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University Daily Kansan/Tuesday, February 11,1992
OPINION
Advertisements glorify warfare's obvious horror
Imagine that you and your family were born in Iraq.
One night you are sitting at the kitchen table, eating dinner and talking about everyone's activities that day. Your father seems quieter than usual, then announces that he has been called into service by the Iraq government. He is to be a soldier in Sadam's latest campaign, Kuwait.
... Somewhere else, the television blares: "Hostile located, heading to pursue." There is an image of trees rushing by, and four young men wearing camouflaged uniforms sitting inside a tank. Suspenseful music plays over camera shots of the obvious sophistication of the tank.
One week later you are at the front door, watching your father walk away with his suitcase. Your mother cries as he disappears into a bus and is carried off with the mechanical roar of the engine.
An announcer says, "In the army, you not only get the skills to conquer America's highest technology, but money for college." A young, sharp-looking man stares sternly through a periscope. Inside the scope, he can see the enemy tank amid some trees. A circle with crosshairs slashing through the middle of it pans left to target the tank.
That night, your mother is hugging you close, trying to answer all your questions. "Don't worry," she says. "Papa will be home soon. He must do
David
Carusol II
Staff
columnist
this, for his people and his country." Her words have little effect, because You love your father very much.
A finger pushes down on a red button. The circle turns red, confirming the tank has been hit and destroyed. The young man smiles and cries, "Yeah!" amidst the climax of the music. He turns to see the tank commander, who is impressed and slowly nodding his head. The tank rushes on, and the television fades to black...
The preceding may be a realistic scenario, it may even have happened. It's real life versus the illusions of honor in military advertising, better yet, the military of the United States in general. These illusions are pounded into us almost every day, from "be all you can be" recruiting ads to the hightech excitement of a jet fighter plane.
Only a year ago, we ended an efficient war on the other side of Earth, and praised the "heroes" for their courageous actions. Their mission was accomplished well, but what we, in all our comfort and naivete, failed to realize is that they came back from a
gruesome, horrible accomplishment. Over there, our "heroes" killed and maimed more than 100,000 living, breathing persons; 100,000 members of thousands of individual families.
But it seems that most of us didn't give such death a second thought, because any statistic seems only a cliche, or we think somehow that the people of Iraq are evil. I don't want to preach about a theme you you've already heard many times before. But my challenge to you is: Think about it. What if it was your father or son? It definitely was someone's... more than 100,000 times over.
No one had better tell me I can "be all I can be" in the army or any military. My potential has nothing to do with being stripped of my identity and programmed like a computer. No one had better tell me to praise or respect the officers who seem worthy of our attention, for such officers are only small, expendable wheels in a giant bureaucracy designed to destroy. And no one had better tell me that casualties aren't actually many individual people, or that killing under the guise of war is more than the simple act of murder.
- David Caruso II is a Lake Waltana sophomore majoring in English and psychology.
On me, their breath would be wasted.
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sexual past cannot be used
Using past alleged rapes against a defendant in a current rape trial is irrelevant
Kansas law states that a victim's sexual history may not be presented in a rape trial. This makes perfect sense considering that an act of rape is not just an act of sex, but an act of violence. Therefore, the victim's sexual past is irrelevant to the case.
Agreeing with the statute, Jean Winter, an Emporia senior said, "It just seems like it's the victim who is dragged through the mud." Without this law, many women do not press charges because they can't bear the humiliation of digging up their past sexual experiences.
But what about the sexual history of the accused? Kansas law does not even mention the use of the defendant's sexual history in a rape trial. As a result, Winter submitted a proposal requiring that the sexual past of the defendant be introduced in court.
There is a definite imbalance in this proposal. How is it fair or relevant to present the sexual history of the accused, but not that of the
accuser? This inherently assumes that the defendant is guilty.
Reflecting back to the William Kennedy Smith trial, Winter said, "When they had three other credible witnesses who came forward and said he did the same thing, I was appalled."
Winter does not realize, however, that the testimony of past alleged rape victims is irrelevant to the present trial. A lack of substantial evidence or relevancy in a rape case makes it a difficult crime to prove. If the accuser, for example, does not reveal physical signs of rape such as bruises, then it becomes the accuser's word against the defendant's, and, therefore, unsubstantial in court.
Usually, a case based on sexual history is a case based on hearsay and irrelevant evidence. It is unjustifiable to use a reputation of promiscuity to justify rape. Similarly, it is irrelevant to use the testimonies of alleged past victims to prove rape. A rape case is not unique to other violent crimes in what can or cannot be used in court.
Trading cards honor killers
Sarah Zercher for the editorial board
The cards may confuse children about violence and fame, while offending the victim's families
Commercialism has hit a new low. A Californiaca company is planning to market trading cards that feature serial killers
trading cards that reature serial killers and mass murderers. These cards will have an illustration of the killer, a 250-word description of the crime, the number of victims and the sentence imposed on the killer.
It was a bad decision to make these cards. Violence is glorified more than on television and in movies. Trading cards will only increase the glorification of violence.
The news coverage of a killer usually informs people about the killer and makes them aware of the crimes. News media do not attempt to glorify the killer.
But the cards are a glorification. Trading cards have traditionally been a place
Although a representative for the company making the cards said the cards would be no worse than the news coverage of the killers, there is a difference between the two.
reserved for heroes. Many children may not be able to differentiate between a hero card and a killer card.
The message these cards may be inadvertently sending is that a way to achieve fame is through violence. Some people dream of having their face on a trading card, but this is not the way that goal should be achieved.
And what about the families of the victims?
Is it not enough that they live with the loss of a family member who died at another person's hands? The trauma is needlessly increased when the face of the killer is on a card and the victim is reduced to a digit in the "number killed" section on a piece of cardboard.
Before such an item is marketed, the company should have thought less about profits and more about the impact of these cards. It is now up to consumers to inform the company that this sort of insensitive commercialism is unacceptable. The truly effective way to do this is to not buy the cards. The company has a right to make the cards, but consumers have the obligation not to buy them.
Amy Francis for the editorial board
If the presidential candidates of both parties want to enliven their debates, they might talk about what they'll do about Jawon.
Although pervasive, gangs defy popular solutions
Jawon, 14, lives on the West Side of Chicago. No permanent address. He and his fellow gang members pick out an abandoned building and call it home.
The cops assume that his source of income is crime. Theft, extortion, may be drug errands for older gang members. He can barely read or watch, he don't attend school, but he has street smarts.
Lately, he has been showing up around Herbert Elementary School, 2131 W. Monroe St. But not to learn. Just the opposite. He teaches young kids how to join the gang, what hand signals and gang colors to wear to avoid being shot.
Kids are valuable to gangs. Because of their age, they can shoot someone or run drugs or pull a stickup and get a lighter rap.
Jawon has already learned to handle a gun. He's currently awaiting a hearing for wounding another boy in the face during a gang dispute.
And he can drive a car. Not only drive it but bust in, hot wire the ignition, tear out the radio and go iov riding.
The police caught him for that, too, after he
Mike
Royko
Syndicated
columnist
and his伯璧 sole a car belonging to a teacher at the Herbert school. They wouldn't have been caught if they hadn't smashed into another car, injuring a couple of people.
When the parents complained to the principal, the suspects were gathered in the school office. One was Jawon's cousin, who brought Jawon along for moral support.
Recently, a boy's sport jacket was stolen at the school. Jackets are a serious matter. Kids are gunned down for not surrendering them.
All that, and he's still seven years short of being able to buy a beer legally. But there's more.
the inexperienced she and the inexperienced he
were there and then the mother of the kid whose jackets were stained, and I was questioning them. Then I left the room to call in another boy.
The principal describes the office meeting:
"Before I came back, the mother told me that
Jawon was intimidating the kids right in front of her.
"His cousin had taken the jacket. We later found out that he had stolen it for Jawon. So Jawon told them: 'You better say that he didn't do it or I'm going to get a Uzi and blow you away.'"
If a 14-year-old in a prep school says he is going to blow you away with an automatic weapon, you might chuckle. But on the West Side and other city neighborhoods like it, there are probably 100 automatic weapons for every tennis racket.
"So I went back in, and I told Jawson he had to leave," the principal said. "He wouldn't. I told him I was ordering him out. He got out of his seat and started swearing at the kids and threatening them.
"I got up and he starts throwing punches at me. I finally got him off me and out of the office, but as he left, he was swearing and he said he'd be back to blow me away."
There was a time when the principal might have called Jawon's parents in to discuss the boy's behavior. But nobody knows where Jawon's parents are. Maybe Jawon doesn't.
So the principal called the police and filed aggravated battery charges.
That made three criminal charges against
When they went to court, the judge continued the case and ordered Jawon to stay away from the school and not to bother the principal or anyone else. The probation officer (Jawon's on probation for the car theft) was told to report any bad behavior.
Jawon nodded and went back to the street, where he will roam until some time in March, when another hearing will be conducted. Unless he kills someone before then.
That thought has crossed the principal's mind, who was more than a bit upset when she received it.
"What's this telling the kid? That he can do anything he wants. It will continue until he murders someone. He's already shown that he has access to guns and that he's willing to use one."
"I have to say to you I'm a little angry," he said. "No, a lot angry. There's nothing to prevent him from getting a gun and blowing me away. The judge told Jawon that he doesn't want him near the school. What are they going to do if he doesn't obey?
*One of my jobs is protecting my students from gang activity. I can't even protect
Jawon, the earlier shooting of the other kid, which was still pending, the theft of the teachings.
Questions, questions. And who has the answers? We have a kid of 14, no parents, living the gang life. No skills or prospects other than crime. And there are thousands like him.
"If he comes around, and I call the police, what am I going to charge him with—trespassing? Hell, he shot a kid in the face, and he's on the streets. Are they going to put him away for trespassing?"
Is there anything in the president's crime package about that? Not that I’ve noticed.
An adolescent says he'll get an Uzi. He might. The ganges now consider a six-shooter antique. What will the candidates do to keep the hardware out of the hands of the Jawons?
You can rap the judge. But we have a national surplus of young criminals and a shortage of cells. Shall we build more prisons? Sure, and what will you save when the tax bill comes?
A principal fears death. And he's not the only one. What do the candidates propose to do? The president is not the only one.
Yes, you could devote a debate to Jawon. Or even a State of the Union speech. The silence would be deafening.
■ Mike Rykois a
Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune.
KANSAN STAFF
TIFFANY HARNESS Editor
VANESSA FUHRMANS Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
Editors
News... Mike Andrews
Editorial... Beth Randolph
Planning... Lara Gold
Campaign... Eric Gorakz/Rochelle Oleson
Sports... Eric Nelson
Photo... Julie Jacobson
Features... Debbie Myers
Graphics... Jeff Meesey/Aimee Brainard
myself. How am I supposed to protect the kids?
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
JENNIFER CLAXTON Business manager
JAYSTEINER Retail sales manager
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr...Bilian Beebenwood
Regional sales mgr...Rich Hearburger
National sales mgr...Scott Hannah
Co-op sales mgr...Ame Johnson
Production mgrs...Kim Wallace
...Lisa Keeler
Marketing director...Kim Claxton
...Learned
Classified mgrd...Ki-Chin
Business Staff
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