4A - THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2002
FACE-OFI
Should voters attack negative ads?
Face-Off is a weekly project of the Kansan editorial board.
Each Wednesday two editorial board members will argue opposing sides of a hot-button issue that affects students at the University of Kansas. We hope that this section will help students to understand both sides of an argument and make
better decisions about their own beliefs.
If you have a suggestion for a topic that could be used in Face-Off, or if you would like to join the editorial board, please call Maggie Koerth or Amy Potter at 864-4924. You can also email suggestions to opinion@kansan.com.
Childish campaigns don't help anyone
Negative campaign ads are an election year tradition. Unfortunately, they are also useless because voters cannot trust them and because they don't garner any votes for candidates.
For instance, a recent ad panned Kansas gubernatorial candidate Tim Shallenburger's use of negative ads.
However, The Lawrence Journal-World reported in an article titled "Sebelius ad attacks Shallenburger's attack" that Sebelius "has also launched so-called negative ads that Shallenburger claims are misleading."
Even when candidates are accusing other candidates of airing negative ads, they themselves are hiding behind a veil of hypocrisy.
Why shouldn't politicians use negative ads to promote their position?
Two local professors raised their concern that negative campaign ads are offensive and anything but effective in a story titled "Negative ads win few votes, experts say" in The Lawrence JournalWorld.
Rohini Ahluwalia, KU associate professor of business, who specializes in how people process negative information, did a study of 2,000 voters across the nation and evaluated their response to different political questions.
She found that negative ads are simply reinforcing the feelings of voters who have already made up their minds.
Mark Peterson, Washburn University
assistant professor of political science, pointed out that negative ads often make candidates seem desperate. He said that candidates who are behind usually begin using negative campaign ads try to compensate.
Some supporters of negative campaign ads say they are important because they raise discussion surrounding critical issues. However, a majority of the time information in these ads is false or misleading.
For example, a Sebelius ad that said Kansas law enforcement endorsed her for governor misled voters. The statement, although partially true, fails to mention that the Fraternal Order of Police and Friends of Kansas State Troopers endorsed Shallenburger too, saying both candidates would make a good governor.
When ads are false or misleading it leaves viewers frustrated, not knowing what to believe. Millions of dollars are wasted each year on ads viewers can't even trust.
With election now over, viewers can breath a sigh of relief and not worry about the constant onslaught of negative campaign advertising. However, the time will come again when we'll hear statements such as "Enough with the negative ads. Kansas deserves better" again.
Those commercials, at least, are right, voters do deserve better.
Amy Potter dissenting
Monica White/Kansan
Ads provide unique perspective
It's a practice as old as time and as advanced as the sandbox. The art of mudslinging, today in the form negative political advertising, is a staple of the modern political landscape.
This year's election has been no exception as both major parties used whatever means necessary to gain control of congress.
The seemingly omnipresent television commercials and newspaper ads disintegrated into insults, but still some held nuggets of truth.
Thus presents the question, are these advertisements really necessary to maintain our democratic society?
Such advertisements serve important functions in our political system by conveying vital information, sharing with us the character of our candidates and even entertaining us.
As voters we need to be informed. Although these advertisements may be shady or ethically questionable, if true, they present a side of candidates that might not otherwise be seen.
Take the case of Senator Jesse Helms, R-N.C., who in 1993 attempted to make then Senator and African-American leader Carol Moseley-Braun, D-III., cry by singing "I wish I was in the land of cotton..." and eventually whistling "Dixie."
This provides a telling look into Helm's character.
If a political commercial highlighted this aspect of Helm's work in congress, then it would have served a valuable purpose to the voter.
Another aspect inherent in negative political advertising, whether good or bad, is its great effectiveness.
A prime example of this occurred in the 2002 Montana Senatorial race. Republican Senate candidate Mike Taylor, suspended his campaign after saying that he was too far behind in the polls to the incumbent Senator Max Baucus, D-Mont.
He was lagging behind in the polls, but his dropout also occurred after his opponent aired a controversial campaign ad that implicitly portrayed Taylor as a homosexual hairdresser and accused him of bilking a student loan program.
Taylor's case shows how powerful an ad can be and how dangerous these ads can be if they are misused.
It is also important to take all negative campaign ads with a grain of salt. They are by nature inflammatory, and the greater the accusation the greater the rise they intended to get.
At their best, these ads should awaken critical curiosity in the voter and inspire them to do research to find the right leaders. At their worst, these ads will point to the stupidity or the ineffectiveness of those publishing them.
Either way, negative political campaign ads,provide a valuable service to the voter and to the future.
PERSPECTIVES
Patrick Cady for the editorial board.
Personal responsibility, not sense of humor, shows maturity
adulthood.
Many would agree maturity is the most important factor in determining our arrival at
If we look at this reasonably, it is obvious that someone can be mature and still enjoy a good fart joke.
However, the definition of maturity is often subject to debate. Some say if you enjoy jackass and binge drinking, you are immature.
Maturity, to me, is the ability to take responsibility for your actions and treat other people with respect.
According to a recent study by the Polling Report, a national polling service these are the two values Americans feel are lacking most in today's society. It would
appear we are suffering from a gross lack of maturity among the populous.
GUEST COMMENTARY
I am compelled to agree after spending two years at KU. Everywhere I go, I have been engaging in social experiments to test the maturity level of my fellow students.
If any people are within 20 feet of a door I am opening, I hold it for them, eagerly awaiting their reaction. The results have been abysmal.The majority of people walk right through as if I were not even there, without so much as a smile or glance.
I see this behavior everywhere: people blowing smoke in others faces on Wescoe Beach; walking with their faces buried in papers or cell phones, tacitly demanding others make way; chatting or sleeping in class when they could easily not attend;
Steve Ducey
lburchfield@kansan.com
flicking cigarette butts or trash when a receptacle is but a few feet away; parking in handicapped spaces or fire lanes; roommates constantly leaving messes for others to clean.
In each of these actions there is an implicit assertion that the person doing the action actor is somehow "special" or
exempt from what should be a universal rule of conduct.
This is an illogical way to behave if everyone's rights are to be fulfilled.
The rights of one should not impinge on the rights of others. If so, rules of conduct are meaningless. In other words, no one is "special."
"Special" people, whether consciously or not, think they are more important and that others should work to service their wants and needs. When they break a rule, others should either take the blame or fix the problem. They fail to take responsibility for their actions and show an enormous lack of respect for the rights of others.
There is a name for people who behave like this. Most cultures refer to these people as children.
If we are to step into the world of adulthood, where we live not only to guarantee our rights but also the rights of others, more of us must become aware of and respect those rights. We live in a society with rules. These rules demand that we take a hit to our own ego for the benefit of everyone's freedom.
To act like you are all that matters is pure folly, selfishness, and immaturity. We are about to become adults, so it is high time we realized what our parents meant when they told us to grow up.
Ducey is an Overland Park sophomore in theatre and film.
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editor
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So if the sniper was trained by the U.S. military, and Osama bin Laden was trained by the U.S. military, maybe there's a connection there.Maybe it means something.
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Did you know if the herpes virus comes in contact with the eyes, it causes blindness? So I was just wondering if they make eye condoms.
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Interesting that almost every reprise in the letter to the editor on Thursday was conservative. Kansan, you are way too liberal.
I just wanna thank the paramedics for taking care of my friend who bashed his head into a door frame because he was so excited about getting Jimmy John's. You guys rock.
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I just a read a quote out of the article on female masturbation in the Kansan. The direct quote says "Female masturbation is thought of as being unthinkable." Well, I just wanted to say that I think about it all the time.
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Porno is so much better when you're drinking.
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El Camino, El-El Camino. The front is like a car, the back is like a truck. The front is where you ride, the back is where you... El Camino, El-El Camino.
Did you know that boys have a chromosome that makes them dizzy?
Brad's balls bang against the pickup bed. Alliteration.
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Taking Eric Borja seriously is like deciding to take up jump roping for a living. Why would you do it? You stupid people!
And please Americans, remember to have your Bush family spayed or neutered.
I personally think those snipers should get the death penalty. They shot a child, Enough said.
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The downfall of Brett. Slowly he awakens from his slumber, and emerges from his den. The sun has already set. He has skipped class again.
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Am I gonna go to hell if I throw away that Bible those men were handing out on campus the other day?
This is to whoever called Teddy Roosevelt a tree-hugger. He preferred conservation over preservation, and the main part of his national forests was to protect the animals because he loved to hunt. So, those who call him a tree-hugger or an animal rights person are completely wrong, considering he has a grizzly bear that he shot in the Smithsonian museum.
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This message is for all the people who told me throughout my life that I wouldn't amount to anything. You're right, and I hate you.
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