4A
Wednesday, June 28.1995
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
THE ISSUE: THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT
Foster's fate a bad sign for GOP
Last week, Henry Foster's surgeon general nomination was essentially derailed by the Christian Coalition and the National Right to Life Committee, groups that wrote letters to U.S. senators asking them to prevent a vote on the nomination.
Thus President Clinton's nomination of Foster, an obstetrician-gynecologist was killed when an attempt to end a Republican nomination blockade fell three votes short.
This type of influence should be recognized as an effective and dangerous weapon against women and their rights. That same weapon is sure to affect the next general election.
Voters should see that these groups continually will try to turn their views into law. Letting these coalitions affect the nomination of a candidate who had performed legal abortions showed Congress believed there was not even room for discussion on this important subject.
By bowing to the wants of religious coalitions on Clinton's nominee. Republicans run the risk of alienating voters.
The Republican party has leaned further toward the agenda of social conservatives since gaining control of Congress in November. Many in the party have shifted their views increasingly to the right on issues from medical assistance to public broadcasting.
If the Christian Coalition and the National Right to Life Committee can easily influence legislation, what will their next mission be, mandatory school prayer?
In this case, Republicans blocked a candidate who was more concerned with preventing and dealing with teen-age pregnancy than preforming abortions.
The GOP should be wary of linking itself to these groups. By giving in to the religious right, Republican candidates may have turned many mainstream
AMIE MUNN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
THE ISSUE: FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS
Parade flaunts free speech issue
in a victory for the First Amendment, the Supreme Court ruled last week that because the organizers of Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade were a group of private citizens, they had the right to include or exclude any group that wished to participate in the parade.
The reasoning behind the decision was that the parade made a statement and therefore was protected as free speech. As such, the organizers had the right to decide what message they wanted to convey.
Unfortunately, a message of acceptance, inclusion and caring wasn't one they felt important enough to include. Instead, they chose to ban a group that wanted to proclaim its pride in being homosexual and Irish.
But this issue hasn't been that simple.
Discrimination against gays has been widespread, and group solidarity has been necessary to provide greater understanding and equality within our society.
Some wonder what the uproar might have been if
Organizers of Boston's St.Patrick Day's events have right to exclude gays, but actions show lack of today's tolerance.
the parade's organizers had chosen to ban an African-American group. It might have been a much louder statement, but having Black skin hasn't been seen as immoral—lately.
Society has come a long way in race relations since the days when African Americans weren't allowed to drink from the same water fountains as Caucasians, but its views on homosexuality remain stuck in the generation of Edsels and nuclear families.
The evidence accumulates that sexual preference is more biological than psychological.
So even though the organizers of Boston's St. Patrick's Day Parade had the legal right to decide who would and would not participate in the event, making that decision based on an individual's sexual preference was wrong and misguided.
TODD HIATT FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
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Rob Tablev / KANSAN
distorting the truth
Please let me be surgeon general. I've only done six abortions.
So what if I lied?
I've REALLY done
39 abortions.
A word to the wise: use of language may mask warped, ulterior messages
Words fly around.
Politicians and public-television advocates use them. Preachers and scientists, students and professors, each of us uses words all the time.
Some people seem to worship the almighty word. How does the Bible phrase go?
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
And as an English major, I study the meaning, purpose and use of words.
It depresses me how many people take simple sounds and symbols and turn them into weapons of war or replacements for intelligent thought.
I am one of those rare individuals who believes that language and knowledge are not synonymous. Many times, our words for something disguise the true meaning we wish to convey.
As infants, we learn to say the words "Mommy" and "Daddy," as if these words can sum up everything
STAFF COLUMNIST
these people truly represent as if these words can accurately represent the people who gave us our life. Later in life, we learn to hide behind words. If we dislike or are frightened by someone, we call that person a liberal or a conservative.
We call disastrous events dilemmas, while great moments are iows.
The words we use are sometimes slippery things with no substance or power other than that which we give to them.
Take any book and you can find phrases that could support or damn any idea you might have.
Chances are the word you picked had a minimum of two listed meanings.
Speaking of books, look at any comprehensive dictionary and pick a word, any word.
And if you could find two listed meanings, you could interpret a dozen other meanings yourself.
Twist the language a little and you can make a noun into a verb, a verb into an adjective and make an adjective extinct.
Take a thought and give it voice, and suddenly, that thought is distorted. The language, the words, often cannot carry the understanding we need.
Yet, sometimes we still wish to acknowledge only the literal sounds and spellings of words.
The attention to the poetry of syllables, the need for catch-phrases and sensitive terms — all fail to pit thought against thought and bring forth truth.
Do not accept without question the words with which you are assaulted.
In a world where "I like you" can mean anything from a gentle admonition to the beginning of a romance, nothing can be taken at face value.
When someone like Rush Limbaugh starts spewing words that demean and diminish, look at the words warty.
The same holds true when President Clinton gives a five-minute address concerning the nation's budget.
The words may be there just to convey information. But it is far more likely that they're being used to distract while the truth slips out the back.
Most people prove their power with words at least once in life, from innocently telling white lies to spindoctoring like a pro.
So remember those moments, and then do not assume that your words cannot affect you or your life — especially the words you have just read.
Isaac Bell is a Lawrence senior in English.
Random acts of kindness lead plea for peace
Practice random acts of kindness. See what you can do for someone else today. By helping someone else, you help yourself. You may not get something in return, but in the end you will feel like a better person.
Most of us have heard or seen these slogans at some point whether it was on "Oprah" or on a bumper sticker.
They are slogans which have the potential to change lives for the better.
But our society has been so wrapped up in individual gain that it has started moving backward socially.
Instead of evolving toward a utopian society, U.S. citizens have regressed into a pit containing selfish people possessing few morals.
Many families no longer can sit down at the dinner table to have a meal and talk about each member's lives. Each person simply eats when
Much of the problem is rooted in economic pressures and time limitations.
STAFF COLUMNIST
it is convenient for him or her.
nvenient for him or her. Families also have been unable to instill morals and values in their youth, because the parents are too concerned about their own problems.
Some parents care more about financial stability and their jobs
than raising children.
Discipline in the home is infrequent because parents are too tired to remain firm in their decisions and eventually give in to the wishes of the child.
Many times, by necessity, children must be dropped off at day-care centers where they may get little attention.
Even in these scenarios, children have been influenced by family values. But in the absence of home
instruction, some children turn to outside means of identity and instruction on values.
And, unfortunately, some turn to gangs that commit crimes to become members. Crime, even murder, has become a household word to these youth.
But this cycle of ineffectiveness can be broken.
Every one of us has a common bond.
We all are human.
We all need love and support to be happy.
Give of yourself to others, and you will be rewarded. Open the door for a stranger. Smile at someone you pass on campus or on the street. Donate a book to your favorite organization. Thank an instructor for all his or her help. Treat a friend to lunch. Or just send someone a card to let them know that you care.
With this new attitude, our society can only improve.
If each of us practices one random
act of kindness every day, the difference in society would be immeasurable.
Like the old saying, "what goes around, comes around," we should start a new world-wide campaign to practice random acts of kindness. At some time in our lives, we could be the recipient of a random act of kindness.
In fact if we all spent one-third of our day helping someone — time that we normally would spend either watching television or gossiping on the telephone — we could brighten someone's day.
Smiles are contagious; start a new trend. Practice random acts of kindness and make the world a better place.
And if we as U.S. citizens could just make an effort to change our attitudes and to help others, the effects could translate into global benefits.
Julie Haest is a Richardson, Texas, freshman.
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