4a Opinion Thursday, February 22, 2001 Perspective For comments, contact Chris Borniger or Nathan Willis at 864-4924 or opinion@kansan.com Military school doesn't corrupt students' minds protesters of the School of the Americas finally got what they wanted. Last December, the school closed forever. December, the school closed above. A month later, however, a new school opened, called the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, and the school's protesters once again strapped on their Birkenstocks and hemp necklaces for another round of demonstrations. As a member of Latin American Solidarity, I received information about all of these events. I also learned that the new school taught its students to do all kinds of wicked things, from planting land mines to setting up roadblocks. In fact, this institute was nearly identical to the elder School of the Americas, which had educated almost 600 human rights violators. I was so shocked I almost choked on my beans and rice. Fortunately, I calmed down, and upon a brief period of reflection I decided that maybe things weren't so bad. One of the major complaints about the Western Hemisphere Institute is that its courses don't teach things that protesters think they should. For example, the SOA Watch Robert Chamberlain columnist opinion@aanan.com pamphlet explains that in the deceptively titled "Peace Operations" course, soldiers learn psychological operations, military intelligence and population controls such as (easpi) setting up roadblocks. Similarly, the folks at SOA Watch were horrified to learn that although the institute has a course titled "Humanitarian De-Mining," in a parallel course, the school continues to teach soldiers to lay land mines. (gap) This was somewhat confusing to me, because when I was at Ft. Benning, we mainly sat around the campfire, held hands and sang kum-yah. Certainly, there was no mention of combat, weapons or intentionally harming other people. Who would have thought such morbid subjects would find their way into the "Home of the Infantry?" The majority of these protests aren't antiSOA — they're anti-military. If you are disturbed by the notion of people being trained to kill and find the thought of laying mine fields, setting up roadblocks and gathering intelligence abhorrent, that's fine. But that's reality you're opposing, not the school. The school's protesters are always quick to point out the nearly 600 human rights violators that graduated the school. Of course, they fail to mention that that's 600 out of about 60,000, or one percent of all the school's graduates. In On Killing, psychologist Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman observes that about one percent of the general population is psychopathic. Maybe it's the case that School of the Americas graduates exhibit exactly the same tendency toward human rights abuse as the general population. To say that the human rights abuses by the school's graduates are a result of their training there, you have to show that the school caused them to realize things they otherwise would not have known. Otherwise, you have a correlation without causation. The courses taught at the Western Hemisphere Institute (as well as the School of the Americas) focus on the United States' approach to military operations. In fact, more courses on democratic control and human rights are taught at the institute than at any other Department of Defense School. Whatever torture techniques human rights abusers have learned, they didn't learn them at the school. From Cambodia to Rwanda, untrained butchers have been doing horrible things to people for centuries. Torturing unarmed people doesn't require training. On the contrary, training is required to impose restraint and discipline on combatants. It is these very notions of restraint and discipline that separate the professional army from an armed mob, and it is these notions that are taught at the Western Hemisphere Institute. To believe otherwise is to ignore the reality of combat operations, to defy logic, and to besmirch the reputation of 59,000 graduates who have done nothing but try to serve their countries as best they could. Chambersain is a Topeka senior in political science. Steve Sack/TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES Kansan report card Pass: Big 12 Black Student Union Conference. KU's chapter of the Black Student Union plays host to the annual meeting of similar Big 12 groups. Instead of sunny Austin, participants will enjoy Lawrence's freezing weather and monstrous pot holes. Lovely. Smoke-free student housing. Department of Student Housing wants to protect residents' health by banning smoking. The Marlboros may be gone, but good luck getting rid of the bongs. The Real World hopefuls. At least three KU students have a shot at making the 2002 season of the popular MTV show. Four words of advice: Don't be like Puck. Fail: Napster. After fighting for its rights, online music-swapping service caves in and offers music industry giants $1 billion to settle the lawsuit. This could be the day the free music died. Student Senate. Senate is considering giving student fee money to some religious organizations and not others. So Campus Crusade for Christ may get money and a Catholic group won? That statement is its own punchline. Budget cuts. Natural gas prices and state lawmakers gang up and force budget cuts both this year and next.Maybe we could become a private religious school. That would solve both this problem and the one above. Perspective Provocative artists force society to examine itself "As often happens in these cases, the controversy over the ... dark and brutal view of human relationships and its shocking comic tone only served to heighten interest." No, this quote is not about the songs by rap artist Eminem. It is about the plays crafted by three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Edward Albee. Emihem garnered four Grammy Award nomi nations last night for his album The Marshall Mathers LP. Some columnists and organizations such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation are vehemently protesting his nominations. To further stir the cultural cauldron, Eminem performed his song "Stan" with Elton John at the Grammys in front of millions on CBS (which the network has been all too happy to exploit.) John, an openly gay musician, received an award from GLAAD last year to honor his advocacy for gay rights. Ryan Dolan columnist opinion@kansan.com his advocacy. Eminem's lyrics contain stories of violent acts against women as well as spiteful homophobic rants. Despite GLAAD's stance that Eminem glorifies and encourages violence against women and homosexuals, music critics from publications such as Rolling Stone, SPIN and the New York Times, all hailed either Eminem or The Marshall Mathers LP on their musical "Best of 2000" lists. So are the lyrics an accurate portrayal of the psyche and anger for a good portion of our country's disenchanted, or are they representative of a sick and disturbed individual? Yes. Just because an artist provokes anger in people, of course, does not mean that artist's work should not be appreciated or celebrated. Albee, the aforementioned playwright, won Tony and Dramatics' Circle awards and earned what would have been his first Pulitzer Prize for his 1962 play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The trustees who oversaw the Pulitzer Prizes rescinded Albee's Pulitzer because they deemed Woolf to be a "filthy" play. In 1962, "filthy" meant it contained latent homosexual themes. At the time, a reviewer for the Drama Review wrote that Albee's play contained "morbidity and sexual perversity, which are there only to titillate an impotent and homosexual theater and audience." Now, if you suggest to people that Albee's *Woolf* is a lewd and disgusting play, they'll have a long, hard laugh and go home to watch people eat each other in the latest TV-reality show. Steven Drukman from American Theatre magazine once pointed out in an article on Albee, "It has taken 25 years to see the irony in the fact that (criticism) was disguised homophobia that accused Albee of disguing homosexuality." Lyrics mean different things to each of us because we've all had different experiences, good and bad. Eminem's angry verses show us the trials and tribulations of growing up poor and white, angry and confused, trying to raise a family while struggling with a dangerous mix of substance abuse and heavy emotional problems. So are Eminem's angry lyrics the result of his repressed homosexuality? "It is, you see, a perfectly straightforward story," Albee said about his play. "It is the very simplicity of the play, I think, that has confused so many." Might some morons mistake the visions in Eminem's "mirror" and do something heinous? It wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened. People tend to do that a lot with the Bible — for example, groups such as the Crusaders, Branch Davidians and the Ku Klux Klan. Amen, brother. Doian is a Lawrence junior in film studies Faith-based service groups deserve funds Editorial___ Some programs with religious ties could combat social ills more effectively. President Bush issued two executive orders last month to "rally the armies of compassion" — or to use tax dollars to finance faith-based organizations providing social services. The new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is a solid idea to combat poverty efficiently Faith-based organizations often can administer service to the poor, addicted and disadvantaged more efficiently than government programs. Therefore. Bush's agenda is a step in the right direction for our country. According to Bush, "when we see social needs in America, my administration will look to faith-based programs and community groups, which have proven their power to save and change lives." Some of the large organizations that would receive funding include Americorps, Habitat for Humanity, Catholic Network for Volunteers, National Jewish Coalition, Salvation Army and Lutheran Social Services. In reality, such organizations have positively changed both the served and the servants. Service is what many of these organizations are all about. They may have varying doctrinal differences for why they help the poor, but the government can effectively improve America's social problems by working with these organizations. Critics of the plan claim it's a violation of the separation of church and state. But Bush's goal is not to endorse a particular religious establishment. He is simply allowing religious organizations to help those in need even more. Moreover, such organizations do not force the needy to adhere to their specific doctrines to receive help. The fear that religious organizations will use tax money to evangelize is legitimate, but government money will finance only social services provided by the religious group, not the group itself. Government aid is most successful when the government cooperates with local civil institutions, regardless of religion. In this attempt, Bush is looking to well-founded, charitable organizations that serve the body, mind, soul and spirit. Tim Lang for the editorial board Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansas 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. - On Friday, someone said that it was unfair that Black people have organizations and a special history month while White people couldn't have that type of thing because it would be racist. As an African-American, I'd like to say I'd trade the money, power and benefits White people have for the 28 days we get out of the year. 图 Sometimes on Tennessee Street, I get a little furious. - I would like to say that KU Info rocks. A man just answered a question about a menstrual period, and he got it right. I figured out the reason why the Jayhawk in the upper left corner of the Kansas is always angry; because he lives in Kansas. Has anyone ever thought that to really be fair, we should have a Black, European, Latin, Greek, Roman, Korean, Vietnamese and Indian history month? The world's really not fair. = Outside the fourth floor of Wesco, there's a group of smokers who stand outside to greet you with a breath of smoke. For those idiots who decided to inhale toxic air, if you wouldn't mind, some of us decided not to do that. So please take it down the stairs. - I just wanted to say thank you to the UDK for the helpful information on how to stay drug free while teaching me how to brew my own beer and cook my own Meth. Thanks again for this learning institution. John McCool must be an amazing judge of character if he was able to tell that everyone attending the Overland Park Gun Show had no intention of using their guns illegally or for illegal activities just by looking at them. Maybe he though this because no one was twisting their mustache or cakling. - 图 I just wanted to praise the article on gun shows. John McCool, you rock. - Hey, while we're at it, let's congratulate Al Gore's dad for having the guts to make sure his baby was always 50 miles away from any potential harm in Vietnam. - Have a good time at the gun show, Mr. McCool. I have better things to do with my time. I just wanted to say thanks to the three hot freshmen in my Geography 104 class because they're my motivation for going every day. How to submit letters and guest columns Letters: Should be double-spaced typed 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- graphated for the column to run. All letters and guest columns should be e-mailed to opinion@kansan.com or submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. 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