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Page 2 • Thursday, October 3, 2002 The Pendulum The Pendulum Sense of community leads to respect Last week, one of our staff members spent an early morning in the library researching a topic for a paper. After three hours of looking on ProQuest database, she left the library with piles of articles. But what she forgot was her wallet. She doesn’t know where she left it and 1.1 hours later she realized her wallet was missing. She searched her room and apartment. It wasn’t there. She crawled around her car for a while, looking under the scats, and it wasn't there. She went back to her room and turned the apartment upside down looking for the small black Nine West wallet that, like most wallets, holds essential items, including phone numbers, money, credit cards, an ATM card and membership cards. Then, she began to retrace her steps, which included a trip to our office. She searched under the paper heap that has become her desk. Nothing. Then, she remembered her morning excursion the library. After describing the wallet, the circulation desk worker handed it over. This is the part where things got interesting. Nothing had been removed. Not the S.'iO slie had just gotten from the bank, not a credit card. Nothing was missing. She was shocked. She is convince that if she lost her wallet on any other coIlcge cinnpus or uny other town she would never have stfcn it again. Why does this type of humnnitarianism and general rcupect occur at Elon? Community. That’s what it is all about. Wc know each other. Wc rcspect each other as members of our communi ty. There arc alway.s exceptions, individual incidents, but there is an overriding theme of respect and caring that occurs within the confines of the Elon bubble. The Pendulum Jennifer Guarino, Edltor-ln-Chiet Lindsay Porter, Features Editor Crystal Alien and Katie Beaver, Managing Editors Erin Cunnlngiiam, News Editor Eric Hall. Opinions Editor Andi Petrlnl, A & E Editor Coiin Donohue, Sports Editor Tim Rosner, Photography Editor Erin pyioseley, Chief Copy Editor Annette Randall, Business Manager Matt Ford, Online Editor The Pendulum is published each Thursday of the academic year The advertising and editorial copy deadline is 5 p.m. the Monday before publi cation. Letters to the editor and guest columns are welcome and should be typed, double-spaced, signed and Include a telephone number for verifica tion. Submissions are also accepted as Word documents on disk or by e- mail. The Pendulum reserves the right to edit obscene or potentially libelous material. Lengthy letters or columns may have to be trimmed to fit. All sub missions become the property of The Pendulum and will not be returned. To reach The Pendulum at 233 Moseley Center, call 278-7247 or fax 278- 7246. Contact The Pendulum by e-mail at pendulum@elon.edu. Visit our Web site at www.elon.edu/pendulum. Each individual Is entitled to one free copy. — Opinions — Political correctness and censorship defined by essence of toleration Austin Jameson People are tolerant of val ues and ideologies that mirror their own, but the true test of tolerance is whether one can voice views that contra dict or conflict with those of another. In a nation that demands diversity over merit and cen sorship over offense, tolerance is simply intolerable. At the University of Texas, Ward Connerly, who has been called the “leader of a nation wide campaign to replace racial prefer ences with a merit-based sys tem,” was reprimanded, reports Dan Flynn of front- pagemagazine.com. The protest ers carried signs stating “Protect Free Speech—Shut Connerly Up!” Ironically, the protesters failed to realize protecting free speech means allowing anyone to speak, even a black activist protesting a program intended to promote racial equality. These censorship campaigns against those deemed politically incorrect have infected even pres tigious Dartmouth University. In December 1998, adminis trators banned a campus group from distributing Christmas presents to each other through the campus mail because the school’s dean of religion, Scott Brown, remarked that “giving Christmas presents is an act ‘that a large number of students will take offense at,’” reported Front Page. We are constantly relinquish ing the rights of our forefathers to informal coalitions of indi viduals and tiny minorities who are more interested in limiting the choices of the majority rather than improving the offer ings of society as a whole. Even private organizations are suffering under the cultural brainwashing of left-wing groups who want to be repre sented. The Boy Scouts of America, one of the few remaining bas tions of righteousness, is being flanked by two openly gay scout leaders. A lawsuit filed against the BSA in June 2000 accused it of discrim inating on the men’s sexual orientation. Luckily the ca.se was decided in favor of the BSA. Gregg Shields, a spokesman for the group said, “The Boy Scouts have long taught American fami ly values as held in the scout oath and law...” Aside from gays, the BSA is also being sued by athe ists, because the Scouts Oath mentions God. In 1991, salon.com reported a girl from Florida sued the group because they would not allow her to join. Why must we constantly dilute traditional cultural foun dations to accommodate the per ceived injustices to an individual or tiny minority who want in, but just don’t fit? Why can’t these groups form such organizations as the Gay Scouts of America, or the Godless Scouts? Or even the Girl-Boy Scouts? The practice of Orwellian censorship has its tentacles in the age of cartoons as well, Marc Morano of CNSNews.com reported on Jon Cooke’s Censored Cartoons Web site http://looney.toonzone.net /Itcuts. In response, cartoon historian Jerry Beck told CNSNews, “It's the politically correct white mentality that is really afraid of anything that could be offensive that is just quickly judged a stereotype and offending.” According to Beck, by 2000 the politically correct policies of leftists had gone from deleted scenes of Indian gags due to Native American sensitivity, to a Bug’s Bunny cartoon deleted because it featured an Eskimo. Having a politically cor rect and censored society insures every individual is a winner. But this, of course, means no one is a winner, and the stan dard of excellence disap pears. Even Speedy Gonzales “was nearly taken off the Cartoon Network last year because the hard drinking rodent was deemed an offensive stereo type to Hispanics,” Morano said. Where will the censorship end? Book burnings by Hitler in the ’40s were internationally condemned, but when students at the Ithaca, N.Y., campus stole hundreds of copies of The Cornell Review and held a “fas- cist-style” burning rally, the dean of students attended and praised the students’ action, stat ing “The students who oppose The Cornell Review have claimed their First Amendment right to be able to have symbol ic burnings...” These people are attempting to destroy the past and fill the void with their own version of history. This is what it means to be politically correct, to believe as George Orwell wrote, free dom is slavery and ignorance is strength. Having a politically correct and censored society insures every individual is a winner. But this, of course, means no one is a winner, and the standard of excellence disappears and we have the shoddy service and workmanship you complain about every day. The question is will we toler ate it? Contact Austin Jameson at pen- diilum@elon.edu or 278-7247
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