Page 4: Thursday, September 11, 2003
Opinions
The Pendulum
American perception in Europe not what some think
lessica Patchett
Columnist
Editors Note: This column will
appear weekly while Jessica is
studying in London.
This week, I found trash cans.
I found garbage and dirt and
human waste. Leaving behind the
tourist sites of Westminster, the
glitzy neighborhoods of Little
Venice, and the upscale consumer
havens of Oxford and Piccadilly,
I spent Sunday afternoon in East
London. The sixth annual Brick
Lane/Intemational Curry Festival
brought to life a densely populat
ed Bangladeshi neighborhood,
otherwise unseen by the majority
of Londoners.
Aside from the attractive mid
dle-eastern restaurants festival-
goers patronized in record num
bers, graffiti, worn signs and
rickety doors told of a struggling
population of relocated people,
trying to make a life and living in
the second most expensive city in
the world.
Community outreach groups
sponsored booths at the festival,
indicating some public interest in
helping the Bangladeshi people
and developing commerce in
their neighborhood. But, cheap
food and free entertainment were
probably the only reasons Gucci
shoes made one stroll down the
dingy East London streets.
Unable to read the many signs
translated from English, those of
us from outside the cultural pock
et were equally unable to identify,
let alone understand, the issues
and problems local residents face
on a day-to-day basis.
As I walked further into East
London and outside the blockades
containing the festival, I kicked
around piles of trash with my
strappy Nine West shoes. In
equally as expensive dress shoes,
my friends walked past homeless
men sleeping in piles of rubbish.
None of us, or any of the other
hundreds walking with us, offered
even a pair of off-brand shoes to
the man with none.
With so many nameless faces
and helpless people desperately in
need of a pair of shoes, a place to
live, a high school education ...
how can busy, working people be
expected to seek out strangers and
lift them out of the endless
garbage pile in which they live?
Taking time away from life to
approach complete strangers with
Thumbs Up
1. It is finally cooling down outside
2. Parents weekend is just a week away, which
means lots of goodies are on the way
3. Home-cooked food
4. End-of-season sales at all your favorite stores
5. Intramurals have started
Thumbs Down
1. There are no parking spaces by 10:30 a.m.
2. All of your text books still have not arrived in
the campus shop
3. The over-active air conditioners in all of the
campus buildings
4. Aerobics classes fill up fast
5. The e-mail from Chris Fulkerson about down
loading music
Jessica Patchett
unknown personal problems and a
lack of material comfort is out of
the question for most working
class citizens. In fact, an opportu
nity to do so rarely presents itself,
as the middle and upper classes
rarely catch a glimpse of other
people’s garbage. Isn’t it a social
taboo to allow one’s problems to
overflow into the streets and into
public view? Aren’t we all
responsible for quietly and effec
tively getting ourselves out of our
own messes?
This past Saturday night, I
came home with a couple of my
flatmates around midnight to find
another Elon student sitting on
our stoop alone, too sick to move
inside. The student had gone out
with 20 others from Elon earlier
that night ... where were they as
this student sat in waste?
After my friends and I took the
student inside, other people start
ed trickling home. A couple hours
earlier, they had stopped by the
flats on their way to a party, with
out bothering to walk the sick stu
dent home, into our building and
up one flight of stairs. They
claimed to have left the student in
someone else’s care ... but why
would friends leave someone to
the care of even the most well
intended outsider? When I came
home, the student was sitting
alone, in a mess, at the mercy of
anyone who might have wandered
by that night.
While the terrorist attacks of
Sept. 11 two years ago were hor
rendous and absolutely wrong,
they should have opened people’s
eyes to a global perception of
America and its citizens.
Even in Britain, factions of
people display a strong distaste
for the selfish, incompassionate
attitude that they sense Americans
hold. Living in the UK, media
coverage and political conversa
tion make it glaringly obvious to
me that the world has serious
doubts and questions about
Americans.
The world asks: Have
Americans learned anything in
the two years since the terror
attack that consumed the atten
tion of the American citizens,
American media and the
American government?
Americans do not bother to take
care of their fellow citizens
because they cannot stand the
stench of waste. What help then
can Americans be to a world cov
ered in dirt and trash?
Until we stop leaving our
friends on the doorsteps of the
world to be washed and cleaned
by others, how can we gain the
respect of other nations? Until we
make a genuine effort to go out of
our way to help our neighbors,
how can we convince our “fellow
Americans” and ourselves that
we are worthy of care and con
cern? Until we gain the trust of
the people of the world, how can
we live without some fear that
tomorrow may be the day we are
attacked again?
Contact Jessica Patchett at pen-
dulum@elon.edu or 278-7247.
What’s the worry over downloads?
Eric Hydrick
Columnist
The record industry has
launched a massive campaign
against music downloaders.
Record labels are sending subpoe
nas to colleges for the names of
users who are downloading
music. Elon, to some extent, sup
ports this. Chris Fulkerson,
Director of Instructional &
Campus Technologies, sent out an
e-mail with a memo attached dis
cussing this policy. The memo
states that,
“...the University will be
forced to provide the names and
addresses of persons using the
University’s internet connection
when presented a legal subpoe
na,...taken out by the RIAA...in
their search for illegal file sharing
....this would include students,
faculty or staff.”
This is a fair policy, but we
shouldn’t have to deal with the
record industry coming after us
for downloading some music.
The record industry claims that
it’s losing money because people
download songs and don’t buy
CD's. First off, downloading
music isn’t the only reason why
people don’t buy CD's. We also
don’t buy them because they’re
expensive and they often don’t
have more than a few good songs
on them.
It’s not like students making a
huge profit from downloading
either. Most people don’t make
CD's and sell them.
However, now most all com
puters come with CD burners so
everyone can make their own CD.
Thu,s the only person who has a
CD 1 bum is me, and l‘m the only
person who listens to it.
However, if the record industry
really wants money for down
loads, why don’t they lobby for a
law requiring a fee be charged for
songs uploaded to the music shar
ing sites like Kazaa? That way,
they’re still making money, and
the sites themselves can cover the
fee from their advertising profits.
Thus, music is free for us and the
record industry gets money.
Of course, if the record indus
try was really smart, they would
start their own download sites or
they’d move into the blank CD
business and quietly start taking
in money hand over fist. And
then we wouldn’t have to deal
with threats of them possibly
coming to knock on our doors and
ordering us to pay their fines.
Contact Eric Hydrick at pendu-
lum@elon.edu or 278-7247,