THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PAGE 5A
FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2011
opinion
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If I were a superhero, my super power would be making people eat the cigarette butts they throw on the ground.
Didn't get your calm-down pill today fish head?
Apparently, Kesha is going to have her face on 10,000 condoms! If a guy pulls one out with her face plastered on the front, my panties will shoot back up quick!
Who seriously wants that walking Herpbag on their condoms? Nasty.
Does anyone else really hate ellipsis?
The one thing classy about Mizzou .. Nevermind.
Time really crawls when you're waiting for midnight to eat meat again.
BREAKING NEWS: The Pity Train has just derailed at the intersection of Suck It Up and Move On after it crashed into We All Have Problems before coming to a complete stop at Get Over It. Reporting LIVE from Quit Yer Bitchin'. Have a good day :)
If Friday is a hot chick, then Monday is her fat friend.
The 'E in SEARS isn't lit. Lawrence officially has SAR!
Whoa there Betsy Ross. Calm down.
"Check out these gas prices! LOL you bro, maro!" God, Jesus.
Buying Walmart's brand of toilet paper was a mistake. Today was my last roll. Now my butt can heal.
Bill Self is like Charlie Sheen:
"Winning!"
Who loves orange soda?
Kel loves orange soda!
Hey Drake, the square root of 69 is actually 8.306623862918075.Just FYI cause I heard you were tryin't to work it out.
All I want is to find my lover a Power Rangers card for his birthday. Why is that so very difficult?
My roommate thinks that I'm an idiot for skipping class so I can watch the game. KU basketball is a little more important to me than a stupid class.
I saw someone running and blowing her nose. I applaud you, girl. That is no easy feat.
KU please don't ever do that to me again.I'm too young for a heart attack.I'm glad you won,but don't ever do that again.Love,your biggest fan.
Professors who let students watch basketball games during class clearly understand what this university is all about.
I'm embarrassed to tell people I'm from St. Louis because the state of Missouri really does suck.
Relay to help change the future of cancer
EDITORIAL
Walk a lap, save a life. There has to be a catch, right?
Not this time.
This year marks the eighth consecutive Relay for Life event at the University of Kansas. Relay for Life is the American Cancer Society's biggest event of the year. Nationally, 3.5 million people participate by raising awareness and money to fight cancer
While some days it seems like the University was built on the only hill in Kansas, walking itself is never a chore. It's as easy as placing one foot in front of the other. And that's All Relay for Life asks of its participants.
It starts with a simple concept: cancer never sleeps, so neither will the participants. That is why the event will
take place from 6 p.m. April 15 to 6 a.m. April 16.
For 12 hours, participants will walk around the track inside Memorial Stadium. Teams made up of 8 to 15 people are required to have at least one team member on the track at all times. Early Bird registration to sign up a team for $5 ends March 25. The price increases to $10 per team member after that.
According to the American Cancer Society website, the evening starts off with a Survivor's Lap to celebrate "a world with more birthdays." The luminaria ceremony takes place after dark. Participants pay tribute to those who were lost to cancer by lighting a candle in their honor and walking a lap in
silence. The event closes with the fight back ceremony where all participants pledge to save lives and to continue to fight cancer.
Let's put those famous "KU calves" to work. This is only one night of your life. Be a part of something important and bigger than yourself. Celebrate and share in the victories of cancer survivors, support people in the midst of their battle and honor those lost. Everyday science is making leaps and bounds toward prevention and better treatment methods, but these things require funding. Extensive funding.
unpredictable.
We're young and full of energy; these are the days of our lives when we can make a difference. Today we may be relatively healthy but the future is
Who knows? Down the road you might even be helping yourself. It only takes a step.
According to the 2010 report from the National Cancer Institute, 41 percent of Americans will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime and 21 percent will ultimately die. When you participate in Relay for Life you may be helping your third grade teacher battle skin cancer or be improving your favorite aunt's chemotherapy treatment.
Jessie Blakeborough for the Kansan Editorial Board.
RELIGION
Develop personal definition of religion to grow spiritually
Articles are constantly written about religion: How to practice it, develop it and experience it. But what is religion anyway?
It could mean a belief in a supernatural power to one person and to another, it could mean humans trying to figure out how they fit in this world and the universe.
Several dead white male philosophers have given this topic quite a bit of thought. Each putting their two cents into the contribution bowl of ideas. While going through the religious studies program and in several of my other classes here at the University, philosophers such as Durkheim, Freud, Marx, Nietzsche and Descartes have been drilled into my head.
Although Durkheim believed religion was just a way to express one's role in society, Nietzsche thought religion was very individualistic, with individuals creating their own moral code.
But what about my thoughts and opinions on religion? While I am no philosopher, I believe my experiences and education have entitled me to some opinions. I believe that it is important and necessary to faith to develop a definition of why one practices a certain religion or why one thinks there is religion in the world.
Apparently, an important part of studying religion is understanding these philosophers' thoughts, as well as how and why they came to their conclusions.
Now you don't have to write a book about the origins of religion (unless you really wanted to) to develop your opinions. Drawing from scripture,
BY ALLISON BOND abond@kansan.com
traditions of your faith, personal experience or reason can help one start to develop what religion and faith means to them personally.
Developing opinions about religion helps us to better place ourselves in this world of religious thought. How do we interact with the world around us? Socially? Individually? Materialistically? Ritually? Developing our own definitions of religion for ourselves can help us grow spiritually. We have to ask ourselves why we believe what we believe.
So don't be afraid to come up with your own. What does religion mean to you personally? What do you think it means for others? Who knows what you will learn about yourself or other's beliefs and practices when it comes to religion.
What I did learn from all that cramming and reading of philosophy, however, is that there is no one true definition of religion. Try as they might, no one has been able to come up with where religion originated from, or a definition that encompasses all religions and beliefs.
Allison Bond is a junior from Andover in journalism and religious studies.
Would you trade lives with Charlie Sheen for a day?
Vote now at KANSAN.COM/POLLS
116 total votes
Duh,WINNING!
Park your nonsense.
Really, dude? REALLY?
No, but I would apply to be.
Tiger blood.
ANIMAL RIGHTS
I know many good people who eat meat. Still, I wonder how people can be outraged by animal cruelty like Michael Vick's dog fighting but not horrified by the slaughter of billions of animals in the U.S. every year. Why are people moved to adopt from an animal shelter but not moved by the plight of animals that end up on the dinner plate?
Animal slaughter for human consumption is morally indefensible
This cognitive dissonance suggests that people who still eat meat are either ignorant of the full ramifications of their choice or have failed to think it through. With knowledge comes responsibility, and I'm about to give you both.
In college we're taught to ask "why" instead of simply accepting other people's conclusions. Why is something right or wrong? The whole world, including the U.S., forbids murder, torture and
THE ULTIMATE REASON
The basic facts about the huge affect of a meat-based diet on the environment and your health are well studied, widely available online and have sufficiently motivated many people change their diets.
BY HANNAH SANDAL
hsandal@kansan.com
But, maybe you're neither a tree-hugger nor a health nut. Ultimately, vegetarianism boils down to this: eating animals is morally indefensible.
rape. Why?
Why?
Meat eating violates this basic principle. Science has proven that animals feel intense physical and psychological pain. Modern farming methods cause suffering, and killing also brings pain. If you have watched a loved one pass on, you know that death is a difficult and painful process, even with the best medical care.
Causing pain to others for one's own benefit or enjoyment is unacceptable in human society. This basic principle is not relative; we don't say "for you, maybe murder is acceptable, but for me it's wrong."
Every time you eat meat, an animal must be killed to fill the demand you created. If you eat meat, you are causing extreme pain for many animals.
People argue that eating animals is
humanity's right because of our intelligence. This argument is faulty. Because of issues at birth or injury, some humans are less intelligent than animals. Still, we protect those lives and interests. Fetuses are unintelligent, but many people advocate for their protection. Also, cruelty towards dogs is widely thought of as wrong, but pigs are smarter than dogs and are much more cruelly treated.
Our society has demonstrated values indicate that intelligence is not a sound basis for inflicting harm on other creatures.
MEAT IS NOT NECESSARY
In most legal systems, killing in self-defense is an exception to the rule against murder when it is necessary to preserve another life. Eating meat is not similarly justifiable. Worldwide, hundreds of millions of healthy people rarely or never eat meat. Even elite athletes have competed as vegetarians. It's a debunked myth that we need meat for protein and iron. Being a healthy vegetarian is simple and inexpensive, especially because American supermarkets provide other foods in abundance.
Eating meat is about pleasure, not necessity. Meat eaters cause the worst kind of suffering to countless animals
NOW YOU'RE INFORMED
You can no longer claim ignorance. If you've been paying attention, you may even be feeling a little overwhelmed. If not, try rereading with an open mind. I haven't been attacking you; I've been trying to reach out to you.
because it makes their taste buds tingle nicely. Murder requires compelling justification, and flavor just isn't sufficient.
I know first hand that changing the diet you were raised with is hard. I used to rationalize away my sense of responsibility: it's too difficult, I have more important things going on and my family won't get it. I bet many smart, compassionate people get to this point and stall out.
These rationalizations are weak in the face of the consequences of meat eating. Buck up. You can start with small steps. Every time you choose the vegetarian option at dinner or skip the bacon at breakfast, you are taking part in saving a very real animal from very horrible suffering.
Just don't stop there.
Sandal is a third year law student from Baldwin City.
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Nick Gerik, editor
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864-4810 or sstroda@kansan.com
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Nick Gerik, Michael Holtz, Kelly Stroda, D.M. Scott and Manny Maatney.
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