aha, now this is a WONDERful question. No one ever has specifically told me that trees cannot talk. I always just assumed they could not because they never appeared to have any oblivious orifices on their bodies — such as a mouth, or something — from which words might blurt. Heck, maybe they can talk.
"I wonder why trees can't talk?"
It also is important that you begin the conversation with a leading question — you know, to coax the tree into responding — such as:
Note: It is important that you talk directly toward the tree because passers-by will assume you are addressing them and may respond with a stare or a "Huh?" — This undoubtedly would result in unwanted attention and humiliation.
Try walking up to a tree that is standing, quietly, by itself — preferably an older, wiser-looking tree, such as an old oak or a maple and as in inconspicuously as possible, instigate a conversation.
"What are you, 60-80 years old?" Or
What are you, so why
"What is that velvet?"
Now, don't get too intimate. The last thing I would ever advocate is tree hugging. Just keep it simple. What is critical is that you listen carefully for a response, such as:
I'll moo, what's it to ya? Or,
"Quit picking at my bark you little."
"I'm 502. what's it to va?" Or.
If you do manage to hold at least a short, elementary conversation with the tree, then, well, I don't know what to tell you other than you probably are not the type of individual with whom I would associate.
The point is that it usually is interesting asking the stupid questions that seem to have the most obvious answers. Answers so obvious that
no one ever has bothered giving them because no one ever has bothered asking for them.
"Why is it so difficult to track a chirping cricket?"
I still look for crickets when I hear them chirping. If I'm late for class, and I'm rushing across campus, I'll stop on a dime for a chirping cricket. It is pathetic, I know, but I feel as though I am being mocked.
Here's a good one:
I follow the sound, closer and closer, obsessively and methodically, pinpointing what I am certain must be the precise location of the annoying insect, and then when I think I'm right on to him, the little bugger's never there.
Sometimes the search takes hours because Jiminy often catches on that I am looking for him, and he shuts up whenever I get within seven to eight feet.
I freeze, and then he starts chirping, only to cease again when I resume the search. It becomes a battle of wits, a game of warmer-colder, and I lose every time.
The only time I ever catch Jiminy is when I smash him as I rush by — unconscious and unaware of his chirping — on my way to class. Talk about senseless. I'd rather search endlessly for him than step on him, distribute his body throughout campus and never even realize that I actually caught up with him.
It is not about showing remorse for the cricket. It is not even about pursuing the cricket, as I attempt to do. It is about knowing that the cricket exists, hopping around with big bulbous eyes, whistling mundane and repetitive, yet luring notes while scratching its legs together in an intermittent bow-to violin-like motion. Speaking of which:
"I wonder how a cricket makes such a loud sound just by rubbing his or her legs together, anyway" Come to think of it:
"I wonder what is the point of painting a 100-foot span of broken centerline for passing on a two-way, 65-mph highway?" My car would have to be suitable for Formula 1 racing to pass a car going 65 mph — the same speed as I'm going — in a matter of 1.048 seconds, roughly the amount of time it would take before the 100-foot passing window closed. Speaking of time:
"How many insects actually have lived after colliding head on with my car. Whoa. Come to think of it, how many have died?" Speaking of driving:
"Why don't more people eat eggs and drink orange juice during dinner? They really taste quite different in the evening." Speaking of wondering:
"I wonder why I don't wonder about seemingly insignificant stuff all of the time?" Sure, the answers to my questions usually are useless and inapplicable, but the curiosity seems to keep my senses calibrated toward consciousness.
Thus, I will continue to wonder and wonder and wonder...
Perryman is a Prairie Village senior in journalism.