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HUNDAY FEBBRUARY 13, 2009
4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2003
Free for All
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
Hey Saferide, I need to get picked up.
My location? I'm directly under the moon right now. Please hurry.
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I'd just like to say thank you to Tracy for pointing out the obvious to a newspaper who should know better in the first place.
I think it's pretty interesting how we take Iraq for such idiots. If someone told you they were going to come to your room and search for pot, you think you'd just leave it sitting out?
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I just walked into a bathroom in Fraser Hall, and there's a 40-year-old man in there with a camera. Pedophile much?
and for Elvis, it was food and pills
Hi Shannon, I hope this finds its way into the Free For All. It came all the way from Germany. I love you with all my heart, and I hope to spend the rest of my life by your side. Happy Valentine's Day, baby.
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Gloria Steinem is a goddess, and incredibly hot for being 68 years old.
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Does anyone know why Mrs. E's has smelled like cat litter all week?
Dear Pi Phi Angel, would you like some cheese with that whine?
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Everyone on Alabama Street needs to turn their Christmas lights off.
This is to the guy who gave the girl the hug; will you marry me?
and for Elvis, it was food and pills
I'm holding in my hand a multi-colored Kate Spade wallet found on the 1500 block of Kentucky.
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A poem for the holiday: roses are red, violets are blue, Valentine's Day sucks
Why am I all sticky?
This corn is terrible the second time around.
--and for Elvis, it was food and pills
This is to Mindy in elementary ed. I love you.
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My shoes came untied. One lace got caught under my foot. I tripped, fell and swore ... in front of my mom. Big whoops. Now I always double-knot.
REALITY CHECK
Jennifer Wade for The University Daily Kansas
Americans delight in watching misfortunes of Hollywood stars
In America the only thing we love more than seeing someone rise, is seeing someone fall.
PERSPECTIVE
COMMENTARY
Take Michael Jackson for example. Last Thursday, 27.1 million people tuned into see a "documentary" that took a look into the pop star's odd life. It was the highest-rated news magazine episode since Barbara Walters interviewed Monica Lewinsky. It was not an actual documentary, but confirmation of what a raving junatic Jackson has become and the final nail in the coffin of his fading musical career.
The documentary said he sometimes let children sleep in bed, but he denied anything sexual occurred. The documentary also said Jackson wrote his songs in a special tree and Peter Pan was his hero. The contents became prime water-cooler conversation topics and why not?
Eric Borja opinion@kansan.com
We love to see the legends go down.
It's sad how we revel in it. The same thing happened with Mariah Carey, O.J. Simpson and Bill Clinton, to an extent. We ate it up as they publicly melted down.
Jackson's bizarre behavior and the media's obsession with his demise is beginning to sound a lot like Elvis' meltdown at the end of his career. Both built absurd theme-styled homes where they could live in a private fantasy world. They both latched onto an indulgence. For Michael Jackson, it's plastic surgery.
Both let the pressures of fame and fortune get the better of them. I just hope lackson doesn't suffer a similar fate.
Along with Michael Jackson, the media are eating up the LeBron James saga with the "too much, too soon for the basketball prodigy" story line. James was declared ineligible for the remainder of the season after he accepted two free sports jerseys worth $845. This ruling has been blocked. Again, people watched closely as he was declared ineligible, then eligible again.
Of course, we don't really want to see any harm done to our psychologically damaged celebrities. But seeing that they are as human as the next person makes for great TV drama. VH1's Behind the Music and E!'s True Hollywood Stories are examples of that.
Trust me, people wanted to see him fall.
Why do you think reality television is so big? We love seeing people fail.
I don't watch The Bachelorette or American Idol to see love blossom or witness the discovery a new singing star. I watch to see desperate meat heads pull out their A game and get rejected. I want to see karaoke superstars get a dose of reality: They will never ever be famous.
This trashy and tabloid style of news journalism has infiltrated all areas of the media. Viewers want scandal and controversy. Now people don't want to know about local community issues or general consumer news. They want the inside scoop about who is in rehab, who lied about what, who is screwing over whom and the media are obliging them.
More and more it's about the dollar and the ratings, as the documentary about Jackson proved. The documentary crew spent more than eight months with Jackson, and I'm sure it had enough footage to make a piece that focused on Jackson's global effect and his love for his family. But that doesn't lure in viewers.
So for now, Jackson is left to pick up the pieces and to hide the mannequins next time there are cameras around. My advice to him is to take the David Hasselhoff route and tour exclusively in Europe.
But as long as television keeps feeding us tales of infamy and failure, we will take it in with great enthusiasm.
Borja is a Springfield, Mo., senior in journalism
TALKTOUS
Jenna Goeffert and Justin Henning managing editors
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Tomorrow flowers, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and fajita burritos will commemorate the love of couples across Lawrence and Kansas City.
In honor of Valentine's Day, Chipotle Mexican Grille, 911 Massachusetts St., will present a free burrito to any couple who kisses each other at the cash register. The result: buy one, kiss for one free.
There is no shortage of personal displays of affection on the University of Kansas campus, nor on the streets of Lawrence. Couples have year-round excuses to hold hands when watching movies, buying groceries, walking dogs and sitting in class. Now the partnered people everywhere can add eating burritos to the list of PDA-appropriate events.
SUBMITTO
What about the singles? Lawrence Chipotle manager Kelly Kriegh said there was no other special for those without a sweetie. Free burritos serve as another reminder of their relationship status.
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But singles are not without options. Those without a significant other should use this opportunity to become more familiar with a friend or neighbor. Singles should not let a Mexican restaurant shove burritos down the throats of others while they go hungry. Although it's not in the spirit of St. Valentine, boycotting the restaurant is an effective way to voice opinions.
opinion@kansan.com
Whatever action the singles decide to take, couples should take warning. Beware of the hungry, jilted, burrito-less singles roaming Massachusetts Street.
Meghan Brune for the editorial board
SUBMITTING LETTERS AND GUEST COLUMNS
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GUEST COLUMN GUIDELINES
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LETTER GUIDELINES
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Humor isn't a collection of cheap, tasteless shots
tracy Hsiao's column, "Satire of differences promotes ethnocentrism," Kansan, Feb. 11) was on target. I doubt if the satire page would print "jokes" about black people eating watermelon or Jews being cheap, so why it is clean, innocent fun to insult Asians?
My message to the satirists: Try being funny without taking cheap shots at the way people look, or at the customs, real or imagined, of ethnic groups. If it's difficult for you to do that, maybe it's because you're not funny to begin with.
Win Iraq dispute without war
Ray Pence, American studies department
In his speech at the U.N. on Wednesday, Secretary of State Colin Powell once again asserted that Saddam Hussein had ties to Al Qaeda. Yet, even intelligence operatives in the FBI and CIA argue that such ties don't exist.
It appears that the president and Secretary Powell are using American's sorrow and fear about Sept. 11 to sell a war on Iraq — even though the two don't have anything to do with each other. If the president has a case for war against
Iraq, he should make it on the basis of fact, not fear.
We know Saddam is bad and deceptive. But he was just as bad and deceptive in the mid-1990s, when an aggressive series of weapons inspections resulted in the destruction of an enormous portion of his weapons capabilities.
There are more people in this country who oppose war than many of us here in Lawrence may realize. What better reason would Saddam have to use any weapon than a war, and what better reason does he have not to give up any of his weapons he can hold on to for "weeks not months" than real, immediate prospects of war. Let's push for a tough inspections regime and win this one without war.
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Nathan Strickland, Weston, Mo., freshman
History shows that inspections can disarm Iraq. Chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has said that "successful disarmament of Iraq was possible without Baghdad's active cooperation, but it would be faster with Iraq's help."
War commentary lacks insight
May I suggest that perhaps you quit having people who have never even served in the military quit trying to write
Although women might not be able to go directly in the front lines, they can be in just as many dangerous situations. The threat to any military member, male or female, is disturbingly real. The point of the draft is to enlist the help of civilians when fighting gets bad. If men wanted to willingly join the military they would have. Males called up by a draft have no more desire to be there than a woman who could potentially be called up.
I just completed five years of active duty. Last I checked, I was a woman who willingly joined the military, as are all the other women who have and are currently serving in the military. Why was no mention of this made in the article? There are countless women on active and reserve duty in support of a looming war.
about things they have no clue about. You have a liaison of veteran's affairs in Strong Hall who I'm sure could put your writers in touch with others like myself that have experienced the military first hand. I have been disgusted with several articles and guest commentaries I have seen in this paper about military issues. Especially "Women in draft necessary part of quest to end discrimination." (Kansan, Feb. 5.)
So please, before articles are printed that try to belittle and encourage stereotypes, how about requiring some research next time. Women who have
served our country have already put up with women's stereotypes for too long.
Rachel Wheeler, St. Peters, Mo., nontraditional student
In Wednesday's Kansan, the editorial board said private donations were good for diversity ("Private funding enhances diversity," Kansan, Feb. 12). Nothing could be further from the truth.
Donors dictate class content
The idea of public education is that, through taxes, the common public funds the education of its children. Factions find less comfort in such a situation. When everyone contributes more or less equally to the funding of the university, diverse ideas can flourish. When individuals, corporations or churches begin funding public education, the interests of individuals, corporations or churches are served to the detriment of diversity. The only way a public university can thrive is if the people who comprise the public it serves commits to paying taxes. Your dollar, my dollar and Chancellor Hemenway's dollar combine to ensure that all our ideas find a forum, not just the ideas of the rich and powerful.
David P. Dawar, Tecumseh graduate student
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