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PAGE 2 — THE DECREE — OCTOBER 5,1990 The Decree OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE Co-Editors — John Pernell and Dhana Chesson Staff — Mark Brett, John Fentress, Teresa Pitts The Decree ts located in the Student Union, Northi Carolina Wesleyan College, Wesleyan College Station, Rocky Mount, NC 27801. Policy is determined by the Editorial Board of The Decree, Re-publication of any matter herein ^thout the ex press consent of the Editorial Board is strictly forbidden. The Decree is composed and printed by Ripley Newspapers of Spring Hope. ^ Opinions published do not necessarily reflect those of North Carolina Wesleyan College. Censorship never suitable for adults What is appropriate? As an adjective the word means “suitable.” Now we ask what is suitable? Running down the street naked is not appropri ate. Flushing the toilet after use is appropriate. Now we must define the line between flushing and nakedness. In a nudist colony, walking around naked is ap propriate. From time to time, to the men living there, not flushing the toUets in Nash is appropriate. How are the dif ferences and distinctions made? Who has the final say? Lately, the government has felt it has the right to decide what is appropriate for the American public — with ar rest of rock groups such as Gwar and 2 Live Crew and the labeling of rock albums for obscenity. Their reasoning is that the material might not be suitable for children. Wake up, people! A child has no business at a Gwar concert. A child has no busi ness in the night club where 2 Live Crew was playing at the time of their now-famous ar rest. Finally, by aU means, a child has no business listen ing to a labeled album, such as one by Andrew Dice Clay. When last we checked, the people making these arrests were adults. The people at the 2 Live Crew concert were adults. Then, why is it that one adult is choosing what mate rial is appropriate for another adult? Why can adults not choose what is appropriate for themselves? The banning of art, music, and adult choice is not appro priate. Not now, or ever, is it suitable to take away the choice and enjoyment of this entertainment away from the American public. The govern ment officials who feel such action is justified are wrong. fbR SUCH ^ (j2%e;^^-cps Campaign is educational Ignorance enslaving us By STEVE FEREBEE Doing footwork for a Senate candidate’s campaign includes handing out pamphlets to work ers sleepily arriving at jobs, inter rupting harried mothers who don’t have time to talk on the phone, ringing doorbells to ask for a moment during commercials to persuade, and listening to all kinds of people complain about poli tics. My main impressions from doing this work during the last few weeks is that most of us are unapologetically ignorant about our politicians and their system. People really believe that Mr. Gantt is a Communist and proba bly homosexual; others believe that Mr. Hehns wants to rid the state of blacks and public librar- Dr. Steve ies. Many people don’t even know there’s about to be an election. Others complain about the mis leading TV commercials and then say they believe them anyway. But I don’t have to leave cam pus to discover ignorance. I heard a Wesleyan student ask another one where Iraq is. “Oh, you know, it’s in Europe where everyone is an A-rab.” And yet both student staunchly defend our military presence in the area to fight... you guessed it — Communism. Once again, the wrong continent, the wrong enemy. Environmental facts are alarming By TERESA PITTS If you are one of the remaining skeptics who doesn’t believe an environmental crisis exists, then take a look at the following facts and statistics concerning the de struction of our world. These facts are enlightening and maybe they will encourage you to be a part of the solution rather than part of the problem. •If only 100,000people stopped their junk mail, we could save about 150,000 trees every year. If a million did, we could save some 1.5 million trees. •During abeach clean-up along 300 miles of Texas shoreline in 1988,15,600plasticsix-packrings were found in three hours. Peli cans have sometimes had the rings stuck around their bills while fish ing, causing them to starve to death, and young seals and sea lions have caught the rings around their necks, causing suffocation. •In the U.S., about 70 percent of all metal is used just once — and then discarded. • If just 25 percent of American homes used 10 fewer plastic bags a month, we’d stop more than 2.5 billion plastic bags a year from entering our ecosystem. • At the rate we’re generating garbage, we will need 500 new dumps every year. • Species are now becoming extinct t a rate of 150,000 per year —17 per hour. • About 50 percent of all paper in the U.S. is used solely for pack aging. • It takes half a barrel of crude oil to produce the rubber in one truck tire. • You can easily use more than five gallons of water if you leave a faucet running while you brush your teeth. • It takes one 15-to-20-year old tree to make enough paper for only 700 grocery bags. • Americans produce enough Styrofoam cups every year to circle the earth 436 times. Polystyrene foam is completely non-biode- gradable. Even 500 years IBrom now, the foam cup that held your beverage will will be sitting on the earth’s surface. • Ten years ago, there were 1.5 million elephants in Africa. To day — largely because they’re being slaughtered for ivory — (Continued on Page 3) Maybe the world has always been like this. Did Alexander the Great’s soldiers know where they were and why they were fight ing? Did the Germans know what they were getting when they elected Hitler? The comment which bothers me the most and which I hear the most is that elections don’t mat ter because those corrupt politi cians will do what they want re gardless. So why read my pam phlet or listen to my explanation of Mr. Gantt’s tax program or Mr. Helms’ votes on foreign policy? As I’m always telling my stu dents, if we don’t know how to analyze other people’s rhetoric and how to organize our own, we are enslaved in mediocrity. If we can’t understand how politicians’ TV commercials manipulate us or what a newspaper article leaves out or how a 15-second radio news spot on “The Middle East Crisis” slants the facts, then we are not in control of our lives. And the politician oozes in to fill that vacuum. The willful ignorance I am talking about comes down to this question — do you care who you are? If you don’t, then neither Gantt nor Helms, Dukakis nor Bush, Fahd nor Hussein will reach you. But if you do, then you might begin to wonder why you are who you are. You might begin to take control of who you are becom ing. Like it or not, we are to gether on this planet in a huge unbreakable spider web of con- (Continued on Page 3)
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