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Tuesday, October 26,1993
OPINION UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
VIEWPOINT
Proving one's gender has dangerous effects
Men and women are socialized by their parents, the media,their peers and our school system to prove how masculine or feminine they are. The recent death and injuries of several young men re-enacting a scene from the newly released movie "The Program" is a tragic example of how far people will go to prove themselves to society.
Last week, one boy died and two were critically injured while lying in the middle of a street. They allegedly were influenced by a scene in "The Program" where the hero football player lays down in the middle of a busy highway to prove his courage.
This "jock-male-I-have-nerves-of-steel" attitude is, unfortunately, still prevalent despite the cultural revolutions of the 1960's that labeled this archaic pressure harmful. This kind of pressure encourages people into stupid and dangerous acts.
Both men and women are guilty of pushing their minds and bodies beyond natural extremes in an attempt to prove to others how strong, beautiful or brave they can be. This kind of action especially pervades in group situations, such as athletic teams, where people are competing against one another to be a societal "ideal" rather than themselves.In these recent tragedies, the young man who "proved" to be the bravest also proved his mortality.
Walt Disney Studios has agreed to remove this scene from "The Program,"but this does nothing to eradicate the attitude that one has to prove his/her gender. Apparently, educational attempts to degenderize the socialization of children have failed to be effective as well.
Whether we stop ourselves from trying to live up to a certain ideal or quit pressuring others to prove themselves, we still have a long way to go until dangerous actions don't prove courage. This change is an attitude and not something the media can do alone.
EISHA TIERNEY FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Fewer downtown bars will not limit drinking
Lawrence city commissioners' fear that downtown Lawrence will become another Westport or Aggieville is unfounded.
Last Tuesday, city commissioners proposed a study session that will consider limiting the number of downtown drinking establishments. Commissioners cite drunk patrons wandering from bar to bar as a growing problem that should be curbed.
However, limiting the number of drinking establishments would not be a reasonable or an effective solution. Commissioners assert that limiting the number of downtown bars will limit the number of drunk patrons in the area. But regardless of the number of bars operating in Lawrence, approximately the same number of students and other customers will patronize these bars.
An increased number of bars does not, necessarily, result in an increased number of bar patrons. Consequently, limiting the number of downtown bars would not produce the desired result of decreasing the number of people wandering through the area.
More importantly, establishing a limit on the number of bars violates the essential premise of our free market economy. As long as a bar is able to make a profit, it should be allowed to operate.
Logically, the city of Lawrence can only support a finite number of bars.Accordingly, city commissioners need not limit the number of downtown bars. The number of bars will be limited by the bars' ability to make a profit.
COLLEEN MCCAIN FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Opinion page provides a forum for views regardless of support
"My First Amendment rights" and "freedom of speech" roll like marbles off the tongues of many different people I see every day as the editorial editor. Along with those terms comes "I don't believe in censorship" and "I respect different opinions." Usually after stating their position on "everyone's coveted right to speak their mind," comes the kicker — "But so-and-so viewpoint is not worthy of print" or "he had no right to believe or say this or that."
When I received my first caller expounding everyone's right to opinion except one's that he didn't agree with, I figured this was an isolated case — a crack-pot extremist hoping to further his agenda by wiping opposing opinions out of society's collective memory.
A few phone calls later, I realized this was a widespread problem. Every week, I get a least two or three
EDITORIAL EDITOR
calls from concerned or irate readers questioning the validity of someone's right to an opinion. And then there is the even more extreme case when a caller demands that a columnist be fired, not because of bad writing, but because of an "incorrect" opinion. And of course, the caller doesn't believe in censorship.
Before this semester, I never would have dreamt I would be defending the far Right, the homophobics and the
racial supremacists. But I am. And on a weekly basis. The opinion page is a forum for different viewpoints, popularly held or not.
Obviously some people forget to read that the heading on the page reads opinion. They don't understand that a columnist or an editorial writer is not presenting straight facts, but opinions. Determining that one opinion is more valid than another treads onto some dangerous ground.
The United States is a country that respects the ideal that the more viewpoints the better, and the opinion page reflects this ideal.
As the editorial editor, I attempt to present many different views on the page, and I attempt to present a balance of viewpoints with editorials, columnist, cartoons and letters to the editor.
If you don't agree with a opinion presented, take heart, you are probably
not alone. But I can assure you that the exposure to an opinion other than your own is not hazardous to your health. It can solidify your beliefs or open your eyes to a hole in your argument. At the least, it informs you that the opinion is held by someone. It might seem radical or insignificant, but someone felt strongly enough to write it down.
It is only natural to believe that the opinion you hold is the most thought out, well-researched and intelligent viewpoint. It is also natural to believe that anyone who doesnt subscribe to your opinion is wrong.
But realize that just as you hold fast to your views, so does everyone else. Everyone has the right to an opinion and the opportunity to present that view on the editorial page'.
Terrilly McCormick is a Kansas City, Mo. senior major in Journalism.
Enrollment shenanigans complex and illustrate students' priorities
I have once again — man, does that guy ever stop? — spent some of my valuable time stationed strategically in the midst of public uproar in order to bring my faithful readers the kind of quality journalism they've come to expect. Last week, of course, — or was it two weeks ago? — the permits to enroll for most of the students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences came in the mail, and, as always, I was on the scene to see what happened.
At first there was great and widespread confusion over who should have permits and who should have ARTS — Are you Really Taking this Stuff? — forms and who should have neither yet. As each person came to check his or her mail at Hashinger Hall, he or she would disappear behind the huge mailboxes for a moment. Those of us standing nearby would fall silent to see if the newcomer had gotten a permit to enroll. If they had, we would hear, "Hey, what's this? Permit to enroll??? I don't have time for this! What am I supposed to do?" They then would run at such a speed as to peel the skin off their
faces toward their rooms.
If they had not received anything, we would hear nothing until they reappeared from behind the Wall O' Mailboxes, at which time they would say something like, "What are all you guys doing here? Permits to enroll??"
Why don't I have one?" They would then explode.
If, by some freak of nature, they did not explode, they would move on to the next step in Permit Crisis Management, which is Phone Book Massacre. This is a highly complex process in which the person missing his or her permit to enroll screams to the person behind the front desk, "PHONE BOOK" After receiving it, they flip
through it while yelling. "Who should I call? The CLAS office? The Student Assistance Center? The Pope?" until the book experiences Phone Book Meltdown and all the pages become so hot that they are welded together. Seeing the futility of this approach, they turn to someone in the know, someone who has been through all this millions of times, someone who is hundreds of times more experienced and wise than they. This person usually is approximately one semester ahead of the one seeking counsel.
"You got a major?
"Nope."
"First thing is to get a major. Find the list in the catalog and pick one you like, then start doing the requirements for it."
This, of course, leads to a meltdown of the catalog similar to that of the phonebook, prompting The Experienced One to resort to lies and such to help his or her ward. Generally, they will tell a horror story or two, usually fictional, about their own advising experience. If they have no horror stories to tell, they will rave and rave about what an excellent adviser they
have and then go on to explain that it is impossible for the novice to have that adviser or anyone even remotely similar.
Either way, the novice is sent once again into hysterics, wailing that KU doesn't care and that they are going to call their parents right up and tell them this and that they are going to "get out of here at semester." This generally entails pursuing one of three options: going to a junior college closer to their parents' rent-free home, transferring to another university or going to live in New Orleans to "live with this really cool guy I know down there who'll let me hang out at his place and teach me how to live off the food in other people's gardens." Whichever path they choose, it's certain that they will live out the rest of their semester without a care except "getting a ride to 'Orleans, man, but I know a guy here that I can hang out with until Mardi Gras, and then there's sure to be a couple people going down with a free seat."
KANSAN STAFF
Ryan McGee is a Worland, Wyo., sophomore.
KC TRAUER, Editor
JOE HARDER, CHRISTINE LAUE Managing editors
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
BILL SKEET, Systems coordinator
Editors
Assistant to the editor ... J.R. Clairborne
News ... $tacy Friedman
Editorial ... Terlyn McCormick
Campus ... Ben Grove
Sports ... Kristi Fogler
Photo ... Klip Chin, Renee Kneeer
Features ... Ezra Wolfe
Graphics ... John Paul Foegel
AMY CASEY Business manager
AMY STUMBO Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
Business Staff
Campus sales mgr ... Ed D Schager
Regional Sales mgr ... Jennifer Perrier
National sales mgr ... Jennifer Evanson
Co-op sales mgr ... Blythe Foch
Production mgrs ... Jennifer Blowey
Kate Burrows
Marketing director...Shelly McConnell Creative director...Brian Fusco Classified mgr...Gretchen Knotterlehrich
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 Kansas must include class and hometown, or faculty or staff position. The writer will be pleased. Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be pleased. The Kauai reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kauai newsroom, 111 Stauffer Fint Hall.
Wage increase will not help low-income workers
In the Oct. 19 issue, the Kansan had an editorial arguing that the minimum wage should be increased from $4.25 to $4.50. It claimed that such an increase "would counter the decrease in the real wages earned by lower-income workers and would provide an incentive for people to find and retain employment." The Kansan failed to note that minimum wage laws also inspire businesses to lay employees off who are least able to find other work and curtail future hiring.
I quote Linda Gorman from "The FORTUNE Encyclopedia of Economics," edited by David Henderson: "Unfortunately, neither laudable intentions nor widespread support can alter one simple fact: although minimum wage laws can
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
set wages, they cannot guarantee jobs. In reality, minimum wage laws place additional obstacles in the path of the most unskilled workers who are struggling to reach the lowest rungs of the economic ladder."
The notion that raising the minimum wage will lift many people out of poverty is also mistaken, as Gorman notes: "In 1888, for example, the vast majority of minimum wage workers were members of households containing other wage earners. Moreover, only 8 percent of all minimum wage workers were men or women who maintain families, and not all of those families were poor. In view of what minimum, wage laws actually do, their often uncritical acceptance as a major weapon in the war on poverty stands as one of the supreme ironies of modern politics. The problem, of course, is that pricing people out of a job does not reduce poverty."
Those who want to help people in our society who have fewer economic resources are admirable. The Kansan's heart is in the right place, but it just needs to use its head. For instance, if increasing workers' disposable income is the goal, instead of increasing the minimum wage, why not cut taxes? Almost Tiffany's
Lawrence graduate student
Minority segregation is not natural choice
Yes, Anne, there is segregation in the United States. But maybe it is not quite as natural as it appears to
Advice to Anne Bailey: give up writing. It is obvious that having no idea what you are talking about does not affect your desire to embarrass yourself in public. However, I would like to suggest that you quit wasting space in the Kansan.
you. Most immigrants come here with the dream of fitting into America and making a successful life for themselves and their families. You argue that they end up living in ethnic communities because they want to. Did you ever stop to think that they were forced to live in ghettoes?
Contrary to your ill-informed vision of an America that welcomes everyone with open arms, most ethnic groups are not treated well here. They group together mostly because of necessity, not desire. I suggest that you try to learn a little more about a subject before you attempt to present your 'definitive' views. A university is a place of learning, not of unfounded opinions. You should think of the university newspaper the same way. If you wish to write another article, try to have some facts in it.
Bil Flanderty
Lawrence graduate student