Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / April 25, 1996, edition 1 / Page 2
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Page 2 - The Blue Banner April 25, 1996 The Blue Banner Editorial Regatta who?? Yep, it’s that time of year again. The birds are chirping, chipmunks and squirrels are going crazy, and despite the cold snap this week, everybody’s wearing shorts. That could only mean one thing ...UNCAMONT (sounds like somebody screaming, doesn’t it?). Only three days until that make-it-or-break-it event that is hyped for weeks and invariably sucks. Everyone has heard “fond” memories of UNCAMONT’s predecessor, Rockmont, and the drunken, doped, wild sex that followed a Saturday afternoon at a local camp near Black Mountain. But, in case you haven’t noticed, the affair did a complete 360 after it moved its location to our campus. Of course. I’m not saying that drinking, drugs, and wild sex are a good idea (others can do that for me), but now the event has metamorphosized into a kiddie fair with goofy games and cheap cafeteria food served outdoors (and let’s not forget all that free Pepsi). The thing that everybody seems to be complaining about is the crappy bands that have graced the campus during the past years. Has anybody ever heard of Regatta 69? The advent of UNCAMONT seems to suddenly re-remind all of us that Underdog hasn’t done much lately in the way of entertaining student entertainment. With the exception of Wendy Liebman, who I heard was a real hoot, Housing and Resident Life is kicking Underdog’s butt in the “fun stuff for students” department, and all they really do is Bingo. That’s pretty sad, isn’t it? But, hey, wait, we don’t want to NCUR the wratl^ of Underdog with our words (huh, huh, just had to throw that in before the joke gets any older). It would just be nice if we could get at least half of the cool bands that schools like Mars Hill and Western get. So, with our tongues in our cheeks, we present a list of things we are expecting Underdog to unveil for us in the way of campus entertainment. Watch out! It’s the Scottish Highland dancing exhibi tion (reserve your seat today!), Olympic synchronized swimming trials David Wilcox (again, and again, and again...) Another two-pizza pizza party at Dante’s CHiPS-the musical Karaoke with all your favorite RAs and night assistants The only hope for UNCAMONT, as we can see it, would be to kick the little kids off the quad, crank up some decent music (even if it’s just off the radio), and get a liquor license. Sad as it may seem, the days of Rockmont look like a lot more fun than the family fun we’re stuck with. But, we’ll go to UNCAMONT, pretend like we’re having a great time, and wait with bated breath for the next retro-eighties break-dancing exhibition. Editorial Board Catherine Elniff Andrea Lawson William Davis Anne Kuester Jeannie Peek Jeanette Webb Editor-in-Chief News Editor Features Editor Sports Editor Copy Editor Photo Editor Staff Kenneth Com, Shawn Culbertson, Marissa DeBlasio, Nick Foster, Troy Martin,Wendy McKinney, Susan Sertain, Denise Sizemore, Michael Taylor, Jennifer Thurston, Christine Treadaway, Jack Walsh Karen Brinson Advertising Alice Hui Business Manager Greg Burrus Circulation Mark West, faculty advisor The Blue Banner is the student newspaper of the University of North Carohna at Asheville. We publish each Thursday except during summer sessions, final exam weeks and holiday breaks. Our offices are located in Carmichael Hall, Rm 208-A. Our telephone number is (704) 251-6586. Our campus e-mail address is UNCAVX;;BANNER. Nothing in our editorial or opinions sections necessarily reflects the opinion of the entire Blue Banner editorial board, the faculty advisor, or the university faculty, administration or staff. Unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the Blue Baimer editorial board. Letters, columns, cartoons and reviews represent only the opinions of their respective authors. The Blue Banner welcomes submissions of letters and articles for publication. All submissions are subject to editing and are consid ered on the basis of interest, space, taste and timeliness. Letters must be tj^ed, double-spaced, and must not exceed 300 words. Letters for publication must also contain the author’s signa ture, classification, major or other relationship with UNCA. The deadline for letters and classifieds is noon on Tuesday. If you have a submission, you can send it to: The Blue Banner 208A Carmichael Hall One University Heights Asheville NC 28804 Government responsible for veteran illness John Edwards Columnist Perhaps the Unabomber represents the negative ex treme of the radical on the educational spectrum — a former professor going way beyond voicinghis opinion — but UNCA seems to represent something on the other end of the spectrum — a wimpish kind of voice. For instance, one group on campus asks students to wear jeans to express their alliance with this group’s cause. Now there’s a loud “all for one and one for all!” What more muted way to sound off? The Associated Press recently reported that a number of American universities are boy cotting Pepsico products, in cluding Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, because Pepsico is reap ing profits from the economy of Burma, whose government is guilty of massive human rights violations. UNCA was not among those universities mentioned. George Will ad dressed this issue of campus apathy recently, saying pro fessors are “politicized,” mean ing they are aware of what’s going on in the world — they just don’t discuss politically charged issues in the class room. Thus, students’ minds aren’t challenged to question real world events. Perhaps there is some room for debate on this point, but I’m inclined to agree with Will. Certainly, if any issue warranted a protestive voice, it was the initiation of the GulfWar five years ago. What sent me along this tan gent was a recent Gannett News Service report regarding the health of some 90,000 Gulf War veterans — what the story didn’t mention was how the families of these vets are also affected. Let’s consider some facts: First, this was no war, but a hastily orchestrated political maneuver to win public favor for a presidential candidate. When the enemy immediately drops his weapon and throws his hands up in surrender, one can hardly call this war, and this certainly lacks any quali fying definition of heroics. Saddam Hussein’s army didn’t offer resistance. Secondly, 98 percent of American casualties were caused by “friendly fire.” We shot ourselves. Thirdly, we were told at the onset that the Patriot missile was nearly 100 percent effec tive. This figure continued to drop after the war until it reached a miserable 50 per cent, exposing the political lie factor. The president who initiated this “war” was not reelected. Saddam Hussein is still in power and he is in constant violation of UN safeguards es tablished following the end of the war. And 90,000 Ameri can veterans, and their fami lies, are suffering from a mys terious Gulf War ailment. Many children born to sol diers suffering from this ail ment have birth defects. So the effects of this “mystery ail ment” are much further reach ing than the 90,000 soldiers. In the Gannett report, James A. Tuitt III, a former Senate investigator, suggests that this mysterious ailment was caused by the bombing of Hussein’s chemical weapons storage facili ties. “Pentagon strategists ex pected the agents [stored] to burn readily when bombed,” the re port said. But according to Tuitt, one agent. Sarin, “a deadly nerve agent,” didn’t burn. It isn’t flam mable, and Tuitt believes the Sarin lingered in the atmosphere, and though it did become di luted, it fell back to earth onto American troops stationed in the desert. Proof positive that “mili tary intelligence” is an oxymo ron? What irritates me is that the Persian Gulf War was consid ered by so many Americans to have been a heroic feat; that so very many voters were favorably affected by the political rubbish and hoopla. Soldiers were wel comed home with the frenzied excitement of ticker tape pa rades... And Vietnam War sol diers were spit on upon their return home. My own personal belief is former president George Bush should be tried and convicted of war crimes. But then, I grew up j in the military, on military bases during a time when “killed in action” was heard on virtually every newscast. For the whole of myyouth, an unpopularwar was raging, and I knew some of the fathers and brothers who never came home — and those who never came back the way they were before they left. I just wonder: am I the only one who sees the stupidity of this Per sian Gulf thing? The Persian GulfWar should never have been — certainly not without loud protest from America’s bastions of intelli gence. And though it’s too late to prevent the mysterious Per sian Gulf Syndrome, it’s high time to let our leaders know this country has a responsibil ity to the veterans of this de ceitful and humiliating politi cal charade, and their families. Ever since the government has known about this mysterious ailment, it’s been something akin to listening to the pro- tabacco rhetoric — “we weren’t aware,” or “we aren’t respon sible...” Ninety thousand people who risked their lives, and perhaps lost their health, and many suf fering the heartache and guilt of watching their armless or legless child trying to adapt, deserve full governmental sup port, and the recognition of the obvious. This mysterious ailment didn’t pre-exist Bush’s Swan Song. So I propose that all UNCA students who are against this and any human rights viola tions wear shoes the entire week of exams. Or if you’re really radical — potential Unabombers — a black arm band will let the authorities know just who to look out for. ‘Cause we can’t have people supposing the worst of our gov ernment. Stoy out of my life, and Hi stay out of yours Kristi Howard Columnist Anyone who reads The Blue Banner on a regular basis knows about the recent up roar over “Lysistrata.” Appar ently, some people were of fended by the sexual nature of the play, and therefore felt the need to write letters to the editor criticizing the morals of the actors, directors, etc., who participated in the play’s production. This led to a back-and-forth between people speaking out in defense of the play and people who thought it sucked. One of the latter was a “cam pus minister” (Do we have one of those? Is my tuition helping to pay his salary?) who expressed the view that Aristophanes had a hand in creating an “immoral” and “self destructive” society back in the fifth century. Yep, he was one of the great minds of classical Greece, but he was also a rip-roaring per vert. When he wrote “Lysistrata” it wasn’t at all meant to be a comical com ment on war and human rela tionships. No, it was all part of his evil master plan to corrupt today’s society. Forget being a uni versity with a Humanities pro gram as the base of our educa tional experience—we should throw all that immoral crap out. We ought to get rid of that dirty old man Will Shakespeare while we’re at it! Just limit our reading material to White Dove romances and Rev. Billy Graham’s latest bestseller. Sure. It could hap pen. Personally, I have nothing against giant day-glo penises. I thought the play was hilari ous, and that the actors handled the subject matter like the adults and artists that they are. But the true issue here, at least as I see it, has nothing to do with the play itself. It goes deeper than that. It is a matter of the sense of taboo that seems to surround anything sexual these days. Case in point, the “Hands off’ policy. I’m not going to get into the pros and cons of the policy here, because both sides of the debate have valid points, and I don’t have the space to go off on that tangent. What I will discuss is the quote that I particularly liked from the Banner article, about how sexual relations between un married people (presumably, even consenting adults) is illegal in the state of North Carolina. I keep waiting, now, for the SWAT team to descend upon campus and haul off half the population in handcuffs. There have always been people who proclaim loudly to anyone listening that sex is a bad, evil, filthy, ugly thing that you should only do with the one you love. I don’t expect that to change any time in the near future. How ever, what we humans need to remember is the fact that we, as sentient beings, have the right to make our own choices about what is right for us. What two adults do in the privacy of their own home (parked car, motel room, etc.), whether it involves heterosexuality, homosexuality, rope trapezes, or collie dogs, does not concern me. I have the choice not to involve myself in their lives. We should all exercise our right to choose for ourselves. If we insist on letting others—ex ample: the Moral Majority— make decisions for us about what is right, then we are setting our selves up for a nasty surprise. Censorship has a way of sneak ing up on you. If we give people. like, say, Bob Dole, or good old Rev. Stubbs, the power to make our decisions for us, it may already be too late to change when we realize what we’ve given up. Instead of criticizing the mor als of those involved in some thing that offends you, the mor als of their mother, their sib lings, their religion, and their dog, just make the conscious choice, for yourself, not to par ticipate. If a TV show offends you, turn off the tube and read a book. If the book is offensive, return it to the library. If a CD has explicit lyrics that disagree with your personal morality, don’t buy it. If the play offends your delicate sensibilities, don’t go. I don’t think that any pro fessor on campus would force a student to go to an event that was offensive to him or her, anymore than they would force a vegetarian to eat a big, sloppy hamburger! In closing, and especially di rected at those who would quote the Bible to support con tradictions of what I’ve said above, I give you my version of the Golden Rule: don’t peek into my bedroom window, and I won’t peek into yours.
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
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April 25, 1996, edition 1
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