The News Argus - Page 2
Jamita Griffin - Editor
Tonya Wood — Managing Editor
Dr.Valerie S. Saddler — Advisor
Dr. Brian Blount - Chair., Dept, of Mass Comm.
IVs Time to Wake Upl
t
Editorial
Have you watched that show on Music
Television (MTV) that has parents, the
government and the television industry all in
an uproar? Yeah, I am talking about Beavis and Butt-
Head.
Beavis and Butt-Head is a cartoon about a pair of
teenage do-nothings who sit around and watch
television and declare whether something sucks or not.
They also get into a little trouble now and then like;
crashing cars, setting things on fire, putting p)oodles in
clothes dryers, stealing money from ATMs, etc.
A lot of people detest Beavis and But-Head,
mainly over-protective parents and religious types, but
a lot of viewers find it to be one of the cooler, more
real shows on television (including me). There has
been a lot of controversy surrounding the show of late
due to a few youngsters burning down their houses,
supposedly after watching an episode of Beavis and
Butt-Head. Where were the parents? Two families
have lost their homes and one two-year-old his life due
to unsupervised children watching this program
Many people say that this show should be taken
off the tube. Everyone knows that little kids try to
imitate things that they see on television, especially
antics in animated cartoons. Vv'hat kind of cartoon
characters call each other ugly names like "ass munch"
and "monkey spank?" Good parents wouldn't let a
moral-damaging show like this continue to be aired on
television, right?
Wrong!! Beavis and Butt-Head is not meant for
small children in the first place. The show's title
screams adult-young adult humor. Parents need to
stop blaming television writers and producers for their
own slackness. They don't have enough sense too
keep track of what their children are watching, and
when something tragic happens, other people ask the
parents, "Where were you? The guilty parents have to
find someone to blame. They forget that television's
purpose is to entertain, not to babysit children. That is
probably how children get to see Beavis and Butt-
Head in the first place.
MTV has gone out of its way to shut these stupid
people up. They moved the show from a 7 p.m. time
slot to 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. time slots, so children
can be spared. They have even placed a disclaimer
statement before the show to warn parents and viewers
about the program's content. If this doesn't shut the
"wannabe" censors up, the, who cares?
Staff WRrrERS
Theron Davis Tamara Pudgy
Gloria Martin Kim Terry
Contributing Writers
Toshia Gibson Irvin Payne
Chiffonda Ruffin Altonya Washington
When I first saw Spike Lee’s
“School Daze,” I laughed at the
ending of the movie when the
enlightened fraternal brother yells
‘WAKE UP!’ Then, I was attending
a predominately white university
where I saw myself as being immune
to the plight of the ‘typical’ African-
American, believing that a piece of
paper from that institution would
somehow protect me from the
intricacies of society and of my
people.
I think that I laughed at a very
cursory level because I thought that it
trivialized one of the many problems
facing the African-American, race-
division amongst ourselves. But, on
a much deeper level, I laughed
because I believed that it would take
more than a theatrical statement made
by a little known and hardly
celebrated artist to change the
predicament of a vast majority of
“brothers” and “sisters”.
Now, seven years later, I
recognize myself as having been one
of those people- I’m sure there were
many- who did not truly understand
what Lee was trying to convey
through his movie. Yes, he was
telling us that we should stop fighting
each other over such issues as skin
color and fraternal pride and
allegiance but he had something more
to say, something which could not be
expressed in just two words.
As I walk across this campus, I
see something very .
frightening going
on, something which
has been recognized
by other students as
well as many —
insu-uctors. We seem to be a group
of individuals who are sleepwalking,
seemingly waiting for a signal, a
‘wake-up’ call, to make us open our
eyes and ears and hearts to what is
going on in this small microcosm
called Winston-Salem State
University and the larger playground
of the would. I am not scared
because I fear we will never ‘wake-
up’, but I am afraid that it is going to
take some cataclysmic event to make
each of us conscious of those things
which need to change.
Of course, we are not all asleep,
but some of us are searching for a
cause to be awake, something to
catch our attention. The Civil Rights
Movement woke up many but
allowed them to fall asleep again
when Martin Luther King Jr. was no
longer around. (Some might argue
with that statement!)
Affirmative Action, as we know
COLUMNIST
Crystal Hardison
it today, woke up a few but fell short
for many who saw it and continue to
see it as a policy that has many
pitfalls and is easily circumvented.
The Rodney King beating and the
L.A. Riots were a rude awakening for
us all, but I’m afraid that we may not
stay awake long enough to channel
our anger in more positive and
productive directions.
So what is it that Spike Lee was
trying to say with his rather fitting
and meaningful statement? It would
Please see page 4
Respect: Giving and Receiving It
In 1993, some men have
changed their dialogue when
referring to women of color! Gone
(almost) are the days when a real
man called a lady, a lady and
common respect was given to either
gender.
Have you Black men forgotten
that Black women are still pillars of
society, with back bones of steel?
Nowadays, women are called or
labeled anything from the “b word”
to the “h word.” Have you ever
heard a group of college
matriculating men discuss the
women in theirs lives or their female
acquaintances? You have probably
heard them use one of these
references while talking about them.
These references are also used
by many of the young Black male
music artist in their ever so popular
songs played by radio stations across
the nation. For example, “Whoop
There It Is” and R. Kelly’s video,
“Sex Me,” use derogatory dialogue
in the lyrics.
1 often wonder why some men
feel they can address any woman in
this manner? Or is it too, that
women have lowered their standards
to allow men to call them names
other than their birth given ones?
Well, not this sister! The plight
of the Black woman has been too
strong for me to allow those kinds of
degrading comments and references
to be made to me. Mary McLeod
Bethumn once said, “ The contents
of a woman must be judged by her
characteristics within...” Therefore
women of color must unify our
beliefs on this issue and let the
brothers know, “We don’t approve
of this.”
On-the-other-
hand, Black men, ■
would you dare
call your mother,
sister, aunt or
grandmother by
the names you use
to refer to Black women today?
You would probably be out for blood
if one of the “fellas” used these
words when talking about Mom,
Grandma, little sister, or “Big
Momma.”
Furthermore, women of color
are more than your mothers, sisters,
aunts, grandmothers, lovers, and
friends. We are women of character,
pride, substance and self-esteem.
We are not just those negative
images shown in music videos
wearing tight dresses, Daisy Duke
shorts, mini skirts (five times to short
COLUMNIST
Traci Tiera A. King
and tight) wearing, finger sucking,
pelvis rocking women. We are
lawyers, doctors, writers, engineers,
house wives, classmates, and
college professors. RESPECT
US!!!
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Salem State University we welcome your views on any
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