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Friday, January 28, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Women's basketball team deserves equal support
The women's basketball team remains one of the University's best kept secrets from KU students. But their games are no less exciting than those of the men's team.
Both games have all the exciting elements of college basketball fast breaks, steals, the no-look and behind-the-backpasses, 3-point shots and an extremely physical game under the basket. All that separates the women's games from the men's games is the lack of high-flying dunks and a fan-packed Allen Field House.
In recent years, the women's team has paralleled the achievements of the men's team. Both teams have been and are ranked nationally. Both have played in the NCAA tournament the past three years.
Our women's team is now ranked No.7 in the nation and sits atop the conference with a 6-0 record.
A misconception exists that women's games are boring. But they are far from dull.
Few who saw the televised game between the then- No. 12 Jayhawks and the No. 4 Colorado Buffaloes would disagree that it was one of the most exciting games played in the field house this year. The game was highlighted when junior forward Angela Aycock became the ninth female Jayhawk in history to break the 1,000-point barrier.
The best part of women's games is the admission. Unlike the hard-to-get tickets for men's games, which are $3 for students, tickets to women's games are free with a KUID.
So quit missing out on some of the University's best basketball games. Your next opportunity to see a game will be at 2 p.m. Sunday in the field house when the Jayhawks play Kansas State.
J. R. CLAIRBORNE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Mexican government must address rebellion
President Carlos Salinas de Gortari's Institutional Revolutionary Party surely did not invent bad social conditions in Mexico. But because it has ruled the country since 1929, and the peasants continue to be repressed, it largely should be held responsible for the problems. The Indian rebellion in Mexico stems directly from the misery and the exploitative atmosphere in which the Indian peasants live.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as PRI, often has gained rule by fraudulent means. The peasant rebellion opposes the party, but the electoral law weighs in the party's favor.
Although there was news of a truce last week, the Zapatistas will not vanish quickly from the headlines. They say they fight for democracy, justice and better treatment of the country's Indian peasants. These things are sometimes hard to obtain in Latin America.
Even if the United States does not interfere, it will play an important role in the conflict. The North American Free Trade Agreement, which the peasants targeted by staging their rebellion on the date it went into effect, will make the United States pay attention to the situation. If the Mexican government did not fear repercussions from other countries, and if institutions such as Amnesty International were not monitoring the situation, bloodshed already would have occurred.
Like almost all Latin American countries, Mexico needs land reform, decent public schools, jobs and decent housing—rather than slums. The Indian rebels also demand that their people's "genocide" be stopped. The PRI should be pushed to implement the changes.
GERALDO SAMOR FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
BEN GROVE, Editor
LISA COSMILLO, Managing editor
TOM EBLEN
General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET, Systems coordinator
Editora
Assistant Managing Editor...Dan England
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Newe...Kristi Fogler, Katie Greenwald,
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Rush Limbaugh's views mirror graffiti found in bathroom stalls
With successful radio and television shows, two best-selling books, and even a sitcom parodying his life and attitudes, Rush Limbaugh is a popular man. Last week, rumor had it that CBS — which gave him his television debut as temporary host of the short-lived "Pat Sajak Show" — wanted to cash in on the Rush craze by building a new talk show around him. They apparently know a lucrative deal when they see it.
Why do so many people listen to this vacuous, second-rate radio hack? Then again, why do so many people write on bathroom walls? Limbaugh and bathroom graffiti are symbolically equivalent. Rush's rantings are the latrine humor of American politics.
Bathroom walls are a middle ground between the private and the public, a place to express thoughts that are often best kept hidden but that are nevertheless driven to be recorded in some sort of clandestine way. Sometimes, lavatory tiles contain serious information. At Brown University, for example, women's restrooms are scrawled with the names of male students suspected of date rape. But
more often, bathroom graffiti messages sexist, racist, homophobic messages that ought never see the light of day.
Limbaugh occupies this same netherworld of the open and the hidden, walking a thin line between criticism and bigotry, discernment and intolerance. He expresses ideas many others are thinking but dare not say in this era of speech codes and political correctness. And, like a choice bit of bathroom poetry, his material is clever and sometimes entertaining.
Rush has constructed his act in such a way that he is never held immediately responsible for what he says. His books are filled with abrupt, distinct
assertions of so-called truth, largely unsupported by fact or analysis. During his television show, he sits alone and grandly pontificates, accompanied only by an occasional video clip or other visual aid. Guest stars are scarce, and Limbaugh rarely invites a direct confrontation with anyone who might challenge his views or engage him in a serious dialogue.
The same goes for bathroom graffiti. Those who write it need rarely fear punishment, and so they are not held accountable for their vandalism. The words are simply there, unanswerable except by those who stoop to the same level as the writer.
There is a playful quality to such graffiti. Sure, most of what you find written in a bathroom is obscene and unprintable. But sometimes it is downright funny, provoking an embarrassed giggle.
Limbaugh often has this same, don't-take-me-too-seriously quality. "I demonstrate the absurd by being absurd," he once said. Certainly Limbaugh himself possesses nothing in the way of a coherent ideology
(unless indiscriminate Clinton-bashing could be called an ideology), and he sometimes reveals a humorous, self-deprecating quality that makes him seem somewhat less of an oaf and more of a P.T. Barnum-style huckster. Of course, there are a few pitiable souls who actually take the man at his word, professing admiration for his "high ideal" and "principles." But most of the Rush fans I know say they like him for his entertainment value. He provides an emotional outlet in this deadly serious era of intolerance for the intolerant.
This catharsis quality is, in the end, the secret of Rush's success. Like bathroom graffiti, his material is appealing because of its imbecility and surreptitious rule breaking. Litterals ought to keep in mind that it is their humorlessness and often censorious suppression of opposing viewpoints that created Rush Limbaugh in the first place.
Brian Dirck is a Conway, Ark., graduate student in history.
Senator stabs with forked tongue
I worry about Bob Dole.
I don't mean that I worry about our senator's physical health or his ability to pass or impede legislation, nor do I worry about his political future.
Rather, I am concerned about the fate of his soul in whatever afterlife there may be.
This concern is brought on by the Senate Minority Leader's recent sniping at President Clinton about the Whitewater affair while the latter was in Arkansas at his mother's funeral. You have to be pretty low-down to do that, regardless of your politics.
We all know that Dole isn't exactly Barney the Dinosaur when it comes to working and playing well with others. That's part of his charm. The senator has left a trail of caustic comments that extend back for decades. He's so mean, in fact, that I wonder why he went into politics in the first place. Watch C-SPAN, which is my favorite channel, and you'll see a kind of ritualized politeness among our elected officials. What they really want to do is call their opponents' parentage into question, but they're accountable to the people, and the people don't cotton to that sort of thing. So they wish their opponents the best of luck, even though they don't mean it.
My personal favorite Doleism was on Feb. 16, 1988, the day of the New Hampshire primary. Dole, who earlier that day had told a rival candidate's supporter to "get back in your cave," had lost the primary to George Bush, and both men were being interviewed by "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom
Everyone likes to be surrounded by nice people. It's like when you reach for the check after a meal with a friend at a fancy restaurant: You really don't want it, but you like it when the other guy does it, so you do it, too. Unless you're Bob Dole.
Brokaw. Brokaw asked Bush if he had a message he would like to give Dole. "Just wish him well, and we'll meet him in the South," said Bush. Brokaw later asked Dole if he had a message for Bush. "Tell him to stop lying about my record," Dole growled. Calm down, Bob. And this was a member of his own party.
So we've come to expect and accept this kind of nastiness from Mr. Dole. But then he went and slammed the president while he was burying his mother. To insult a man going through such intense personal pain goes completely beyond the bounds of decency that we expect from any member of any civilized society. It's against the code of the West, for gosh sakes. Remember the outlaw from the old Time-Life Books commercial who once shot a manjes' for snorin' too loud? He would never do a thing like this.
President Bush's mother passed away just after the 1992 election, at a time when the urge for people of my political persuasion to gloat was at its greatest. For the sake of common
decency, though, the Democratic leadership chose to lay off Bush for a while. Apparently this kind of civilized behavior is too much to ask of our senator.
I'm not concerned that a man like this will ever become president, a position he seems to covet. Americans don't elect people they wouldn't want to have living next door. There was Nixon, who came close, but Nixon more or less kept his misanthropy to himself. Dole's acerbic personality is too well-known to let him be elected president, and for that a nation is grateful.
But Dole has gone beyond the usual political battles and has caused a family personal pain at a time of vulnerability. I call upon our senator to publicly apologize to the Clinton's for his immature behavior toward them and to learn that there are times when his prickly comments simply are not appropriate.
Paul Henry is a Tacoma, Wash., graduate student in Journalism.
KU program strives to retain young scholars
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
I am writing in response to your Viewpoint found in the Jan. 20 Kansan. I commend you for being concerned about Kansas' outstanding young people who leave Kansas and our efforts to retain them.
You mentioned a valid concern about Kansas' marginal attempt to retain young scholars. While we certainly need to do more, I want to promote the Kansas Honors Program.
This 23-year-old program, sponsored by the University of Kansas Alumni Association and supported by the Kansas University Endowment Association, recognizes nearly 3,000 Kansas high school seniors in the top 10 percent of their classes from all 105 counties. KU administrators (the chancellor, executive vice chancellor, vice chancellors and deans), Alumni Association staff and local KU alumni present the young scholars with The American Heritage Dictionary at 38 banquets. The purpose of this program is to recognize Kansas' best and encourage them to stay in Kansas.
As a KU student you have already expressed great concern for Kansas. I hope that when you graduate and are in a Kansas community, you can serve as one of the 150 volunteers who coordinate the Kansas Honors Program.
If you have questions about this
Director, Student and Kansas Honors Programs
Fans have right to cheer at KU basketball games
Suddenly, a man behind me grabbed my shoulder, practically forced me back into my seat and
program or what the Alumni Association does for higher education in Kansas, do not hesitate to call.
I am very disturbed by an incident that occurred during last Monday's basketball game. During KU's second-half run, I and many others stood up and yelled at the top of our lungs in support of the team.
For many years, KU fans have touted Allen Field House as a great place to watch basketball. It still is. However, I cannot help but be disturbed by this occurrence. The field house is special because of the fans, and when a fan does not even stand up in support of the team and tries to prevent others from doing so, that is a sad event for the University.
asked me to sit down. At the next timeout, I explained that this was a KANSAS BASKETBALL GAME, not the opera. When students attend a sporting event, people should expect some standing and cheering. If this is a problem, watching on television is always an option.
Mark C. Stover
Lawrence sonhomore