Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / Sept. 7, 2007, edition 1 / Page 11
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FORUM 11 WWW.GUILFORDIAN.COM Fox News —- Continued from page I to infiltrate Iraq as a "retaliato ry action/' even when there was no action to retaliate against. Here is where you may ask, 'Why would Fox report some thing that wasn't true?' "Fox is in the Republican pocket," said Robert Duncan, assistant professor of politi cal science. "It supports the Republican mantra, and it is just as wrong as the adminis tration." 'But surely people wouldn't believe something that is com pletely untrue?' "The Big Lie works. It worked for Hitler, and it's working for the current admin istration," said Duncan. "You say something often enough, loud enough, and long enough, and people assume it to be true." Even now. Fox is reporting links between Iran and Al- Qaeda. One can almost hear the millions of households across America shifting their latent hostility to the next big target. Fox always finds a way to support whatever viewpoint it is committed to express ing. From the guests that Fox hosts choose to interview, to the opinions stated directly by news anchors, to the ever- popular Bill O'Reilly, the news giant supports an extremely conservative, right-wing view point. For example, before the Nov. 2006 elections. Fox covered for mer Florida congressman Mark Foley's sexual scandals closely, repeatedly referring to him as a Democrat, when he is in fact a Republican. In March this year. Fox News pointedly empha sized that Scooter Libby was acquitted of one charge of mak ing false statements to federal investigators, while downplay ing the fact that he was con victed of two charges of per jury, one charge of obstruction of justice, and another charge of making false statements to federal investigators. "With the time restraints of a 24-hour news cycle. Fox is bound to make mistakes," said Zweigenhaft. "The difference between it and The New York Times, for example, is that once the Times recognizes that it has made a mistake, it won't keep making the same mistake again and again ... Fox has commit ments to ideology rather than the news." And while Fox may be a disfiguring scar on the face of objective journalism, it is not the only problem. Virtually any news source is going to have its won perspective on an issue, which may bleed through its careful veneer of objectivity. "There's not a single truth that any single source of infor mation can provide," said Zweigenhaft. "Any source of news comes with a certain viewpoint." The solution? Don't get all of your news from one source. Once you are done reading this issue of The Guilfordian, pick up a New York Times and get another perspective on the same issues. Just don't, for God's sake, turn on Fox News. Letter to the Editor The Housing Crunch In Deena Zaru's article. Dean for Campus Life Aaron Fetrow says that over the summer 60-70 students received letters stating that they could not be placed in housing. Students are told many times that they are guaranteed housing. Students should not be told they are guaranteed something if they are not. I spent my suntoier not con cerned with housing because I was told I was guaranteed it. I didn't have a roommate, so I didn't do the lottery. Students who choose not to do the lottery, which isn't required, were not guaranteed on-campus housing. I was aware I might be stuck in a triple, which I'm sure many people were aware of too, but I was not aware that I might have to live off-campus. I would have appreciated the administration letting students know the situa tion that might occur. Fetrow also mentions the poor turnout at the forums, which should have had more inter est. But if these 60-70 students had showed up it wouldn't have meant that they were given on- campus housing this year. These forums, though important, are not the reason students don't have housing. Students need to go to forums, but the College needs to not use the word "guarantee" when they talk about housing. Unlike what the e-mail I received said, if you are not placed by the beginning of sum mer, you are not guaranteed on- campus housing. If I had not gotten placed, I simply couldn't have afforded it. Lee Cornett Comettaj@guilford.edu Contribute to The Guilfordian! WRITING PHOTOS OR JUST Ideas! gu i Ifordian @gu i lford.edu Indoctrinating our athletes Reid Cranfill | Senior Writer It's become normal to have an instinctive mis trust of all athletes. When the evidence was absent, everyone thought the Duke boys were guilty as sin, or at the very least guilty of something. This latent suspicion is a real and present danger to the fabric of our community, and last year it nearly tore us apart Go down to Bryan Hall and you'll see an iron monument to the events of last spring, where a figjit between Palestinian students and fooft»all players turned the campus a^inst itself on nation al televisioa The most viable solution we've come up with so far has b^n to install bars on Bryan's doorways; give us another five years at this rate and we'll have to put a wall up between Ragan- Brown Field House and the rest of campus like the Israeli- Gaza border. A recent stu dent survey given at the cafeteria asked "What could Guilford do to prevent racism on campus?" A common answer was for either the footiball team or all athletes to attend an anti-radsm con ference or course of some kind. What possible form this indcxfrination would take is unanswered. Images come to mind of a weekend boot camp where the footiball and baseball teams are forced to finger-paint pictures of happy multi-racial people while chanting in unison that they will resist their imdean, steroid- and testosterone-driven urges. That Guilford would consider such a con descending, hyperbolic response to a perceived character flaw might seem might seem unlikely to anyone but the male athletes. The first semester a Guilford male commits to being on a team, he's sent to a mandatory anti-rape seminar. Of course, on a college campus where inhibi- Unless 0 Dnision III, sthoMip-free nthletk projiniin is it Mng ground lor moml degmdiitjon, sending otliletes to tolemnie seminors linsed on tire Unwed, instinctive nssumption thot tiiep ore etliicolly injerior to other students isn’t oddressing o proMem. tions run low and blcxxl alcohol content runs high, the seminar is a gcod idea, especially for out- of-state students who are unfamiliar with what defines consent under N.C. laws. These programs are now done as a part of CHAOS. Unfortunately, the male athlete's seminar is notoriously patronizing and hostile. The fall 2006 program asserted that since it's estimated that one in five women are raped, one in five of the men in the room were likely rapists; the boys were also urged to be endlessly suspicious of other team mate's behavior and to imagine their mothers and sisters being violated. But even if it were done appropriately, is the extra seminar for athletes really necessary? By signing on to a Guilford team, an atolete commits to an intense exercise regime, stricter di^pline codes, academic moni toring, random ized drug test ing, and a family of coaches and teammates with a vested interest in keeping him or her out of trouble. Urdess a Division El, scholarship-free athletic program is a breeding ground for moral degrada tion, sending athletes to tolerance seminars based on the flawed, instinctive assumption that they are ethically inferior to other students isn't addressingy a problem. It's creating one by undermining the athlete's trust in a community that treats them as moral liabilities. So before something happens again on cam pus fiiat plays on our suspicions of one anofiier and Greenstoro police department has to break out toe riot gear, maybe everyone on campus should have to recite and take to heart Lincoln's second inaugural address: "With malice toward none and charity for all, let us finish the work we are in, to do all which may achieve and cherish a lasting peace among our^ves and aU nations."
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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