4a
Opinion
Friday, October 13, 2000
Perspective
For comments, contact Ben Embry or Emily Hughey at 864-4924 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com
Green Party gets preachy on the stump
omeone is going to pay for this. Oh, I know they probably thought it was funny. "Let's put that Republican guy on the Nader mailing list." So to
whomever you are out there: I now exact my revenge.
Like manna from heaven, the envelope came promising solidarity and enough activism to give my life meaning again. Inside it was a letter announcing that the Green Party and Ralph Nader, its presidential candidate, had heard the people's "cry that we have become a nation of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations."
This is certainly true to a degree. But those are not cries of protest I hear; those are cries of glee. Half of this country's citi-
zenny now own stock in those corporations. During the last 20 years, the ranks of Americans holding stock have increased by roughly 50 million. Richard Nadler, president and founder of the nonpartisan American Shareholders Association, notes two more facts indicating the convergence of Wall Street and Main Street. From 1989 to 1995, the number of shareholding manual laborers increased 197 percent
Andrew
Marino
columnist
opinion@kansan.com
and more than half of all shareholders now earn less than $50,000 per year. Americans have seen their lives improve on the backs of these corporations.
But I read on, determined to find some reason as to why Nader's merry little band of followers fights on with such fervor. When a Naderite bravely pipes up to mention her champion in a political science class discussion focusing exclusively on Gore and Bush, she is either not heard or ignored. Greens hold tables in the Union and protest students gathering to watch the presidential debates. Perhaps our protesters find inspiration in a quote from Cicero, the Roman statesman, that can be found in the brochure. "Freedom is Participation in Power," it says. One problem: these poor, plucky souls have no power – and they badly wish to rule.
For they do have opinions, strong ones, most of which involve large changes in what is clearly considered the decadent lifestyle of average Americans. We should, the literature proclaims, adopt "alternative institutions" and "ecological lifestyles" based on "community-focused economics" and "ecological wisdom." Wisdom. The birth of the Green Party postdates my own by six years. Yet it confidently asserts the wisdom to tell us how to live.
Here, I admit, I may be a bit misleading. It is true that Nader himself has been a consumer crusader on the public scene for four decades. Although it remains unclear whether it is the consumer's interest he has in mind, he certainly doesn't care much for the choices they make.
"The consumer," (i.e. the average American) "must be protected at times from his own indiscretion and vanity." This was Nader circa 1959. His view has not changed.
Nader became most famous after attacking the automobile industry for "negluct" of safety. The industry was, you see, making cars that were less safe than ones that they could have been making. To Nader, this was sin. To reasonable people, it was just practical. Sure, the automakers could churn out invincible tanks for use on the road. The fact that no one would be able to afford them probably matters little to Nader anyway.
Detroit listened to some degree, however, and now sells high-dollar, gas-guzzling, outrageously safe SUV's. Of course, Nader doesn't like those either.
In fact, after a closer look, one begins to suspect that the Greens and others of like-minded philosophy would be perfectly content to tell you what cars, houses, groceries or underwear to buy — or, better yet, issue them to you from some "community-focused" location.
So remember the next time you pass a Green Party table or protest, they may look cute, young and energetically devoted to their purpose — telling us all how to live.
Marine is a Prairie Village senior in political science.
Steve Sack / TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES
Heard on the Hill
Do you think the University was right to remove the Coming Out Day messages from the sidewalks Wednesday?
"I don't really think so, I mean, 'Hello, it's college.' Things like that are going to get written." Vicki Stair Olathe freshman
"I don't think it's right for people to write on the sidewalks because campus is not pretty (with the writings). I want campus clean."
Annie Pham
Vietnam junior
"No. They weren't right because it's each individual's right to freedom of expression, unless they were deemed inappropriate by the organization." Taaha Hassan Wichita junior
"Yeah. They'd be offensive to a lot people. I personally wouldn't want that crap on my university." John Breidenthal Wichita sophmore
Letters to the Editor
Suggestions should include reporting assaults to police
KU's Athletics Department will be well served if it follows Barbara Ballard's suggestions for handling future sexual assault complaints from athletes.
But she left out one crucial first step for sexual assault victims: Report the incident to police immediately — before reporting it to the Athletics Department.
The Athletics Department has a built-in conflict of interest when one athlete is assaulted by another. That conflict was apparent in the case of the soccer player who was sexually battered by a football player. She first reported the crime to soccer coach Mark Francis, then to football coach Terry Allen, then to Athletics Director Bob Frederick none of whom contacted police or suggested that she do so.
As one of her professors, I was the first KU person outside the Athletics Department she told about the assault nearly two months after it happened, and I drove her directly to the police station. Designating Amy Perko, associate athletics director, as the person to whom sexual assault complaints can be made makes sense only if the athlete is counseled to first report such crimes to police.
Ted Frederickson Professor of journalism
The natural inclination of the University or any other institution is to contain unflattering news about itself. In fact, after the soccer player took her complaint to police, she was warned by Athletics Department officials to stop talking to the media about the incident.
Gay rights deserve attention, but not with obscenities
The gay rights movement has been here for more than 20 years. They stand up for good principles, good rights and good ideals. I admit that the battle for equality has been long and difficult, and the battle still rages onward today. That still doesn't change the fact that we stepped on the word "vibrator" Wednesday on our daily trek home from classes.
The obscenities printed boldly on the sidewalks of our campus today pushed the bounds of human decency. All the talk about gay rights is good, but the methods employed by the writers of those messages were just wrong. We just don't want to deal with learning about other people's sexual fetishes on the way back from class. Slogans like "Equality for All," and "Gay Rights Now" are fine by me, but phrases like "Spread the Word and Spread your Legs" just don't ring well in our ears. So intermingled among chalk drawings of the human anatomy and lude phrases, our decision was made. Rights movements are necessary, but they need to be executed with tact.
We believe that the obscene chalk writings hurt the cause of gay rights more than they helped it. For instance, our respect for the backers of the cause was severely diminished this morning upon seeing the creative new spelling of Dyche Hall, or the newfound use for the Vs on crosswalks. If we, as straight males, were to inscribe our beloved streets with sexual innuendoes, we would be looked down upon by the public. Why should the standards be changed in the case of gay rights?
In closing, we feel that equal rights for all are vital to society. However, expressing a need for equality in a sexually lude manner is simply inappropriate.
Joe Miller and Greg Lang WaKeeney freshmen
Editorial
Alcohol tragedies must end
Students should take time to learn about the dangers of alcohol abuse.
Alcohol remains the leading factor in motor vehicle deaths. In 1999, 537 people died in traffic accidents in Kansas. Of those deaths, 186, or 35 percent, involved alcohol. These are frightening statistics.
This week was Alcohol Awareness Week at the University of Kansas and, upon the conclusion of the week, students should take some time to examine these statistics and think about the consequences of driving under the influence. Drunk driving can result in injury to oneself or another driver and, most tragically, in death.
Designating a week for alcohol awareness on campus is necessary to inform students about the many effects of alcohol abuse. According to statistics on the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Web site (www.madd.org), between 240,000 and 360,000 of the 12 million undergraduates in the United States will eventually die from alcohol-related causes. More students will die than will earn a master's or doctoral degree.
Unfortunately, drunk driving is an issue that needs to be dealt with all the time, not just during Alcohol Awareness Week. Drunk driving is common on college campuses. Driving drunk is a felony in Kansas, as well as in many other states. People caught driving under the influence can face time in jail, revocation of their licenses or a variety of other punishments.
Students should take some time to learn more about alcohol and the affect it can have on one's life if used improperly.
The next time you think about driving home from a bar or from a party after having a few drinks with your friends, think about the consequences that you, your parents and your friends will have to face as a result of your actions.
Katie Hackett for the editorial board
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansas reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. To read more, go to www.kansas.com.
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Do you know anyone who pronounces the word "Wednesday" correctly?
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I don't think I should pay the $34 campus fee next year because I'm not even going to be around when the rec center opens in 2002.
I think the only thing good about the Kansan is the Free for All.
True success should not be gauged in financial terms. It should be purely based on personal happiness.
Although baseball is the national pasttime, The Simpsons is the national cartoon and Jeopardy is the national trivia show, both of which have been cancelled because of baseball, and I think that's bad.
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I believe that people in other countries should be eligible to vote in the U.S. presidential election because the U.S.president affects and often harms people in other countries.
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The words "hand" and "foot" should not be used in the University Daily Kansan. It's just plain wrong.
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A lot of the information in the KU Students for Life pro/con article was mlsrepresentative and false. In addition, when was the last time he was a pregnant women? And when was the last he went to a gynecologist and was counseled on these issues?
All Democrats should vote for Nader because Kansas' electoral votes are always Republican. Why waste your vote on Gore and help no one when you can do some good for the people and vote for Nader? Help establish a real third party for the people.
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Why do gays have to shove their immoral lifestyle in everyone else's face?
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