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Fluff As media, public stray off track, frivolity gets unjustifiable attention Trivial Pursuit should be the national pasttime. Despite more pressing news, frivolous nonsense has received much attention. ABC's Nightline aired Madonna's "Justify My Love" video in its entirety Monday night. The black-and-white video, which portrays bisexuality, partial nudity, sadomasochism and sexual fantasies, has been banned from MTV. After the video was shown, Forrest Sawyer conducted an interview with Madonna. When "Material Girl" Madonna was accused of creating hype just to make money, she replied, "Lucky me." Also recent in the news, CNN gave live coverage to a press conference with the chart-climbing Milli Vanilli, who explained why they had lip-synched their pop-rock singles. The fad pretty boys dominated the news for weeks. Several months ago, comedienne Rosanne Barr sang the National Anthem at the San Diego Padres baseball game. Tremendous attention was given to this, including comments from President Bush, criticizing the event. i Also several months ago singer Sinead O'Connor refused to sing the national anthem at her concert in New Jersey. Once again, J reports were wide-spread and prevalent in the news for weeks. Is all this trivia what the American public wants or what the t| media chooses to cover? On one side, it could be argued that the ^ media, as an extension of the public, is covering events the public, fr\r nnp mocnn nr onr\tlior u/ontc tn tnnut oKnnt On ttin ntVior xva vuv ivujvu v/i unuuivi) rroiAi*} iu ivuuw uuuui. vu my uuiV/i y hand, it could be argued that the media is creating a hype, which the public subsequently wants to know more about. p But either way, it's still trivia. This type of feature news has its place but has been blown out of proportion. The country faces a b recession, more than 400,000 American troops are thousands of s< miles away from home with war looming over their shoulders and ^ Madonna has a new video. One of these things just doesn't belong c here. Justify that. l?? I"' ^ ^ ^ ^~ I cD\9^*^ej*su*>^t^ h( m The Gamecock to w NCWS! 777-777.fi AHuorticin<T' "7*7*7 AUCl ... . . nu * vi UJ1115. Ill [J( er Jeff Wilson Sharon Willamson ** Editor in Chief Managing Editor/Copy Desk Chief m tic Lynn Gibson Elizabeth Lynch m News Editor Carolina Life Editor ^ dougaube renee meyer Sports Editor Photography Editor ' ^ Elizabeth Fox Sherri Tillman w Assistant News Editor Assistant News Editor R David Bowden Kathy Heberger or Assistant Carolina Life Editor Assistant Carolina Life Editor cc Brant Long Julie Bouchillon gi Assistant Sports Editor Assistant Photography Editor ^ Sara Verne Octavia Wright jj! Assistant Copy Desk Chief Assistant to the Editbrs ^ " ' ' I I I I I | _ Kristin Francis Erik Collins cx Graduate Assistant Faculty Adviser ^ Ed Bonza Laura S. Day ic( Director of Student Media Production Manager ori Ray Burgos Renee Gibson Assistant Production Manager Advertising Manager Kyle Berry Carolyn Griffin iik Assistant Advertising Manager Business Manager g0 "s; an Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should CQ be, 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 so a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The Rc Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of thi space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any ?a circumstance. , Events show Nineteen ninety, the beginning of the end of tie 21st century, has certainly been an interestig year indeed. Many things at USC have changed, and as sual, many things have stayed the same. The Gamecock staff would like to give our icks for the top 10 USC news events for 1990. 10. Starting off our 1990 wrap-up is footall. On Oct. 20, The Citadel football team :ored 10 fourth-quarter points to defeat USC 8-35 for the Bulldogs' first victory over the famecocks since 1950 ? three years before loach Sparky Woods was born. 9. A USC theater group made history in anuary when they became the first United tates university group to perform in the Soviet Inion. The actors and actresses hrnupht aifts of 0 o >ilet paper, condoms and USC T-shirts for leir Soviet hosts. They performed The Fantascks under the direction of Jim Patterson durlg the two week trip. International audiences heered "USA! USA!" after their performance. 8. In March, it was revealed that the Koer Center, which had come to be the pride and >y of the university, had an almost $300,000 eficit. Trustee Chairman Michael Mungo exressed concerned that the center could produce ) much debt in its first year. He suggested that ichland County and the city of Columbia be 5ked to help pay the center's operational cost. 7. Parking, as always, was a problem in 990. But this year, a $26,788 computer system I Letters fd it.ti- -f marrrri- rmtmti, ,a,n, n. i.m m.ny.r , ,f,rir.Yr i n Safe sex risky, r; i m that entails rresponsible with the co * havior, not o the editor: ^er) at y?' Jack Petit (Nov. 19) has accused scx ^ee^s ? 3 of asking rhetorical questions ^eve id answering them ourselves, and commitmen inspiring to write letters to The mac*e by bo amecock and express our views. t^e responsi ft might be guilty as charged, but 11 should be ease hear our closing remarks. an unnecess First, to discredit our harmful by ewpoints, Jack will have to bet- fakeness in; r than merely call them names ke "ethnocentric" or "Judeo- As ^ aj hristian." He will have to show cerned, we 3w "Judeo-Christian" views are function of isguided. *he comPa^ female geni Second, Tim did decline Jack's We believt ivitation to attend a GSLA meet- even cross g, but he did accept Jack's alter- when they itive offer (which Jack neglected homosexual mention). Jack said that if Tim Further, in anted to ask homosexuals ques- told that he 3ns (face to face), in a neutral many class ivironment, that he would try to bility and < range a lunch meeting with some condoms. I embers he knew in the organiza- most homo* 3n, and that he would act as a the disgusti oderator. Jack is still working on What then is. the condoi don't belie> Third, many may wonder why Judeo-Chri e are writing these letters. We make these ould like everyone to know that is not our intention to mock any- In closing le, but rather to contend against homosexual ;rtain views expressed in The views on h amecock. There seems to be an themselves, lplied message that "safe" and with them. ^sponsible" sex is justified sex. vior, and an lat is, if you practice "safe" sex would encoi en your behavior is commend- we wish yo le and should be seen as a good you. ample. Homosexuality is said to like favoring chocolate-flavored i cream rather than vanilla. Tim busine d I beg to differ. jazz ai First, we don't see how words :e "safe" and "responsible" have tten into the picture. Sex may be ifer" but not "safe." There isn't . * y 100 percent effective form of /\I riception control. "Safer" sex is mewhat like playing Russian To the edito >ulette with one bullet instead of The Uni ee. When two individuals en- many lndiai ge in sexual relations, there is a to be left a ance that they might bring an toric homeh .. ?mwM? //<: J^ Matsushita ?l\ P |f ^ ieseZ er?5 I I circa 19io) I Jap 1990's variety GAMECOCK STAFF took over ticket writing. Portable computers allow police officers to punch up license numbers and find out if the driver of the vehicle had outstanding fines. Parking fees will go up next semester, and members of the faculty senate asked for armed gates to protect their parking lots. 6. Changes in the alcohol policy made news this year. After raids at Clem son and Columbia, the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission released the names of underage drinkers to their schools. Underage drinkers also were hit with a new law that revoked their licenses for 90 days. 5. The return of USC basketball player Joe Rhett to the team this season marks a great comeback story. Rhett under went successful surgery last season to have a pacemaker installed to stimulate an irregular heartbeat. The ilinirvt* frrv m 0/\1nmUin mnn juuiui nuiii v^uiuiuuia wad iiaiiiwu uiw/ uici Pepsi Tournament of Champions most valuable player for his efforts in helping the Gamecocks win the tournament title on Dec. 1. 4. In September, the soon-to-be comIE EDITOR IfifilYfiiII11 hiiTfflfiYlYVl iTrriWfiirilir T nil ' .. 'nil rd party into the world, then signed 150-odd tre he word responsible, various Indian nations $ accepting and dealing ing their borders. As i nsequences of your be- states presently exist, it' aborting them (him or refute the historians' cl ar convenience. Sure, the United States broke ood, but we don't be- treaties with various Ii uld come before a real tions. The slaughter of tl t (marriage) has been can natives took place ov th individuals to accept decades, but I suppose i bility of their behavior. President was guilty for > noted that sex is also part. ary risk, which can be Back then, one part c covering up flaws and tion decided it no longer a relationship. belong with the other p broke off and formed thi > homosexuality is con- eracy. But the Preside believe the design and stronger part, the Union sexual intercourse and to reunite the country ibility of the male and Achieving that, the Ui italia to be self-evident, nlundered and Dillaued I - - ? ? j this realization must ward "brother." the minds of lesbians use dildos, and male Now we see clear a Is when they ejaculate, globe this country callec The Gamecock we are has massacred many of i >mosexuals are holding Turks and Persians and es on sexual responsi- abs have done and are di mcouraging the use of lar things, but Iraq's pr .ater, we are told that guilty for what he 01 ?exuals don't engage in reckon, ng practice of sodomy. And time was when are they encouraging Kuwait used to be one n us be used for? We Kuwait certainly doesn' re you have to have a be part of Iraq these < istian background to Iraq's president has rei observations. two by force, and Iraq's pillaged and plundered its 5, we don't hate or fear "brother." s or those with liberal eterosexual intercourse So I was thinking, : , but we do disagree leaders have been makin We think your beha- of analogies lately, doesr y active thought which make S. Hussein the A. 1 urage it, is wrong, but our age? iu well. Peace be with John F econom Scott Burkholder * ss management junior V_xl ICS IVJI ^ Tim Mallace i-iic#** id media music junior 121101*6 lilSU o j 11Q ?* ^tor: olllllldl Friday's letter to the i "Columnist ignores facts, nerica to be quite an ignoranc facts in itself. The "facts r: by Mr. Coones and Mr. ted States once had epitomizes the misconcep n nations who wanted fallacies that the U.S. go lone in their own his- has fed the public in cc inds. Our leaders back this crisis. 11 "/*& I f. \7?ceceoax>* I loiJ_A*S pi (fodj | ^/////Mm^ml ijfey/SS'''' '' M M mpnoveci anese Zeros 'ClfZCA iMo) r, excitement pleted USC Fieldhouse burned, causing nearly $500,000 in damamge. The glue that attached the Astroturf to the floor of the fieldhouse was the cause of the blaze. The facility is scheduled to be ready around Christmas. 3. The USC athletics program got a boost when the university was invited to join the Southeastern Conference Sept. 26. The SEC is arguably the best football conference in the nation with strong basketball and baseball programs. USC was picked after Florida State decided to join to the Atlantic Coast Conference. 2. Last month, 27 top USC administrators received raises averaging 4.51 percent. The raises pushed five executives over the $100,000 mark, not including salary supplements. Ironically, this was revealed the day after a 4.8 percent housing increase was recommended. Earlier that month, administrators said unexpected energy costs were affecting the budget and cutbacks needed to be made. 1. And the number one news event of the year was the Holderman resignation. In the wake of reports of lavished spending and outlanding salaries, James Holderman ended his 13-year reign as president of USC. In an unexpected press conference in May, Holderman said farewell to USC on the historic Horseshoe. . Staff writers Doug Aube, David Bowden, Kathy Heberger, Brant Long, Sharon William son and Jeff Wilson contributed to this column. aties with What the writers of this letter guarantee- could state such things as "at stake 10 Indian is our moral obligation to uphold s hard to the international rights of the legiaims that timate Kuwaiti government that ; 150-odd was dissolved through naked and idian na- brutal militant hostility," proves le Ameri- that they need to do some extener several sive reading into American foreign each U.S. policy. If the government was so his own concerned with "international" rights then where are they in El >f our na- Salvador, Angola, China or South wanted to Africa? >art, so it Some other facts on the U.S. e Confed- position in the Middle East must nt of the be first looked at before we make i, decided this heavy "geopolitical and ecoby force, nomic" decision to fight for Kulion then wait. Kuwait has never before alits wav- lowed U.S. militarv shins or Der sonnel on Kuwaiti soil before this crisis, even personnel in need of icross the medical attention. I Iraq that Furthermore, Kuwait has been their own. stealing oil from Iraq for years, to other Ar- the extent of $14 billion a oing simi- year. Imagine what the United esident is States would do to Mexico if they rdered, I did the same thing. When Amnesty International presented its Iraq and report three years ago on Iraq's lation, but genocide of the Kurds in northern t want to Iraq, the United States vetoed any lays. Yet protest measure from the Security inited the Council. Last week, President army has Bush vetoed a bill outlawing U.S. i long lost companies to sell chemicals used to produce chemical weapons. Lastly, even persons such as since our Fritz Hollings acknowledges the g all sorts fact that this war is for oil interests l't this all only, and Bush has received lots of Jncoln of Financial support from the oil industry for his presidential cam:. Hanson paign. Further, if Bush has taken ics senior "the steps he feels are necessary to counter the forces of aggres oirvn frnm RoirhMaH " U/Hv hilS ?7 Q liV/Ul UUgllUUU) mm j ? ^ *** he thought that, in less than six months, an international blockade jr\ is going to bring Iraq to its knees? It took three to four years before South Africa was brought to the editor on point that it had to begin making " proved concessions in its own country. :e to the All I can say to people is get the quoted flag out of your eyes and really McHenry look at all the options and the real tions and history of U.S. foreign policy beivernment fore you start screaming for war. jncern of CarlMaas psychology sophomore