4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
MONDAY,OCT.29,2001
TALKTOUS
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Where have I heard this before?
Marie Antoinette, when informed the people were starving. She was beheaded by French Revolutionaries.
ADAM PRACHT/KANSAN
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
PERSPECTIVE
MISUNDERSTOOD OBJECTIVISM
Dear editor,
Ben edition.
In response to the column "Greens' fasting demonstration ignores real reasons for protest" (Oct. 26), I would like to encourage Mr. Kenyon to take his own advice. I agree the KU Greens' protest was misdirected and ill-informed — his conception of Objectivism was the same.
Kenyon said that Objectivism is ant-charity and anti-volunteering, which is thoroughly inaccurate. Rather, Objectivism is anti-enslavement — it is against obligatory charity and mandatory volunteer work. It is a philosophy that says that you should act in own interests. If you get involved with a charity or volunteer organization because you care about it — terrific. But the idea that you have a duty or obligation to sacrifice yourself to those around you is absolutely immoral.
Our feast is a prime example of this. When I chose to set this up, I wanted to get as many students involved as I could, and nothing draws like free food. So our group provided cake, and in return, I got the results that I wanted — people reading about our position and our philosophy, eating American Flag cake as they stand in front of a ridiculous fast.
stand in front of a crowd.
On the other hand, had I done this because I thought I had some personal obligation to supply the University with food, then Kenyon would have been correct. It would have been completely against the philosophy of Objectivism.
As far as our free cake being contrary to capitalism — there are other ways to support capitalism than selling cake. I might have been able to make a very moderate sum of money, but that was not my goal at all. Capitalism is simply a political system that leaves men free to trade value for value without the threat of government coersion — my value was the cake, their value was their attention.
Rachelle Cauton Overland Park junior President of KU Objectivists
Facts, logic don't stop protesters at the School of the Americas
This November several KU students will join with hundreds of other misguided activists in protesting the School of the Americas. They will be discouraged by nothing: not crappy weather, not nay-saying columnists, and certainly not pesky "facts" and logic." They are on a mission to stop "civilian-targeted warfare" by shutting down a school that is designed to "[teach] an army how to kill its own people." And they claim that the weight of evidence supports their cause.
SOA Watch and the true believers here on campus are always quick to point out that 600 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATORS graduated SOA. But they never bother to provide any kind of context for that number. And, perhaps more important, they never explain how it is that the school makes this human rights violations occur. So instead of a substantive critique of specific policies and programs, we are left with vague inundees, emotional case studies and specious assumptions.
However, it doesn't take much to see through the protestors' smoke and mirrors. For their story to be plausible the following ought to be true: A significant percentage of SOA graduates should be human rights violators. The program at the school ought to be the catalyst by which otherwise well-adjusted people become human rights abusers. And the presence of its graduates should be an effective predictor of the likelihood of human rights abuse. Let's look at each item in turn.
Let's look at it again.
If SOA is a school that teaches human rights abuse, one would expect that at the very least a significant minority of the students would, in fact,
Robert Chamberlain Columnist opinionkansan.com
Commentary
become human rights abusers. However, according to SOA Watch there are about 60,000 graduates and only 600 suspected human rights abusers. Another way to say that is that 99 percent of SOA graduates have never even been accused of violations of human rights. Therefore, it appears that if SOA is designed to teach "an army how to kill its own people," then it does a remarkably poor job of it. On
...If SOA is designed to teach "an army how to kill its own people," then it does a remarkably poor job of it.
the other hand, if it is supposed to familiarize students with U.S. military practices and norms, it appears that it is successful in inculcating or reinforcing U.S. values 99 percent of the time.
If SOA is supposed to cause these well-adjusted people to become raving psychopaths, then one would also expect SOA graduates to have a higher incident of psychopathic behavior than the general population. But let's extend the math from above. One percent of school's graduates exhibit psychopathic tendencies. Interestingly enough, 1 percent of the population (according to Dave Grossman, Ph.D.) is also psychopathic. Thus, SOA graduates are no more likely to be evildoers than the guy sitting next to you in class
Finally, it is undeniable that some countries participating in SOA have had massive human rights abuses. That the U.S. was not more vociferous in its opposition to these practices is certainly a black mark on American history. However, it is equally important to note that there are human rights abuses all over the world in countries that have never even heard of the school — Cuba, Cambodia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Bosnia, etc. These awful crimes have been with us since the dawn of time, and to pretend that they wouldn't have occurred without the existence of SOA is disingenuous, to say the least.
I issue a challenge to the anti-SOA advocates on campus: Explain yourselves. Demonstrate the underlying mechanism by which the school creates evil. Elucidate the specifics of your position. Reconcile your conclusion with your seemingly incommensurate evidence. Don't resort to emotional stories. Don't continue to spew data without any context or analysis. Show KU once and for all that SOA is undeniably evil on the basis of cold, hard facts.
If you can really do this, then all KU students, including myself, should be happy to join you at Ft. Benning. If not, then not only can your voices be ignored, they ought to be.
Chamberlain is a senior in political science from Topeka
Greens fast to show the government a better way
more reflective appraisals. Fasters had their own reasons for fasting, but we shared some motivations. We hoped that fasting would raise awareness about the Afghan refugee situation, foster discussion about solutions to a complex problem, and demonstrate that not everyone approves of our government's response. Activities during the fast ranged from guest speakers to group discussion and brainstorming.
Members of the KU Green Party fasted last week to raise awareness of the suffering of the Afghan people. Many may ask "why fast?" Fasting has a strong tradition worldwide as a means to promote reflective thought and peace.
Critics of the fast, including Kansan guest columnist Jay Kenyon ("Greens" fasting demonstration ignores real reasons for protest,"Oct. 26), suggested that our actions were misdirected, naive and futile. Kenyon also criticized us for not fasting to raise awareness of the atrocities in Afghanistan before Sept. 11.
The Green Party has worked for years to stop abuses of basic human rights throughout the world. Our platform expresses our opposition to support of
Commentary
Galen Turner
& Joe Jarvis
Guest columnists
opinionkanen.com
repressive regimes. The abuses of the Taliban are no exception. Many of us have organized or signed petitions, written letters, and taken part in other political activities to stop the horrific injustices in Afghanistan. Our government has ignored our pleas and even aided the Taliban when it was "in our nation's interests" to do so. Kenyon's assertion that we ignored Taliban oppression of women, Hindus, and others in Afghanistan is patently false.
Some may wonder why we chose to fast now. The current situation in Afghanistan is distinctive because it is our government that is destroying Afghan homes, food supplies, and international aid efforts; we are creating new
Kenyon wrote that our "hunger strike is nothing more than a futile gesture in support of an oppressive regime." Yet, he turned a blind eye to the millions in aid our government has given to the Taliban. He also turned a blind eye to our government's complacency when women were being tortured and religious monuments destroyed.
refugees and exacerbating an already-terrible humanitarian crisis. Our failures must not be ignored or excused as acceptable costs in the hunt for terrorists.
The current bombing is making the situation worse. War does not stabilize a region. Many reputable and "real world" organizations recognize the need to stop the bombing, including the United Nations, Oxfam America, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and the Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan (RAWA). RAWA, the group best qualified to speak on the situation, explains the counter-productivity of our attacks on its Web site (www.rawa.org): "The continuation of U.S. attacks and the increase in the number of innocent
civilian victims not only gives an excuse to the Taliban, but also will cause the empowering of the fundamentalist forces in the region and even in the world."
Even if the U.S. bombing succeeds in toppling the Taliban, what hope do Afghanistan's citizens have? The U.S.-backed Northern Alliance is also accountable for deplorable human rights abuses. What will make them change their condemnable behavior if they take control of Afghanistan?
We as greens hold firm in the belief that our government's actions are not ethical or effective. Not all of us are pacifists, but we do stand united against the bombing. The people of Afghanistan must not be made to suffer for the wrongs of the Taliban, Al-Queda, or bin Laden. So, when critics like Kenyon suggest we should "have a piece of cake," we'll politely pass. There is a lot to be done.
Turner is a senior from Lawrence. Jarvis is a senior in political science from Lenexa. They are president and vice-president of KU Greens.
FREE for ALL
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Yeah, I went to Abe & Jake's last night for the Rock Chalk Karaoke Party, and I found out they no longer scan. I'm gonna be there every night now, hell yeah.
福
Indiana Jones, hands down.
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Honk Bobo's nose
It's not even a contest—Star Wars.
.
As much as I want classes canceled, we shouldn't cancel classes for beating K-State, because come on, they're 0-4.
Sometimes I just can't find the motivation to go to class anymore...
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The story about the scooter and the soccer team was the stupidest thing I have ever read, and I can not believe you put that in the sports page.
With all the anthrax scares going on, we really ought to get rid of the white powdered soap in Wescoe and Budig, otherwise someone's gonna panic.
I wonder what it's like to read your own words in the newspaper.
涵
Here's an idea. Book it! 101. You read
book you get a pizza pie. Any questions?
Osama yo mama.
Anyone that thinks they're better because their from St. Louis is sorely mistaken.
both my roommates have mono, but
both they both. What's up with that?
Do toilets flush backwards in Australia?
Does anyone else in this school think "responsible drinking" is an oxymoron?
Has anyone else noticed that Scott Bakula
rhymes with spect-akula?
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On the question of which is the better triology, Star Wars or Indiana Jones, I just have one thing to say: Would you choose favorites among your children? I think not.
My roommate's girlfriend spilled ice cream on her boobs, and I cannot stop looking at them.
Who are you, and how did you get in here?
I'm a locksmith and I'm a locksmith.
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I had a relationship with Gene Hackman, and he was emotionally unavailable.
The Chiefs are seriously sucking.
I drank with this girl until 4:30 in the morning, and what did she do? She went home.
How many surrealists does it take to screw in a light bulb? A goat
Why do they call him Daffy Duck anyway?
He's not really daffy, and I don't think he's a duck.
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