4A
Monday, October 3, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Commercials shouldn't stay crispy in mind
The kind of logic used to
CARSON ELROD
blame television for society's ills is as sloppy as this morning's cereal milk.
It is scary that commercials for children can effectively destroy in 30 seconds what most parents have been teaching their children for years. Watching a cereal commercial is like watching the television flash the words "Be Evil" over and over for half a minute.
**case #1:** the Coco Puffs bird. This poor bird has a fragile mental condition that is triggered when fed Coco Puffs. But the bird runs with a bad crowd who, by means of pure, unadulterated peer pressure, forces him to eat the Coco Puffs. The bird then goes into a hysterical coco-conviction that the kids seem to like so much.
This image is true a frightening one. The message that this commercial
communicates to viewers is that if people have friends that don't want to do something for some reason, you should force them into it. "No, Jim, I can't drink milk. I'm allergic. I'll die." Oh c'mon Mikey. Don't be such a wuss! All the other kids are drinking milk. Mikey, IT DOES A BODY GOOD!" Well. OK.) [Add sound bit of Mikey's body hitting the floor here.]
Case #2: the Trix commercials. He simply wants some Trix cereal. He has been wanting some for years. However, a marraigned gang of greedy and covetous children deny him this luxury. The bunny elaborately disguises himself in every way, shape and form to get some cereal from these tyrannical children. (He has a right, I mean,
he's on the box for goodness' sake.) However, the children always rip up the disguise and ridicule the bunny as they eat the cereal.
The negative imagery here is obvious. The message that is given is that if a group of people have a surplus of goods and someone "different" asks for some, by goodness, you say "No!" The concept of sharing is thwarted completely. Furthermore, if the people who are "different" make any attempt to get just a little of these surplus goods, the group should mercilessly ridicule and tease them. (And we wonder what the root of racism is.)
Finally, there is Lucky the Leprechaun and his "Lucky Charms" cereal. Lucky is a friendly little leprechaun
that does his best to mind his own business. Like most of his trecheman friends, he enjoys his immortality and the Irish countryside. However, he is constantly attacked by a frotty gang of American miscreants who want to eat all of his cereal. These kids will not leave Lucky alone. (You would think that after Lucky built the magic rainbow balloon that the kids would get the hint that Lucky doesn't want to give them any of his cereal. Gold, yes. Cereal, no.) In the end, when Lucky will not hand over the cereal, the children steal it and devour his most prized possession in his presence. (The lack of humanity is astounding!)
This commercial has the scariest implications of them all. This message
tells society that if it cannot acquire something by whining like a sniveling little rat then steal it. (Where did you think Oliver Stone got the idea for Natural Born Killers?)
The truth is, these are just commercials. The negative effect they have on anyone is debatable. However, what is not debatable is the trend in society to read so much into everything from cereal commercials to "The Lion King" that everything becomes a potential societal time bomb. Society should be careful about this over-interpretation of the issues before the only commercials left are for shampoo.
Carson Elrod is a Topeka junior in theater and history.
VIEWPOINT
School could save sex course by implementing $10 charge
The University announced that Dennis Dailey's Human Sexuality in Everyday Life course would be taught only in
the fall semester and no longer would be offered in the spring semester.
This is a
grievous
popular professors on campus entry and the Honor for the Outstanding Progressive Educator award.
COURSE CANCELLATION
A representative of the
A small fee for materials could put Dennis Dailey's course in human sexuality back in the spring semester.
error on the part of the School of Social Welfare, which pays for the class.
Human Sexuality continually is one of the most popular courses at the University.
The University should assess a $10 materials fee for each person enrolled in the class to help finance the class and ensure that it will continue to be offered both semesters.
The course is popular not only on campus but has garnered Dailey and the University many awards and accolades.
Students consistently are turned away, and at least 500 students enroll in the class each semester.
These include a listing in the "Fiske Guide to Colleges" under the most
It is a course that students obviously want to take and closing it would exclude more people from a class they want and add to the overpopulation of other courses.
School of Social Welfare has said that it would be unwise for the school to finance the class both semesters
because about 90 percent of the students who enroll in it each semester are not social welfare students.
The solution is simple. Each student who wants to take the class should pay a $10 fee.
If 500 people took the course each semester, the school would have an additional $10,000 per year to pay for the class.
It would be well worth any students one-time $10 payment to attend a class that is taught by a knowledgeable and respected professor on a subject everyone can afford to learn more about.
Not only would the school be able to offer the course both semesters, but only the students who wanted to take the class would be paying any extra money.
At all costs, students should not be shut out from this course.
MARK YONALLY FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO
Editor
TOM EBLEN General manager. news adviser
CHRISTOPH FUHRMANS Managing editor
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Mellasa Lecey
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Campus mgr ... Todd Winters
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Regan Overy
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Business Staff
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Sean Finn/ KANSAN
BELIEVE IT OR NOT, PEOPLE IGNORANT ENOUGH TO BE ON THE OJ SIMPSON JURY ACTUALLY DO EXIST.
Nations keep citizens like men kept women
At the next dinner party you attend to promote the philosophy that the best woman is a kept woman. And the measure of a man is how well he keeps his woman.
If you're not slapped or thrown out, you're either at a Ku Klux Klan rally or so far back in the hills that paved roads are considered a novelty and unitf for good horseback riding.
Any self-respecting woman, whatever her occupation, will quickly point out the inherent and independent value of her efforts. She will reject the notion that she must rely on her husband to take care of her. She is fully capable of making her own decisions, overcoming adversity and failure and success.
A woman would rather have the freedom to try and to fail than to admit that she required the protection and guidance of a man to guarantee her livelihood. Yet this industrial notion of the proper relationship between men and women is alive and well today in another context: countries and their citizens.
In the past, women looked to men, by choice or by force, to provide for them and to determine what was in their best interests because of women's supposed incompetence.
COLUMNIST
ZACKARY STARBIRD
Today, citizens defer to their governments, by choice or by force, to make those decisions.
Thus, states have adopted unemployment insurance laws because you, the citizen, aren't responsible enough to prepare for the possibility of unemployment. You are required to participate in Social Security because you can't be trusted to save for your own retirement.
States have adopted mandatory seat-belt and helmet laws because you can't be trusted to take these obvious safety measures. The national government has banned the manufacture and sale of three-wheelers because you, as a novice rider, might hurt yourself.
fragile, too naive and too financially irresponsible in the past, citizens are so regarded today. The government has become so obsessed with preventing our failures that we are becoming kept citizens.
Much as women were deemed too
Does the alleged poor judgment, improvidence and self-destructive behavior of some citizens justify stripping us of our freedoms? Is it any more justifiable to "keep" citizens than to "keep" women?
In fact, pre-eminence in these types of laws has become a source of competition and pride among nations. Instead of women comparing wardrobes and jewelry to show who is kept best, citizens of different nations compare their social welfare programs, from subsidized school lunches to free medical care to guaranteed jobs, income and vacation.
Even as we have rejected the notion that women require caretakers, we have embraced the notion that citizens do. We are traveling down the dark road of the past oblivious of the advantages of preserving the freedom to fall: individual responsibility and the opportunity to succeed.
Zackary Starbird is a third-year Topeka law student.
Health news makes Sludge a happy man
Sometimes, when we're all out having a couple of brews (only on the weekends, mom), Shudge will raise his bottle, stare lovingly at the foamy, yellow liquid and say, "I wish beer was good for you."
Beer! Good for you? And all this time I thought Sludge was just hoping to rationalize his love for the frothy, alcoholic beverage.
He's only half-kidding. This is not to say that Sludge is obsessed or anything. Like many people on this campus, myself included, the man just enjoins an ice-cold beer.
So when I came across The Associated Press article in the Sept. 28 Kansan about the effect of alcohol consumption on blood clots, I felt Sludge was the first person I should share it with.
Hey, Sludge!
"Yeah, what?"
What's the matter with you?
"Shut up."
"Nothing, Headache. Just a little hung over."
That's great.
No, seriously. It says here that a study released recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that alcohol consumption was directly linked to increased levels of the enzyme t-PA, which helps break down blood clots that can cause heart attacks.
"Wait a sec. Say that again."
The article says that moderate consumption of alcohol may be part of the prescription for a healthy heart.
"Really? I knew it... Wow! I must be the healthiest son-of-a-buck in the country."
Of course, the guys who did the study wanted people to be aware of the risks associated with heavy alcohol consumption, like the chance that the liver might turn a yellowish-green.
"Sure. But still... I'm a new man."
The chief researcher was very hesitant about saying that people should go out and throw a few back. Which makes sense, I guess, especially when you consider the increase of alcohol abuse and alcoholism on college campuses.
"I never drink when it's light outside."
Perfect. Many of the French drink a glass of wine every day, and a similar study attributed their generally healthy hearts to this so remember that this study found that one or two a day is plenty.
"Can I save 'em up for Friday?" Good idea
HUBIE
Matt Gowen is a Lawrence senior in journalism.
By Greg Hardin
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