Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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OINT ~ 77. 7 Robert 71 blind eye spons mortuniries -They ter eff< ctly the seat of culture in more 1 dents. it the residents of this area ghouki attend varied and wonder VlEWP Culture South Carolinians tur to new, interesting op Columbia, South Carolina is not exa the South. Unfortunately, it cannot be argued thj have not been offered an opportunity to ful cultural events. This is a university town. There is ? and it stimulates culture. The state mu: Columbia Art Museum, The Nickelode Center all provide interesting cultural le ten ignored. The director of the Koger Center has be changed substantially, removing mar calendar because of low ticket sales. It's sad that the first seat of cultural is to become the last, at least for a whil students should be keeping it in busines again that there is nothing to do, and the to experience something new and difft our eyes to a new world of things to do. The Nickelodean theater has also fel cultural awareness. The theater is fund* sales. People would rather see "Earth ( than "Ju Duo." a movie rich in Chinese Too often, people think events rich i and torturous. What a shame. "Ju Duo" academy award, yet hardly anybody in t Who's to blame, though? Our parents The media? Ourselves? All of these agents act together and our minds to life. We are too close-mii don't want to think, we want to be en we hear of an event that may make us be entertaining. We have so far to go to be fully av small circle of the world. This is a uni\ to be intellectually exposed. Yet, we decide to stay within what not knowing. Too bad that screening e\ iar only handicaps us as individuals an people from different lands and customs No wonder we cannot relate with oi want them to humor us as much as we h l-|?MllJlSTl?ATiOrl It I I fj ElKTlffltYEAR I f ftl Animal testing unnecessary To the editor: Jim Buggy's Cross Fire letter (17 January, "Animal activists cloud issues") miserepresents several points. Neither the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, nor I, have been censured by the American Medical Association. While PCRM is much more progressive than the American Medical Association, and despite several differences in opinion, I remain a member of AMA in good standing. The idea that animal experiments are essential for medical progress is fallacious. As any medical history text illustrates, the advances that ended the plagues of previous centuries were in the field of public health and disease prevention ? not animal experimentation. Are drugs safe when they pass animal tests? Hardly. Some experts have noted that some 95 percent of the drugs proved "safe" by animal tests are rejected during human clinical studies because they are much more dangerous i diverse populus at USC, seum is in Columbia. The ;an theater and the Koger arning experiences too of- JH said the programming will ly cultural events from the performances in Columbia le. City residents and USC ;s. We complain again and ;n we are too close-minded yhe irent that might just open |eaps a seems I t residents' apathy toward Unf< id by donations and ticket have ii 3irls are Easy" four times someoi traditions and customs. st0P. ^ in culture are long, boring nal wnulH mnct liVfl\; win an horribl* r* vuiu iiiv/ji inwi^ uii 00 he Columbia area saw it. n?But? ;? Our educational system? lhesc c An ; keep us from opening up over le ided and ethnocentric. We the rigl tertained. Therefore, when Euth think, we assume it won't shouldi society /are of what's outside our live in 'ersity and we're supposed ?pUua"] osc w we know. We feel safe in nev'er , 'erything except the famil- chines id as a nation made up of circulai live int ;her countries. Instead, we Med lumor ourselves. God a volved ' use Gc been u * penicill !pf?J? ? I kn( the rea i hurling One than the animal experiments had demonstrated. Cancer researchers are increasingly turning to human cell and tissue cultures because of the basic differences between human and rodent cancers. And progress against AIDS has stemmed from areas entirely unrelated to animal studies. Epidemiology, the study of populations, revealed the means of transmission of HIV, and the virus itself was isolated in human serum. In vitro studies of the virus and its effect on cells and tissues have proliferated. Clinical studies have provided important clues as to why some people show greater resistance to the virus than others. Much time, money and effort has been lost in attempts to develop an animal model for AIDS. Chimpanzees, who have 99 percent of the same genetic material as humans, can harbor the virus, but not develop the disease. Researchers in London have recently noted that, in some experiments, chimps may have developed antibodies, sstion: Do you think Pres ess? Flanigan Eric Dune Administration major Music ma could have made a bet- "I think it art to make graduation Palms is memoraoie ior ine stu- dents na But as long as it is a portunity address, it really Plus, it fc In't matter." we have will be ni different.' Across Right to die i medical world seems to be making ind bounds everyday. Sometimes it ca there is nothing science can't do. m munately, however, science does da ts limitations. Science cannot take de le out of a coma. Science cannot de e horrifying progress of many termi- gc esses. Science cannot take away the sh i pain many people must suffer for thi d reason. su science can keep people in all of on onditions alive. But why? argument rages in today's society lui gality and ethical questions raised by it to die. ne anasia poses a big question which co n't exist at all. A moral and merciful su is not one that forces its people to pain and suffer against their will. m y people argue it's not God's will to ^ tie plug" on someone who is comatith no chance of recovery. It was God's will to hook him up to maor that breathe for him, eat for him and te blood for him, after the ability to iependently was taken from him. T| icine is a whole system of cheating nd death and whoever else is inin the process. If we are going to >d's will as an argument, then we've psetting him since we started using lin. fc Voluntary death right to die, euthanasia or whatever m ant to call it, has caused debate ch today's so-called "humanitarians." m le folks believe if needles and ma- ru are keeping a critically injured perve, and if the pain is too great for the th , the patient should have the right to th he , it's not as easy as that. pne trying to unplug the machine rij I your dying mother or grandmother w !t isn't an easy thought to consider, th at's my point exactly ? it shouldn't kr iidered. positive my opponents right now are in ing at this column saying you can't 01 a dying person in pain, and the palast wishes must be granted. a? , that's a lot of boloney. Killing a cc to stop their pain is ridiculous. gi )w a lot of emotion is involved, but n( son these patients are still alive is 5 technology has been created in or- e\ lielp stop the pain, possibly continu- v( lengthening their lifetime. fi machines were not made to continue the patient. argument "humanitarians" have G not to HIV, but to the foreign human cells, further setting back AIDS research. The real answers in today's medical crises lie not in more money for more animal experiments. Ethics and science both demand that we use non-anmimal means. We cannot afford to live in the past. Progress requires moving beyond animal experiments. Neal D. Barnard, M.D. Homosexuality not Biblical sin To the editor: This letter responds to Chad Bray's column condemning homosexual marriage. Mr. Bray, God did not destroy the city of Sodom "because its citizens practiced Sodomy." The early interpreters of the Bible in antiquity, who were closest to the social context in which the Bible was originally written, all agree that Sodom was destroyed for the sin of inhospitality. The idea that their ident John Palms should /A mf ^ * W^m :an Tarhika Wigfs ijor Biology majo is a good idea since "It doesn't m new, and many stu- as long as it ve not had the op- sage. If the to hear him speak, sage gets thi ? not something that dent body, done before, so it matter if he o ce to see something outside of the i Fir? inquestionable There is no reason to leave someone who nnoi function for himself hooked up to achines costing thousands of dollars a ty. It's like expecting a family to incur ibts they can never hope to pay for in or;r to hold a wake for their loved one that >es on indefinitely. How many families ould be forced to moum a lifeless body ey watch over every day? How are they pposed to grieve in a natural way and go i with healthy, productive lives? There is no moral question to letting nare take its course. When someone is dying of a terminal diss and in great pain, one of the most mmon comments is "I hope they don't ffer much." If we really believe this, then the only oral choice we can make is giving them e option to die. Quickly and painlessly, ithout being forced to sustain the brutal pe of suffering most of us would not wish 1 our worst enemy. There is no sin in letting human life >me to a close gently and with dignity, here is no sin in mercy. Shelley Magee Shelley Magee is the Viewpoint Editor >r The Gamecock. i unacceptable ade is that keeping a patient alive on malines would only cause the family great onetary debt in keeping the machines nning. Now what I would like to know is when e last time money was more important an life. Let's get our priorities straight :re. Some people also would ask if it is my ?ht to tell another person what is right or rong. Killing a person, a living and breaing human being, from all my previous lowledge is still against the law. When we start violating our laws, even tough circumstances as this, people in lr society simply cannot coexist. Finally, life should not be competing gainst voluntary death. Quoting from the jmedian George Carlin, "I learned in third ade, that the meaning of life is, simply, }t to die." When we belong in a society that can /en ponder the question of ending life by jluntary means, even Carlin doesn't seem inny. Patrick Villegas Patrick Villegas is a News Editor for The amecock. sin was in any way sexual can be traced primarily to the late medieval (12th century) Church's new efforts to condemn homosexuality and other sexual practices (earlier, the Church had been more tolerant and pro-gay), and the idea that "sodomy" is the same as homosexuality is quite modern (since the 18th century). By the way, the church conducted marriages between men and women in the early middle ages. It is debatable whether the Bible really condemns homosexuality; people use religious texts for their own purposes, good or bad, in p.vp.rv ape. - * ? J ?o~ As for children not having a "mommy" and a "daddy," a very large portion of children growing up today do not ? that is in the most conventional sense. The vast majority of Americans are not members of "The Family" in the right-wing, 1950s sense. This is not my opinion, it is reality. My opinion is that gay men's and lesbian's family units arc as valid as any. Many have observed their success in raising happy, healthy, usually heterosexual children. . ... . _ . . Annttai ?<. Aviram Assistant Professor deliver the spring commencement Bo % 1 Lf rW^wMP ^ , | rmtt if % - x w^tMMwn mum m ill Patty Qulnn r Advertising major atter who speaks "I think it is pretty cheap, is a good mes- They should just bring in speaker's mes- someone who is an influential ough to the stu- personality from outside of then it doesn't the university." r she is inside or i university." " No one teaches \ Real World 101 - Eric Ward A dose of reality in the college experience is - sorely needed. Amidst the storm of confusion and chaos, kids are looking for the real world, that nebulous thing on the horizon, waiting to engulf us. All of our lives we're told of the importance of going to college, its financial benefits and academic enlightenments. How many times have we been asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" It's crammed down our throats, forced on us enough to propagate neurosis and a complex. It's socialized so strongly that we think we've finally made it on orientation day. Blit the journey has only begun. First, there are the academic and financial hurdles. f y Then there is the pit of disillusionment from which we must escape. - ii you re iucKy enougn, you ^ X do so before graduation, usually in your senior year. But many ? are not so lucky. Either way, the disillusionment runs deep and forces a re-evaluation of everything ? major, values, purpose. Sadly, its impact can be softened by professors and administrators. Instead, it's magnified. ' The genesis of it all is the realization that you're really not ready for the real world. You're told of high placement figures, but try getting a job without a personal contact. You've learned a skill and are ready to enter the working world, but you feel your youth dribbling away, just fading, just slipping. Or, you haven't learned a skill. You're an English or philosophy major and feebly trying to skirt the void. You're educated, but it's only inspired more questions, questions you can't answer nor can anyone " else: What's my place in the world? Is this what I want to do with the rest of my life? How can I hold on to my ideals and really change things? Your naivete is shattered, and you're left feeling jaded and hopeless. At the age of 21. It's all made worse if you have a foot on each plane, the collegiate and worldly. Perhaps you intern or travel overseas and return to school. Somehow the narochial academic preachings of professors don't mean as much. Somehow you become aware of their partronizing. And it makes you angry. It all makes you angry. The disillusionment is inevitable with our affluent society, which offers more choices and more time to contemplate. Survival is not a question of if, but how. And with it, something meaningful. A purpose. From the darkness we reach out for help and answers. Help. Tell us how it really is. Tell us what's coming. You know. You've been there. No stone_ cold impersonalness. We're not students, we're peo^ pie. Reality. Right Here, right now. 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 Chad Bray Asst. Sports Editor Sean Ryan 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 the right to edit letters for style, possible libel or space limitations. The Gamecock will not withhold names under any circumstances.