The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 29, 1991, Page 2, Image 2
Change
World communism on the ropes,
capitalism need only bide its time
Marx talked about "economic determinism" and the inevitability
of communism taking over the globe. Now the only place communism
is going is into the history books.
Yesterday, hundreds of thousands gathered on Moscow streets
calling for President Gorbachev's resignation. The Soviet Union
might be going the way of China by shutting down demonstrations
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desperate act of an anachronistic regime.
. While we should be saddened for the Soviet people if their government
is in fact moving back toward repression, we can also be
confident that the forces of communism are getting weaker daily.
Now there are only a handful of nations that even call themselves
communist, even fewer that actually follow true Marxist/Leninist
doctrine.
We are in the era of capitalism determinism. The Third World
looks to the West, not the Communist world, for economic and
political guidance. We should give financial assistance to these
fledgling states, but it is not necessary to back that aid with military
force.
What is the point of losing troops to prevent communism when
these communist nations will eventually find their way to capitalism
anyway? Witness Vietnam's declaration that it wants to be the
next Newly Industrialized Country. If only Lyndon Johnson could
have seen 25 years into the future, we could have saved many
lives.
There is something the West can do, though, to ensure the
democratization ot the world, the united States, and.the West in
general, must behave in a manner fitting a democratic market economy
to continue to be an example to the world. For example, it
is ironic that a criminal suspect in Czechoslovakia probably is
treated better than he would in, say, Los Angeles.
FIRST WE POOHV "THEM
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01991
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Letters Policy: The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should
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
a student. An address and phone number are required with all letters sent. The
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space limitations. The newspaper will not withhold names under any
circumstance.
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Animal testing
As a faculty member and scientist, I was
shocked and disgusted at a recent flyer I received
in the campus mail. The headline of the
flyer, from the Students for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (SETA) begins: "Thousands ?
nxpiouea ana /\ousea at uol.:
It states, "Did you know that the average I?
USC vivisector is pocketing $135,000 of your ?rej
tax dollars this year for research on primates, tain
cats, dogs and a host of other animals?. .. To- pie
day on our campus, more than 19,000 animals ani]
are being abused, maimed and killed in 36 dif- paii
ferent types of experiments." ji
These statements are so untrue they require a nea
response. The flyer continues on with such (jen
statements and was accompanied by a brochure ratf
from the Physicians Committee for Responsible wh<
Medicine with the "facts" about animal exper- inv<
imentation. Unfortunately, it too has many imp
statements that are either totally untrue or dis- am,
torted half-truths, designed to excite rather than q
to inform, and to obtain the sympathy of most hav
people who do care about animals. thai
I believe students at a university are inter- Wh
ested in a realistic view of the world and should
cer
not allow themselves to be misled by sweeping
statements of the kind given in this mailing. .
The animals used at USC are composed of ^
more than 90 percent of "other animals," mostly j
rats and mice, with a daily census less than oneovc
half of the number given. . .
1Y1U1WYW, II U1C (IVCIdgC V1VISCUIUI IS
pocketing this kind of money from your tax the
dollars on federal grants, he would clearly be in unt
prison. Few of the full-time faculty at USC cou
even make this much money. The researchers
should have already become millionaires and E
retire! that
It is true that some researchers have a propor- hun
tion of their salary listed on their grant, but this ing.
is in lieu of, rather than a supplement to, their havi
faculty salary, and has nothing to do with had,
whether they do biological research, nuclear the
physics or whatever. syst
The implication is that the animals are Ii
abused, burned, mutilated, etc. and they exhibit one
Volunteering g
You know, I've come to learn that the most
important thing I have is time. M
Usually I don't seem to be able to find I
enough of it Gee, I don't suppose anyone out U
there can relate to that. But I stopped and really
thought about it the other day, and I realized
that perhaps I have a lot more than I think. It's
just a matter of how I spend it
Do you know the average American spends I
somewhere in the vicinity of three-and-a-half to vice
five hours a day in front of a television set? I worl
wonder how much we really get out of that time mon
(except for when In Living Color is on, of BIN<
course). ing i
Recently I've discovered a great way to what
spend some of that kind of time that all of us impc
manage to piddle away doing basically nothing, that I
I call it people time. E>
Many of us don't realize how many people is re
out there would really enjoy taking up one or ings
two of those hours in our week we take for ours<
granted. whei
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II.IIH.I 11 ri. I III i n iniiiiniri mil' Vf
fact that homose
Homosexuals vi<? sKkm color;
Furthermore, I
unchristian
the persons tnem
To the editor: ble to object to tl
In her Gamecock editorial individuals whil<
March 22, Shelley Magee made of will (I know
the presumptious statement that there must not be
people are born gay. Where were wills), maintaini
the headlines? Last I heard, no. one the homosexual's
knew why people were gay. I've I personally b
been to a GLSA meeting and beings (even the
asked the people there what they in the image of
knew or thought about the cause of the person woulc
homosexuality and they said no image of God) ai
one knew for sure. ings are a wond<
It appears to me that Shelley through disobedk
Magee's statement was a bit of God, we are
propaganda used to associate ho- depraved state,
mosexuals with other minorities Have you eve
with legitimate complaints (as if to people just aren'l
protest homosexuality were in the and peaceful wit
same league as to discriminate ought to be? Wh
against someone based on the the right thing?
color of their skin). This isn't a they don't feel li]
reasonable association, for a ra- thing. Which lea
tional and moral objection to ho- point,
mosexuality can be based on the Your feelings,
SfeiilMa
necessary ai
r
t
FRANCIS ABEL \
II
Guest Columnist [
c
iction." While some basic reflexes are main- F
ed to very low levels of anesthesia, in peo
as wen as animais, u is noi true inai me i
nals used on research labs are subject to I
lfiil procedures. t
t is rare that an animal suffers anywhere c
rly as much as a person would visiting his c
tist. These statements are designed to excite r
ler than deal with the deeper issue of r
jther or not one should use animals for any j
jstigative work, even though the results are c
KXtant to human health and, in fact, also to
nal health. f
Tie flyer also states that some alternatives c
e been adopted in certain institutions and c
computers can be used instead of animals, t
ile it is true that computers can be used for e
iain models, and we already use them exten- 2
sly in our teaching and research, the biologiinformation
fed into the computer was ob- *
ied from animal research. 1
n fact, any prescription drugs (and most J
r-the-counter drugs) that are sold in the Un- 1
1 States have been tested on animals by FDA 2
idate. This has protected us from some of
disastrous effects that have occurred when s
ested drugs have been used in other '
ntries. c
r
very time you take a drug, please remember 1
the reason this drug is considered safe for t
ian usage is, in part, because of animal testMoreover,
"top-flight" medical schools c
5 not "banned" dog labs, as stated, but have
, in some cases, to abandon them because of
extreme expense of using live biological <
ems to teach medical students. i
the pounds in most large cities, more than <
thousand dogs and cats are sacrificed each i
reat way to u
9^ Shelley Magee ?
-r- ti
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IT
1 fc
have recently become involved with a serorganization
that does some volunteer
c in the Columbia ai;ea. In the past few ii
ths I have done everything from calling out a
GO numbers in a retirement home to help- s?
lliterate adults learn to read. And you know o
? It makes me feel really good. And more n
>rtantly it makes the people I'm spending o
time with feel even better. ir
/en for the busiest person, an hour a week
ally not that much to spare. As human bewe
are all guilty of being wrapped up in A
slves. I know because I'm no exception. So tli
1 our lives are full, we tend to forget how w
h pniTHR
JS.nrfMr
xuality is a beha- they sometimes seem to b
s not a behavior. the final determinant of yo
don't believe all vior (though some use thei
ct to homosexual final criteria for judgement
irily hate or fear cision making). Your will
selves. It is possi- are not victims who can i
tie behavior of the what we do. It might be
5, through an act that one can somehow in!
some of you out mosexual feelings, but I d
'lieve people have how it can be said that om
ing a respect for engage in homos
personhood. behavior ...
elieve all human ,,
unborn) are made 1 beh?ve.men 316
God (thus hating men and,vlc? versa' 1 tel
I be despising the >sexuahty .<* a perversa
id that human be- 3S 3 temPtauon (?P"on lf,
;rfiii creation, but s'sl> '?n 1 "ecessanly w.
mce to the will of *"?, ?,35 3 >?h?v,or ?
V in a sinful and wlUful|y avoldedIn
the United States of /
r wondered why j?m exp^ted to tolerate
t honest, generous pression of minority beli<
h another as they within reasonable limits, i
y don t people do behavior.
Mostly because
Ice doing the right I am, however, not expi
ds me to another agree with or support ev<
or form of behavior that en
as domineering as plurality. I don't believe s
id humane
nonth; it does not seem unreasonable to me
hat a few (less than 2 percent) of these same
inimals should be used for medical research
ind for teaching medical students about mamnalian
systems. The animals are deeply aneshesized,
which, on a one-on-one basis, can be
ii7uv/ in a inv/AV/ liuiiianv/ iiiaiitiv/i uiaii ill a
ound.
The real problem is the SETA group and sinilar
groups such as PETA (People for the
ithical Treatment of Animals) apparently feel
hat the use of any animal, perhaps even dead
>nes or animal products, for improving human
>r animal health is wrong. The argument then
nust be whether or not it is ethical to use aninals
or animal products for meat, clothing,
>ets, work animals, zoos, etc., or if they can
>nly be observed in the wild.
If the answer is that one may raise animals
or human purposes such as food, then the use
)f animals, such as rats for medical research, is
dearly justified. One of the statements attri>uted
to members of this group ? that a rat is
equivalent to a boy ? I do not find personally
acceptable either as a physician or as a parent.
To respond in more detail about the other
jrochure, 'The Facts about Animal Experimenation,"
would make this much too lengthy. It
ists the large number of advances that have ?
>een made without the use of animals, for eximple,
the discovery of human blood groups.
But it does not point out that the basic chemi;try
related to blood groups, antigens and antiKxlies,
structures of blood proteins, etc., were
lone using animals in order to achieve the techlology
level to study human blood groups,
rfany other misleading statements are a part of
hat document
Under the guise of concern for animals, this
>rganization does a misservice to humans, to
progress in human disease and to animal welfare,
as well as to ongoing research in biology,
chemistry, veterinary and human medicine.
Francis L. Abel, MX)., Ph.D., is professor and
chairman of the Department of Physiology of
the USC School of Medicine.
ise free time
lany people are out there who's lives could use
Dme filling.
When I was volunteering at the retirement
1VU 11X1\J vt V* '* ?? Alt JUU1 VUIH/1
hat) can ial column on March 27, "Ignorance,
not gays, harmful to USC."
America Why cannot people accept
the ex- ?^iers f?r who they are and the
,fs and differences that each of us portray,
minority whether il ^ gender, race, ethnicity,
religion or sexuality? Until we
proceed to accomplish this, the
scted to world will never live in peace and
ay idea harmony.
ters this Jennifer K. Chambers
omeone Political science senior
ome today, a sweet little old lady I see every
me I'm there said to me, "It's so good of you
ids to come out here. I know we're not very
luch fun, but you make us feel important You
now, that's a wonderful feeling."
And you know, she is important. Everyone is
nportant. Getting a visit made her day. Think
bout this. If all the students of this university
it aside the time it takes to watch a TV show
nee a week and spend it with someone who
eeds it, there would be about 25,000 people
ut there who would have a great reason to feel
nportant.
It takes so little to bring someone happiness,
rid you might be really surprised. What you
lought would be a chore may well give a
hole lot of happiness back to you.
1
J
,1
e, aren't should be labeled homophobic,
ur beha- prejudiced or unenlightened beTi
as the cause they believe homosexual beand
de- havior is immoral,
is. We TimMallace
not help Jazz and media music junior
possible
lent hoPrejudice
only
exuaI blocks peace
for woieve
ho- To the editor:
n which Thank you very much Dan Baryou
in- abas for stating everything I have
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