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R ‘j( !‘lo .'0( L* ,01 In lA 'I' Page g • Tliursday, April 10, 2003 ?A^'''jruciO Opinions :i ijli.bTi'- !'fl'I The Pendulum EstabUshcU 1X71 The Pendulum Has The Pendulum become too liberal? Recently, a former Elon student asserted The Pendulum has become too liberal. Claims such as these, while giving credence to the specious myth of a liberal media, have to be taken seriously. Every journalistic pub lication needs to do a careful self-assessment about its objectivity, especially in a time of war. Since January, The Pendulum has only printed one edi torial with a liberal slant. But the columns that run in the opinions section do tend to be more liberal-minded. The trouble that newspapers (and broadcasts for that matter) run into is a bias in news text. Journalists are bred to be sightseerers, eyes for the world that report the news. Of course, this means reporters should have no point of view or ideological standing. Tlie fact remains, though, that reporters are not robots, programmed to sleepwalk through the world without opinions. Walter Cronkite is a perfect example. He has no qualms integrating opinion into reporting. He has strong ly expresKcd his dissenting views on a war with Iraq. In the 1960s, he freely revealed his strong opinions of a war in Vietnam. Yet the question remains whether there is a place for opinion in news. Publications make their own decisions on this matter. Some go so far as to endorse presidential candidates. At 1116 Pendulum, though, we rarely, as a staff, publish arti cles with any sort of bias. We will continue to report with a fair and accurate eye for the news. But maybe jumping to the all-media-is-liberal asser tion is the chic thing to do? The Pendulum Nick Palatlello, Sports Editor Tim Rosner, Photography Editor Mary-Hayden Britton and Ellis Harman, Copy Editors AnneUe Randall. Business Manager Matt Ford, Online Editor Janna Anderson, Adviser Colin Donohue, Editor-In-Chief Katie Beaver, Managing Editor Lindsay Porter, News Editor Jessica Patchett, Assistant News Editor Eric Hall, Opinions Editor Andl Petrlnl, A & E Editor Kathleen Frey, Features Editor Kristin SImonettI, Sports Editor The Pendulum is published each Thursday of the academic year. The advertising and editorial copy deadline Is 5 p.m. the Monday tjefore publi cation. Letters to the editor and guest columns are welcome and should be typed, double-spaced, signed and indude a telephone number for verifica tion. Submissions are also accepted as Word docuirwnts 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 tfie 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/perYiulum. Eadi individual is entitled to one free copy. United Nations not aware that terrorists continue to plan attacks on humanity Luke Wake Columnist The morning after the coali tion began their campaign in Iraq, my last article was published in The Pendulum. I pointed out the ineffective ness of the U.N., questioned its authority and criticized it for its failures. In the April 3 issue of The Pendulum, Timothy Partelow called my article “absolutely absurd” and suggested that my dis dain for the U.N. derives from some egotistical belief that the U.N. should be manipulated to serve U.S. interests. That, of course, is a most twist ed interpretation of my message and it warrants a rebuttal. I explained that the U.N. has not only failed repeatedly to create world peace but has rather gone to magnify problems of the world. This is, as one might expect, in direct opposition to liberals like Partelow who claims that, ‘The United Nations has been an effec tive body to maintain world peace since its inception.” I suppose Partelow believes that the U.N.’s failure to enforce its own mandates, all 16 of them and in particular 1441, has gone to bring world peace. After all, encouraging mad men to develop chemical, biological and weapons of mass destruction is certainly a way to guarantee the .security of the world community. The U.N.’s failures to secure peace in the Middle East have clearly served as encouragement for others like Saddam Hussein. Kim Jong II would never have been so cavalier as to start up his nuclear weapons program and he would not be the threat he is today had he not seen these failures as an invitation. It is the ineffectivcnc.ss of the U.N. that I am criticizing: there lies my qualms with the United Nations. Partelow’s statement that I am frustrated with the U.N. bccause, “the United States can’t manipu late it any longer” is nothing more than an erroneous attempt to blan- kct-paint my statements as ethno KRT Campus A country run by dictators or a communist regime cannot be included in any world democratic governing body, and no other form of a world gov ernment is accept able. — yy centric. This statement assumes that those who hold my opinion care nothing for the plight of the peo ples of the world outside our bor ders and that we perceive the U.N. as a means to apply imperialistic grip over the world. I hate to shatter the myth, which America-hating people seem to l>elieve in, but the United States is not looking to control the world. We are not an empire, we are not trying to control the people of the world and we are not liberating the people of Iraq from their oppressive regime in some corrupt right-wing conspiracy to control the world’s oil supply. This, how ever, seems to be the assumption Partelow made in analyzing my previous article. I was most disturbed when Partelow claimed the U.S. doesn’t have a “democratic” vote, “When our nation’s leader states that mil lions in our country and around the world don’t matter when it comes to the war, I find it hard to believe that our country is anymore demo cratic than China or Iran.” Well, last I checked China is a communist state, Iran is a dictator ship and the U.S. is a democracy, the difference being great btetween the three. The citizens under com munism and dictatorships arc manipulated by the regime’s prop aganda and lack of fair elections. Unlike tho.se nations, the U.S. has fair elections where the major ity of the public is heard. Our leaders do consider the voices of protesters, but Partelow fails to realize his faction is in the minori ty- The majority of Americans do support military action in Iraq and the entire world community is not opposed to it, as liberals would want you to think. The coalition is made up of 42 nations who do support the disar mament of Iraq. Partelow stated, ‘The world is against the United States.” Clearly he is wrong, the entire world is not opposed to the U.S. The U.S. does need to have good relations with the rest of the world but it is clear to me that the U.N. is not only an ineffective means of world diplomacy, but it is also an unjust fom of govern ment. A country run by dictators or a communist regime cannot be included in any world democratic governing body and no other form of a world government is accept able. Americans must not stand for a compromise of our democrat ic ideals in order to appease the world community. Lastly, I must address Partelow’s unwarranted accusa tion that my ideology will result in the creation of more terrorists. His statements can only be proven wrong with time l>ut as of now I am concerned with the terrorists of this generation. Unlike Partelow and those pro testers of the war, I am not content to see our nation sit idlely, twid dling our thumbs and running in circles with the U.N., while terror ists arc preparing for their next strike against humanity. Contact Luke Hake at pendu- lum@elon.edu or 278-7247.
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