Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Feb. 24, 2000, edition 1 / Page 3
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February 24, 2000 The Banner Page 3 Perspectives Choosing a statute of limitations on life Andrew Thomasson columnist Smoking and suicide are two of the most controversial top ics the world has to offer to day. Should we smoke? What are the courtesies that come along with smoking? Are ciga rette companies liable for people’s choice to smoke? Should we ban the tobacco industry outright? Is it OK, from a moral stand point, to kill yourself? Are you Smoking has of ten been termed “slow suicide.” Ev eryone knows that the great majority of smokers will have smoking-re lated health prob lems later in life, and a good num ber of people will die from them. Smoking is, without parallel, the number one cause of death by something an in- the fires of dividual can control. It costs Medicare and Medicaid hun dreds of millions of dollars a cide, by the likes of Dr. Jack year, and subsequently going to burn everlasting damnation if you do? What about assisted payers have to shoulder an other unnecessary burden. Kevorkian? Do people have the right to choose when to die if they are terminally ill? Do they have the right to choose down off my if they aren’t? Should they? So, at the risk of public be rating, I am going to simul taneously address the two going to get soapbox, and leave it at the fact that I think smoking is really not too in telligent, but just on general principles, it’s your body and it’s your business what you do with it. I just needed to mourit the soapbox so I could make the following connection; What’s the difference be tween smoking a pack a day for, say, 40 years, and putting a gun to the side of your head and pulling the trigger? There’s a reasonably certain chance that both actions will kill you, and the person doing each action knows what the result of the action is going to be, and does it regardless of the consequence. So why is putting a gun to your head and blowing your brains out considered a moral evil and a horrible, traumatic experience, while dying from lung cancer or complications from emphysema considered “just something that happens to smokers”? Don’t they pro duce the same result? Is there something like a stat ute of limitations on suicide, where immediacy of death makes a difference? I main tain that there is, at least in our society. If a 40-year old man puts a gun tp his temple and pulls the trigger, we hear “I’m sorry to hear your hus band went to hell” and “He died before his time, poor soul.” If a person poisons their system for 50 years with ciga rettes, cheap whiskey, fatty foods, artificial flavors and dyes, and dies at the age of 66 with lung cancer, congestive heart failure and a faulty liver, we send our condolences and accept this as j ust another part of life. Did the second man not have as much to do with his own death .as the first? Did he not “die before his time?” Would he not have lived at least a little longer if he had not done all these things? The human body is a remarkable machine, and it is designed to work for many,, many more years than our current life expectancy dic tates — ifwe take good care of This brings me to another point. Our society has an ob session with death, is terrified of death, and cannot under stand why anyone would want to end their life before their time. Doctors in hospitals worldwide are programmed to save lives at all costs, letting aged men and women waste away for years with machines breathing for them, instead of letting them die peacefully, gracefully, and with dignity if they so choose. Now, I’m not condoning suicide as “a way out,” but I fail to see the purpose of at taching people to machines for years to keep them alive. Jack Kevorkian has been pub licly tarred and feathered for helping people rid themselves of their earthly body when they are tired of it. In con trast, doctors are lauded for the number of people they keep alive, even those who wish to move on from the physical realm. I question which of these things is the more humane, and whether our society has its priorities in the right order. So, is our society going to decide to be one based on fear of death? By my observations, the fear-based world that we’ve lived in for millennia isn’t working too well, considering where we’re trying to go. Why not try to live through love? Embracing death as just a por tal into another lifetime, which all major world reli gions seem to believe, and embracing it without fear would be a great start. Letters to the Editor Liberal funding? Dear Editor, During the 1999-2000 school year, every UNCA student will pay a student fee of $383 to support the school’s Division I (D-1) athletic program. Your money enables UNCA to recruit top athletes by offering full and partial scholar- By remaining with the D-1 com mitment, UNCA can compete against traditional D-1 titans such as Chapel Hill and Duke. This dis tinction also enables UNCA a chance to play in the fabled NCAA basketball tournament. Who are we kidding? The basket ball team, easily the focus of the school’s athletic budget, has en dured more than a few lopsided losses over the past few seasons. They are simply outmatched and outclassed. The funding of UNCA’s D-1 ath letic teams demands immediate at tention. The administration should take a long hard look at the present situation and consider changes. Does our small university have any business trying to shoulder the as tronomical costs of big time college basketball? Chancellor Mullen spent this past semester announcing his hope and dream for UNCA to become the No. 1 liberal arts institution in the country. The top three liberal arts universi ties of 2000, ranked by “US News and World Reports,” all keep Divi sion 3 status, which does not offer athletic scholarships. Maybe we should follow their lead. I know, as do most other UNCA students, that my $383 could be much better used to further my life and education than to continue keeping this ship afloat. Mark Ebert Junior, mass communication Virtual ownership Sometimes it takes a voice to raise others to the call. Awareness comes when one person says “No.” Ladies and gentlemen, I call you to be come aware of a situation happen ing rightnow, theoutcomeofwhich may very well decide the nature of the Internet and your access to en tertainment, as well as copyright. Recently, the Motion Picture As sociation of America and the DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. have issued a series of lawsuits against Web providers and indi viduals over the issue of movie DVDs (digital versatile discs). For those who have not seen the flyers, DVD movies contain an en cryption on them that prevents play without “authorized equipment.” You may already own a DVD drive for your computer, and you may already own a DVD movie, but without their decryption you can not view the movie. It sums up to paying twice for what you legally own. Several Linux (www. linux.com, www.linux.org) users have “hacked” the encryption so as they can play what they rightly own. When the MPAA and DVD-CCA found out about this, they began issuing lawsuits against the coders of the DeCSS (De-Content Scram bling System) as well as any website providing links to the code. Why? Greed. The suits are being held under the guise of software piracy punishable by Federal Law. These lawsuits are the first major test of the Digital Millenium Copy right Act (DMCA), and will determine if the act is upholdable in its principles as formulated by Congress. Can a service provider can be held responsible for an indi vidual user (similar to UNCA be ing responsible for my Web page content)? It raises the issue of polic ing the Internet at the cost of free speech. It raises the legality of our video lending library, movie show ings and classroom viewings. How many times do we have to pay for a product? I urge you to get the facts. Say NO to the MPAA and DVD-CCA. Say YES to watch what you own legally. Learn what a “hacker” is and is not. Unlearn the media definition and Clinton definition of “hackers.” Stand up for what you know is the ethical manner of business and Casey Keller Junior, computer science Can’t take it with you Dear Editor, So Jaimie Park’s comments on the issue of race in her dissertation on diversification didn’t go over too well. These are complex and all too often messy issues that cannot be dealt with casually, and certainly naming UNCA minority students as addicted to the joys ofvictimhood minimizes the legitimacy of the emotions that are real, and won t create the inclusiveness she calls for. But she has sparked debate and these are things we, as people of all races, need to think about and be aware of with a critical eye. I do not know what is is like to be a person of a racial minority in this country today. There is no way I can krtow. As a white American, race has never really been an issue in my life, and it is definitely not something I think of everyday. Per haps this is because our dominant society has never made my race an issue. Societies intrinsically are not based on equality, no matter how many words people may use to con vince you otherwise. But we are all together in this, and no one can be scapegoated, for race relations af fect us all. C ur very lives are at stake. Every time we allow ourselves to be chained to our ideas, we starve our selves of life. Yes, prejudice exists, but only in people. The sun shines on everyone equally—all you have to do is step outside. True, govern ments do not shine on everyone equally, and so this is our next step. What we need now is radical hon esty. We must all stand up and call it like we see it, wherever we are, and things will change. Don’t be confused by these tricky systems of government; you don’t need to understand how the bu reaucracy works to be able to name an injustice. We’re just brainwashed to think this is the case, and this maintains the status quo. The resentment I have seen in people when considering this issue is real. Emotions are real, and they are now. But when an emotion stagnates, sometimes lasting de cades, centuries even, the emotion becomes a prison to the person who holds it and has no other purpose. Ifwe are to ever attempt to under stand our world, which is the true journey of man, we must be willing to open up to'each other. True communication, which is often misquided by words and intents alike, must be imperative. All else is a game, one you can’t take with you when you leave. Susan Ketner Junior, Psychology No school spirit Dear Editor, It has recently come to my atten tion that some people on this cam pus do not know how to cheer for UNCA. I attended the UNCA- High Point game on Feb. 18, and was fairly disappointed at the per formance by the fans. Sure, you had a couple of all-blue fans in the front row and the very dense student section, but by looking at most of them, you wouldn’t know what school they went to. By saying this, I am not trying to talk down to any of my fellow students, or trying to make the Greek organizations look bad. I am guilty myself— I wore a bright yellow Bojangles shirt. When you looked at what most of us (us being the student section that was standing all night) were all wearing, it was mostly supporting our Greek organizations, not the school. Maybe it was because we were on TV, and we wanted to show off our great clubs, but wear ing your “letters” for a basketball game doesn’t make sense to me, especially painting them on your chest. You should be wearing school let ters, UNCA. You never see masses of fans at Duke or Carolina wearing their Greek letters. Instead they are painted in blue and white, their school colors, not Greek. And lastly, you don’t see them run out onto the court with a banner supporting the fraternity they are in after the game is over. This is just sad. We need to be supporting our teams with all we have. And if that means spending another $20 in our bookstore to get a new UNCA shirt, or buying a big blue foam bone, then by all means, lets do it. We’ll look more like a team than we ever have. Dan Fairman Sophomore, engineering Editorial Board Emma Jones Sarah Wilkins Meghan Cummings Krystel Lucas Jason Graham Lauren Deal Matt Hunt Zach Dill Editor-in-Chief News Editor Features Editor Sports Editor Photo Editor Copy Editor Online Editor Asst. Online Editor Staff Kay Alton, Lena Burns, Jennifer Crowl, Walter Fyler, Anthony Greco, Davon Heath, Kathryn Krouse, Susan McCord, Eric Porter Melissa Starnes, Alison Watson, Teshania Wiley Manager Rebecca Cook Eric Porter Business Manager Circulation Manager I tha Ariltor mav be submitted to Vie Banner in 208A Carmichael Hall, e-malledto banner Utters to the editor m^y Banner Online. Please limit submissions to 300 words. Subm?sstons may be edited for length and content. Letters to the editor must be signed with the author’s classification and major or title. ^ : : Columnists Jason Allen, Jennifer Ross, Andrew Thomasson Mark West, faculty advisor The Banner is the student newspaper of the University of North Carolina at Asheville. We publish each Thursday except during summer sessions, final exam weeks and holiday breaks. Our offices are located in Carmichael Hall, Room 208-A. Our telephone number is (828) 251-6586. Our campus e-mail address is banner@unca.edu. An on-line version of The Banner is also available at http://www.unca.edu/banner Nothing in our editorial or opinions sections necessarily reflects the opinion of the entire Banner staff, the faculty advisor, or the university faculty, administration or staff. Unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of The Banner c6\x.onz\ board. Letters, columns, cartoons and reviews represent only the opinions of their respective authors. The Banner welcomes submissions of letters and articles for publication. All submissions are subject to editing for clarity, content and length and are considered on the basis of interest, space, taste and timeliness. Letters should be typed, single-spaced, and should not ex ceed 300 words. Letters for publication should also contain the author's signature, classification, major or other relation ship with UNCA. The deadline for letters is noon on Tuesday. If you have a submission, you can send it to The Banner, 208A Carmichael Hall, One University Heights, Asheville -NC 28804. The deadline for display ads and the FYI calendar is Monday at 2 p.m. Classified ads are due at 5 p.m. on Monday.
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Feb. 24, 2000, edition 1
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