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May 3, 2001 • Opinions • Page 19 Missile Command v. Bush '01: Can we survive Star Wars again? Rady Large Assistant Opinions Editor Do you remember the game that used to be in arcades called “Mis sile Command”? Remember it had missiles coming at bases that you had to destroy before they hit? Wasn’t that fun? President Bush thinks so. On Tuesday he released a plan for the new “Star Wars” program. It seems that Mr. Bush really wants us to go back to the values of the good ol’ days (see Nuclear Holocaust and Arms Race). The plan would cost a whole, whole, WHOLE lot of money; in fact, the Bush team conveniently had no price estimate on the pro gram. The Reaganites sang this tune a few years ago. I believe it goes, “instead of cooperating w^th the countries of the world in defusing the weapons of mass destruction that threaten to destroy planet Earth, let’s build a huge laser and put it up in space so we can try to blow bombs up in mid air.” Oh, oh! Then OliverNorth would come in from stage right and in a solid bass voice would belt out, “WE DON’T EVEN KNOW IF IT’LL WOOOOORRRRKKK!” The curtain would fall and the crowd would stand and cheer at this mar velous display of the misuse of taxpayer’s money. Of course the Bush team said that this would be an international operation to stop a nuclear war and rouge nations from destroying those pesky “white devils” that live in our neck of the woods. Has anyone seen those around lately? I haven’t seen one since the last time Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond got together in their white linen suits, shoelace ties and sipped mint juleps together. Don’t ask. With satire dripping from the top of this article, this program would be a waste of money and would bring a dangerous cush ion of comfort for the people of the world. The only path to safety from nuclear attack is an all-out diplo matic offensive on the countries of the world that would bring about the slow and equal disarmament of the nuclear arsenal. For now, we can only pray that our nation’s president realizes this is not a video game. Events of Hesp resignation reveal how Elon College really operates Robert Zielinski Guest Columnist Several weeks ago, Elon sadly saw Grahaeme Hesp “resign.” Hesp’s Elon website was linked to UK Web sites containing dry, sa tirical, strange British whit. Rather than confront Hesp or the adminis tration first, the faculty members who found this material carelessly circumvented the chain of com mand and printed out this material for class use. Other members of the Elon ad ministration have sent pornographic movies directly from their Elon e- mail accounts and received slaps on the wrist; however, when a po tentially embarrassing situation be comes public at Elon, the school decides to quietly dispose of the problem. Furthermore, after this informa tion surfaced, Elon then had the gal to publicly announce the “resigna tion” (/ use the term loosely) of Hesp. Let us clarify one thing - when the two options placed before you are to resign or be fired, forced resignations are still firings by means of coercion! Much like Wanse, Elon works in secret. Deci sions are made by the few. In this case, an overzealous fac ulty, many of whom are not smart enough to know the difference be tween satire and bigotry, screamed at the top of their lungs and got their way. Instead of thinking or em bodying principles of open niindedness, Elon does what is po litically expedient. Rather than con cerning itself with outdated Web links, Elon should be deeply con cerned about the numerous KKK Grand Wizards who have gradu ated from Elon and about the views of its current students! Hesp almost single handedly raised $10,000 to bring the AIDS Quilt to Elon. Also, as someone who is very non-Greek, Hesp was able to teach me the importance of the Greek system and its values. Hesp was involved with Pillar, an outreach program unique to Elon to help gay/bisexual/lesbian/question ing Greeks. How does the faculty and administration feel about the irreparable damage their decision has done to the student body and oppressed minorities? Sadly, Hesp’s “resignation” rep resents the spinelessness of the fac ulty, the administration and the stu dent body. Members of the faculty and administration, who knew this Your old enough to drive, but too young to drink? Benjamin York Guest Columnist In our country today, 18 seems to be the legal age for almost anything. When a per son reaches the age of 18, he is an adult in the eyes of the law. If he breaks the law, he is tried as an adult. He is held respon sible for the crimes he commit ted because he should have known better. He understands the difference between right and wrong, safe and unsafe, but he doesn’t understand how to drink responsibly. An 18-year-old is allowed to drive a car across the coun try. At 18, one can obtain a commercial pilot’s license. 18 seems to be the legal age for anything. Why should it not be the legal age for the consump tion of alcohol? At the age of 18, we are allowed to choose the leaders, of this country. We can decide who will make laws that affect us and our children. Our coun try deems citizens at the age of 18 to be responsible^enough to vote for the president of the United States, the most power ful position in the world, but we can’t drink. Also, at the age of 18, our country allows us to go to war. Citizens at the age of 18 can be responsible for weapons of mass destruction. They can be put in charge of others in a military setting. They can be responsible for lives in a time of war, but they can’t be re sponsible for the amount of alcohol they consume. Raising the consumption age to 21 causes nothing but an increase in the drinking of al cohol among those between the age of IB and 21. Teens begin to view alcohol as something for adults. It is sometimes seen as the forbidden fruit. It causes those under the age of 21 to drink more, simply because it is illegal. Teens resort to sneaky and underhanded meth ods of obtaining the alcohol they desire. They feel like they are getting away with some thing. From a personal level, this is my first year in college^ and 1 have had my taste of the col lege social scene. This has in cluded going to parlies, having friends chill in my room, and hanging out in others’ rooms. At these various social func tions, the vast majority of people I have seen (especially at parties) are under 21. In fact, counting all of the parties I have been to this year, I can count the number of 21-year- olds I met on my hands. To summarize, you are re sponsible enough to fly a plane, drive a car, smoke, get mar ried, vote for the leaders of our land and die for your country. But you are not responsible enough to consume alcohol? To write a guest column, contact us: pendulum@elon.edu or Ext. 7244 The views and ideas expressed in Opinions are not necessarily those of The Pendulum, its editors, or Elon College. was wrong and unjust, chose to remain silent. We have seen that before. Cameron DeJong recently introduced a resolution to the SGA praising Hesp. It was defeated 23- 9. The SGA claimed it was a “DEAD ISSUE.” By the way, SGA, this is the real story. Everyone should remember Hesp and the positive influence he always chose to wield with his po sition as Director of Greek Life. I feel very sorry for Hesp; I guess he got to know how Elon really oper ates.
Elon University Student Newspaper
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May 3, 2001, edition 1
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