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Quote, Unquote ‘When people take your dreams, they kill you that way.’ Reanae McNeal, Clothesline Project keynote speaker Wte 0amecock . Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Kenley Young • Editor in Chief Brad Walters • Managing Editor Brock Vergakis • Viewpoints Editor Peter Johnson • Assistant Viewpoints Editor Emily Streyer • Editorial Contributor March to Columbia lacks spirit of '60s Thousands of people will begin marching from Charleston to Columbia on Sunday morning to protest the Confederate flag.on top of the Statehouse. Although they are marching for a noble cause, and it would ap pear to be a very enduring and important march, in reality, it is lacking in effort and spirit. The marchers will walk all day, and rather than camp out or stay at a hotel at night, buses will come to pick them up and drive them back to Charleston. Then, the next morning they will drive out to where they left off the day before and start up from that point. It is understandable that marchers do not want to support the South Carolina tourism industry by staying at hotels along the way. But the cost of this decision is too high. They are not making any kind of statement by allowing themselves to be bused back to their homes. Basically, they are taking a day hike and then going back home to sleep in their warm, soft beds at night. Would it be too terribly hard to camp at a campground overnight? Even if the marchers were to stay in a hotel, they would be making a much stronger statement than driving home when the sun goes down. At the heart of the ‘60s race movement, similar marches took place fairly often, and with much greater numbers and success. The spirit of the movement led the people to perform extraordi nary tasks. If Martin Luther King Jr. were leading this march to the Capi tal, he wouldn’t stand for such a weak display of dedication. Clemson beats us in parking availability hile everyone knows the parking situation at USC is ter rible, we now have another reason to complain. Clem son University has 300 more parking spaces per 1,000 students than we do. It’s just one more way Clemson has found to frustrate us. Of the five schools we compared ourselves to in parking availability, Clemson is the only one that had more. While we can take com fort in the fact that students at at least four other schools having parking situations worse than our own, it’s highly disappointing to know the group from the hills is living the high life with three parking spaces for every four students. We know the administration doesn’t concern itself too much with how frustrating our parking situation is, but there is one thing they do seem to care about - our rivalry with Clemson. Maybe this is the motivation our school needs to recognize we need more parking. When Clemson beats us in athletics in a bad season, it can mean a coach’s job is lost, and anytime Clemson gets a higher academic rating than a Carolina academic depart-’ ment, there’s added pressure to raise our standards. So if USC won’t increase the number of parking spaces to make our lives easier, maybe they’ll do it for the sake of the rivalry. Go ‘Cocks. About Us The Gamecock is the student newspaper at The University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday dunng the tall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam perksds. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are Ihose of the editors or author and not those of The University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper's parent orgmipation. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. 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But there is a move ment to tax meat. 1 was coming back from Charleston and saw a billboard along 1-26 pushing this agenda It read: “If you eat meat, why should I pay for your hospital bills? Tax meat!” Is this what we’re coming to? Are things going so well for us that we are now pushing our concerns toward such trivial and trite matters? Is this state not under an economic boycott from the National As sociation for the Advancement of Colored People right now? Wfe could try to smooth things out with that before moving on. Is our country not in a custody battle for a Cuban boy? We might want to see where this is going. Has Bill Clinton not been meeting with the National Rifle Associa tion recently? I don’t know about you, but this seems pretty important. You see, there are plenty of other matters you could con centrate on right now. This might be im portant to you, but let’s think about more important issues. Once we solve all the important problems, then we can move on to these lesser affairs. Not only is this movement a little point less, but it’s a bit extreme in principle. I consider myself a liberal, and I am even taken aback by this. Taxing meat is an at tempt at controlling and limiting behav ior. You are implying and (if allowed) en forcing a tax that would probably affect a person’s choice to buy meat. It isn’t the same as taxing the hell out of gas. We all need this, and we all seem willing to pay outrageous prices for it. You might argue for the taxation of pornography, but that is a luxury. This is taxed because we all are perverts and we don’t really care how much money you stack on those magazines. We’ll still pay for them. You’re also trying to control the diet of everyone who eats meat. Am I the only one who sees a problem with this? By taxing meat, you’re also mak ing an issue out of whether or nor meat is essential. Is meat a luxury? I don’t think so. Is it necessary? To an extent. I think some meat, but not meat as a whole, is a luxury. Come to me arguing about lobster and filet mignon and I’ll ggree to the lux ury aspect, but not the entire food group. Meat is essential in providing certain nu trients that we need to stay healthy. In any case, you’re still asking me to change my behavior, and that isn’t cool. You know milk and dairy products cause flatulence, so should we start taxing it on the basis of clean air? Sure there are plenty of you out there who choose not to eat meat. For whatev er reason you do this, it’s perfectly fine with me. I have several friends and fami ly members who choose not to eat meat. All of them do it for different reasons, but I respect their privacy, and they respect mine. They don’t try to push their beliefs and ideals on me, and I extend them the same courtesy. Some of them take vitamin supplements to counteract the lack of nu trients they get from meat, and some of them just do without. Either way, you are opening yourself up to just as many health risks as meat-eaters. One of my friends never ate meat, but she would eat cheese with every meal. Only recently has she stopped eating and drinking dairy prod ucts, but for a long time, she was depen dent on cheese and dairy products in lieu of meat. This can’t be all that healthy, and I think she realized this. So though you might not eat meat, your chosen diet might be just as harmful. But I’m not asking for a tax on what you eat. I have always heard that you can tell just how well off we are economically by the number of people choosing to not eat meat. As much as we’d like to think otherwise, it is arguably a luxury to abstain from meat-eating. I am not saying it’s an economic luxury, because we all know you can save money at the grocery store by not buying meat. I am saying that not eating meat could be considered a social luxury. You have more options for what you eat, where you eat and how you eat. I’ll bet the farm that if we were in recession (per sonal or national), you’d buy a Big Mac before you buy a plate of portobello. I am certain all of us see more wrong with this country and world other than the popularity and consequences of eating meat. The Surgeon General doesn’t even put a warning on it. Can you imagine the “stop eating meat” commercials? Let’s take a gander at the possibilities, and let’s see just how absurd this sounds. “Hey.” “Yeah?” “Got a second?” “Sure.” “Ever tried meat?” “I did when I was younger.” “So you don’t do it anymore?” “Nope.” “Why not?” “Because I realized I didn’t need it. I found people who liked me for me, not because I ate meat.” “So you’re saying you did it to be cool at first.” “Yeah, I guess.” “And now?” “Now what? I stopped. Let’s be hon est, here. We don’t need meat to fit in or be cool. VW only need to be ourselves. That is better than any Big Mac.” u College Press Exchange Campus Issues Parking the issue in 2001 Yuessie is at a crossroads. It is 2001 — the bi centennial of Car olina—and the Carolina commu nity is celebrating accordingly. But off of this Bourbon Street-esque oigy of bicentennial cel ebration lurks a dark, obscure al leyway. This alley way is home to two men, one by the name of Jim Greenspace and the other by the name of Doc Park ina During the festivities, our beloved friend Yuessie (Get it? USC. Come on, people, throw me a frickin’ bone here.) has wan dered into this alley from the festivities and needs advice on how to get back to the cel ebration better off than when he left. Now, both Jim Greenspace and Doc Parking want to help Yuessie, but unfortunately, Yuessie only has enough inclination for one, and now he must choose which one will guide him forward. Jim Greenspace can get Yuessie to where he wants to go with a little time, ef fort and money. His price is high, but his advice is of high quality. Here is what Jim Greenspace says: ‘To get where you want to go, you must build more green space. You must do this at the expense of parking. First, you must remove the parking lots between the Russell House and Longstreet Theatre, and the fountain in front of Thomas Cooper Li braiy. There, landscape a beautiful field for the Carolina community to play and frol ic on. You must also take out Greene Street from Main to Pickens and Sumter Street from Blossom to College. Build beautiful canopied walkways. “Then, take out the parking behind the Horseshoe on the north and south and land scape Horseshoe-like green space there. This green space will make your campus more aesthetically pleasing, improve the spirit and pride of the community, and make your campus a more appealing and presti gious sanctuary of knowledge, attracting the best and the brightest from all across the land. “This will cost you money, and you will sacrifice revenue from lost parking meters, but they are an eyesore anyway. To compensate, build perimeter-parking garages down by Swearingen and elsewhere and improve the Carolina Shuttle system. With time, money and innovation, you will be better off than before. Think long term.” Doc Parking likes to look only at the bottom line and thinks that the intangibles are irrelevant. Doc Parking’s price is low, but so is the quality of his advice. Here is what Doc Parking says: “Keep doing what you are doing now. Keep raking in the dollars from your cash-cow parking lots on Greene Street. Don’t worry about the lots behind the Hoiseshoe; they’re fine. Sumter and Greene are good because of the parking meters on them, so they’re keepers, too. “Don’t mess with green space, perime ter parking and the Carolina Shuttle. That’s just money out of your bag, baby. Keep milkin’ the meters, man. Nothin’ I lik^ more than seeing 10 idiots wait for the sam^ spot over at the Russell House. “Don’t waste your money on nothin’. Think in the now and only the now. Long term, shmong shmeim. Thinking long term is about as dumb as taking down the Con federate flag or improving education. Good grief.” As Yuessie stumbles back to the 2001 bicentennial celebration, whose advice does he take? Nathan White is a political science junior. The Viewpoints editor can be reached at gamecock viewpoints© hotmail.com IIy ^ juumwwwwiniimii 1111 in 111. -- -- Letters IHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHBHHH Girl talk form of expression You are correct, Mr. Veigakis. The spoken word is i beautiful thing. The English language could very well b< described as a living, breathing, constantly changing wort of art. You, however, have harshly abused this masterpiea in your column, “Females love to talk — and talk” [MarcF 29], by even allowing it to reach the presses. Aside from the fact that it’s stereotypical and sexist your article is blatantly wrong. According to our own es teemed sociology professor Dr. Lala Steelman, numerou: studies have found that men do in fact talk more thar women do over the course of a lifetime. If you’d lik< any proof of this, ask anyone who was enrolled in Soci I ology 101 last semester. The reason females appear to talk more is because they are more expressive. The mindless chatter you hear is actually our way of expressing our thoughts and emo tions, without being overly sober. Our words are the fe male equivalent of, say, chest bumps and beer farts. In the end, you will be happy to hear, women are more well-rounded and stable for these “girl-talks.” Perhaps the only thing you got right is that most males don’t mind this chattering. In fact, as they age, males rely more on females for the companionship they want to find in males, but are unable to find. According to sociology, unmarried men are the most mentally unbalanced of all subgroups of humanity. For someone who describes himself as quiet, you man * aged to waste two minutes or my time oy wnimg on ana on about how much females blabber. It doesn’t make any sense. The only thing you managed to prove was that if you can’t be expressive, you can down a pitcher of beer and relate to your buddies in silence. Congratulations. Maybe the problem isn’t that females misinterpret you, but that you’ve fallen into the habit of tripping over your own words. Silence might just be the?" route for you. Michelle Pittman Journalism Freshman & &