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OPINION
5A
MONDAY NOVEMBER 17 2008
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The effect of gay-only school is exaggerated
I would like to point out the erroneous reasoning in the piece on a possible "gay school" in Chicago to address the needs of an under-served population of LGBT youth.
The author improperly equates the admission policy of the new School for Social Justice with the "separate but equal" policy. Separate but equal mandated segregation; this school allows any student to attend, regardless of race, sexual orientation, etc., with particular consideration to LGBT youth.
The author blows way out of proportion the effect of one high school in a city of more than 120 public high schools (according to the Chicago Public Schools Web site) and nearly 3 million people. Even if every student attending this school were LGBT (likely not to be the case), the number of LGBT students "removed" from every other high school in Chicago, and thereby removing the possibility of teaching intolerant students "tolerance and acceptance," would be minute. The mass exodus of LGBT students from every other high school in Chicago implied by the author exaggerates both the intentions of LGBT youth in Chicago and the limited capacity of this school.
Don't confuse diplomacy with appeasement
On Nov. 14, The University Daily Kansan ran a cartoon illustrating the choice between "candyland" and "reality" approaching President-elect Barack Obama. In reality we see "big sticks" (military power), and in Candley we see "Neville Chamberlain" and "diplomacy"
For the unaware, Chamberlain was the British Prime Minister best known today for appeasing the Third Reich and failing to act enough against Hitler. Comparisons between his inaction and Obama's plans to open the gates of discussion before opening the gates of destruction are birthed from the same reactionary primordial soup that feeds Rush Limbaugh, and like Limbaugh, are full of hot air.
- Aaron Olsen is a senior from Overland Park.
Third, the author makes mention of, and yet misunderstands, the intention of this school. There are those students who cannot learn in an environment in which they are continually harassed, much less learn or benefit from "surviving such adversity."To them "such adversity" is not an edifying experience, it is a deblilitating experience. These students need four formative years in an accepting, educational environment in order to surmount the harassment they will face down the road.
Fortunately, the author did not need this type of school. Some students do.
Diplomacy is an essential component of international policy. Our "shoot first and ask questions later" philosophy is rooted in the instinct that scaring or bombing the hell out of someone will make them cooperate and won't sow the seeds of resentment and retaliation.
Whereas appeasement requires that you fail to fight back once a fight starts, diplomacy seeks to ensure that a fight never happens at all. They're different, and in conflating them, we feed our hawkish culture and shut down the lines of communication. We pretend that war brings peace and that peace is a lie. Someone needs a reality check.
Young Han C. Lester is a sophomore from Roeland Park.
editorials around the nation
What will be next for McCain and Palin
What now for the defeated political team of Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin?
McCain goes back to the Senate and to a political arena that clearly suits him better than a presidential campaign does.
McCain might begin by
ditching Palin. She'll be a
force on the Republican
right, and the man who
bears the responsibility for
that would do well to disavow his running mate and all her brash ambition.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Palin will be the focus of still more attention. She can expect to be asked about, among other things, a Fox News report that the McCain campaign had said she didn't know Africa was a continent. The dressrobe tales continue, from her $150,000 shopping spree
to "Palin 2012" T-shirts for sale in Wasilla,
And then there was the phone call from Canadian comedian Marc-Antoine Audette, pretending to be President Nicolas Sarkozy. Audette told Palin that she would make a good president someday.
"Maybe in eight years," Palin replied.
Or maybe not.
Albany (N.Y.) Times Union Nov. 7 editorial
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What you should be aware of this month
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Alex Doherty, Lauren Keith, Patrick de Oliveira, Ray Segebrecht and Ian Starford.
What did you say? No, don't worry. You won't be late for class.
Excuse me, dude. Hey, whoa,
wait up, I saw that eve contact.
I'm raising awareness for a very important cause, so if you'll just stand with me here on Wescoe for like two minutes, I'll let you go.
This is National Awareness of Awareness Month, a nationwide effort to raise awareness of awareness. Are you aware of awareness?
Or would you like to sign one for increasing government funding to cure diseases that already have other cures? Our "End polio forever, once again" petition is still in need of some major awareness.
But are you aware of breast cancer? OK, sure, but are you aware of lemur breast cancer? Here, take this rubber "lemurstrong" bracelet.
Did you know lack of awareness is the No. I cause of not knowing shit? Here, take this pamphlet. We also have a Web site. It's called the Internet. Please be aware of it.
I see that you are currently aware of my arms. Yes, this is a lot of rubber bracelets, every cause from gay rights to preserving marriage. The only thing my arms aren't aware of is rubber-induced anaphylactic shock. We have lapel pins for that.
Awareness of Awareness needs more awareness. It's a troubling fact of human psychology that we can only be aware of so many things at any given time. One time a commercial raised my awareness of AIDS testing, and I forgot about the starving children in Africa for a week. Now I'm once again aware of the children in Africa, but I no longer remember whether I'm supposed to have some sort of moral stance on artichokes.
This one is for finally putting a hippo on the moon. "Hippoastronomus."
Here, take a T-shirt. That's Louie the Awareness Lemur. See how his always aware, pie-plate eyes are both of the as in "Be Aware?" That symbolizes Awareness and not necessarily just of lemurs and their related causes. But do be aware of those, too.
But Raising Awareness is not just about rubber bracelets. Sending thousands of Facebook invites for groups, events and assorted profile bling is an excellent way to raise
Raise awareness, not arguments. Remember the old saying "Opinions are like assholes. We all have them, and we should mind our own and stay out of other people's."
your friends' awareness that your commitment to social justice is powerful enough to motivate you to move your index finger slightly.
just be vaguely aware of them, Kind of a disinterested omniscience of all causes.
Thanks for your time. And remember, honk for hemp!
What was that? No, I'm pretty sure that's the way the saving goes.
But in National Awareness of Awareness Month, we need to keep in mind one thing.
I know I looked up at those giant fetuses and almost felt my opinions changing. Were I about to give birth to a 20-foot tall fetus, I can't say that I wouldn't airlift the doctor in with an M-16 and a belt of hand grenades under "search and destroy" directives. It's the birth canal, not the Panama Canal.
Remember Justice for All, those abortion protestors with their giant pictures of mangled fetuses? Sure, they raised some awareness, but their pictures were too ... bold. We are about Raising Awareness, not Changing Minds.
Before you go, would you like to sign a petition for some causes that are in need of awareness?
Oh, don't you give me that look,
Your offended. This is exactly my
point — we shouldn't believe in
things because that only causes
grief, dispute and anger. We should
Reichert is an Oberlin graduate student in law.
ROD FITZHUGH @ FLICKR.COM
Where our world collides with the environment
Cynthia Carroll, CEO of Anglo American, one of the world's largest mining companies, spoke about corporate responsibility last Friday
Her lecture enumerated a long list of her company's social and environmental programs. She claimed that "the extractive sector is the antithesis of footloose capitalism."
Her company is the largest producer of platinum in the world, and, in partnership with De Beers, another company based in South Africa, it is the largest producer of diamonds.
Carroll's cogent and well-practiced lecture laid out her company's contribution to the communities in which it operates: the development of local infrastructure, the practice of fair labor standards, an open dialogue with governments, aid agencies and non-governmental organizations.
Forbes ranks Carroll, who holds a master's degree in geology from the University, as the fifth most powerful woman in the world.
Grist Magazine, a major environmentalist publication, nicknamed Carroll "Cynthia Cyanide, world's biggest scrooge" for her company's plans to build the largest dam in the world in Pebble Beach, Alaska, which would wreak havoc on the world's largest salmon fishery.
But one can't help but assume that this carefully crafted message of corporate responsibility is a direct reaction to the prodigious criticism Anglo American has recently received.
My inner environmentalist recoils at the thought of such monumental destruction of habitat and, consequently, the end to the Native Alaskans' traditional livelihood, salmon fishing, in exchange for heaps of gold and a little cash for the disenfranchised locals. And we mustn't forget the plight of those noble andromodous fish.
But that's not the whole story. All of the material that makes up the stuff that we use, in our computers, in our homes and our bicycles and our backpacks, all of this must come from somewhere.
So unless we are willing to abnegate our modern mode of living, as Theodore Kaczynski so eloquently advocated, we've got to admit that this industry is essential, and we
must make the necessary compromise between resource production and the preservation of the environment.
Global capitalism is an awesomely destructive force, but the costs of exploiting the world's natural resources are often outweighed by the benefits — scientific progress, raising the standard of living for the great multitudes of poor in countries like China, India and Brazil.
Don't get me wrong. Corporations like Anglo American should be obligated, morally obligated, to mitigate the social and environmental consequences of their operations. It is certainly a heartening sign that a CEO like Carroll, first and foremost beholden to Anglo America's shareholders, must make such effort to emphasize the importance of corporate responsibility.
Thompson is a Topeka senior in economics and political science.
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To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call 785-864-0500.
My car got stolen Sunday morning. If anybody sees a white Hyudai Elantra with a Missouri license plate "PB7 G2F," please notify the Lawrence Police Department.
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I'm pretty sure the Salvation Army girl in front of Dillons is hot.
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Hey frats, peeping was cool about 10 years ago.
I don't understand why our university paved over the old brick roads. It just made the roads worse.
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Hot-looking girl, looking for a date. Look for the curly hair she's adorable
Jesus is not my homeboy. He is God.
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Last night I had a nightmare about 2 girls 1 cup.
Operation Ho Ho Ho was a success.
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I have no real friends, I am dropping out of college and going to cosmetology school
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Dear Free for All, is it wrong that I love a guy who goes to Mizzou?
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I didn't know guys went to Mizzou.
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And you should know that's just wrong.
I wish I heard the guy playing on the piano.
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I miss the days when we were actually good at football against sucky teams.
Notice to all students: Beware the skunk around Templin. It likes to sneak up on you while you drunkenly pee on buildings.
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I told my boyfriend I was broke, so he told me to work the streets. Thanks.
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Free for All, I made you cup cakes
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To the guy playing "Landed"
on the piano at the Union
on Friday: You made my day.
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I really need to read over my lab notes, but I am going to read "Howl's Moving Castle" instead. Either way, I'm a nerd
@KANSAN.COM
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