8
Tuesday, March 19, 2002
Opinion
alw imlg (Ear Hrrl
Established 1893 • /09 Wars of EJitorial Freedom
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Katie Hunter
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Readers' Forum =
On-Campus Apartments
Will Offer Better Option
Than Off-Campus Living
TO THE EDITOR:
I think the idea of apartments on cam
pus especially for students is wonderful. I
am a freshman who is considering moving
off campus, but the cost plus being far from
other students and campus have stopped
me, at least for next year. I like some of the
benefits of on-campus housing - having
programs set up by resident assistants or
others especially for those in my building,
finding out about events easily because of
posters and e-mails and getting to know a
lot of people. However, I don’t like the
noise, the crowding, sharing a kitchen with
so many other people, and having to leave
during breaks. Being in an apartment
would alleviate some of these problems,
and I believe campus apartments would be
more affordable than many off-campus
ones, especially if two students occupy each
room. I hope that I’ll get to take advantage
of this service before I graduate. The only
problem I see with this is the distance -
putting some juniors and seniors behind
Hinton James would make them farther
from classes than most freshmen; however,
most off-campus apartments would do the
Board Editorials
Maybe Never Enough
Six months later, New Yorkers —and the world, for that matter strive to move on and accept
Sept. 11, but not without daily emotion, remembrance and strength
NEW YORK - It is a labyrinth, this pit.
Ground Zero descends 70 feet into
Manhattan’s foundation of bedrock, a
chambered web of death and twisted steel.
More than a million tons of rubble have
been transported out of the pit in 98,000
truckloads.
By late June, the last piece
of concrete, the final rusted I
beam will have been removed
and laid to rest in a New
Jersey landfill.
But where the rubble ends, so does the
hope of finding more bodies.
It is now six months after two jets plowed
into the World Trade Center, murdering
thousands and breaking the hearts of mil
lions.
On Monday, March 11, a 12-year-old girl
left an orphan by the disaster, flipped a
switch, and two powerful beams of light -
a temporary memorial - filled the gap in
New York’s skyline.
Memorial services were held across the
city, including at the Church of St. Francis
of Assisi, the parish of fire department
chaplain Mychal Judge. He died after fol
lowing his flock to the towers where he was
needed.
On Monday, the six-month anniversary
of Sept. 11, much of the city wept once
again.
But at rush hour that day, the most dis
tinct sound on Fifth Avenue was a lone
homeless trumpeter playing “America the
Beautiful,” and I was one of the few who
stopped to watch him.
New Yorkers move too fast to pay atten
tion to a homeless man, even one belting
out a song weighty with new patriotism.
This means New York is moving on from
Sept. 11, but only by so much.
Fewer than a third of the estimated 2,830
dead have been correctly identified. After
the World Trade Center fell on that bright
blue morning, thousands of New Yorkers
wandered the streets for days, thrusting
photocopies of the missing into strangers’
faces.
I once saw a minivan plastered with vic
tims’ pictures creeping down Broadway.
But it was in late October, a time far
beyond any chance of hope for those vie
same -and these apartments would at least
be close to some parts of campus. I think a
better place might be slightly north of cam
pus or east or west of academic buildings,
but campus apartments are a good idea
overall, no matter where they are.
Denny Wilkerson
Freshman
Education
Law Professors Decision
To Boycott Speech Not
Arrogant, but Reasoned
TO THE EDITOR:
On Thursday, March 7, a letter to the
editor was placed in the Reader’s Forum by
Richard Linderman attacking the decision
by five UNC law professors to not attend
the events surrounding Clarence Thomas’s
visit to the law school. We write today to
clarify a few misconceptions expressed by
our law school colleague. His attempt to
trivialize the importance of the law profes
sors’ dissent is rooted in a deep misunder
standing of their position on this issue. The
professors he speaks of (who happen to
comprise the entire African-American law
faculty) made their decision to forego par
ticipation in the activities after careful delib
tims’ survival.
They are all gone, most never to be
found.
The signs of disaster are still inescapable
in New York.
Even normal conversation is still rela-
lively impossible without
some mention of Sept. 11 fall
out.
Six months later, my
friends are still nervous about
Cate Doty
Editorial Notebook
living there. One swears that Manhattan
will soon be destroyed by an atomic bomb.
It’s nervous hyperbole, but it’s not far
from the fears of so many who witnessed
something few ever thought could happen.
So logically, what’s to stop a mushroom
cloud from rising over midtown?
The city’s health department has
launched “Project Liberty,” urging New
Yorkers to “feel free to feel better.”
Calls to Life Net, the health department’s
crisis hotline, are slowly on the decline after
the attacks, but for some New Yorkers the
fires at Ground Zero were never put out.
Some are moving away from the city. Some
have reverted back to old destructive pat
terns like alcoholism, and some have with
drawn into themselves, fearful of another
loss.
Not all of the city’s coping mechanisms
are helpful.
On the N train to Queens, the subway
walls are plastered with health department
issued confessionals of New Yorkers coping
with Sept. 11.
There’s Nancy, 48, from Brooklyn,
advising commuters to spend time with
friends. There’s Carl from the Bronx claim
ing that cleaning his apartment helps him
release his sadness.
Thanks, Nancy and Carl. These confes
sionals are gag-inducing (I know I’m not
alone in my skepticism toward them), and
herein lies a question: Even to mourn a
heartbreaking disaster like Sept. 11, when is
enough, well, enough?
It’s a question that many outside of New
York, especially some survivors of the
Oklahoma City bombing, have been ask
ing more frequently.
New Yorkers are impatient for the city to
get completely back to the way it was -
eration and forethought. This decision was
substantiated by a heavily attended “teach
in” held the day before Justice Thomas’s
arrival. The professors facilitated the teach
in with a very clear purpose in mind: to
form a sound understanding of the justice’s
jurisprudence through the proliferation of
his most recent opinions. Unlike a rhetori
cal speech, analysis of his judicial opinions
is the most salient way to understand his
legal reasoning. As demonstrated at the
teach-in, the professors were well acquaint
ed with Clarence Thomas’s political agen
da and the school of thought to which he
subscribes. As such, Linderman was right.
They were in fact left with nothing to learn
from his visit and decided not to attend. We
personally fail to see the so-called “arro
gance” that belies this decision.
However, there is a certain sense of arro
gance implicit in the lack of deference
afforded to these professors. Linderman’s
opinion is obviously impulsive in nature
and essentially mischaracterizes the
premise behind their dissent. No measure
was ever undertaken to disrupt the day’s
events (i.e. vocal protests, walk-outs, etc.)
because such conduct would unnecessari
ly focus attention on their actions rather
than their message. These professors
abstained from such inappropriate conduct
and simply chose not to attend. Again, we
before American flags hung in every store
window and street vendors were virtually
assured a quick sell on U.S.A. pins.
The crassness that accompanies public
mourning tires them, they say.
Those who lost friends and family in the
attacks simply want them back, or at least
an end to the daily public reminders of
Sept. 11. Private grief is overwhelming
enough.
But for a city that lost so many and a
country that presumably lost its innocence,
enough will never be enough, simply
because of Sept. ll’S far-reaching fallout.
It’s our cowboy president hunting
Osama bin Laden, a man who has, so far,
proven himself far too wily for the United
States.
It’s my uncle in Special Forces identify
ing the body of one of his men killed in an
Afghan skirmish.
It is a Pakistani man in a Queens restau
rant swift to pledge his allegiance to
America yet equally quick to affirm that the
United States will never understand the
complications of peace.
It’s Daniel Pearl’s death and columns
like this, written by those still grasping to
make some sense of it all.
We now discern from each death the
weight of our own vulnerability.
As for New York, the streets of Queens
were quiet on the evening of March 10.
From a living room in Astoria, I watched
the World Trade Centers fall again with the
same person I sat next to in North Carolina
on that horrible day six months ago. This
time, like many in New York, we were
watching a documentary on Sept. 11, and
there were no frantic phone calls to rela
tives and friends.
There was only the piercing dread of see
ing again what had come before. And then
again, there was the unbreakable silence of
the thousands dead.
But the next day we woke up and went
to work, just like the rest of the city that still
mourns its buried downtown.
New York thought it was dying for a brief
moment, and then like all those who are
born and reborn, found itself again in the
struggle for breath.
It is still not enough.
fail to see the arrogance in that decision.
Adam E. Aberra
Andre Wharton
Third-Year Law Students
Events On Campus Work
To Increase South Asian
Awareness for Students
TO THE EDITOR:
I am writing to let the campus at large
know about the many South Asia-related
events that are taking place on UNO’s cam
pus as war rages in Afghanistan, tensions
between India and Pakistan rise, 500 Muslims
were massacred this past week in Gujarat
after a train carrying Vishwa Hindu Parishad
activists was attacked. With the war in
Afghanistan, and since India and Pakistan are
nuclear powers, South Asia has become a
“problem area” in the eyes of the world, a
tense region where countries could go to war
at any moment To enhance understanding of
the the complex culture, politics of South Asia
and its connection to current affairs, several
events on South Asia are being organized on
campus. One is an ongoing South Asian film
series (7 p.m. in Greenlaw Hall each
Monday). The films that we have selected
represent different actors within the South
The Joke's on
You, Laughing
Into the 21st
Back when I was a wee lad, I remember dreaming of
the 21st century and thinking, “Wow, what an amaz
ing time to be alive!”
Sure, the 20th century had its moments, like the never
should-be-withdrawn-from 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty
and the return of Christ (Texas, 1993).
The new millennium though, well, who knew what
unimaginable marvels of the future it could bring.
Surely, we thought the future
would resemble something to that of
the world of Star Trek, complete with
peace on earth, a plethora of blinking
lights and lots and lots of aliens bent
on killing Captain Kirk.
Ah ... the mystique of the 21st cen
tury -and hoW fitting that we would
have an arguably disappointing anti
climax to that whole Y2K issue! Half
the world dreaded a 21st century
apocalypse, featuring such world-end
ing disasters as getting a bill from the
local Blockbuster for 100 years worth of overdue fines on
“Breakin’ 2: The Electric Boogaloo.” The other half partied
like it was, well, any other new year. And the next morn
ing, we were all waking up from a kinda-bad-kinda-not-so
bad dream, all hung over - except, we were thinking,
“Hey, I’m all hungover in the 21st century! Wow, I need
me some Tylenol...”
All of us, I suppose, except for those “purists,” who I’m
sure were all thinking, “Those suckers! We have yet to see
the 21st century! Fools! Oooooh ... need Tylenol...”
The 21st century wasn’t born of fire and brimstone like
everybody predicted - no, the transition into the promised
land known as the future was uneventful and unremark
able. And so, it’s no wonder that I still feel like we’re living
in the past.
Oh, don’t get me wrong - I think the human race has
made significant advances since I’ve been alive, but in cer
tain respects, we haven’t budged an inch since I was a wee
lad, dreaming about the 21st century.
Take for example the state of “funny” - you know, like
jokes and stuff.
On a recent episode of HBO’s “Dennis Miller Live,”
that oh-so-witty, talks-too-much late-night host delivered
one of his patented funny-picture captions, as he so often
does.
To make a long story short, the picture portrayed
George W., fresh from his tour of Southeast Asia, (assum
ably) petting his dog. The caption? Something to the effect
of, “Don’t worry, we wouldn’t eat you !”
Ha ha ha, another joke about those Asian savages who
eat poor, cute, innocent dogs. To follow this up, last month.
Jay Leno’s crack on Korean short-track skater Kim Dong
sung who “was so mad he went home and kicked the dog,
and then ate him,” (referring to Kim’s disqualification,
which led U.S. skater Apolo Ohno to be awarded gold) -a
pair of jokes that could have been heard way back in the
days of the decidedly intolerant 20th century.
Oh yeah - sure, these jokes are funny all right. Hey, I’m
a lighthearted guy just like anybody else, and there’s no
way I take myself seriously enough to find dog jokes offen
sive.
But that doesn’t mean these kinds of jokes should be OK
in the 21st century. Writers for Dennis Miller andjay Leno,
all I have to say to you is: “Sweet Jesus! If you’re going to
make fun of Asians, in the very least, try something new!
Jokes about eating dogs, being slant-eyed and owning con
venience stores are old and tired and part of the repertoire
of 5-year-olds!"
I’m not all for PC - in fact, I hate political correctness.
But, if I had my way, there wouldn’t be any jokes at my, or
anybody’s, expense.
A famous French philosopher named Henri Bergson
once wrote an entire essay on the state of funny titled “Le
Rire” (“The Laugh”). In it, he oudined, categorized and
ranked the various things that humans find funny. And way
at the bottom was “ridicule,” the basest and most horrible
kind of funny.
What’s funny is that Bergson wrote this in anticipation of
anew century - the 20th century. How sad that 100 years
later, we’re no better off.
So the next time you hear one of these jokes-at-some
body’s-expense, you can chuckle, laugh, guffaw or whatev
er. I do. But be aware of w'hat exactly you’re laughing at
and realize what an ass you are for doing so.
I do that too.
Eugene Kim has eaten dog. Once. In Vietnam. Last year. By
accident. And it was not that bad. Ask him all about it by e
mailing him at chinook@email.unc.edu.
Asian community and the larger South Asian
Diaspora - they tell varied stories - those of
the partition of India and Hindu-Muslim
riots, Asian-American college students,
women in joint families in Delhi and inter
racial romance in Mississippi. We hope these
films will help to counter any notions of South
Asia as one monolithic area and will counter
popularly held stereotypes of South Asians.
For later in the semester, the Progressive
South Asia forum will be showing a film by
acclaimed documentary film-maker Anand
Patwardhan on Hindi-Muslim violence and
organizing a panel on India and Pakistan.
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, a Sikh gas sta
tion attendant was murdered in Arizona.
Many other acts of racist violence against
South Asians and other “minorities” have
been reported. Keeping these acts in mind,
it is critical that intellectual spaces such as
our university take up and support pro
grams that educate and spread awareness
of places that are inextricably linked up
with the tragic and devastating events of
Sept. 11, such as South Asia and the Middle
East. If you are interested in any of the
events described above please contact
durba@email.unc.edu.
Durba Chattaraj
Senior
Cultural Studies and Economics
ahf Daily (Ear Heri
EUGENE KIM
OUTCLASSED AT
BAGGAGE CLAIM
i 9
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