4a Opinion Friday, February 23, 2001 For comments, contact Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com Perspective Spirit of youth remains strong with pop music I have a confession to make! I love pop music. Teeny-bopper pop music, to be exact. Britney Spears, N'Sync, Backstreet Boys, Chance the Rapper Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera — yes, Love them all. The new Lazer; I love it. I watch Total Request Live whenever I can, and I crave teeny bopper gossip. I am willing to bet more than a fair share of University of Kansas students love teeny-bopper music as much as I do, but they are too ashamed to admit it. Although I do not own a single CD of those mentioned artists, I do have their MP3s, as well as an extensive Britney Spears poster collection. Bubble-gum pop music for free: It doesn't get any better than that. After five classes every Monday, I want to come home and relax. I don't want to listen to the booming bass and braggadocio of rap or the power chords of alternative rock. I want Britney to tell me about a girl named "Lucky" and Christina to tell me "What a Girl Wants." It's all good clean fun, which is what everyone needs sometimes. Eric Borja columnist opinion@kansan.com For all of you who think it is a passing fad Witness the Super Bowl. The Backstreet Boys sang the National Anthem while Britney and N'Sync performed with Aerosmith during halftime. Several pop groups also were nominated for Grammys. I hate to break it to you,but it look it's here to stay for a while. Pop is as hot as ever, and everyone is trying to get a piece of the new market. But there has been a strong pop music backlash. Public expression of hate for pop music has become as much of a phenomenon as pop music itself. A new video or skit parodying a boy band or pop diva plays up pretty often. Artists such as Eminem, Blink 182 and Limp Bizkit have made careers out of poking fun at pop music. I credit the backlash to jealousy. Back in the '70s and '80s, people wanted to be rock stars. Now, people want to be pop stars. Consider the benefits; you wear outrageous clothing, sing and dance in front of millions of people and get paid millions of dollars, all while not writing your own songs. But I find it very ironic that the same bands that insult pop music are competing with the same groups for the No.1 spot on TRL. As fun and liberating as it is to make fun of pop music and pop stars, I encourage everyone to appreciate all types of music. Rap music speaks more to some people. For others, that music might be techno or alternative. As for me, pop music speaks straight to my heart. I think I'm this way because I grew up in the most culturally devoid place in the world. Springfield, Mo. Everything is commercialized and conservative, and most cutting-edge or diverse artists avoided Springfield. So I took refuge in pop radio and MTV. That was where I got all my music. I grew up and learned to embrace all kinds of music, but not remained close to my heart During high school, as alternative music dominated the air waves, I secretly prayed for a Debbie Gibson or New Kids on the Block reunion. My wish was granted — sort of — when Gibson and the New Kids came back reincarnated as Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. There were no more songs about alienation and struggle. They sang about heartbreak and infatuation, two things going through just about every fickle 17-year-old's mind. So to all the other closeted pop music lovers: I encourage you to break out and proclaim to the world your love of pop music. Next time you're driving, don't suppress your inner child by turning down the volume on the latest N'Sync song. Instead, lower your windows, turn up the bass and crank the volume. Let your inner child run free and bask in pop music's beauty. Borja is a Springfield, Mo., sophomore in journalism. Heard on the Hill Do you know anyone whose life has been affected by meth? How? "I've had friends who have tried it, but it didn't really have any long-term effects on their lives." Josh Molgren Newton senior "Someone close to me has. She's 20, didn't graduate high school, she's living with her parents and has a kid she can't support." Mandy Squib Mulvane freshman "I know a lot of people who've been affected by meth. But it all depends on the individual." C. J. Wilford St. Louis junior "Someone I "Someone I know does meth. He's bad at his job and has lesions on his face." Jonathan Carnell London, England senior Perspective Cloning human beings trivializes value of life Viewers of NBC's Dateline got a sneak peak at part of the future's nastier side earlier this month. Dr. Panos Zavos of the Kentucky Center for Reproductive Medicine plans to start the process of cloning a human being next month. Here is a bit of the conversation he had with one of the show's hosts, Stone Phillips. Phillips: There is a hit-or-miss, trial-and-error element to all of this. I mean, there are going to be ... Phillips: Mishaps? Zavos: Yes. And we are ready to face those mishaps. We're going to try to limit those mishaps. We're not perfect. Only God is. Phillips: But these aren't sheep, or cows, or mice. These are - these are human beings. Zavos; Sure. And we understand that. Phillips: Is that just the gruesome price of moving forward in this area? Andrew Marino columnist opinione kansan.com Zavos: It's part of any price that we pay when we develop new technology. Perhaps Zavos' position would be more understandable if his purpose were to cure diseases or save lives. But Zavos said he wanted to clone humans so couples would be able to have biological children, presumably by cloning one of themselves. A few couples expressed interest in cloning their dead children. The good doctor's mishaps included monstrously deformed children, abortions, miscarriages and discarded human embryos. What's scary is not that Zavos tried to argue that these wouldn't be bad things — he clearly understood that he shouldn't even try. What's so frightening is the weight these mishaps are given in the all-consuming quest for progress. They are simply the price we pay for new technology. Some scientists pushing the biotechnology line say this human dignity mumbo-jumbo is just that. Dinesh D'Souza, in a recent National Review essay, provided two interesting viewpoints from the scientific community. This is an ominous loss of respect usually accorded human life. Biologist David Baltimore argued that statements about morally and ethically unacceptable practices had no place in the biotechnology debate because those were subjective grounds and therefore provided no basis for discussion. The cells of human beings aren't that different, chemically from any other animal. "This is not an ethical argument but a religious one," said biologist Lee Silver. The relevant question is this: Is there something more to human beings than just the biological facts, the physical stuff? The answer lies in ongoing inquiries in the areas of politics, literature, philosophy and art. It would benefit these scientists to study some in these other fields, lest they end up in science's worst and most evil traditions. These views are mistaken, and these men are woefully trapped inside of a science that cannot answer the relevant question. To them, this means there must be no answer, so they can do whatever they want to the human "stuff." Marino is a Prairie Village senior in political science and English. Ignorance of this magnitude is not usually associated with men of such high education. Editorial Newspapers would boost awareness A permanent Newspaper Readership Program is well worth its small price. Chances are the student body was a little more well-read during the first four weeks of the semester. Chances are this is because of the Newspaper Readership Program, a collaboration between Student Senate and USA Today that provided students with free access to daily newspapers. The free pilot program ended Feb. 9, and it's sad to see it go. It is important to foster college students' awareness of news and current events, and the program is a great way to do this. Wednesday, Student Senate committees approved a bill to increase student fees by $6.50 per semester to finance the program. This was a big step toward making the program permanent, and the full Senate should approve the bill next week. Papers were available at Oliver Hall, Wescoe Hall and the Kansas Union. Nearly 500 issues of USA Today, The Lawrence Journal-World and The Kansas City Star and 185 issues of The New York Times were available each day. USA Today Regional Marketing Manager Mike MacGee said most days, all the papers were picked up. Student Body President Ben Walker worked to bring the program to the University after hearing about a similar program at Pennsylvania State University. He said student feedback had been very positive and that the program could increase knowledge of national and world events and promote civic responsibility. "We are marginalized at every level of government because we are seen as lazy and apathetic," Walker said. "More access to news will help turn around this trend." MacGee said that if the fee increase were approved, distributors would ensure that there were enough papers for all students on campus. The Newspaper Readership Program also features a recycling program, from which the University would earn proceeds. The price students would pay for access to knowledge is minimal. The program has provided students a great opportunity. If it becomes permanent, it's up to students to take advantage of it. Kate Williams for the editorial board free all for 8640500 Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. For more comments, go to www.kansan.com. I just wanted to say that every music major should take music theory from Karen Ernst because she's so awesome. We love her, Karen. --- - I live on Daisy Hill, and I know of 12 drug dealers within one building radius of my hall. Hugo Vera put his heart and soul into Naismith Hall; it was his life. Maybe if the two RAs who were fired had done that, they would still be RAs. Actually, there's been a lot of not just White people, but different races on BET. To the person who said the comment about BET: Maybe they should call NBC and inquire why Friends doesn't have any people of color in their leading roles. I think that the senior class gift should be a big statue of John Brown to put out in Murphy Hall. It's 4:19. Got a minute? - It obviously takes more ability to drive than your sports columnist thought if she's wrecked two vehicles. What grounds does she have to judge a man doing what he loved? I think The Vagina Monologues ought to be banned. - It's a good thing that you guys are publishing these articles about meth in the UDK. Now everyone knows where to get the recipes to make them. I'm a student, and I have to say I agree with Mayor Henry's article. I know what slobs University students can be. 值 --- The series on meth is one of the best things I've seen in the Kansan for a while. Keep it up. - Good job, Kansan, on writing a story on meth on how we can make them and where to get the information to make them. I was just wondering if anyone else noticed that the U2 drummer was wearing a KU shirt. Rock on. I would just like to say that NASCAR is very much a sport as basketball or baseball. They're just the same. They're all athletes; they train for the same amount. - Why do Americans keep making fun of their God? I don't understand. How to submit letters and guest columns Letters: Should be double-spaced type and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions. Guest columns: Should be double- spaced typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photo- graffed for the column to run. 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