4B
OPINION
THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 4,2004
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
www.kansan.com
EDITORIAL BOARD
Students must question federal drinking age laws
You cannot purchase or consume alcoholic beverages if you were not born before today's date 21 years ago. Sound familiar?
The state of Kansas embarrassed itself when it tried to set a nationwide precedent by banning evolution from public school teachings. That flopped.
This act prohibits any state to lower its drinking age below 21. If a state chose to go against the act, then the federal government would reduce its funding for state highways and transportation.
The University of Kansas Political Activist Club understands the societal implications this law has had on minors. The state of Kansas, along with the other 49 states, should listen to the group's 300 members and lobby the federal government to repeal the 20-year-old law.
The American society obviously wants to view people at the age of 18 as adults. But why should these "adults" have to wait three more years before they can drink legally with all the other adults? Responsibly drinking is not a more delicate responsibility than the other responsibilities society grants 18 year olds.
Upon turning 18, you can move out of your house and claim yourself independent from your parents. You can fight in a war and vote for the president who will send you to war. You can buy a house. You can change your name. Society allows you to watch an R-rated movie without parent permission four years before age 21. And
you can drive a car by yourself for as many as five years before 21.
Affording 18 to 20-year-old adults a legal opportunity to purchase or consume alcohol would not cause an increase in alcohol-related accidents. Lowering the drinking age would allow people to learn responsibility early, and perhaps under the supervision of parents. Now, college students away from home celebrate their 21st birthday with drinking marathons that bring them as close to their limit as possible. Prohibition creates irresponsibility instead of responsibility.
Many students at the University of Kansas who are of legal age abuse their legal alcohol-consuming privilege by binge drinking and driving under the influence. Meanwhile cops continue to deal with unruly, alcohol-thirsty minors, who just binge drink because it is risky and daring.
The Lawrence police, according to its media relations department, issued 52 minors in possession from January 2003 to July 2004. Fifty-two KU students multiplied by the other 325 Division I NCAA schools would bring the total number of MIPs to 16,900 students nationwide. Are the costs of this legal and police action worth it?
These numbers do not help society. Prohibition of any magnitude does not work in this country, especially among 18 to 20 year-old college students.
Join the activist group members in January as they lobby the state legislature to end the Drinking Age Act of 1984. After all, those politicians hiding voiceless behind that federal law have remained in power because of your adult responsibility of voting.
Free for All
Call 864-0500
wins, I won't be allowed to see armageddon because I would have been shot when I got drafted to Iraq.
图
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.
OK, it's been two days now. Where is my Free For All, dammit!
and others — made their pitch. The slant was so far in Kerry's favor that it left hardly anyone else promoting the other side, except perhaps Ted Nugent.
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Word to Ku! It would probably be a good idea to sell Red Bull at the Wescoe convenience store, given it's so close to the libraries.
To all you Bush voters today: I hope you fall or spontaneously combust.
Well, it's Nov. 2. On the good side, if Bush
and others — made their pitch. The slant was so far in Kerry's favor that it left hardly anyone else promoting the other side, except perhaps Ted Nugent.
I feel more proud than I have in a long time because I took the time to go down to the stadium and vote.
I think people would be much more inclined to vote if the candidates had an 8 Mile style rap-off for their debate.
and others — made their pitch. The slant was so far in Kerry's favor that it left hardly anyone else promoting the other side, except perhaps Ted Nugent.
I put in Broadband Man for president
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111 Staffer-Flint
BENSON'S VIEW
Congratulations to the Bush party. Here we go.
WBenson
Wes Benson/KANSAN
Sheltered youth kill Diddy's goals
STEVE SPEAKS
P. Diddy has got a lot of killing to do.
P. Diddy has got a lot of killing to do.
After warning young voters to "vote or die" throughout the election cycle, it appears that the demographic he tried to persuade signed their own death warrant in last night's election.
CNN reported Tuesday night that exit polls indicated that number of young voters participating in the election remained largely unchanged from previous years, even though overall turnout was dramatically higher than years past
It goes to show that anyone can get young people to register, but it doesn't necessarily mean they'll vote. The disappointing turnout was a stout kick to the Kerry campaign groin — a campaign that repeatedly said a huge turnout would amount to his victory. It only amounted to a sizeable advantage in the popular vote for President George W. Bush.
STEVE VOCKRODT
svockrodt@kansan.com
There may be no clear answer as to exactly why young voters refuse to vote in adequate numbers, but part of the answer may lie in the extremely closed political culture America's youth lives in. The pre-election day hype was marked in part by the numbers of celebrities — actors, musicians and one huge wannabe documentary maker — who pushed their fans and cohorts to go to the voting booths.
The unfortunate aspect of the entire voter drive was the outlets it was played upon.
MTV is where many of these musicians — Springsteen, Green Day, R.E.M.
MTV also plays host to several political action committees that advertise heavily on its channel and Web site. Moveon.org and Rock The Vote are two that come to mind. But behind both those organizations' thin guise of promoting all votes, it was clear that the message was America's youth should vote for Kerry.
The front page of MoveOn's Web site carries articles with one-sided diatribes about how the war in Iraq was unjustified, the mythical conservative auspices of FoxNews and links to anti-Bush Web sites. Perhaps both organizations, along with MTV, shouldn't operate under the silly idea that it wants youth to just vote, but they should come right out and said VOTE FOR KERRY. They are another in a line of one-sided productions from the left that refuse to allow viewers to think otherwise. With Fahrenheit 9/11, Outfoxed and Dan
Rather, it's a propaganda all its own.
The danger in this, as in all propaganda, is it creates a vacuum in which its subjects operate and think within. The University of Kansas is a bit like this with an overwhelmingly liberal culture that repudiates opposition. Voter registration drives on campus are left in the hands the Young Democrats, and The University Daily Kansan itself reported about Bush supporters watching the election being ridiculed.
If you took it all in without even bothering to consider the other side of the issue, you certainly would have thought Kerry was going to win, no matter what. News reports of election watchers throughout Lawrence reflected this.
Perhaps that's why college age voters didn't vote as they were expected to. They figured someone else had done the job. Early exit polls said Kerry was up, so why bother?
It's always better to take a hard look at the other side. The information is out there, but too few are looking unless it directly benefits their ideology.
Learning more about what your opposition says and does will usually cement one's own view in their own candidate. The silliness of Michael Moore, Dan Rather, John Kerry and popular culture directed towards people my age guaranteed my vote for our President for the next four years.
Vockrodt is a Denver senior in journalism and political science.
Hero explores language instinct
Dear Steven Pinker.
LANGUAGE RULES!
First of all, thank you for coming to the University of Kansas! It's not every day that a world-renowned linguist and cognitive psychologist speaks to the KU community.
We appreciate your style — how you are able to convey linguistic theories with wit and humor.
We think it's cool that you are on both MulletlSovers.com and Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world today. The six books you've written are augmented by the large quantity of essays and columns published in USA Today, The New York Times and other popular print media. Not many scholars can transcend academic boundaries and appeal to a popular audience.
APRIL BENSON AND LAUREN STEWART
opinion@kansan.com
Plus, you have great Willy Wonkaesque hair. To put it succinctly, we are fans. Steven Pinker, you are our personal language hero.
Sincerely.
The Language Rules! columnists
All silliness aside, it is rather remarkable that Steven Pinker lectured in the Lied Center last week. After teaching and conducting research at MIT for many years, Pinker is now a professor at Harvard University. The Hall Center for the Humanities is responsible for his University of Kansas appearance,
where he discussed theories from his latest book, The Blank Slate.
His recent work focuses on the continuing debate of "nature vs. nurture." Pinker re-examines the prevailing modern attitude that human behaviors and capabilities depend more on environment than biology.
What does this all have to do with language? The Blank Slate is the latest entry in Pinker's course of study concerning human nature. Throughout his career, he has investigated the innateness of language as part of this pursuit. In his 1994 book on language acquisition, The Language Instinct, Pinker notes, "Language is not a cultural artifact that we learn the way we learn to tell time or how the federal government works. Instead, it is a distinct piece of the biological makeup of our brains."
To Pinker, language is natural — as natural and unique to humans as web-
spinning is to spiders (an analogy he makes in The Language Instinct). This makes sense. Would our grasp of language be as complete if we didn't have some inborn capacities for it?
People certainly are not just spitting out repetitions of word patterns they have heard before. Humans have an endless capacity to make new word combinations and arrangements. Some sort of human faculty allows us the opportunity to say sentences that have never been spoken before, yet still convey meaning in context.
Thus, humans have tremendous knowledge of and power over their language, juggling concepts and creating and using new words, phrases and sentences. Pinker calls 3 a-year-old a "grammatical genius" because he or she is able to use many word-formation strategies.
The Blank Slate examines the idea of our innate linguistic command in a broader scope. Whether you agree with Pinker that humans do not begin as a "blank slate," to be shaped by outside forces, his lecture and theories open up new ways of thinking about thinking.
And we have to admit, he has great hair.
Benson is a Grand Island, Neb., senior in English and music. Stewart is a Wichita senior in English.
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