OPINION
FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2005
WWW.KANSAN.COM
THE CROSSWORD CAN WAIT
PAGE 7A
Shouting protesters no better than Ann Coulter's ranting
In three years of attending this University, I can't think of any time I've been ashamed to do so.
MATT SEVCIK
msevcik@kansan.com
I can't think of any time I've looked around at my fellow students and felt utterly embarrassed. I've also never walked out on a speech, play, movie or any kind of presentation at Kennesaw.
Then, on Tuesday night, I saw Ann Coulter.
These protesters in the back shouted, yelled, threatened violence, laughed inappropriately and acted like complete morons at an academic lecture attended by 1,800 people. No air of intelligence left their mouths, just more yelling. Like trying to kill a fly with a machine gun.
My friend and I watched the spectacle for less than a half hour and decided that if we wanted to see something like that again, we'd go to the circus next time. But this wasn't because of Coulter. No, I knew what to expect from her. I knew she'd be specious, illogical and at times downright hateful. I had no idea that so many specious, illogical and downright hateful liberal college students would show up to prove her right when she called liberals idiots.
The people in the back of the auditorium were pundits, and I mean that as the worst insult possible.
The pundit is devoid of critical thinking: Pundits see a label and react. They are responsible for the apathy that most college kids have for politics. They yell until they think they've won. But when intelligent discussion is replaced by blind loyalty, we've lost all semblance of what our forefathers intended free speech to evoke.
I think the people who founded our country, nay, any proponent of virile democracy, would have been sick to the stomach at Tuesday night's speech. And I wish I could say it was just one side.
Those who fought for free speech intended for people to be able to speak out against real injustices, real social problems in the world, in an effort to discern the most effective, utilitarian government possible.
I really wish I could say, "Oh man; those damned Republicans were being jerks!" or "Those Democrats just won't stop complaining about anything!"
But I'd be lying to you. I read the news article in The University Daily Kansan on
Wednesday, and you wouldn't have had any clue how obnoxious the "protesters" were. You would have thought it was business as usual for a highly conservative speaker on a highly liberal campus.
All this taking sides is what stops our country There is unfortunately a
from progressing. There is, unfortunately, third party in America. These are the pundits. By adhering to a system that promotes apathy, they are taking away the most important reason democracy was even created.
The people in the auditorium that identify themselves as "staunch Republicans" had all their suspicions confirmed last night about people that identify themselves as "staunch liberals." They will now associate all liberals with the "protesters" in the back of the auditorium, and consequently disassociate them with any kind of progressive discourse.
Now, do I agree with the protesters? Sure. I don't think we should, according to Coulter, make converting the Middle East to Christianity a mission of the military, and I don't think we should bomb The New York Times. I don't think Vietnam veterans that protested the war caused us to lose said war. I mean, come on, she's crazy; let's get that out of the wav.
But the "protesters" in the back of the auditorium were equally as crazy, and I just hope they realize they weren't helping advance progressive social changes by turning Coulter's speech into a circus.
If anything, it confirmed every Republican in the Lied Center's suspicions that Democrats are all a bunch of crazies, which is quite unfortunate, because they should instead fight to be associated with open-mindedness.
And anyone who hadn't drawn a side Tuesday night will be turned off to politics altogether. And a college kid who stays home instead of voting is a victory for the conservatives; trust me.
So in closing, I want to make sure the "protesters" on Tuesday night realize they didn't accomplish a damned thing.
All they did was make sure that Ann Coulter remained "controversial,"made the $25,000 they paid her seem worth it,and probably helped her sell a ton more of her books.
Way to stick it to Ann Coulter, guys. I'm sure she's crying all the way to the bank.
♦ Sevck is a Leavenworth junior in English.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Schiavo case misunderstood; Life, death distinction not clear line
Several years ago, I watched a family member die, and I know that life and death aren't separated by a bright line. He moved closer to the end for weeks in the hospital, and he went from there to a nursing home because the doctors knew he only had weeks left to live. He drifted further away through the day before he died. Overnight he went from tired but conversational to comatose and we knew it was a matter of hours, not weeks. His breathing slowed, and one pause between breaths didn't end. The death certificate says when the doctor stopped listening for a heart beat, but he was reallygone the night before.
Theresa Marie Schiavo, who died yesterday, went through an even slower transition. Bulimia resulted in a heart attack, which caused brain damage and a coma. For 15 years, her brain atrophied, and her husband, family and friends watched her drift away from them, moored to this world by a feeding tube.
Death isn't simple. Feeding tubes and life support can stop a person's descent into death, pausing them as if in mid-air. Sometimes doctors can pull someone back. In other cases, as with Mrs. Schiavo's, they can't. Drawing a bright line in that gray area is complicated, and different people will make different decisions. Mrs. Schiavo made her decision and expressed it to her husband and their friends. We should respect that, just as we should respect other people's wish to draw that line elsewhere.
Like most Americans, she didn't want to persist when her mind was gone, and the courts were right to respect that wish.
People who choose differently deserve and should receive the same protections*
As someone who has been through this process, I resent attacks by conservatives on a caring husband. This decision can't have been easy for any member of the family, and the attacks on the Schiwa's marriage are inappropriate, as is the attempt by certain authoritarian conservatives to force their views on Mrs. Schiavo and the nation.
Let Mrs. Schiavo's legacy be a sincere national discussion about the dying process. Let her be remembered through compassionate laws that help families confront the most dispiriting choices. Please, don't let her legacy be the division and strife that have been sown around her. Let her rest in peace.
Joshua Rosenau Lawrence graduate student Ecology and evolutionary biology
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SACK'S PERSPECTIVE
Steve Sack/STAR/TRIBUNE
▼. HERE'S TO YOU
Ten Commandments should unite, not divide Americans
Everyone knows we have a problem distinguishing just what the separation between church and state is in these United States.
RAY WITTLINGER
rwittlinger@kansan.com
Often it's hard to tell if a separation even exists. There really shouldn't be a problem distinguishing between the Ten Commandments and the Constitution.
As the Supreme Court spends time deliberating on whether statues or monuments of the Ten Commandments can be placed on grounds of government buildings, Americans face another moral dilemma.
It is certainly hard to argue that religion
plies no real relation to
There still must be respect
So why all of a sudden is there this question of whether or not a higher power should have a hand in the laws of the land?
The presence of the Ten Commandments near a government institution can be offensive only if you let it be.
pay it to us in our government. God is everywhere these days in American democracy. On the national motto, the dollar bill, coins, the pledge of allegiance and even in the oath our President takes to assume office. You name it, he's there.
of America.
Many question why it would be such a bad thing at all for everyone to have to live by the Ten Commandments. Outlined in this sacred document are indeed some of our country's most fundamental laws.
There still must be respect though for the difference in opinion on the authority rather than the law. Of course both God and a government do not tolerate nor allow murder, but if some do not believe in God as an authority figure, they may just not follow his law. There, we face a moral danger.
The Ten Commandments serve as a moral code that all humans should live by and should not be a source of contention about separation of church and state. It shuld unite between atheists and Christians.
The great debate we have now is about letting the theology of some dictate the lives of others.
Aethiests and Christians have argued for year*
We do face a grave danger in becoming a state of discrimination by telling Americans who can marry and who cannot. Even the fight to keep stem cell research harnessed and at a minimum based on personal beliefs threatens the ingenuity
laws have argued for years as to why there should even be a division between the government and church. While one believes they deserve protection from the other, one believes they exert power over the other.
The Ten Commandments is an actual object that just may have the ability to unite the two with common beliefs in respect for each human individual. Instead it serves as one of the greatest divides.
Tolerance really does extend in two different directions. While it is important to understand and sup
port followers of each religious background, it is equally important to respect those with no religious background. But allowing basic rules of humanity to offend you and frighten you is unnecessary.
- Wittlinger is an Olathe freshman in political science.
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Bob Johnson's article today got me so pumped that I chugged a key of beer and had sex with 10 women.
To all the Kerry supporters, take down your signs. Bush won. Get over it.
The day after Christmas and Easter earthquakes hit Indonesia. Jesus is coming back.
Bill Self is the greatest recruiter in college basketball.
I would like to quote Ann Coulter. She said that "you are stupider than I thought you were." Could someone point out to this lady that "stupider" is not a word, that it's actually "more stupid"?
Is Russell Robinson really gonna transfer?
Hey J.R., watch out, Chalmers is gonna take your number next fall
To the person who made the comment about stealing iPods, I was just wondering if you wanted to
team up, because I want one, to
To the idiot who thinks he's going to steal my iPod, you better watch out for me.
Hey 34J, I wish I could help you out, but I'm a 38D, so at least I feel your pain. Burn away.
+
Pick me, pick me, I'm a 34D!
So there's nothing hotter than seeing guys with roller bags around campus.
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