OPINION
7A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUFSDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 2008
Don't abandon real faces for Facebook
Editor's note: This was originally published in the The Daily Athenaeum at West Virginia University on Aug. 27.
Facebook is out of control.
Facebook is out of control. This isn't a piece to rumble on and on about how it's taking over people's lives, it's to identify the dangers of the social networking site.
Facebook announced a record membership of 100 million members on Aug. 26.
That's 99,999,999 other people who can find you on the Internet.
That's almost 100 million people who can know your business; who you're dating, your friends are and what you're interested in.
Facebook and MySpace would be better off being called "StalkerBook" or "StalkerSpace."
At least people will know what they are getting into.
Day after day you hear horror stories about cyber bullying and online predators. These social networking sites are no different than finding a naive somebody in a chat room.
The site has also decreased and nearly eliminated personal interaction among peers and generations.
Instead of calling someone over the phone or visiting them in person, Facebook has become the quick-and-easy way to find out what's going on in friends' lives and what's going on over the weekend.
Facebook allows its users to post pictures and their interests.
It has been reported that some individuals looking for a job don't get hired because of incriminating details on their Facebook or MySpace accounts.
While this is a smart move
by employers to make sure they hire quality individuals, it's not a smart move by Facebook users to exploit themselves — and sometimes others — on these sites.
With society becoming more and more technology dependent, it's important for users of all ages to be cognizant of the repercussions of joining such a site.
If joining the Facebook or MySpace community is a must, it's important to remember to responsibly use the accounts.
Many are using the site today merely for networking. Others just want to keep in touch with old friends.
It isn't a forum to see John Doe's crazy weekend, nor is it the place for account users to make their personal vendettas known by venting on it their statuses.
It is a site that shouldn't be abused and overused.
It is important for individuals to know to be safe and only "friend" people they know.
People need to remember the best type of communication is face to face — not Facebook.
They need to know not to embarrassthemselves. Sometimes there can be consequences to posting that picture from that crazy, drunken weekend two years ago.
—www.uwire.com
editorials around the world
ASSOCIATED PRESS
China should follow last Olvmpic slogan
But the Games also reflected a spate of serious challenges facing China.
After overcoming the Sichuan earthquake, China closed the Beijing Olympics safely without any major disruptions to the Games. China also displayed overwhelming strength in the race for gold medals.The event must have greatly boosted the confidence among the Chinese.
In the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, there were repeated attacks against police. The Tibet Autonomous Region, the site of clashes in March, is still under heavy security.
Many foreign journalists were hampered in their attempt to cover the attacks against police and
the situation in Tibet. Some journalists were detained.
China ought to allow the public to have more freedom in its activities if the country wants more harmony.
We hope China will use its new confidence as a world power to contribute to the international community. China should be able to not only pursue its own national interests, but also play a huge role in such issues as fighting global warming.
The Beijing Olympics had a slogan of "One World, One Dream." Tackling global warming while expanding cooperation with the international community is a way to turn that slogan into reality.
—The (Tokyo) Asahi Shimbun Aug. 25 editorial
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Send letters to opinionokansan.com
Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the e-mail subject line.
LETTER GUIDELINES
Length: 300-400 words
The submission should include the author's name, phone number, grade, hometown.
CONTACT US
Matt Erickson, editor
864-4810 or merickson@kansan.com
Length:300-400words.
Dani Hurst, managing editor 864-4810 or dhurst@kansan.com
Mark Dent. managing editor
864-4810 or mident@kansan.com
Matt Erickson, editor
Kelsey Hayes, managing editor B64-4810 or khayes@kansan.com
Lauren Keith, opinion editor 864-4924 orikeith@kansan.com
Toni Bergquist, sales manager 864-4477 or tbergquist@kansan.com
Jordan Herrmann, business manager
864-4358 or jherrmann@kansan.com
Patrick De Oliveira, associate opinion editor
864-4924 or pdeoliveira@kansan.com
Jon Schitt, sales and marketing adviser
864-7666 or jschitt@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson, general manager and news
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansai Editorial Board are Alex Doherty, Jenny Hartz, Lauren Keith, Patrick deOriay, River Sebean and Ian Stanford.
TYLER DOEHRING
Athletics could finance University
Picture yourself in Smith Hall. You're in the basement, in room seven. The air conditioner doesn't work. It's a humid 96 degrees outside. The class is packed with 40 to 50 students. You're trying to think and learn. But all you can focus on is the lingering body odor of everyone in the room.
Right outside the window and down the hill someone is sitting in the brand new $33 million Anderson Family Football Complex enjoying air conditioning and gigantic flat screen televisions.
Who is the University here to serve?
"There's an important piece of rhetoric we need to keep in mind: The students come first," Chancellor Robert Hemenway said in the Wichita Eagle's article "Universities say jobs could be cut." "Helping students work to a degree has to be the first thing we do. If
the students aren't there, there's no reason for us being there," he said.
But when I look around campus, I get the feeling that athletic programs are what matter most to the University.
A more recent article in the Lawrence Journal-World caught my attention about how Kansas Athletics made $1.55 million more than they had projected making off royalties this past year, bringing the department's total income to $2.55 million.
The Board of Regents warned Kansas universities that they might face budget cuts next year. The cut for the University would be 2 percent, which is about $3.1 million, according to an Aug. 28 story in the University Daily Kansan. We could lose up to 125 staff members from the Lawrence campus alone.
I spoke with Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director, and he filled me in on where the money from royalties goes. He said $700,000 is used for scholarships for the general student body every year. The rest is kept for scholarships for athletes.
ed profit to better the University or fight against budget cuts that are certain to come.
My thought is that we should use that $1.55 million in unexpected-
These cuts are called "cut to base" as Lynn Bretz, director of university communications, told me, which means at least 2 percent of the budget would be cut every year. The state hasn't specified yet if the budget cuts are a one-time deal or if it would be cut to base. The University said it is preparing for the worst because Bretz said the "tendency is to cut to base."
A professor of mine told me last week that she didn't much see the point of being in college if you don't try to change things that don't work.
We can install a $33 million dollar football complex, but when the state warns us of a budget cut, staff members are the first to go. I don't know about you, but to me it does not sound like students and education come first.
Does the athletics program have an obligation to give money to the University? No, but that doesn't mean the University can't change its stance and force it to do so.
Stewart is a Wichita senior in journalism.
Using broad sexual labels erases valuable differences
Am I a tranny?
Does my own identification as a man not align with my physical sex? Does my scruffy face or deep voice reek of femininity?
My clearly scruffy face and deep voice point make me surprisingly manly, but my friend screaming over the phone that a transgendered person was going to be on the next season of "America's Next Top Model" made me question it. Was my friend calling because he's also gay and figured I would be interested or because he knows I am a fan of the show? But I am skeptical of a transgendered person entering the public eye.
A transgendered person can be of any sexual orientation. But I was thrown off by this definition. Who else was hiding under my gay umbrella? Bisexuals? Panssexuals? Intersex? Asexuals?
But Brown is not a transsexual. He is a drag queen — he said he did it for the entertainment value and the money, not for sexual stimulation or because of personal gender identity issues. Brown said he was not bothered by this label confusion, but understood that some, including me, could be offended if they were called by the wrong sexual identity. I guess hearing, "You were a real drag tonight, Daisy," could get old pretty fast.
for two years. In bars and clubs in Lawrence and Kansas City, his fans call sometimes him a "hot tranny mess."
I am not a transgendered person. I am gay. Gay has not become an umbrella term for everyone who's not heterosexual. And if it has, it is being grossly misused.
Spencer Brown, known as Daisy Bucket in drag, has his sexual identity confused on a daily basis. He has been a professional drag queen
Brown said he wasn't sure about a solution to my gay umbrella problem. He did know that one way was to attempt to educate the public on different sexual identities, but how to do that with so many terms and identities was a mystery to him.
Lori Messinger, associate professor of social welfare and expert in gay and lesbian issues, did have a solution, though: She uses the word "queer" for anyone not heterosexual.
However, the word "queer" has had a negative past. I can remember fewer than five years ago the word being used in a derogatory sense for gay men. Recently, though, Messinger said it has become a term of empowerment.
But I don't think I can use that term to describe myself. I'm not a big fan of its traditional definition of odd or unusual. I also won't
terms defined
Transgender considers
self or a neither gender, both
or a third gender. They do
not change their bodies
with hormones or surgery
Transsexual: feeling that one was born in the wrong body. May be rectified with hormones and surgery.
*Pansexuali* sexually attracted to men, women, transgenders and transsexuals
Drag Queen/King: performers who act out exaggerations of gender stereotypes of the opposite sex.
regress back to homosexual, either. It sounds too clinical and is too cumbersome of a word.
When I came out to family and friends, I told them I was gay, meaning I was attracted to the same sex — nothing more, nothing less.
So I'll be watching the new season of "America's Next Top Model" tomorrow. I hope to see the transgendered contestant, Isis, come from under the gay umbrella and successfully create her own transgender identity and just become one of the girls.
Hirschfeld is an Augusta senior in journalism.
To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call 785-864-0500.
It's an election year, so if you don't like the political debates in Free for All, don't look at it until Nov. 5.
--rights.
Here's an idea for all of you Free for All political debaters: Join one of the student organizations on campus, I'm sure they'd love to have you.
Pessimistic? No. I'm a Democrat.
--rights.
--rights.
I just had a $500 weekend.
--rights.
2004 elections
Assuming the person encouraging voter fraud is a Republican, then it makes perfect sense. See 2000 and 2004 theses.
--rights.
I would give my left boob to be in the marching band.
Did you see the picture of Gov. Sarah Palin brandishing an M167 She's like a sexy terminator.
--rights.
Dear Ignorant Obama Supporters: You're in Kansas. Your vote doesn't count. Contrary to the skewed Lawrence perspective, the rest of this state votes Republican. If you want your vote to matter, you should register to vote elsewhere
--rights.
--rights.
The Dryer Gnome = Taker of Socks.
I can't wait to move out of Lawrence because of Sunflower Broadband. Seriously.
--rights.
--rights.
Sen. John McCain is 23 years older than the state of Alaska.
"Hey 92, is that your number or your percent body fat?"
I wish White Owl would just suck it up and put on a pair of khakis with a collared shirt tucked in, white belt, white shoes and realize that he's old.
--rights.
If the Huskers win 10 games, I get my new TV for free. Go Big Red!
--rights.
Eight hot dogs tonight. That's the equation for sexy
--rights.
Lowering the drinking age to 18 is possibly the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Yes, let's give some of the most reckless drivers in America alcohol
---
A girl in my geography class told me she didn't know that New England was part of the U.S. until last spring.
---
Vote for McCain and you are a racist. Vote for Obama and you are a sexist. Vote for Nader and you are a dumbass
@KANSAN.COM
Want more? Check out Free for All online.