The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 20, 1991, Page 3, Image 3
Elections
Campaigns unexpectedly clean,
lacked vitriol of other races
Thursday, the university embarks on its annual flirtation with democracy.
USC students will make their choices for the Student
Government leadership for the 1991-92 term.
Compared with the federal, state and local elections of the past
few years, USC's 1991 campaign has been mercifully free of personal
attacks and recriminations. Instead, candidates at all levels
either concentrated on the issues or, more commonly, concentrated
on getting their names seen on campus as much as possible.
Some candidates made a point of keeping their promotional
cnpnHincr at a minimum anH tlipx; oErvnlA Ka onnlon/la/l
u^/vxiUiii^ Ul U lllliiiinuixx W"V* UlVj- OllWUlU IA/ appiaUUV/U 1U1 UlV^ll
decision not to pollute the campus with too many banners and
signs.
Surprisingly, some issues were actually raised amid the tidal
wave of fliers, but it will be up to the student body to decide the
merits of unusual proposals such as grade-forgiveness and congressional
"hit lists."
The student body will hopefully be able to separate the truly
helpful innovations from the frivolous ones, like the creation of a
Carolina Clothing Day. Students should also ask themselves
whether or not certain candidates will have the authority and determination
to make good on all of their elaborate proposals.
Hopefully, all candidates will quickly and voluntarily take down
their posters immediately following the end of the elections and
run-offs. A polluted campus should not be a by-product of
democracy.
To be somewhat self-serving, it should be said that Student Media
did a very good job of being impartial in these elections. Election
campaigning was intentionally avoided on WUSC and in The
Gamecock. sLet
us hope we get competent leaders that honor the university. V
That shouldn't be too much to hope for.
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The Gamecock
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News: 777-7726 Advertising: 777-4249 oul
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Kathy Blackwell robyn Thompson las
Editor in Chief Managing Editor kei
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Chris Silvestri David Bowden di.
Copy Desk Chief Viewpoint Editor
Lucy Soto Kathy heberger ]
News Editor Carolina Life Editor ne(
Steve Johnson Renee Meyer pui
Sports Editor Photography Editor idi
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Aaron Sheinin Tige Watts naj
Assistant News Editor Assistant News Editor hoi
Octavia Wright Patrick Villegas av<
Assistant Carolina Life Editor Assistant Sports Editor W<
JENNIFER JABLONSKI JULIE BOUCHILLON de:
Assistant Copy Desk Chief Assistant Photography Editor enl
ericulenn Wayne Williams
Darkroom Lab Technician Comics Editor jor
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Ed Bonza Erik Collins lai1
Director of Student Media Faculty Adviser
Laura S. Day Ray Burgos lur
Production Manager Assistant Production Manager ev<
Renee Gibson Kyle Berry *_ot
Advertising Manager Assistant Advertising Manager
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Carolyn Griffin
Business Manager tec
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Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should fre
be, at maximum, 250 to 300 words long. The writer must include full name, pro- me
fessional title if a USC employee or South Carolina resident, or year and major if frc
a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The ,,
Gamecock reserves the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or in case of
space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any fQI
circumstance. pri
^J y?
Civilian
#?mbShel-ter.
Tehran Shut-tie.
>inger sho
Pardon me while I engage in a little
jassination. I hate Sinead O'Connor,
are precise, I hate the press for cov
mpous declarations on everything 1
n, from Aerosmith to the America
j Grammys. And I hate myself for ?
y more attention, but I have had it.
Everyone in the world has the rig
sss their opinions, and has the righ
ise opinions transmitted globally b>
i. However, it seems many in the '
ving their share of the spotlight stol<
andstanding, bald witch from Irelanc
thing better to do than spout off.
I don't care that she thinks that Aei
acist" (although I never though
ungy Boston band as Aryan). I don'i
e didn't want the American Nationa
ayed before her concert in New Jen
ally don't care what Frank Sinatra t
out that).
I don't care that she is boycotting
rammys. And I don't care that sh<
hat I do care about is that she has
isity to announce her opinions on 1
I f* m o nr /
EH I I I >
"olumnist has ,
0 intelligence !
the editor:
[ suppose every columnist has 1
s rudimentary concern that his or j
r column exhibit grammatical
II, cogent logic and some sort of (
latile argument to dislodge the 5
tding public from their nests of 1
mfort. 1
When one applies this standard
Dennis Shealy's editorial, "War i
>uld not be fought by any per- j
l," it becomes apparent that one <
t of three ain't bad ? it's pathe- 1
. Mr. Shealy did succeed on the (
t point, though. He has awa- s
led this present writer, a mem
of the Silent Majority, to repu- j
ite his nonsensical, liberal i
isoning. t
Mr. Shealy and people of his ilk ''
Jd to understand that the reading '
blic is not a bunch of blooming 1
ots that have to be educated ab- (
t the realities of war. The car;e
that war brings is indeed a
rrible fact, a fact that those with
jrage intelligence can discern.
1 do not need Mr. Shealy's con
>cending, pedantic ramblings to
ighten us.
As a member of the Silent Maity
(by the way, an enlightened
irnalist should be aware of the ,
idslide support of the war), I am j
jolutely nonplussed at your fai- ,
e to realize that the reason you ^
;n have the right to speak your .
is that good men and women j
I not fail to take up arms to ad- j
nee the cause of democracy. i
The shedding of blood was anedent
to the Constitution, which
ambers of your liberal sect are so ^
id of waving. Freedom, your <
;edom, sir, was purchased by j
;n and women who did not run (
im duty, as you recommend we i
do. Indeed, you should be more <
thcoming with gratitude for the <
ce countless combatants paid for (
u to express your opinion. t j
Baby Mi
Family
Station
Waqpn.
uld stick f
ering ner Wm mw UA\
under the ^ f
n flag to ; * #
;iving her
t to have wori(j she might as wel
/ (hp me. ?
r ,' and hand out position pai
7b to Admittedly, Sinead ai
r J u1 common (besides a taste
1 who has . . ,
hair on our legs). I don
TKmifh is Noughts or her personal
t of that tunately'1 3111 wel1 actlua
t care that on a variety of extraneou
il Anthem Don't tell me that the ]
jey (and I find these things out. O
iad to say out of her way to make
finds out that SHE is bo
tonight's because the Grammys ar<
5 is bald, what a statement),
the pom- She shows a lot of cla
ife to the low musicians with such
3 THE EDITOf
And finally, sir, consistency is
ihe substance of any sound
polemic. Yet your argument has
he consistency of an Iraqi SCUD.
In the first half of your column,
^ou summarily condemn war as
iseless, barbaric wickedness. Six
paragraphs later, you label yourself
'willing to fight... for the ideal
if democracy." Now with nonsensical
reasoning like that, is it any
wonder why most Americans are
lot on your side?
Let me close with some encourigement
for you. I do urge you to
lursue your refuge from war to
some place far away, so we don't
lave to spend hard-earned taxpayers'
dollars to round you up for
service.
Freedom-freeloaders make even
loorer soldiers than they do colimnists.
Indeed, anyone unwilling
0 bear the burden of democracy is
1 liability to liberty and would do
letter to remain in the one sphere
where they won't be taken serilusly
? the news media.
Andrew Thornley
History sophomore
War will have
nasty results
lo the editor:
This is the first time in my 19
,rears of life here on Planet Earth
n which I have been confronted
vith war. Too young to remember
Vietnam, war was always statistics
md strategies in a history text,
^ow for the first time, I am feeing
the devastating impact of war.
\nd I am scared.
The dangers which could and
nost likely will elevate when the
ground war breaks out are very
scary. Terrorism and militarism on
;he rise, anti-Western sentiment,
chemical and possibly nuclear warfare,
troop casualities and civilian
;asualities, not to mention the
strain which will be placed upon
Dur already unsteady economy are
ill realistic outcomes of what's to
IT mIt Tnl
ilk Plant.
?
Elite
Republican.
1 \ liik:o
singing,
" 1
atorementi
'ID BOWDEN 2S
ten by Prii
she can s<
Compare
Minneapol
Sinead i
1 call press conferences thinks so
pers on world events. the adorin;
id I have very little in or not she
for Public Enemy and one by soi
*t know her innermost should put
background, but unfor- Howeve
inted with her opinions over the si
s crap. my colleaj
Dress reads her mind to reporters t
bviously, Sinead goes hanS from
sure the world media (Carolina
iycotting the Grammys * m gla<
5 "materialistic" (wow, recession \
us back d
ss when criticizing fel- Americans
tenacity, including the nead O'Cc
3
. , %
come.
Another possible outcome (although
George has told us it won't
happen) is the draft being reinstated.
A popular opinion about the
reinstatement of the draft is that it
"won't happen because the war
won't last that long." I'd personally
like to believe that
However, if the ground war
goes on for over 8 months, there
will have to be a "rotation of
troops." When the military calls
for more rotation of troops, Congress
won't have a choice except
to reinstate the draft
There must be a "halt to the
fighting before the disaster of a
full-scale ground war." The dangers
looming over our heads are
almost suicidal, and once the
ground war fully starts, we'll be up
to our necks in them. As Andrew
B. Law once said, "There is no
sucn tning as lnevitaote war. it war
comes, it will be from failure of
human wisdom."
Marc Minsker
English freshman
Letter writer
explains war
To the editor:
Until Scott R. Saunder's letter in
the Feb. 8 Gamecock, I didn't
know why in the world our young
people were over in Arabia killing
Arabs. I didn't know the Arabs
were our enemies or that we were
defending the United States in a
Third World War against, of all
people, the Arabs.
Now that Mr. Saunders has explained
it to us, it is all so clear.
The Arab parents (those who are
still alive) can bury their dead
children, and we will wait for our
body bags and do the same. The
deaths of the Arab and U.S. young
people will be justified by Mr.
Saunders. We, American college
students, thank you.
Connie Marie Smith
Anthropology graduate student
I
Baby Milk Mask..
Elite.
Republican
not insults
ioned Aerosmith, MC Hammer and
le Prince-bashing is particularly unnce
her most popular song was writice.
If she hates materialism so much
snd all those royalties for "Nothing
s 2 U" to the Purple One in
is.
s a media-mongering egomaniac. She
much of herself that she thinks we,
g public, give a damn about whether
> attends the Grammys. If she wins
me miracle, I can suggest where she
it
r, the blame for her reign of terror
low-business community is shared by
gues in the press. The entertainment
hat spread her inane ravings should
the same gallows for their complicity
Life writers excluded).
1 that with a Middle East war and a
going on that Sinead O'Connor brings
own to earth and reminds us selfish
; what is truly important in life: Si>nnor.
War opinions
need voicing
To the editor:
I'm writing in response to the
pro-war and anti-war letters that
have been printed over the past
week. I don't understand-the lack
of tolerance for other people's
viewpoints that has been shown,
especially by pro-war advocates.
I don't know of any pro-war advocates
who would not say that the
U.S. is fighting for freedom in the
Middle East We want the Kuwaiti
people to be free. Pro-war advocates
may not use these exact
words, but this is what they mean.
The U.S. and the Allies are fighting
so that Hussein won't do what
he did to Kuwait to other Middle
Eastern countries.
What many pro-war advocates
have forgotten in their zealous attacks
on those who protest for
peace is that the U.S. is fighting
for freedom. Freedom is not only
important in the Middle East, but
also in the United States.
Because the British and American
patriots fought in the Revolutionary
War, American citizens can
freely say what they believe without
fear of being persecuted. It is
not a question of being patriotic ?
peace advocates think they are patriotic,
too.
I think that both sides are oversimplifying
the issue. People who
protest against the war are not all
Communists or misplaced llower
children. They are concerned
Americans. And pro-war advocates
do not go around chanting "Kill!
Kill! Kill!" and "Nuke Insane Hussein."
They are also concerned
Americans.
I believe the U.S. is in the Persian
Gulf for a reason, and I support
our government and the troops
over there. That does not mean,
however, that I can't understand
other people's viewpoints. ^That's
what Freedom of Expression is for.
Susan D. Landrum
History/geography junior