Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / Nov. 16, 1989, edition 1 / Page 3
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The Uluc Banner — Novcraber 1ft. 1181 Opinions Letters Take action on smoking! Dear Editor, It was good to see, by your editorial, that notice is being taken regarding the deplorable smoke problem in the lobbies and hallways of UNCA -- smoke which often drifts into the classrooms. A couple of times, after having waited for class time in a smoke- filled lobby, I was too hoarse to speak in class. To avoid further such experiences, I had to take refuge in the language lab until class time. While acknowledging that smokers have a right to smoke, I believe that the rest of us also have rights, such as the right not to have the air we breathe polluted with such deadly emissions. It is hoped that the administration will take action on this problem. Ignoring it would be inconsistent with its policy of required classes in physical education and health promotion. Harriet Manley Junior Art Free speech at UNCA? Dear Editor, In last week’s letter, ‘Free speech praised,’ sophomore Tim Osment made it clear that he approved of the recent visit on campus by several old gentlemen. Namely, the Gideons. There was something Tim failed to point out, however, about the actual state of free speech here at UNCA. The Gideons surely have the right to pass the Christian word (or their version of it anyway), out to us students, but why have they been the only idea- imposers allowed on campus this year? Where are the Hindus, Buddhists, Hari Krishnas, Moonies, Sophists, Sufis, Atheists, Agnostics, Socialists, Nihilists, Anarchists, Nazis, Satanists, non-Gideon Christians or other groups? Don’t they also have a right to assault us with their dogmas? Why haven’t we been exposed to the aspects of the picture that may not be accepted, but do exist? Certainly, you might think, followers of the more bizarre ideologies mentioned about would be laughed off the campus, and it could be that some of these groups don’t exist in this part of the country, but would they really get laughed away? Obviously, their beliefs are solid to themselves. They must have some kind of basis for their view of why we are here; otherwise, they wouldn’t try to gain converts into what they think to be the ‘only way.’ It is very easy to believe a group’s system dissimilar to our own to be a system based on weak theories and logic, but does that mean that everybody should think our way? There’s a lot of folks out there. Just because a group of them is offensive or weird to us doesn’t necessarily mean we can just blot out and ignore them. We need to re-educate those of us who are destroying the survival ethic of our race. We also need to learn to compromise a little, and accept what ideas others may have that will help our lives to be more productive, intelligent and generally happier. They are, after all, a part of the giant whole that is, ultimately, us. S.C. Morgan Literature Cartoon was absurd! Dear Editor, Remember the cartoon you printed on page three of the Nov. 2 issue of The Blue Banner? A President Bush expostulating from a paper titled "Today’s abortion position" to a pregnant girl. The cartoon had him saying, "Don’t be a victim of crime if you can’t do the time." The girl, if you recall, was very pregnant, about to burst it appeared. What does this cartoon mean? Perhaps this is the scenario that the cartoonist imagined: "Right after the nine month’s pregnant girl leaves the President she is raped. She then aborts her baby because...well, she was raped, you know. So, they arrest her and throw her in jail." That’s plain stupid. But, you say, "She was raped nine months ago." Oh that’s different. So, violate (rape) the consciences of millions of Americans for whom human abortion is abhorrent by forcing them to pay to kill the baby who is about to be born...then throw the girl in jail. Stupid again. Your absurd cartoon was a cheap shot, but it is revealing. The awful reality is that, according to the N.C. State Center for Health Statistics, hospitals reported that they intentionally killed 154 unborn children from North Carolina who were 21 weeks or older gestational age - children nearly fully formed who would have had a very good chance of surviving outside of their mother’s wombs on their own. 154 dead children in 1988. The intractable nature of the "pro-choice" movement is clearly evident in the fact that it and its leaders are totally opposed to protecting by law even these viable children. That’s not a joking matter. Meredith Eugene Hunt Director, Life Advocates UNCA needs parties! Dear Editor, I am writing in response to the letters in opposition to the party in 3-A. My general sentiment is that if there’s one thing UNCA needs it’s a good party. I always thought dorm life on weekends was everyone opening their doors, playing music and having people in the hall talking (and God forbid, drinking!) collectively known as partying. But not at UNCA. And, that’s sad. Karsten Guthridge Freshman Recording Arts From Wendell's Window Wendell W. Thorne There I was, minding my own business, when all of a sudden this woman is in my face explaining to me that God has sent her to me. Her mission, as she accepted it willingly, was to inform me that He was thinking of me and that He wanted me to do everything I could to protect the rights of the unborn. You see, I had just told her of my (pipe dream) plans to attend Duke law school. I allowed that I may be too liberal- minded for Duke, and GOD’S MESSENGER went off on me. It was something like this: "I pray in the name of Jesus that you are not one of those who believe that MURDERING THE UNBORN is okay, because the Bible tells us that MURDER IS A SIN, punishable by DEATH in the name of the HOLY SPIRIT and by the hand of the LAMB OF GOD!!" "You’re missing the point...," I begin, but am abruptly cut off. "DON’T INTERRUPT ME. GOD IS TALKING TO ME, RIGHT NOW!! He’s telling me not to let you talk! Let me tell you a story." Rapidly she explains that she committed the unpardonable sin of aborting an unborn fetus many years ago. God punished her by, she says, her mother’s suicide (a gunshot to the abdomen from which she bled to death via, supposedly, the same aorta which connects the uterus to the heart, or something like that. This proved to her that it was her action which caused her mother to kill herself.) and her father’s drinking himself to death (He bled to death from an ulcer or something to do with his abdomen, so that seals it.). "But,..." "Wait! I gave up all my worldly possessions so that I could go back to school to become a minister, so that I could preach the WORD OF GOD form Genesis to Revelation, so that I could meet you today to tell you of your SIN, of your DECADENCE, of your journey down the WRONG ROAD!!" Finally, I get a word in edgewise and inform her that I am against abortion, but I am pro-choice. Farther, that there is no Constitutional wording which protects the rights of children, let alone unborn ones. "The laws of man have no place in YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER’S WORLD! Only He in his INHNITE WISDOM rules the world. Listen to your HEAVENLY FATHER, SINNER!" Eventually, she did get off my case. As I usually do, I thought of so many things I could have said, had I only thou^t of them at the time. For instance, I wondered what kind of God it is who punishes someone so brutally. The God I learned about in Sunday School was a loving being, one who forgave mere mortals for their "transgressions," and I hesitate to use that word in reference to abortion. You know, abortion has about equal support from both sides. This important human issue has effectively divided this country, something a police action in a little Southeast Asian country did a couple of decades ago. Back then, a small group of paranoid bureauaats sent so narrow a message to the American people that enough support was garnered to send over fifty thousand men to their death in the name of democracy. We proved then that when the administration is misled concerning the thoughts and feelings of the majority of American people, real problems arise. Food for thought: As the walls separating people and their freedom are crumbling in the USSR, Poland, and East Germany, is your president content to sit idly by and watch as ours is built? Corner o "I feel that the father should not have a say-so in it because it’s the woman’s body. She should make the decision whether or not she wants to have an abortion because it will affect the outcome of her life. It affects his to a certain extent, but he doesn’t have to go through nine months of carrying the baby around." Andrea Baxter Sophomore Political Science Photos by Miranda Wyatt "As much as I would like to say ‘yes,’ I have to say ‘no,’ because unfortunately, the woman has to go through the pregnancy alone. There’s no one else who can help her " it’s just her and her baby. The male can do nothing except . outside support, or to be there. And, if it’s the woman’s choice for the abortion, then she should be the last say so." William Allen Junior Mass Communication It a woman decides to have an abortion, do you think the father should be able to prevent her from having the abortion? Or, do you think be should have a say in the matter? "No - absolutely not, simply because it’s not the father’s body. It’s the woman’s body. She owns it — it’s hers — and the man’s doesn’t own it ” it’s not his. That’s a simplistic answer, but actually I don’t see what right a man has to tell a woman what to do with her body." Dr. Dwight Mullen Asst. Vice Chancellor Academic Alfairs "I think that a man should have some say because it’s also his child. It’s the woman’s body, but the child inside is also his." Beclg' Burke Sophomore Political Science "I believe that if they’re married, of course the man should have a say. But, the woman’s opinion is the one that really counts. If she doesn’t want the child, she shouldn’t have to have it because he does." Penny McKinney Junior Environmental Science
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
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Nov. 16, 1989, edition 1
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