The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, July 11, 1990, Page 3, Image 3
Real elections
Public broadcasting may have
solution to U.S. election woes
Anyone who remembers the 1988 presidential campaign will remember
Willie Horton, the convicted killer who committed several
horrible crimes while on furlough from a Massachusetts peA
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a constant social nightmare. For Mike Dukakis, he was the worst
of political nightmares.
Taken out of context and thrust into the campaign arena, the
entire Horton incident has come to symbolize the level to which
U.S. politicians sank to try and win the 1988 election. Issues were
completely avoided in favor of meaningless rhetoric and demonstrations
of immaturity from both sides, resulting in a trivialization
of democracy itself.
And we have the television networks to partially thank for this
embarrassing situation. Their emphasis on tight, punchy sound
bites and interesting photo opportunities that fit well into the 23
minute evening news format has, in part, encouraged political consultants
to reduce their candidates to faces behind vapid slogans.
In response, public broadcasting, which has long held up the
cultural end of American television, is now proposing to hold up
the political end as well.
The Voters Channel, as PBS would call its new service, would
provide 15 minute blocks of free airtime for politicians to speak
B their piece, and perhaps even call-in shows for viewers to quiz
candidates and critique their commercials that run on network
television.
Considering that the U.S. is one of the only Western democracies
that does not inform its citizens in this way and still claims to
be the leader of the free world, PBS should take this opportunity
to show America that it can have a presidential campaign run by
and for the people, instead of the political consultants. Even if no
one was watching, the very fact of such a program's existence
would help to pressure those who are responsible for leading
America into no longer misleading America.
What the U.S. political scene needs is substance. Americans
want to know about whether the homeless will be helped, if taxes
will be raised, and what the country is going to do with itself for
- next four years, not whether the flag will be protected.
Issues, not physical attractiveness, witty sound bites or meaningless
video, will win the next presidential election.
"NEVER MINP - GOME BACK ANP61VE
EXAMINATION TO NASA*
mmsLM
^y^y Artf&J/M
The Gamecock
Scott Pruden Robyn Thompson
Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor, Copy Desk Chief
R n\T T? r?n?T?rrr. n
OAKER X/EiTNINlS 5HEAJLY
News Editor Carolina Life Editor
Fred Gonzalez Nick Leoncavallo
Sports Editor Photo Editor
Kristin Francis Erik Collins
Graduate Assistant Faculty Adviser
Ed Bonza Laura s. Day
^r 'ector of Student Media Production Manager
i ^ay Burgos renee Gibson
assistant Production Manager Advertising Manager
Kyle Berry Carolyn Griffin
Assistant Advertising Manager Business Manager
Latter# Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should
b?, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, professional
title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if
a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The
B Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of
?Pace limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any
^rcumstance.
Recycling was
Someone I was talking to last week (who, for
his protection, shall remain nameless) gave me
the worst (and dumbest) reason I've ever heard
for not recycling waste paper. "I don't see why
I should," he said, "it takes so much time and I
Hnn't apt ? thina r?nt r?f it "
WV" * M VUW VI 11.
Say, what? Think again, mister.
Let's pick a minor human function ? say,
breathing, for example ? and see how it can
benefit from recycling.
Humans (and other animals) need oxygen to
breathe. (Remember this from fourth grade?)
Some oxygen is found naturally in the air ?
however, this is a very small amount when
viewed in contrast to the multi-trillion lungs
that are using it. When air is inhaled, the new
oxygen that comes in with it goes into our
blood streams and nourishes our bodies, while
old air is exhaled. This old air, however, is not
oxygen, but carbon dioxide, which is not beneficial
for human to breath in.
Lucky for us, we have plants (TREES included)
that work in the opposite way ? they
need carbon dioxide and expel oxygen, (kind of
neat, eh?) Trees also provide shade and vital
protection for the earth (and its people) from
the sun, as well as being a natural habitat for
animals (including many rare species).
Grade-school lesson number two: paper and
paper products are made from trees. Thus,
tree + axe equals paper. However, we don't
use naner in such small Quantities. New eaua
I LE
a . i i have not e
Apartheid ^nce con*
M Natal and c
not abolished
something
To the editor: really has (
In response to the writer of the gation in s(
letter "Apartheid act needs tals, restaui
changes" (The Gamecock, June live in som
20), I'd just like to remind the wri- The wri;
ter that the Anti-Apartheid act of (abolish) rz
1986 contains certain measures really me;
that the South African Government wholly. Bel
still has failed to meet i.e. te re- ally be
lease of political prisoners, the re- with . . . ap
pealing of the Population Registra- ist in Sout
tion Act, the repealing of the the writer s
Group Areas Act and the repealing would hav
of the land acts. Blacks still don't Nelson an
have the right of self- have come
determination, police shooting still solicit supp
: EUPAMGEREp 5PE6IE5 IM PWlMPUN?
ite paper is wc
L-y m Kelly Thomas
tiori. Forest (i. e. many trees) + chain
saws + tractors + pulleys + trucks
equals paper in large enough quantities to satisfy
our daily paper "needs". (Note the BIG
difference in the number of trees required.)
Now, try this: for one (just ONE) whole day,
collect all the paper products you use. This
means newspaper, writing paper, letters, scrap
paper, cardboard, paper food wrappings, waxed
paper, etc. Keep it all in one place and see how
much accumulates. Try it at home or at work
(or, even better, both) ? I think you'll be surprised
to see how much paper you alone use in
a day. And was it that difficult to collect?
Now, most fire stations and many libraries
and schools and other organizations have collection
stations ? not too far from where you
are right now.
The choice is yours. In the next 20 minutes,
you could watch half of a sit com re-run, or
help save thousands of trees (and the earth in
general) from devastation.
TTERS TO THE EDIT'
;nded, right-wing vio- apartheid. Mr. Mandel;
lues and the fighting in jng theat sanctions ren
ither areas goes on. The government of F.W. d
:an government tries to vinces those that are c
>k like it has abolished Blacks, Coloreds, As
but all the government dians etc. that the gov
lone is eliminate segre- end its racist policies
ime areas such as hopi- reform them.
*ants or allow blacks to
e white neighborhoods. gjiej
ter also used the term journa
ither loosely. That term
ans to do away with AlhlllTl 1/
lieve me nothing has re- fllUUlH *?
i e n done away innrfll
lartheid policies still ex- CM II*"* CMM
h Africa! And if what
aid is true ? then there To the editor:
e not been a need for This letter concerns
d Winnie Mandela to recent focus on album
to the United States to The Gamecock stt
xirt for the fight against flint-faced on a collis
I
^ ^ PT
? ? * *
>rth the effort
And so what if not all collection stations are
set up to pay you for your recyclables? I'd
rather breathe 50 times than have 50- cents (or
even $50) ? wouldn't you?
As a further incentive, recycling (paper, aluminum,
glass and plastic) helps keep dumps and
landfills from being tilled so quickly, tnus keeping
them away from our homes a little longer.
After all, would YOU invest in a house near a
grungy, smelly, unhealthy landfill? What if it
became necessary in the next 10 years to build
a landfill within a few miles of your home?
Would you stay or leave? How long could you
keep leaving and moving on after that? Or even
if you could, could your children or grandchildren
also escape?
Or do you care? If it happens after your lifetime,
it won't affect you anyway, right? Right
But don't the people who live on after you end
your selfish life have the right to live as well as
you did?
When it comes right down to it, technology
doesn't provide for a better life, only a more
entertaining or longer or easier life. Our life in
its true, basic, unadulterated form comes from
the earth, and the earth is what we have to focus
on saving right now.
Sure, help the homeless and the dying species
and the sick and the underpriveleged, but what
good will all that do if none of us have an earth
to stand on?
ORlfel # "ill?
a is demand- reality. Anomie will only bring ablain
until the out a rude awakening, guys. Your
e Klerk con- finger-pointing at the garbage alippressed
i.e. ready on the market does not make
ians and In- brand new filth any cleaner,
eminent will
and not just When you're older and wiser,
and understand the certain end of
laciviousness, and when your own
donW Rice children are riddled with disease
licm student and confusion, maybe then you'll
drank the label makers for going to
itiplc die trouble of previewing obscene
material for you. You guys are all
1CG11P die more self-righteous for assumloallC
ing that lawlessness does not harm,
and that perversion is the offspring
of genuine talent.
; your paper's
i labelling.
iff seems set Jonathan H. Covington
ion with grim Electrical engineering senior