NSAN
2008
OPINION
5A
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2008
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Remember why we have the First Amendment
A few weeks ago, as everyone knows, our campus newspaper's editors decided to publish an edition of "Sex on the Hill" whose cover featured a full-page photo of nearly naked people in our WWII memorial.
Yet the biggest irony of all is they have offended most the very people who have given them these rights. There are WWII veterans alive today, and they, without a doubt, take offense to this. These men and women who saw our country on the edge of defeat and wondered if they would make it home as they saw their friends killed by the thousands in battles like Normandy and Iwo Jima have a problem with our student paper turning their memorial (not ours) into a porn background.
The editors are within their rights to publish trash like this, and we have the option to take it or leave it. But when pushing the envelope means desecrating a war memorial, they have clearly crossed a line.
Our editors at the University Daily Kansan have stood up for this piece by issuing a half-hearted apology, explaining that they didn't consider the fact that it was a memorial (must have missed the names as they walked in).
These soldiers, sailors and Marines, many of whom actually visit the memorial and remember those they lost have a problem with our paper turning their service into a joke.
I have a close friend whose
COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY
late father served in WWII, and she is a Navy veteran herself. Although she has never attended KU, I've talked to her at length about what has been going on here. As for the "Sex on the Hill" issue not being a big deal or offending a very small segment of the population, she had this to say, "Enjoy your freedom of speech. Our family bleeds for it. We die for your right to degrade us, spit on us and burn our flag. Enjoy all the freedoms that you have that many countries don't that we earned for you and you enjoy without lifting a finger for but would die without. Enjoy what you did not earn but are given freely without any question from us and our families. Enjoy biting the hand that feeds you."
Next time our editors at the Kansan decide to put out some highly offensive trash, call it journalism and hide behind the First Amendment when the fallout starts, maybe they should think about where these freedoms come from.
Adam Vieux is a junior in civil engineering from Groton, Conn.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
We must represent true values during Ramadan
The University Daily Kansan'd decision to publish Friday's cartoon about Ramadan was in bad taste. Why? Because it totally misrepresents the true purpose of Ramadan, which is to improve oneself spiritually. We don't go about fasting to lose weight or with other such objectives (which the cartoon implied), but we fast solely for God.
The Kansan's coverage of Ramadan has been misrepresentative as a whole. In its article about Ramadan, it made the practice of fasting appear cruel and oppressive, and now it portrays low worldly objectives as the reason for fasting.
I know that a story about some one in "hardship" or a cartoon poking fun at a religious practice brings readers in, but sensationalizing a religious practice is below the dignity of any newspaper and is just bad journalism. I hope the Kansan staff will do its homework next time and make sure it doesn't inadvertently misrepresent the world's second largest faith.
Right now, more than ever, we need to educate people about the world's different religions, not poke fun at them We need to build bridges to understand each other's faith, not burn them down.
— Mirza Nayyar Ahmad is a junior from Dodge City.
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DITORI
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansai Editorial Board are Alex Doherty, Jenny Harty, Lauren Keith, Patrick de Olira, Veira Segebregt and Ian Stanford.
FROM THE DRAWING BOARD
Debates didn't show us anything different
TYLER DOEHRING
After some brief uncertainty, the first presidential and the vice presidential debate happened. And they didn't give us much we didn't already know.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed watching them, but the presidential debate didn't include anything that will convert too many people.
There was more punch last Thursday, at least. Both candidates took not-so-subtle shots at each other and their running mates.
Sarah Palin would claim that Joe Biden and Barack Obama had disagreed on a key vote, and Biden would point out how John McCain had sided with Obama on that issue. Biden would point out how one of Palin's social policies in Alaska did not conform to the GOP line, and she would... She would... Well, she reminded us how John McCain is a maverick. A lot — a maverick who happens to have the support of the leadership of a major political party.
The presidential candidates gave
I was impressed by how onpoint Obama was. He avoided the usual "Change and hope for America" and kittens and such that he's known for proclaiming.
us the standard stuff. McCain thinks Obama is naive and inexperienced. Obama thinks McCain's been part of "the problem" the whole time.
I enjoy the passion exuded by Obama in his speeches, but I was still a little worried that his arguments during the debate would be dominated by his usual rhetoric. I was relieved to see that that was not the case.
That may be both the high mark and the low with the first debate. Both candidates knew how to answer moderator Jim Lehrer's questions, in an occasional pointed way, but rarely did they actually go after each other.
McCain had some inaccurate statements about Obama's foreign policy plans, and he was chided for that, but there was little else. Lehrer tried to get the candidates to address each other, but they only did so when prompted. I am inclined to agree with a friend who told me later that the debate lacked any "big shocking revelations."
What interested me were the graphs at the bottom of the screen during CNN's broadcasts. Before
I'm hoping the main two are just biding their time, waiting to unleash something spectacular in the next few weeks. Maybe in the last two debates they'll take cues from their running mates and show a little passion.
either debate, anchor Solcad O'Brien introduced the audience to a focus group in Ohio, made up evenly of Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Throughout the debates, meters would be used to gauge how they felt about the candidates' responses. Each group had a line. Naturally, Democrats were blue, Republicans were red and Independents were some sort of sickly green yellow that shouldn't exist in nature. During the vice presidential debate, the graphs measured the interest levels of male and female voters.
The two things that stuck out to me were how the Independents in the initial focus group seemed to consistently agree with the Democrats about the candidates and how there were some big drop-offs when McCain would start speaking. This included all three groups, though the red line would tend to spring back up quickly.
Cohen is a Topeka senior in political science.
How narrow victories will pile up for McCain
The vice presidential debate was the highlight of the last two weeks, garnering more than 70 million viewers, 20 million more than the presidential debate. It was the most watched vice presidential debate in our nation's history.
Both candidates had been getting into trouble: Sarah Palin because she didn't know what to say in interviews and Joe Biden because he didn't know when to shut up (I had actually begun to wonder if he wasn't on John McCain's payroll). Viewers wanted to see which of the two would make the greater gaffe.
Expectations were certainly low for Palin, but she far exceeded them and held her own against the more experienced candidate. She brought Biden to task on his history with his running mate and effectively kept him on the defense through much of the debate. Unlike her opponent, Palin looked directly into the camera and spoke to the heart of the American people.
Neither did. Palin mispronounced the name of the commanding officer in Afghanistan. Biden made a few mistakes, confusing the articles of the Constitution and wrongfully suggesting that McCain had voted the same as Barack Obama on occasions when he didn't, but there were no serious blunders for either candidate.
of the issues. He avoided several traps that may have made him appear sexist and even touched on a very sympathetic family tragedy.
So who won? Biden was very articulate and showed a firm grasp
Biden probably won, but such a narrow victory in a debate where he was greatly favored translates into victory for Palin and McCain.
However, Palin's performance wasn't good enough to turn the momentum in McCain's favor. He still trails Obama in most polls, but with a month to go before the election, Obama might be peaking too early.
The presidential debate was less remarkable. The real focus was on the economic turmoil on Wall Street and the resulting political upheaval in Washington, which is where McCain wanted to be. McCain suspended his campaign and asked for the debate to be postponed so that he and Obama could return to Capitol Hill and do their jobs.
Critics claim this was nothing more than a political stunt. To be sure, with mere weeks before a presidential election, everything that either candidate does is political. In this particular instance, it also just happened to be the right thing to do although the outcome was probably not favorable for McCain.
The foreign policy debate which McCain would have dominated, ended up focusing partly on economics, a subject which Obama handily won. McCain did come back and win on most foreign policy issues, narrowly making him the winner of the debate.
The night, however, was a huge victory for Obama as he got the foreign policy debate out of the way and effectively held his own against McCain.
The next presidential debate is tonight at 8. It is the town hall style that President Bush excelled at four years ago, and it will be interesting to see how these candidates perform. McCain will have to try not to be a stiff old man and Obama will need to step down from his elitist pedestal if either of them wants to win.
Poole is a Wichita senior in political science and psychology.
To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call 785-864-0500.
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