4A the university daily kansan
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opinion
monday,september 8,2003
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I was wondering if I crossed Jayhawk Boulevard away from the walking things, does that make me a jaywalking Jayhawk?
perspective
I have come to the conclusion that the freshmen in my Latin class have the IQ and attention span of a goldfish.
perspective
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OK, so they took the powdered soap out of the Wescoe bathroom. Now what am I supposed to do for laundry detergent?
I don't know about anyone else but I can't stand Danny Boy on 96.5 The Buzz.
perspective
I just called KU Info with a question, and they couldn't help me because of budget cuts. I pay a lot of money to attend this school, and I can't believe that a general information line can't answer a simple question because of financial restraints. I think that my $5,000 a semester should cover my one phone call that I have made to KU Info.
perspective
perspective
I have a question for everyone on campus: Have you ever heard of Lawrence referred to as Larry Town or Larryville? Please say yes.
perspective
Sorry God, you had your chance. I was going to just sleep tonight but then someone pulled the fire alarm in McCullum. It looks like I have to go out and party now.
I was walking up the hill today, and there were two people holding hands in front of me, and I just want to say to them thank you for making me late to class.
I just went to Flanigan's and I so got tackled and I am going to have a bruise on my arm tomorrow. Flanigans sucks.
Crocodile Hunter on Animal Planet, 5 p.m. Pass it on.
perspective
If you were a hot dog and you were starving, would you eat yourself? I know I would. I would smother myself in brown mustard and relish.
All of the girls on campus: Why do you cover your butts with sweatshirts? Can't you give us something to look forward to on the way to campus?
Upperclassmen smell like cabbage.
Ben McCarthy is an idiot. If he knew anything about Arnold he would know that Arnold is not the T-1000. The T-1000 is the bad terminator in T-2.
If pro is truly the opposite of con then is congress the opposite of progress?
thurston's view
Joe Thurston for The University Daily Kansen
Americans must resist urges
COMMENTARY
The American consumer society is a dangerous place to live, especially if its citizens do not know how to avoid being caught in the trap of instant gratification. Instant gratification is a growing problem in our nation. In a society of incessant consumption, if people cannot differentiate between what is a genuine desire versus what is the result of a constant barrage of advertising and pop culture media, they risk losing themselves to a life filled with short-term pleasure and long-term instability.
long-term mission.
While strong in other aspects, American culture is filled with individuals who are weakened by their need for that "quick-fix," be it through spending money, overeating or even dating multiple people. Everyone has a weakness. We give in to temptation, often against our better judgment, and sometimes are unaware that we are giving in at all. The desire for instant gratification is too strong, too impulsive. We act on whatever will make us happy at any given moment, not thinking about what we are doing, why we want to do it and whether it will really be beneficial, or if it simply feels good at the time. While there is nothing wrong with doing things that make us happy, reckless pleasure-seeking can cause more damage than good in the long term.
Sara Zafar
opinion@kansan.com
It is no coincidence that, according to the latest census, more than 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce. While not every failed marriage can be attributed to bad judgment, the inherent lack of planning and general impulsivity of many Americans often plays a part in relationships gone wrong.
Obesity among Americans young and old is another indication of the instant gratification epidemic. Centers for Disease Control statistics show that nearly 30 percent of American adults are obese, and more than 60 percent are overweight. The numbers are alarmingly similar among children. Again, not all cases of obesity are related to lack of selfcontrol, but nowhere else in the world does a problem of this magnitude exist.
The fact that leading psychiatric journals have published numerous studies about a problem known as compulsive shopping disorder is another, more illustrative example of American culture and its weakness for material happiness
its weakness.
The importance of remaining strong against one's weakness is often overlooked. What is so bad about doing the things we want to do when we want to do them? Nothing per se, but the ability to
hold out on the things we desire in life allows us to gain perspective on why we want them in the first place. Deliberately denying one's self some pleasurable aspects of life might seem like unnecessary torture, but in actuality, it often helps one gain the strength to control one's impulses, not only when faced with a specific weakness, but also when faced with any number of trying situations.
People who cannot stay in a consistent relationship, who jump from person to person, might do well to decide not to pursue relationships for a short while so that they can spend sometime with themselves, getting to know who they really are and what they really want in a relationship. For people who constantly crave certain foods, deciding to give them up for a certain amount of time tests their strength and willpower, at the same time giving them more control over their future cravings, allowing them to make less impulsive choices. Carefully considering every purchase before actually making it can prove more rewarding in the long run than simply buying for the sake of buying.
sake of buying.
We cannot stop ourselves from giving in to our wants every time they challenge us. We would not be human if we denied ourselves every pleasure. But learning to control our impulse and not give in to every fleeting desire can help strengthen not only ourselves, but also our country as a whole.
Zafar is a Wichita junior in history
letter to the editor Column offers no solution
I found the column, "Revolutionary time calls for everyone to speak out," by Stephen Shupe, Sept. 3, a vague, biased attempt to induce an emotional rise lacking substance. The opening criticizes people for not protesting "government misdeeds" that are "self-evident," yet he offers no examples. It says "no one is talking" and today's college students are silent, yet I saw "Don't Attack Iraq" stickers across campus and received a plethora of anti-war emails. But let's go bigger. Los Angeles passed an anti-war policy publicly opposing President Bush's plan. "Peaceful" protesters across the country were arrested for blocking intersections. This was live and in color via our "corporately bought-and-paid-for news media." The media actions it berates, I see the author guilty of. The recount of the Florida recounts did not mention democrats forcing volunteers to recount and blocking exits. Nor that Gore denied votes of marines serving overseas to be counted. After saying this, I would like to make clear that the author's opinion is important to me. Free speech is crucial to the success of our nation. Diversity can not survive in silence. However, the column called for no positive actions, addressed no tangible concerns, and offered no solution save "revolution". Revolt simply for the sake of revolution? That's called a riot
David B. Bradley, Savannah, Ga., graduate student.
perspective
War on terrorism' waste of our government's time
Like most Americans, I remember where I was when the World Trade Center towers were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. I vividly remember the shock and horror of witnessing secondhand the events that transpired. I expected the outpouring of grief and sympathy that rose out of the ruins of those towers, but I never expected the political monstrosity called "the war on terrorism."
COMMENTARY
Matthew Dunavan
opinion@kansan.com
Call me callous and heartless. Do I feel sorry for the families left bereaved? Yes. Was it a tragedy? Absolutely. Is there any justification for it to have happened? No.
What should our government have done in response? Very little, if anything at all.
You heard it right. I'm a psycho who'd hand us over to terrorists. The government should not have reacted to this episode of terrorism by spending heaps of taxpayer dollars to ensure our safety.
Why? A government takes money from its citizens for the express purpose of using it to increase their well-being.
In order to do this, a government must be skilled at prioritization. This may sound obvious to some people, but it seems to have slipped everybody's mind in the furor over terrorism: safety is just another word for "not getting killed." If the government wants to increase the safety of Americans, it needs to keep us from getting killed.
Resources should be allocated to problems in proportion to the size of the problem. Because money is finite, when it discusses the safety of its citizenry, a government should ask itself what the
Want to avoid thinking about losses because of disease? Try transportation on for size. According to a recent issue of U.S.News and World Report,
How many people died of terrorism in the year 2001? Several thousand. Not to trivialize the suffering of the victims of terrorism, because each life lost is a tragedy, but ask yourself how many people lost their lives to heart disease in that same year. To cancer?
I'm no fool. I want to live just as much as the next person. But when I walk outside every day, I'm not worried about spontaneously combusting. And I'm not worried about terrorism, either. Even if lived in an area more likely to be affected by a terrorist attack, such as a major metropolis, I still would not be worried about terrorism, because the chance of being affected is so monumentally small when compared to more prosocial problems.
largest threats are to the lives of those people. How threatened are we by terrorism? I hate to say it, but the threat is pretty slim.
With the anniversary of Sept. 11 just around the corner, Americans need to take stock of what our reactionary impulses have spawned. The "war on terror" has taken up our resources combating a problem with a threat level akin to that of being eaten by sharks or struck by lightning.
Which is more of a priority for the government? Keeping people on edge about the latest terror alerts? Spending millions of dollars creating a new department of Homeland Security? Using tax dollars and American soldiers' lives to fight terrorism? All that, or trying to come up with better ways to make our roads safer, prevent drunk people from getting behind the wheel, and getting people to wear their safety belts when they drive? Unfortunately for 42,850 of us last year, the government chose to deal with the former.
approximately 42,850 people died in car accidents, last year alone.
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Dunavan is a Topeka senior in political science and philosophy
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