4A Thursday, September 15, 1994 OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN COLUMNIST CARSON ELROD MTV should carry more consistent messages CARSON ELROD The violence is beside the point. MTV should just stop the hypocrisy and confusion: The hot sun pierces the desert sky. Two cowboys stand opposite each other, eyes locked, hands on guns as if to say, "I don't like you very much." The men draw closer as if itching to fire. Somewhere in the distance a scorpion crawls under a rock and a rattlesnake lets out an echoing noise through the scene. As the second of eminent doom approaches, the men quickly embrace and begin to dance. The screen flashes, "Would you rather they had killed each other?" Then the heartfelt, "Stop the violence" slogan from MTV. This message and others like it can hardly be said to be bad ones. However, this outcry for the loving union of mankind is immediately followed by the video from Dr. Drre that depicts I am not trying to sound like a scary mix of Rush Limbaugh and Tipper Gore in a cute college censorship package. I like seeing Eazy E hunted down like a dog by a posse with AKs just as much as the next guy. The problem I have is with MTV for miscommunication of what they are all about. Holding this power, I believe it is the duty of MTV, acknowledging their lack of competition, to just do what they do best. Play videos. I am not saying get rid of the "Stop the violence" campaign. I am not asking them to get rid of the violent videos. I am asking for a little consistency. Proclaiming the station to be a hateless, loving and altruistic medium is about as believable as Seinfeld getting canned to make way for the breakthrough new sitcom starring Nancy Kerrigan and her wacky skating antics. Eazy E being chased down the street by a posse with AK-47s. I have a feeling that at this point the kids at home are experiencing the same confusion they felt when they heard that coke and pop rocks candy blew up Mikey from the Life cereal commercials. In this discovery of their preeminence, they have discovered that they pretty much have free reign over dictating a lot in terms of style, pop culture and how a lot of people treat each other. The MTV executives would have to represent a cross section of large granite status not to recognize this. MTV is not a world of daffodils and unity. MTV is a world of rock 'n' roll music and always has been. The owners are good capitalists, and they What I am getting at is that as MTV exists now, if you go over to Snow Hall and pull a math science major away from a computer for a minute, they will tell you that, if you pair what MTV says to what MTV does, logically deserve credit for pioneering the way for a new generation of art and concept in the way that music is presented. However, MTV has come to recognize that it is the ONLY one doing it. Since VH-1 is owned by MTV, it isn't really in the competition category. (Not to mention most my age would rather die than see Whitney Houston belt out that last chorus to "I will always love you" one more time.) the whole channel should cease to exist altogether from the cancellation and contradiction principle. The moral of this seemingly trivial rant is that we do get all of our ideas and beliefs from somewhere. We need to question the sources of our information the same way we question anything else. If the coolest person in the world ran up to you and said "You know what I can't stand?" Peaches. Hate 'em, Whoowee, I would rather die than eat a peach." Then that person proceeded to take a peach from their pocket and devour it, would you question what this person was really all about? Yeah, me too. Carson Eldrod is a Topeka junior in history and theater. VIEWPOINT Large,enthusiastic crowds make lights seem practical fans and players, the Athletic Department moved Saturday's game against Michigan State under the lights. The In an effort to increase attendance and provide milder temperatures for The experiment worked. should consider it. All of the night games played in the past three years have been met with large crowds and even greater enthusiasm. STADIUM LIGHTS The success of the night football games should encourage the Athletic Department to consider buying lights lights. The night games are supported by local merchants, who have enjoyed full business days on those Saturdays. result: the largest homeopener crowd ever, mild weather and a victory. While the success of one event does not by itself justify buying permanent lights, the department The only stumbling block is the cost of new lights. If the permanent lights would be cost-effective, then night games should become a regular occurrence. RICHARD BOYD FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD. Computerized enrollment is administrative letdown Returning students to the University of Kansas were no doubt looking for the computer enrollment system that was promised by the administration during the fall semester. The University Da il l y Kansan even ran an article explaining to students how the system would work much time would save in ment process. If the administration is going to promise the fee- November of this year. It is now believed the system will not even be ready by then. would work and how much time students would save in the enrollment process. COMPUTER ENROLLMENT Students were told computer enrollment would be possible by now. But the administration set a deadline it could not keep. Since that time the deadline was pushed back to paying students a service it should be delivered within the time period that they themselves set. It's not so much an issue of how students enroll, but how much trust is fostered by an institution that doesn't live up to its promises. MARK YONALLY FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD. KANSANSTAFF STEPHEN MARTINO Editor CHRISTOPH FUHRMANS Managing editor JEN CARR Business manager CATHERINE ELLSWORTH Systems coordinator CAMERON DEATH Retail sales manager TOM EBLEN General manager. news adviser JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser News ... Eara Bennett Editorial ... Donella Hearne Campus ... Mark Martin Sports ... Brian James Photo ... Doron Bennett Melissa Lacey Features ... Traci Carl Planning Editor ... Susan White Design ... Noah Muusser Assistant to the editor .. Robble Johnson Editors Business Staff Campus mgr Todd Winters Regional mgr Laura Guth National mgr Mark Masto Coop mgr Emily Gibson Special Sections mgr Jen Pierer Production mgr Holly Boren Regen Overy Marketing director Alan Stiglic Creative director John Carlton Classified mgr Heather Niahou Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photo-tanned. The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of California at Berkeley are required to submit their letters. Jeff MacNelly/ Chicago Tribune No solutions arise to problems of violence Now it is time to find those to blame for the incredibly tragic life and death of Robert Sandifer, the Chicago youth who was both a suspected killer and a murder victim at age 11. No problem. There are more than enough targets for blame. By the time you read this, you'll probably have heard them all: his parents, the courts, social service agencies, gangs, politicians, gun laws, drugs, bloody movies and television, rap music, schools, the economy, slavery and our violent and racist society. Have I missed anyone or anything? Sure, but it doesn't matter because we don't have room for it all, so let's just go with the most obvious suspects. COLUMNIST PARENTS: Robert's dad is a criminal and sadist who used children as ashtrays. His mother is a drug user and a fool, who said of her son while the police were hunting him: "He's a nice kid who just needs some counseling." Obviously, these two boobs should not have had children. But how do you stop them? Tie her tubes? Snip his organs? No, because that's unconstitutional and will remain so unless we become a totalitarian state. Refuse to support them with withholding welfare? That would be legal, but it would punish children, so white liberals and black politicians would scream about racism and fascism. Snatch the children away at the first sign of family neglect or abuse? And do what with them? There aren't enough foster homes for even a fraction of the goofed-up ghetto kids; we'd have to build the world's biggest chain of MIKE ROYKO orphanages. So, realistically what do we do about teen-age mothers and thug fathers, third generation welfare illiterates? Darned if I know. I guess we do what we've been doing: conduct studies, then wring our hands and worry. THE LEGAL SYSTEM: The trouble with the legal system is that it is so legal. Cops can't sweep public or private housing for guns or drugs: unconstitutional. They can't roust known or suspected gangbangers on sight: ditto. Judges and social agencies can't grab kids from moronic parents without terrible cause, and even if they could, where are they going to put them? The fact is, our laws, legal system and social agencies are not geared to handle the growing madness in our society. THE POLITICAL SYSTEM: Our Washington politicians can't or won't do anything more than slap billion-dollar bandages on gaping social wounds, while local officials must take the blame and are stuck with mopping up the blood. We'd be better off dumping the entire Crime Bill and most federal anti-crime and social programs and letting local governments and police have the money. They know what the problems are and how to make a dent. The Washington conservatives say we should lock them all up, while knowing that it's impossible to lock up every yahoo the police arrest. The white liberals and black officials say we should spend more money. In recent decades, we've spent more and more money, and now we have 11-year-olds killing 12-year-olds, and 14-year-olds killing 11-year-olds. For all the good the spending has done, we might as well have given the money to the 11-year-olds so they could play video games instead of shooting each other. OUR VIOLENT CULTURE: OK, let us ban all violence, sex and dirty language on television and radio, in the movies, comic books, video games, rap music, novels, advertising, vulgar T-shirts, wrestling, hockey and anything else that might taint impressionable minds. But if we are going to censor all of the grime and gore that much of our population obviously enjoys as entertainment, be prepared for a long wait. The last legal appeal will probably be filed and heard in about 100 years. So we can all mourn the short and sad life of Robert Sandifer and point fingers. Then we can wait a few days for a new shocking headline and start it all over again. Mike Royko is a syndicated columnist with the Chicago Tribune. LETTER TO THE EDITOR Is the IRA a ruthless terrorist organization, and are they responsible for thousands of deaths all across Britain from London to Belfast as claimed in a recent Kansan editorial? An examination of any facts relative to this topic rejects these claims. Image of IRA is result of British propaganda First of all, the violence in Northern Ireland is widely understood to be the result of religious intolerance between Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants. The media have propagated this version of the struggle and portray the British Army as peacekeepers caught between warring Irish factions. The truth, however, is that British involvement in Ireland is imperialistic. British propaganda has been relentless in its condemnation of the IRA as a "band of craved thugs" and have thereby succeeded in blocking recognition of the wider dimensions of the conflict. Consequently, the IRA has almost no opportunity to explain its actions to a gullible public fed on news reports which reflect only the British view. This tack is not unique to the Irish conflict. George Washington, Samuel Adams and many of the freedom fighters revered in American history were once branded terrorists by the British. One of the leaders of the Israeli Irgun condemned as a "ruthless terrorist" by the British was Menachem Begin, who subsequently distinguished himself as a brilliant statesman for his part in the Israel and Egypt peace accord. Gandhi of India was another of Britain's branded terrorists who suffered imprisonment and was ridiculed for his attempts to gain Indian independence. The list is inexhaustible. Others also suffered extremes of oppression at the hands of British imperial policy of partisan politics, of which Ireland is both its first and last victim. Second, to accuse the IRA of "thousands of deaths ... all across Great Britain ... from London to Belfast" is not supported by the facts. Officially, the number of violent deaths credited to IRA activities in the past 25 years of strife in the six northeastern counties of Ireland is less than those credited to Union pro-British paramilitary groups. While I share the revolition to violence in Ireland, I question the fair mindedness of those who view the IRA as terrorists and the British as innocent peacekeepers. "In war," Winston Churchill once said, "the first casualty is truth." Finally, the vast majority of violent deaths due to the struggle for a united and free Ireland have taken place within the six northeastern counties of the province of Ulster. No plans to systematically engage in killings on mainland Britain have ever been contemplated by the IRA and none have ever been identified by anyone. June Leahy Limerick, Ireland graduate student HUBIE By Greg Hardin SO, OF COURSE, ALLOF MY ENERGY WILL NOW BE FOREVER DEVOTED SOLLY TO THE LORAITY OF THE ONE STORY THAT IS TRULY DE- SERVING . . .