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Rushdie Threats against writer reflect fanaticism of Iranian regime The threats against the life of author Salman Rushdie indicate that Iran's government remains a radical regime, and Western nations should take notice of this outrageous behavior. The root of thelssue is Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses, which was; nnhlished late this nast vear Rushdie whn lives in England, has written a clearly fictional work that encompasses many times and characters. The passages that have ignited the controversy concern the Islamic religion, particularly the prophet Mohammed. Rushdie portrays Mohammed's wives as prostitutes. In response, Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's fanatical tyrant, offered $5 million to anyone who would kill the writer. Riots have broken out in Pakistan and Iran, and former folk singer Cat Stevens, who converted to Islam in 1977, has supported Khomeini's call for the assassination of Rushdie. As this past year's outcry about The Last Temptation oj Christ showed, followers of religions have strong feelings about their faiths. But the controversy over The Satanic Verses is not a theological debate, despite what Iran's leader says. It has crossed the boundary into a blatant example of state-sponsored terrorism. Unfortunately, Western nations have acted like cowards in response to Iran's threats. Publishing companies in West Germany, Greece, France and Turkey have canceled plans to release The Satanic Verses, and bookstores in the United States have pulled it from the shelves. These actions only play right into Khomeini's hands and show that these countries can be bullied by threats of terrorism. Instead of caving in to Iran's demands, these publishers and bookstores should ensure that The Satanic Verses is available ? the concept of free expression depends on it. Although economic sanctions and formal complaints will probably have no effect on the Iranian regime, the rest of the world can learn an important lesson from the Rushdie controversy: Iran remains a nation far out of the mainstream, and radical elements continue to dominate the country's government. The bounty offered for Rushdie s life makes that message all too clear. "I 601 IT FOR FREE WHEN I INSURE? THEM" The Gamecock Best Non-daily Collegiate Newspaper, Southeastern Region Society of Professional Journalists, 1987-88 Editor in Chief Datebook Editor ANDY BECHTEL IAN PHILLIPS Managing Editor Cranhirs Editor JEFF SHREWSBURY MICHAEL SHARP Copy Desk Ch.ef Comjcs Edjtor KATHY BLACKWELL TRACY MIXSON Assistant Copy Desk Chief Graduate Assistant CARYN CRABB ROBERT STEVENSON News Ed,tor Adviser MARY PEARSON PAT MCNEELY Assistant News Editors Djrector f Student Medja KELLY C. THOMAS ?D BONZA SUSAN NESBITT Advertising Manager Features Editor MARGARET MICHELS TODD HI NFS Production Manager Assistant Features Editor j AyRA DAY TOMMY JOYNER Assistant Production Manager Sports Editor RAY BURGOS KEY IN ADAMS Assistant Advertising Manager Assistant Sports F.ditor BARBARA BROWN CHRIS SILVESTRI Photography Editor TEDDY LEPP Letters Policy: Th Gamecock v*ill try lo print all letters received. Letters should he, at a maximum, 25u to 300 words long. Guest editorials should not exceed 500 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for style or possible libel. The Gamecock will not withhold names under any circumstance. Stars provide i One of the greatest attributes of the world lies in P" its diversity of people. The greatness of diversity rings true in every aspect of life ? one of which is the way people view "big" people on television. I mean big, big stars who have money at their beck and call, the stars who are so rich and famous they jet back and forth from either coast for luncheons with Warren or Johnny. They've been so wealthy and so famous for so long that their beginnings begin to blur with time. We, as we are all investigative viewers of the media, see these elite for what they are now with no regard for what they may have been before their greatness. We don't care what they went through to get to where they are. We don't care if they've struggled. sf We just care who they are sleeping with this sc week. Nowhere is it more apparent that there are dif- tc ferent kinds of people and different kinds of actors p< than in the places we find out who is great and who h< is not ? talk shows. fa Talk shows are where stars try to act normal and the world ppK to vipw thp nprconnl cidp of thpcp T public figures. You can see diversity and levels of hi greatness evidenced in the way stars come off on m TV. Ti re For example, compare the different levels on which a star like Cher rests her fame with someone th like . . . uh . . . Michael Tucker, the guy who fa plays the pudgy lawyer on L.A. Law. th It is not as interesting to see these famous people gl as it is seeing these famous people grow and get p< more famous every time you see them on talk tl< Trends don't li It seems fads in the United States come and go. Many originate on the West Coast and slowly ooze their way to the East Coast, where they then commence to drop off into the sea like magma and are never heard from again. How many pet rocks do you own? Where are your velvet posters today? I'll bet even your prized personalized belt buckle that you once wore with such determination is collecting rust in your basement. Zounds! MTV has announced a new fad that they would think is heading this way faster than a swarm of killer bees. This one is not your typically innocent trend. It's highly volatile in nature, and the way high school students are these days it could of trickle down into their ranks. The movement is tattoos. ne MTV calls it the newest think among rock 'n' rollers, and they hype it up as if it were just another co avenue to join the ranks of the few, the proud, the th< cool. th< Such rock idols as Axl Rose, Lita Ford and Ozzy nij Ozbourne already bear the likenesses of irate eagles carrying off damsels in their tallons, snarling lions sh; or laughing skulls in various and sundry places on pU their bodies. Most images appear on the biceps and other con- mt spicuous places where they are apparent to th< everyone. And they do that because that's the kind m? Critics of med It seems that everyone talks about the problems of the media, but no one does anything about them. Hundreds of organizations across the country devote themselves to analyzing, scrutinizing and criticizing newspapers, television and radio. Each of these groups claims that its views are being slighted or slanted by the media. On the right, arch-conservative Reed Irvine leads Accuracy in Media, a watchdog organization that often accuses the press of being liberal. Irvine, whose weekly column is published in many newspapers (aficionados of irony take note), lambastes the media, attacking newspapers and especially television for what he perceives to be a leftist bias. Irvine says the media are irresponsible < and blow events out of proportion, and he points crii to coverage of the Iran-Contra affair as a prime ex- are ample of a liberal press out of control. tha Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., has also been an eig outspoken critic of the media. He, too, accuses No members of the press ? especially CBS newsman "h Dan Rather? of being liberal. But Helms went a ata step beyond Irvine a couple of years ago by an- as nouncing that he wanted help a coalition of conservatives take over CBS so they could be Dan per Rather's bosses. I le failed, but the intent was clear. Th images through i on fj[ E8' Shrewsbury ^ ^ about will ai Cht on afl lows. It is fun to watch them climb the tiers of Ch( icial status. about Cher is a brash, loud star. She is rich and known boots ) everyone who may see her walking down some wears 3sh line of stores in New York or L.A., wearing watch ;r leather mesh shorts and a spiked bra. She is Che imousJ touch: And then there's that guy. You know the one. $1,00( he one who plays thalt lawyer. What the heck is and tl is name? I just saw him the other day is some once 1 ovie. Oh, shoot, uh1, Tuck^. Yeah, that's it. Che ucker. I see him all the time, but I can never Che member his name. gets a Cher is big, and she knows it. She fully accepts Cher, lat fact and has had to alter her life to fit her It's ime. But the money makes it worth it. Tucker, on us hal ie other hand, is the classic example of the strug- if we < ing actor made good. Not great, but good. He to doi :rsonifies the characteristics we think of for a lit- into t ; actor. He is living the life we have seen 100 times televis tst forever, but ofbeir down J J|||||||HL Incii Hines into y< fe?1 ^his lov ?????????????????J store. people they are. The Then there are others with tattoos in places that manen ver see the light of day. dose o My friend "Miami" Mike has one that only The; mes out at night and even then only if you press their o ; right buttons. His word is that he came to wear artist s : thing in a spree of drunkenness one fateful needle ?ht. differe Then there's another guy, Albert, who had a threefc ark ingrained into a spot just above his right nip- OK, : one zany night in Georgia. to fit i Both these instances occurred in fits of drunken where idness, and these two guys will remember it for banger : rest of their lives. They will bear the marks of my ba idmen. thank ia emerge from ?1 York 'i j 1 of the Bechtel slighte 1| ??.f? - sions t ^ fortun they at ft, ; The the me diverse Dn the left, many organizations monitor and need t ticize the press, and they conclude that the media ideolo] biased toward conservative views. They claim amalge it the media coddled Ronald Reagan during his radio s ht years in office, treating him with kid gloves. Still, wadays these left-wing critics decry the media's functic oneymoon" with President George Bush. They Their c o criticize coverage of affairs in Central America for its shallow and biased. better The Village Voice each week publishes a list of Ultir ceived conservative biases it finds in the media. because e paper regularly lashes out against The New media talk shows m and in plays about struggling actors, stepped off a bus from Nebraska to try to it in New York. He worked three jobs to suphimself between casting calls. He struggled ot street-wise waiting for that one big break would help him become a word in our holds. en Cher goes on talk shows, she is treated difly than Tucker, and she treats the hosts in a ent way. :r will joke around with the talk show hosts how much of a pain talk shows are. Tucker nswer the question. :r gets a 15-minute interview. Tucker comes :er the guy from the zoo. :r has her own style of clothing. She jokes having to pay $10,Q00 for a pair of high-heel . She flashes her $50,000 jewelery. Tucker a sweater and a tweed jacket and has a digital :r talks about her cars. Tucker rattles off a ing story about living in a one-room, )-a-month apartment on the lower east side icii aiiwiuii auuui nuw nc wuincu 111 a piay hat closed after the first night. :r has to act humble. Tucker is. :r gets asked what it's like being her. Tucker sked what it's like working with people like seeing these differences in people that gives f the pleasure we get out of the media. Even :an't get to know these people or come close ng the things they do, we can see them grow heir fame through their representation on ion. tatoos can e upon a time sailors took to tattoos as a sign lg well, sailorish. The Navy has since cracked and tattoos are pretty much taboo, dentally, you cannot get a tattoo in this state, are so moved, a road trip is in order, ooing has come a long way from girlfriends oms. You can get just about anything inked )ur skin these days. Perhaps it's a reflection times that newer images abound. Any man ight mind would prefer a skull with a python ing through its jaw than to wear Mary Lou arm because Mary Lou could easily forsake e and move in with Ed from the hardware Sensical tattoos are in. only real problem with tattoos is their perce. These babies will not rub off-with a good f Lava soap. y will fade in time, but never go away on wn. The only true remedy is to have a tattoo pend hours extracting the ink with the same precision used to get it in there. The biggest nee, I'm told, is the pain that increases >ld on removal. so back to the fad thing. Everyone is dying n somewhere to some genre. If tattoos are it's going in rock 'n' roll, this is one headwho is hanging up his leather tights. I'll do nging without pictures of Lily on my arm, you. i right, left fimes and other media for following the lines status quo. ;rtarians, who are not really conservative or , also criticize the media. They say the press ted toward the mainstream. They, too, claim :dia are biased against their views. iously, all these political factions and -interest groups see themselves as being d by the press. As a result, they draw concluhat the media are biased against them. Unately, such conclusions are doomed because e gross generalizations, critics don't realize the people who make up dia are not a homogenous breed. They are as as the members of any business. Critics o understand that the media are not an gically monolithic creation; it is an imation of newspapers and television and tations. these organizations do serve a valuable >n by keeping tabs on the media's activities. :riticisms make the press more accountable actions, and as a result, news coverage gets while keeping fairness in perspective, nately, the press can't turn the other cheek e the slaps come from all sides. All the can do is listen.