The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, December 05, 1990, Page 4, Image 4
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,
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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.
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The Gamecock
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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^ *** 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