4A = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2002
TALKTOUS
Jay Krail editor or krallk@kansan.com
864-4854 or jeremy.brooke.Hesler and Kyle Ramsey managing editors 864-4854 or bhesler@kansan.com and kramsey@kansan.com
Laurel Burchfield
readers' representative
864-4810 or lburhfield@ansan.com
Maggie Koerth and Amy Potter opinion editors 864-4924 or opinion.kansan.com
Amber Agee business manager 864-4358 or advertising@ansan.com
Eric Kelting
retail sales manager
864-4358 or
advertising@kanansan.com
Malcolm Gibson general manager and news advisor 864-7667 or mglibson@kansan.com
Matt Fisher
sales and marketing adviser
864-7666 or mfisher@kansan.com
Free for All
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to omit comments. Slanderous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
For more comments, go to www.kansan.com.
Forget religion. Give me some oolum
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I wonder. Why do Alailyah and Left Eye have to die and Britney Spears is still alive? That just is very unfair.
about the girls signing the Playboy magazine' cause they were in it, I just was so disgusted and mad. Mainly because I didn't hear what was going on and I'm kinda upset that I missed it.
Delta Force, that was a great party the other night. Thanks for the flag.
about the girls signing the Playboy magazine' cause they were in it, I just was so disgusted and mad. Mainly because I didn't hear what was going on and I'm kinda upset that I missed it.
To the boys at Phi Kappa Psi; thanks for changing with the blinds up. We have a video camera, too.
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I don't think I should have to call in and tell you how to punctuate my Free for All comments. You should be able to tell by the way I say things how to print them. I'm so frustrated! Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!
about the girls signing the Playboy magazine' cause they were in it, I just was so disgusted and mad. Mainly because I didn't hear what was going on and I'm kinda upset that I missed it.
--about the girls signing the Playboy magazine' cause they were in it, I just was so disgusted and mad. Mainly because I didn't hear what was going on and I'm kinda upset that I missed it.
To the person who wrote into the Kansan that possessing a fake I.D. is perfectly legal, maybe you should make an appointment at legal services for students it's 864-5665. Thanks.
about the girls signing the Playboy magazine' cause they were in it, I just was so disgusted and mad. Mainly because I didn't hear what was going on and I'm kinda upset that I missed it.
I was just calling about the UDK today. If you're gonna print about greek life, get it right, because the girls on the front page are Kappa Kappa Gammas, not Delta Gammas.
about the girls signing the Playboy magazine' cause they were in it, I just was so disgusted and mad. Mainly because I didn't hear what was going on and I'm kinda upset that I missed it.
Hey, so yeah, me and my roommates wanna say that we don't like one of our other roommates, because he doesn't really know how to clean up after himself. So other roommate, if you could start picking your stuff up, that'd be nice. Oh yeah, tomorrow's trash day, don't forget.
about the girls signing the Playboy magazine' cause they were in it, I just was so disgusted and mad. Mainly because I didn't hear what was going on and I'm kinda upset that I missed it.
Yeah, this is Two-Fingers Johnson. I think DJ Jason Barr should leave his publicity to Man-child and not call the Kansar's Free for All line.
Does the University not realize that it's summer and therefore there are students wearing shorts and therefore they shouldn't keep the buildings at negative 25 degrees?
--about the girls signing the Playboy magazine' cause they were in it, I just was so disgusted and mad. Mainly because I didn't hear what was going on and I'm kinda upset that I missed it.
Sorority girls make me wanna puke.
Meow. Meow, meow, meow, meow,
meow. (purring noise)
Darn those smart cats, I knew I shouldn't have taught my cat to dial the phone.
about the girls signing the Playboy magazine' cause they were in it, I just was so disgusted and mad. Mainly because I didn't hear what was going on and I'm kinda upset that I missed it.
Hey, I turned 21 yesterday and guess what? I am the exact same person I was the day before.
about the girls signing the Playboy magazine' cause they were in it, I just was so disgusted and mad. Mainly because I didn't hear what was going on and I'm kinda upset that I missed it.
about the girls signing the Playboy magazine' cause they were in it, I just was so disgusted and mad. Mainly because I didn't hear what was going on and I'm kinda upset that I missed it.
When I saw the article in the Kansan
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It's the second week of school and I've already been stood up. Again. Woe is me.
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I just wanted to say that I think it's so sweet how my tuition has been raised so that I may fully enjoy all the perks and quality of education experience of a Big 12 school. On that note, I guess it's KU I should thank every time I'm sitting out three-fourths of a work out in my overenrolled, short-of-equipment spinning class. Thanks you greedy punks, I hope you choke on your caviar and someone keys your Mercedes.
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What's that smell in Colony Woods?
I was just thinking about all the budget cuts around the University and I got this idea that maybe the fraternities and sororites could donate all the money that they use to make the T-shirts for every single party they have to the University and just benefit everyone. I mean they're so all about community service, right?
Hey, to the blond chick that was wearing the hot pink dress on Wednesday, you all know who she was. Can I just saw, wow
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Hi, I'd just like to say, if there's no grass on the field, play in the mud.
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For the love of god, if you're going to ride the bus, wear deodorant. Take the cap off, role it on, it's that simple.
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Bored college students. How do we relieve boredom? We speak in Haiu. Thank you.
The Pirate House is no more? That upsets me. I always took pleasure in walking by and making fun of them.
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Arrr, matey,the ship has sank.
Arrr, walk the plank, matty, there's no scaly- wags on this ship.
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Am it the only guy on campus who enjoys seeing the sorority girls splash around in the fountain? I don't think so.
Yeah, I'd just like to point out that I live in Templin Hall, and it's 1:15 in the morning, and Ellsworth Hall is closed, and I still had to park in the Lied Center. Thank you, KU parking.
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What a great day, I got up, went to sex class,
went to work, get a raise, my playboy
signed by the KU playmates, and I also realized that my ex-girlfriend was one of the girls from K-State. Can't beat that.
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Yes, this is to the woman who was complaining about the two guys in class talking about her friend in Playboy. Um, your friend put herself in that, quote, "position." Thanks.
To the girls standing in the Chi-O fountain earlier, thank you.
Hey, if anybody has any ideas about how to shut their neighbors up or make 'em be a little bit quieter, I'd really like to know, because apparently yelling about it when you see them standing on their front porch doesn't do any good.
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My roommate said to stop calling, but man,
those girls upstairs really make me mad.
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SACK'S VIEW
Knight Ridder
ON THE KANSAN ONLINE
kansan.com
Go to kansan.com and click on the opinion section to check out the weekly online poll and discussion.
Opinion Discussion
- What do you think about the tuition increase now? Has it hurt you? Have you seen any benefits?
Opinion Poll What do you think about the proposed new Wal-Mart? We already have one. Another Wal-Mart would be an eyesore.
Lawrence is getting bigger. We can handle two
It won't matter one way or another.
PERSPECTIVES
Violence in movies and on TV deaden our sense of reality
GUEST COMMENTARY
In the days ahead, much energy will be expended memorializing the destruction of the World Trade Center last year. I want to turn to a different aspect of the effects of that terrible day. On Sept. 11, I was disturbed to find how little that vicious destruction disturbed me.
This is not to say that it did not affect me. I felt surprise and offense, and sympathy for the victims. But I did not feel the visceral outrage, the reflexive horror, that I expected to feel. A year later, on a logical, detached level, I readily acknowledge the significance of what happened but my emotions remain disengaged. This bothers me — how to explain it?
Joe Pull
opinion@hansan.com
Long have some argued that violence in the media makes people more violent. Some have called for controls or reduction of the media's depiction of violence. As a sophisticated university community, these proposals are easy to ignore. But how do we respond if the argument is slightly changed?
When we've already seen New York
Putting it bluntly, what if watching a city get nuked in *The Sum of All Fears* and watching prisoners slaughter each other in *Gladiator* have a destructive effect on our psyche, warping our view of the world? I enjoyed these movies and many like them. But on reflection, I am dismayed to realize how omnipresent large-scale destruction is in our entertainment. Can this be healthy?
City get smashed in Godzilla and the White House get blown up in Independence Day, is it really any surprise that hearing 3,000 people died as planes crashed into some skyscrapers does not generate the depth of feeling (for me, at least) that it really should?
To be fair, many people did demonstrate just the sort of feelings and reactions that I expected of myself in the aftermath of last September. But I can't help thinking that regular exposure to ever-escalating levels of destruction in our entertainment is jading us.
I suggest that we as citizens and people need to take a closer look at what we watch (and play) for fun. Hollywood claims it only gives people what they want. My own infatuation with military games and movies haunts me as I write this. I loved Gladiator and eagerly anticipate the Helm's Deep battle scene in the upcoming installment of the Lord of the Rings movies. But if war really is so awful, why do we lessen the mental impact of killing by watching it
regularly? And if it really was so barbaric of the Romans to watch prisoners kill each other, why do we revel in watching the same on the big screen?
Destruction has its place in art. Watching troops hit the beach at Normandy helps us to appreciate what veterans sacrificed. But must we immerse ourselves in it? A culture that is saturated with destruction dulls us to the horror of death, hardens us against things that should disturb us, and distorts the way we look at and react to larger questions of life. Like it or not, what we watch becomes part of us.
A professor once told one of my classes that if the Holocaust did not evoke a visceral reaction of horror and outrage in a person, then there was something wrong with that person. The same, I think, can be said about the destruction of last September. This forces the conclusion that in my entertainment choices I have harmed myself. I don't think I'm beyond hope — the scene in Gladiator where the crowd deliriously cheers the brutal killing while Maximus asks "Are you not entertained?" sickened me. But partial, rather than total, damage is hardly something to celebrate. For our own good, we need to more carefully choose entertainment so as to limit our desensitization to destruction.
Joe Pull is a Colfax, N.D., senior in history and political science.
Money should not be considered universal symbol of peace
When we value money over people, peace becomes a joke. The value of cash is unconsciously spoon-fed to us as the definition of success in our culture.
Peace is a concept that makes Fox newcasters groan out loud and commercial-watchers imagine a quiet ride in a Nissan. Our culture says that believing in peace is as unpatriotic as renouncing U.S. citizenship.
Meanwhile, our economic system is turning millions of individuals into "I've got to have it all" consumers who do not see the effects of their actions.
It is important to question our role as privileged citizens of the world and travel outside our comfort levels to learn values
All it really takes to step out of our narrow-minded "us against the world" vision is looking at what makes people healthy, creative, and alive. With more than 6 billion people on earth, everyone wants and deserves a chance to feel life. According to the World Bank Website, 40 percent of the world has never made a phone call.
GUEST COMMENTARY
from other communities.
Most of us turn a blind eye away from a planet that is screaming with human rights abuses, environmental disasters, an increasing gap between the privileged and underprivileged, corporation control, and a varied slew of other happenings.
Monica White opinion@kansan.com
We dehumanize people through our out-of-control neo-American-dream mentality of corporations, oil, diamonds.
big Benzes, and steak dinners which impose heavy demands on nature for the benefit of few.
Wars, less funding for schools, doubling prison incarceration rates, burning rainforests, and sweatshop clothing brands become easy sells to the public under this blanket of having the money to
It's not necessary to be up-to-date with the news to understand that the United States is in need of some major creative solutions quickly. Our media ignores it because their primary concern is how to make money, not how to serve the people. And our corporations and president are stuck in a kiss-up obligation to their friends in oil and military empires.
Change is directly linked to our everyday choices. The "I don't care where it comes from as long as I have it" attitude is sick. The products we choose affect millions of people locally and internationally.
pay off others for our mistakes.
That's why the voice of the people often is ignored.
But it's not as big a headache as it seems.
Alternative press and other organizations show that enormous groups of people are working together to challenge who we are as individuals and as a country. If we love the United States, we can appreciate its glory and still address the problems.
Peace may still seem impossible at a world level, yet it certainly isn't on a personal level. Compassion toward people from whom we don't expect to gain something is peace. Be open-minded, regardless of whether you identify with liberal, conservative, independent or other ideals. It's your choice whether you see a beautiful world.
Monica White is a Tulsa, Okla., senior majoring in Spanish and journalism.