4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
101
MONDAY,JANUARY 27,2003
TALKTOUS
Kristi Henderson
864-4854 or khenderson@kansan.com
Jenna Goepfert and Justin Henning
managing editors
864-4854 or jgoepert@kansan.com and
jhenneng@kansan.com
Leah Shaffer
readers' representative
864-4810 or ishaffer@kansan.com
Amanda Sears and Lindsay Hanson opinion editors 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson
general manager and news adviser
864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
Sarah Jantz
retail sales manager
864-4358 or adsales@kansan.com
Eric Kelting business manager 864-4358 or adsales@kansan.com
Matt Fisher
Matt Fisher
sales and marketing adviser
864-7666 or mtfisher@kansan.com
RERUNS OF OUR LIVES
PERSPECTIVE
'Lord of the Rings' parallels U.S. politics, media
GUEST COMMENTARY
Peter Jackson's rousing adaptation of The Lord of the Rings,
L.P. R. Tolkien's classic fantasy
Stephen Shupe opinion@kansan.com
Peter Jackson's rising adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien's classic fantasy that pits pure good against pure evil, has reverberated considerably in the post-Sept. 11 climate. The film versions of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers have inspired metaphoric links between Tolkien's themes and the war on terror. Reality, though, is rarely as black and white as fiction presents it. Some, including one of the film's stars, Viggo Mortensen, have suggested an alternative interpretation of the films, one that merits closer examination.
Mortensen has suggested there's a counterpart in the film for President George W. Bush. Not Gandalf, the gallant wizard who fights to protect the peoples of Middle Earth, but Saruman, the black magic wizard who breeds a monstrous army to destroy the race of men.
Saruman is depicted as having a mind of metal, which in Tolkien represents the modern age of industrialism, and here we can see more similarities to President Bush, whose industry of choice is a three-letter word that begins with "o" and ends with "l." The president may speak of romantic notions like freedom and patriotism, but his loyalties lie with private corporations more than they do with private citizens. These corporations, which would benefit greatly
An early scene in The Two Towers shows Saruman spreading lies and hate speech across the countryside, coaxing barbarians into battle. Throughout his campaign for a familial rematch with
Saddam Hussein, President Bush has employed similar tactics. For example, the president often speaks of the "world's opinion" as if it starts in Seattle and ends in Miami, with no overseas influence whatsoever.
If President Bush is Saruman, Tom Brokaw is Wormtongue, the ghoulish man-puppet Saruman uses to spread his deceit. Let's speak openly about this: The liberal media are a myth. Open The New York Times or flip on CNN and you'll be bombarded with a ceaseless
from a siphoning off of the Middle East's oil supply, will no longer have to pay tax dividends if and when the conservative Congress passes the president's economic policy plan, while John Q. Public continues to struggle without the aid of such special treatment.
There is also a relation that can be drawn between Saruman's symbol a painted white hand signifying destruction and what has happened to the symbol of the American flag under the "compassionate conservatism" of the Bush administration. Once the emblem of seemingly endless possibilities, the significance of our national banner has been reduced to an abstraction, a monomaniacal symbol of patriotism. Its very presence seems confrontational and exclusionary, the sounding board of an impenetrable society.
countdown to an American war with Iraq.
Remember that the media are also privately owned and share the same loyalties as the president's. The forces at work at the top of this still-great country of ours learned long ago about the importance of manipulating the public's opinion, especially in light of the radical social upheaval of the '60s.
But what can we do about it? We could start by rejecting at least some of the colors the media have provided for us to paint the world with, even at the level of this University.
The Kansan could depict life at KU as populated by more than just jocks, Greeks and so-called hippies. We could write to our state leaders and representatives, who seem very unwilling to challenge the president in any meaningful way. In The Lord of the Rings, the smallest person, Frodo, makes the biggest difference. It's not too late for us to follow his example.
Shupe is an Augusta graduate student in journalism.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Poor women suffer if abortion made illegal
I find it ironic that the three opinions on abortion printed in *The University Daily Kansan* on Friday were written by men. Fortunately, one of them understood what the debate is about. John Ralston was right to focus on the right of women to self-determination and to make choices about our own bodies. Too often in our sound-bite culture, the abortion debate is misframed by the media and even by pro-choice and anti-choice groups. Pro-choicers are not arguing about the state of the fetus or embryo. Pro-choice people are arguing that women have the right to decide if something will or will not grow inside their bodies. Many doctors and biologists consider the fetus/embryo and the woman to be one organism, not two. A look at the biology of reproduction and pregnancy can help elucidate this. The fetus/embryo cannot survive without the body of a woman, excepting modern medicine's high-tech contraptions.
Emily Elmore and Neil Miulka for The University Daily Kansas
If we examine not only the modern history of abortion, but also the history of humanity, we are given a more complete framework from which to work. The Catholic Church did not even outlaw abortion until 1869; that means that for almost two thousand years previous, abortion was not opposed by Christian religions. When abortion is illegal, women die and poor women die at a disproportionate rate. Wealthy women will always have access to abortion, regardless of the law. Another important point is that our religious conservative president has decided that his beliefs about abortion should influence the reproductive decisions of women in Third World nations, cutting off all U.S. aid to international programs that provide all family planning services. Once again, poor women are suffering, this time the global poor.
As for abortion throughout human history, women have been terminating pregnancies longer than we have been classified as human, longer than Christianity has even existed. Many herbs and plants can be used as abortifacients, whether they are eaten, taken as tea or used vaginally. There is also a growing body of evidence that non-human primates, including our closest relatives,
chimpanzees and bonobos, use herbs to terminate pregnancies. Clearly, elective termination of pregnancy has been a reproductive strategy of women throughout our evolutionary past.
No one knows when life, full human life, begins. Less than 50% of all conceptions lead to live births, not counting abortions. Are all of these lost zygotes/fetuses/embryos/babies to be mourned or valued the same way as an adult, or adolescent, woman? Misogynistic religious beliefs would lead us to believe this. However, the right of women to decide what they will do with their own bodies is paramount. Not all Americans, or human beings, are conservative Christians and it is absurd to assert that they should dictate women's reproductive decisions.
Beth Peterson, Kansas City, Mo., senior
Her body, her choice?
I was just wondering if Jon Ralston supports a woman's right to smoke crack? After all, it's her body.
First "leveling the playing field" has never meant giving one group an advantage over another, which is exactly what the racist admissions policies at our nation's universities do. To judge a person and take action based upon the color of that person's skin is the antithesis of all that the original civil rights movement worked toward. It should be offensive to all thinking human beings.
Affirmative action not logical
I read your guest commentary on affirmative action in University admissions ("Affirmative action still needed at colleges," Kansan, Jan. 23).
John Stowelf, Omaha, Neb.m senior
Eliminating racist programs like those at the University of Michigan allow all people to compete fairly and equally. That is the goal of a society that values equality. Programs like Michigan's do nothing but replace one injustice with another.
In the case of Michigan it is qualified white students who are shut out solely based on their race. Rather than curtail racism
these policies foster and encourage it. The only difference is the targets of this racism are white.
Tom Servo
Performance outweighs color
I raised them to be color-blind. that is, everyone is equal, no matter what "color" their skin is. Now they wonder why a person born with a different color skin should get "extra points" just for being black or brown? How is that equal? Once you get out of high school and into the "real world," you are judged on your merits. How is being "black" or "white," if the case were reversed, more important than getting a perfect score on the SAT?
The elimination of discrimination in all its forms is the only acceptable goal in a free and equal society. To change the group that is the target of the discrimination and call that justice is immoral and indefensible. Remember the words of Martin Luther King Jr., who dreamed that "...my four children will be judged by the content of their character, and not the color of their skin." This is what we must work toward and anything to the contrary must be rejected.
Sorry to disagree with you Matt, but you couldn't be more wrong about affirmative action ("Affirmative action still needed at colleges," Kansan, Jan. 23). I am a parent of a KU student and have two others in high school, one of whom is a senior applying for various scholarships.
Do you have any idea how many scholarships my son could be eligible for but can not apply because he isn't African-American? If we believe that everyone is equal then how can we be shut out of a scholarship opportunity solely based on OUR skin color? Do you see any scholarships out there that stipulate that only Caucasians can apply? Bush is right and so is Ward Connerly. It's time for affirmative action to end so people can truly be judged on their merits and nothing else.
Dr. King wanted equality for everyone ... not reverse discrimination.
Denise Miller
Oil column contadicts itself
One of the first rules I give my writing students is to support and not contradict their thesis. If they begin by stating that rocks are hard and water is wet, they shouldn't confuse their reader by mentioning that the tiny rocks in sand seem soft or that frozen water is hard. I thought of this rule after reading "War for oil argument not grounded in reality," by Nathan Clark (Kansan, Jan. 21).
Clark begins by ridiculing those who claim that oil concerns are an argument in the U.S. involvement against Iraq, yet ends by stating that oil is indeed a factor.
Another lesson I try to impress upon my students is to research topics before writing. To say that oil plays no role in U.S. involvement is absurd, and I encourage Clark to consider what prompted the decision to liberate Kuwait in 1990-91.
Clark contends that the likely use of U.S. military power against Iraq is based chiefly on security concerns. How then does he explain the U.S. reluctance to confront with force the more immediate threat of a WMD-endowed North Korea?
Clark posits that oil revenues fund terrorist activities, and therefore, to defeat terrorism, the United States should consider removing the leadership in Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Huuhhh? Even the wizards at the CIA have been unable to provide a credible nexus between Saddam and the chief bogeymen of Al Qaeda.
The most rabid hawk within the Bush administration has been reluctant to propose removing the King Fahd family from the Saudi gas station. Like the misguided war on drugs (which attempts to limit supply) has Clark ever considered reducing America's dependency upon oil?
From my perspective, the Monica White cartoon on Thursday's editorial page displays a woeful lack of historical perspective and a very tenuous grasp of the facts of the Michigan case. Is Monica an intern for John Ashcroft?
Ray Finch, instructor, Applied English Center
Cartoon lacks grasp on facts
Jeannette A. Johnson
Call 864-0500
Free for All
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.
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Hey, this is Supergirl (or at least, I think I am, because I wore a shirt that says that one day), but I want to know who you are, and are you cute, and will you be my Superman?
Hey, I think Audrey Snyder and Meagan Kelleher should have a right-wing Christian Republican love child, but then the child would have two mommies, and how would that work out?
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If you could not enroll in the courses you needed, the person to contact is the chancellor at rhenenway@ku.edu
If you believe in any preemptive action at all, you should believe in preemptive war. That's the logic behind the statement "There is no war yet, why are you protesting?" According to this logic, all of you who brush your teeth to prevent cavities should cheer at the idea of preemptive martyr.
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Hi, this is the girl with the bad karma. Guess what, I fell again while walking on campus, but this time I was thinking about how much it would suck to be a squirrel in this cold weather and only have a nest of leaves to keep me warm. So I swear to God: Mother Nature hates me or I just need to start wearing different shoes.
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This is to the woman who said hello to me on the first floor of Fraser Wednesday because you mistook me for someone you knew. I tried to play it off and act like we knew each other because you were so incredibly attractive. You got away before I had a chance to come clean. How about giving me another chance? Same place, same time, next Wednesday.
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It would be really funny to see somebody at Mrs. E's go up to a complete stranger's table, sit on the table Indian-style, and take a fat, steamy dump right in front of them.
Why are all of this semester's sex columnists freshmen? Their freakin' frame of reference is high school
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To Patrick Russ, the author of "Lower standards may lessen sex inhibitions" on the sex page: um, are you a virgin?
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Maybe if we spent the 40 percent of our budget that goes to military on education,blacks and white could have the money to go to the University of Michigan.
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It's funny at the same time that President Bush is planning to take over an oil-rich nation, he's passing national laws to promote the sale of SUVs.