The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, February 10, 1992, Page 2, Image 2
Viewpoint
Magic i
HIV-positive basketball player c!
shows enjoyment, desire for life ^
Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Does anything else need to be said?
It was only four months ago when Johnson shocked the nation
and said he tested positive for the HIV virus that causes AIDS.
During Sunday's NBA All-Star game, he showed us he can still
do the things he did before he retired while competing with the a
best of the best in the NBA. I
But Magic's story goes beyond the basketball court. He's the
first person to show us testing positive for HIV does not mean a
death sentence.
How many HIV infected people can play so astoundingly
among all-star competition that they are named MVP? How many
of us think an HIV infected person is capable of it?
Maybe, just maybe, Magic's performance will bring a new
understanding to this diagnosis. People with HIV can do the same
things normal people can. Too often we write off people who are
HIV positive.
After his announcement this past Novemeber, the media kept
talking about how great a player Johnson WAS, not how great a
player he IS.
Every TV network, newspaper and magazine basically wrote an
obituary for Magic. It was as if the man was dead. He's not, and
his performance Sunday showed it.
Magic is not some sort of super hero. He's a normal person,
whose true talent is in basketball. Other people who test positive
for HIV can do well in their respective fields.
A teacher who tests positive for HIV can teach just as well as a
teacher who doesn't have HIV. A construction worker with HIV
can work just as hard as a construction worker without the disease.
Magic could have easily given up on life, but he chose to live
his life to its full potential. He wants to live. He wants to enjoy
life. He wants to drive past Patrick Ewing and take it to the hoop.
Magic said even though he does have HIV, he still wants to
live. Maybe, we should respect his wishes and treat him the same
way we always have.
We can still sit and watch in amazement during the 11 p.m.
sports highlights.- _
Perhaps we'll leam to respect everybody with HIV and treat
them as what they are: normal people.
c
i
I VIANT THE PUBLIC 1
t o won wat X am ...except %have
LIKE ANV AVERAGE A JOB.
RED- BLOOPED j
AMERICAN... s, i
GEORGEBUSH GEORGE BUSH ,J
CPUcff/CW fKCZ? ^will/now) XgoTAXefe
GuifWAf-?pftea. )\? E>c3SfcOF "H
%saff%a i
Pontic
in racist actions. We feel that the
HlStOrV vice given in the following Baha'i
J ings establishes healthy guidelines
rtff?* 1* C linitV dealing with racism:
vrllVl 3 IJ.llH/j' "Let neither think that the solutic
so vast a problem is a matter thai
To the editor: clusively concerns the other.
CakfnArtr to Dlo/^U Uiotrvrtf \ A /~\r\ t k 11 nnitknr tkinb tkot on/^k n r\?rvk1am
i vuiuai) 10 ijiav-iv muiiui. n n^iuivi tiimiv uiai ^ulii a piuuiviu
is a time when everyone may want to either easily or immediately be r
consider ways to gain a better under- ved. Let neither think that they
standing of the black American's wait confidently for the solution of
experience. problem until the initiative has bee
Celebrating Black History Month not ken. Let neither think that anyt
only enables us to better understand the short of genuine love, initiative, m;
multi-cultural heritage of the United wisdom and deliberate, persistent
States, but it can also bring us one step prayerful effort can succeed in bio
closer toward race unity. out the stain which this patent evf
The Baha'i Club of USC would like left on the fair name of their com
to present a challenge to each indivi- country."
dual member of the college commun- While this statement specificall)
ity, all of us, students and faculty, to dresses blacks and whites in the Ui
examine our own attitudes and actions States, it can be applied to people c
toward achieving interracial unity. We races in all countries,
cannot afford a moment's hesitation. Please join us in the effort to
We must strive to become models of out racism. Let it be this gener.
race unity, taking no part in racism, which ushers in a new era of interr
however subtle or blatant; never allow- unity.
ing ourselves to be passive participants The Baha'i Club of
Question: Why do you think the
icki Gist Geoff Fourqi
ngineering major Biology majc
I have a hard time voting be- "Students i
ause I don't really know the issues so the
andidates' views. Maybe
ley don't express them
nough."
Across
Death penalty a ju;
The death penalty is one of the most con- with
troversial ways to achieve justice in sure,
America. Some say that the systematic mur- shoul
der of a convicted criminal by the state is a shoul
crime in and of itself. I do not agree. sourc
Just as there are times when a state is appea
justified in waging war for its own preser- and y
vation, it is also justified in taking die life proce
of a person that is a threat to society. The life. 1
death penalty is the last line of defense the r<
against the truly incorrigible criminal. first ]
Saying that the death penalty deters life,
crime is simply not true, and I will not use Th<
that tired argument. The reason the death penal
penalty is just is because it is more heinous more
ts~v nllrktii A </. ^ i:..A * 1? *. .
iu aiujw a viciuui muiucici iu live uie resi tinue
of his life in prison than to end his life for anoth
his crime. To pay for this sort of criminal's is toe
continued existence is wrong, more wrong killer
than the supposed immorality of the death neede
penalty.
There is some justification that the death - Davi
penalty process is racist, that it kills far Dav
more blacks than whites. This is a problem columi
Capital punishment
Aside from the economical and practical over
-easons for the abolishment of the death used I
Denalty, capital punishment remains an un- lions
air and inherently cruel form of tional
3unishment. show<
Because the death penalty is an irrevoc- nutes
able punishment, the legal system which a pole
mposes the death sentence must be flaw- Fur
ess. However, this is simply not the case. invok
In a recent study of only well- fering
locumented cases, research concluded an dual ]
iverage 01 tour entirely innocent people cnmo
lave been convicted of murder in the Un- as a "
ted States since 1900. Coi
The judicial system places a premium on ishme
he life of a white person over the life of a wrote
)lack person. Although whites represent death
)nly 35 percent of murder victims, 85 per- nal w
:ent of capital cases brought by prosecutors which
nvolve white victims. him ai
In September 1991, Donald "Pee Wee" confiri
3askins was the first white man to die for a moi
tilling a black man for nearly half a cen- life."
ury and at least 1,000 executions.
The death penalty is also cruel and de- ment^
grading punishment. If administering 100 ncss
'olts of electricity to the most sensitive ^ CQ
>arts of a man's body is considered torture
n our society, how can a state justify the -Ryan
idministration of 2,000 volts? Rya
In fact, the tradition of placing a hood major.
If you have an Issue
you would like to see addressed in Cross
drop it in a Suggestion Box or Call The Garr
: adwru
Writer's ideas
)nof ethnocentric
t exLet
To the editor:
can I would first like to say that I am a
esol- lifetime member of the National Rifle
can Association, and I am rigidly in favor
this of our freedom to bear arms as guarann
ta- teed by the Constitution of the United
hing States,
ature
and While I agree with the general semiring
ment of Jack Dunn's article, I found
I has his argument to be extremely poorly
mon based and his writing disgraceful.
However, I am not writing to discuss
> ad- the pros and cons of eun control in
nited America; I am writing to denounce his
)f all unsolicited, improper attack on our
friends in and from Britain.
wipe
ition There can be no comparison with
acial any other country in the world when it
comes to the issue of gun control in the
USC United States. The political, historical,
re is such a low turnout 1
irean Lynne Withers
>r Journalism ma
don't know the "I don't think
iy don't vote." at all, or ha\
make the effor
Fire^
st punishment
the method, not the idea itself. To be
those sentenced to the death penalty
d be given an automatic appeal. They
d be provided with every possible ree
to prove their innocence, BUT the
lis Drocess should not take the vears
ears it usually does. The slow-moving
ss grants the guilty years and years of
With that sort of delay, it undermines
masoning for the death penalty in the
place: to deprive the murderer of his
s actual implementation of the death
ty needs to be streamlined and made
racially balanced, but it needs to conA
man who maliciously takes
er's life forfeits his right to life. Life
i precious to be allowed to the foulest
. This belief is the only justification
A for proper use of the death penalty.
d Bowden
id Bowden is a history major and a
list for The Gamecock.
t unfair, cruel
the head during an execution is only
to cover the sight of the facial contorinduced
by pain. Amnesty Internarevealed,
"A prisoner in Mississippi
A signs of convulsion for eight miand
repeatedly struck his head against
; in the execution chamber."
thermore, the foreknowledge of death
es a great deal of psychological sufwhich
results in the loss of all indivipersonality
traits. Robert Johnson, a
nologist, described the phenomenon
death of the personality."
isidering the argument that the "punsnt
fits the crime," Albert Camus
, "For there to be equivalence, the
penalty would have to punish a crimiho
had warned his victim of the date
he would inflict a horrible death on
nd who from that moment onward had
led him at his mercy for months. Such
aster is not encountered in private
vever, the monster, capital punishstill
exists in our society where fairnd
human life are less important than
nvenience of the court system.
Faulkner
n Faulkner is an international studies
or question
i Fire or USC Voices, Please
lecock Newsroom at 777-7726.
societal and geographical differences
are enough to render any attempted
comparison invalid. Other countries
have the right to formulate and practice
any laws they see fit. As long as their
laws are humane and based on what
their societies deem appropriate, they
have my respect.
Jack's attack on people from Britain
was incredibly improper. Attitudes
such as this have spawned the "ugly
American" stereotype. I personally
would like to apologize to all persons
of British origin who found his statements
to be in poor taste. I will respectfully
ask that you not judge our
country and her people based on his
statements.
I can only hope that the international
exchange students here at USC do not
formulate their views of the United
States based on the misinformed,
poorly-written, left-wing (usually)
dribble they read in The Gamecock.
Thomas A. Jolly
Political Science major
for student government elections?
poon Khaleel Alsaabagh
ijor Engineering major
they really care "Maybe they don't care or
re the time or don't want a president."
t to do it."
Newborns bring
j world of change
- Eric Ward
The miracle of childbirth ? how it changes
people.
There is something mysterious that happens, an
internal change, when you are blessed with a relative
? a son, daughter, neice or nephew.
The miracle is no less great when a friend gives
birth, but its effects are. It's just not the same. There
is an element of closeness and attachment, something
to do with blood relation, when it's your child,
or the child of your sibling.
The whole concept of "my" and "your" implies
ownership, and perhaps that is the difference that
causes the change.
What happens? Well, last
week my sister gave birth to a
boy: Johnathan Andrew Stogner.
And while you'll be spared
the details new parents and un- vL7 f
cles so neurotically spout off, *
this is what happens. * 4
A baby turns you into a bab- - w
bling idiot. You learn a new
language ? Baby Talk.
A baby turns you into a thinker. Suddenly you try
to understand and view the world the way that infant
does. Such an impossible task, but so enchanting.
You look down at the squinting eyes and curled fingers
and contemplate. You're way lost in thought
A baby turns you into a mathmetician. Meticulously,
you count and recount weight, length and age.
You memorize, re-measure and re-memorize. You
do daily reports. You suffer temporary neurosis.
A baby turns you into a reader. Baby books ?
shelves and piles of them. Names, names, names.
What does Marcellas mean? Or Celeste?
There are some changes that don't come naturally.
You have to learn them. Such as hearing cliches
like: "Shh, you'll wake the baby." No doubt
I'll be hearing that for the next five years.
And you have to master those baby devices. Cribs
and strollers and straps and pins and socks and diapers
and formulas. This bottle for that, that bottle for
this. Feed here, burp there, which bottle do I use?
Oh my God I'm so confused.
Perhaps the greatest change is responsibility.
Overnight you go from-being a'kid yourself to being
responsible, for life, for the life of another. That
child's future, whether he eats and has a place to
sleep, is in your hands. And just as important,
whether he's loved and guided well. You're the expert
now. You have to have all the answers when
you don't even know what the questions are.
How strange it is that babies really bring out the
baby in all of us. And raising a child is really a process
of mutual growth, in which you raise yourself
as well.
ill
i r :
IGamecock
Editor in Chief Eric Ward
Managing Editor Tige Watts
Copy Desk Chief Kathy Heberger
Asst. Copy Desk Chief Jennifer Jablonski |
Viewpoint Editor Shelley Magee
News Editors...Patrick Villegas/Gordon Mantler
Asst. News Editor Kim Everitt
Carolina! Editor Greg Rickabaugh
Asst. Carolina! Editor Lee Clontz ;
Graphics Editor Ryan Sims
Photography Editor Virginia Marshall
Asst. Photography Editor Eric Glenn
Sports Editor Ben Breazeale
Asst. Sports Editor Chad Bray |
Faculty Adviser Erik Collins
Asst. Advertising Manager Melissa Owenby
Asst. Classified Manager Amy Taylor
The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. Letters should be
200-250 words. Full name and professional title, or year and major
if a student, must be included along with address and phone number.
The Gamecock reserves (he right to edit letters for style, possible
libel or space limitations. The Gamecock will not withhold names [
under any circumstances.