The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 01, 1992, Page 3, Image 3
Viewpoint
Spineless
Pressures of prudish system
weaken candidates backbones <
5
r
Last week, Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton ad- "
miued under intense questioning that years ago he smoked marijuana,
but he didn't like it and didn't inhale. It's surprising he
didn't also say he hated Cheech and Chong movies. At first he
denied ever breaking the laws of the United States; of course, he i
smoked pot in England. |
Bill Clinton is a sorry excuse for a presidential candidate. A real
man or woman would have admitted to experimenting with drugs
in college, and that would have been the end of it. Clinton tried to
avoid the issue, and when he finally had to say anything, he said,
"I didn't inhale." Is this wimp the sort of person we want running
the country?
The United States' democratic system is truly dying if our only
two cho'ices for president are an incumbent do-nothing and "Slick
Willy" Clinton.
That drug use in college is an issue is bad enough, but the
spinelessness of our candidates is a depressing state of affairs.
Bush fires the head of the National Endowment for the Arts
when Pat Buchanan attacks "homoerotic" art. Clinton sputters excuses
for taking a hit off a joint. What world leaders.
The fault lies in a prudish system in which candidates have to
be absolutely sparkling clean to even get a major party nomination.
This means candidates have to be good liars, not good
people.
Presidential candidates should have to pass a simple morality
test. If they do pass, we can all move on to the issues and never
talk about sleaze again. Otherwise, their parties shouldn't allow
them to run.
The test is easy: presidential candidates should never have
cheated on their spouses; never had Mafia lies; never worked for a
savings and loan association; never raped, killed or maimed any
registered voters; never had a heroin addiction; never bounced
more than 100 checks in a six month period; never bet on illicit
sporting events such as professional boxing; never been in a hate
group such as the KKK, Nazis or the 700 Club; and finally, never
driven, seen or touched a foreign car. These moral restrictions eliminate
most Republicans and Democrats, which is probably for
the better.
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IlAmAnhnhl Q 1)6 closc,y related would be that c
ligion, but anti-homosexual fee
a i j have been shared by non-religiot
is not Digotry well as religious groups, past and
sent, all which have defined homo:
t, ality the same.
"to 'hai' o'ne person who does nol . Homosexuality 111
understand the issue. Recently one, * 's defined as sodomy. Sodon
only one, person has responded nega- ana C0PU ,on 0 one ma c
lively to my llyers that soiled: Homo- anolhcr- also ?>Pulal'?" will
phobia is not bigotry, it is a moral an!!?a' ,, ,
_ Kx, .Krx . -x r This person then says that as a
choice made by the mass majority of ! , J , ... .
al] cu|lurcs mcr anthropology major he finds
' This person says that this is nothing <l'cr"us lhink lhal the ss maJ
more than an appeal to the mistakes of ol a" ?ruUurcs, wcrc an"-homoscx,
the past This person needs to under- can ""'J saV 1 ana sorry thal alcr,
so,nil thai what he considers mistakes, m8 I,IS anthropology degree he t
the mass majority past and present do so tgnorant ol htslortcal fact.
nol 1 want it to be clear that along
1 Further, this person goes on to prove lhc anti-homosexual view 1 have
his glaring ignorance. He attempted to elated, do nol suppoit vio
relate the homosexual issue with rac- -'gainst anyone,
ism, sexism, and religious intolerance. Rod Do
The only one of these that could even Political science m
o-- - - o~ ? ? our
society, they a.e not the product of poi
nography. They are the product of violence
These symptoms are easily visible. Wha
we have misidentified is their cause. W
have our values confused.
Abduction, rape and other brutalities ar
not sexual, but violent crimes. A man wh
rapes is a man who wants power, a ma
who wants to hurt. Sex has nothing to d
with hurt. That is an inaccuracy fostered b
a society that is more open to permitlin
dismemberment on the big screen than sex
ual intercourse.
In a recent study, men were shown thre
different movies. One was purely sexual
One was purely violent. One was a mix c
the two. Before and after viewing these mc
vies, the men answered a survey. Afte
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ruriiugrapiiy ej
The following is a summary of Katherin
Mille's notes on a lecutre by feminist phii
osopher and legal scholar Catharin
MacKinnon, a professor of law at the Un>
versity of Michigan. MacKinnon is per hap
the best known advocate of changing lege
perspectives of women in cases involvin
pornography.
McKinnon is pushing for new laws regi
lating Uie production of hard-core pornogrc
phy, not from a stand against obsccnio
which is arbitrary, but from a stand again:
human and civil rights violations which, sh
argues, should be absolute in our society.
Citing evidence from court testimony
MacKinnon challenges the assumption th;
the women, who are featured in hard-coi
pornography, actually want to be there an
enjoy what is being done to them.
The pictures of sex perversions and vie
lencc performed on women in pornograph]
she says, are often quite real. The violcnc
is actually happening to the individuals i
they are being filmed. MacKinnon asser
that pornographic producers are in fact vi(
lent and dangerous pimps.
She says that pornography magicall
transforms harm and violence to wome
into "sex." She urges us to understand th;
Make Your Ii
The Gamecock is the student ne
.serve you, the students. If you h
topics you think the paper isn't c
interests known by sending us a
want to hear from you. Really.
Skit creates
'pre- false image
>cxuTo
the editor:
iona- I am writing in reference t
riy is Gamecock article about "Sal
with Night Live's" Tri Delta skits,
ti an Firstly, our active members' cu
live GPR for the fall 1991 set
i lor- was 3.027, the third highest of a
it lu- ority GPRs and well above the a\
jorily GPR for women in the student
jal. 1 Our pledge class GPR was 2.98
earn- highest of all the sorority p
s yet classes.
1 have enjoyed watching the sf
with far. 1 am not afraid to laugh at
just people's misconceptions of greel
cnce However, it is a little disturbinj
Delta is a very prominent sororii
bson tionally. Our philantropies are
injur roll's cancer and women's schoki
\
Question: What
1
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^hris Larizza Lucy
3usiness major Undei
"The President. To deal "Di
vith world issues such as he save
Joes and make crucial deci- many
iions, he deserves the most
noney."
^Cros
Violence, not porr
Pornography docs not breed violence.
It is often this society's contention tht
sex is the great evil of our time. It corrupt
men. 11 degrades women. 11 losters the myt
lhal women want to be raped. It leads to
women and children being abducted an
forced to perform for pornographic movies.
Allhonph all thvjp. thinps do hannp.n i
at women's Studies at USC.
iterests Known!!!
vvspaper, which means we want to
ave any suggestions for articles or
covering adequately, iftake your
letter or c.oming by our office. We
Locally, we support Epworth children's
home and many other charities. We
nave mcmoers involved in campus
academic organizations, volunteer
programs, student government and various
other facets of USC and the Colo
the umbia community,
urday
1 refute the insinuations that sorority
mula- girls arc incapable, air-headed and inncstcr
sincere. Tri Delta, as do other greek orII
sor- ganizations, encourages our members
/eragc to progress and develop using the sorbody.
ority and what it has to offer.
9, the
ledge Greeks throughout the United States
are lighting image problems; "SNL" is
cits so not helping. 1 respect our executive
other committee's right to petition "SNL" for
k life. their irresponsible use of our letters,
g. Tri
ty na- . Tricia Banks
child- Scholarship Chairman
irship. Delta Delta Delta
do you think the highest paid j
Martin Bryan Mack
clared major Music Educatic
octors, because they "Teachers,
lives and without them, teacher helps
of us wouldn't be here." our children. S
strong nation."
s Fir?^
lography, corrupts
watching the purely violent movie, a num-*
it her of the men answered that forcing a wos
man to have sex when she said "no" was
h acceptable. Before seeing the movie, the
men had answered in the survey that they
d would never rape a woman.
1 am a woman. I too am afraid of the
n horror of rape, and feel very strongly that
the role of women as submissive and passive
must be eradicated from our society,
it Eliminating nornograDhv. however, is not
e ihe solution. Reaffirming women's strength
in no way involves eliminating their sexual- ,
e ity. In fact, acknowledging women's right
o to be sexual beings was a large part of their
n liberation from the shackles of passivity,
o Instead we must overcome the human iny
slinct toward violence. This is the real evil
g that motivates heinous crimes. And we arc
- so scared to acknowledge such a flaw in the
make up of humans, we have, proverbially,
e hidden it under the bed.
I.
>f - Shelley Magee
i- Shelley Magee is the Viewpoint Editor
r for The Gamecock.
.
tidangers women
e women in pornography are most often hurtf
ing, frightened victims. Their human and
e civil rights should have a greater priority
i- than the First Amendment protection of
>.v pornography, along with about 20 existing
*i iu uio nisi ttiiieiiuincni.
g As in cases of group libel, she says, pornography
dcnigraics, subordinates and de-~
i- humanizes a class of people ? women ?
i- portraying them as subhuman creatures
U whose natures arc fulfilled by being sexst
ually subordinated, beaten, tortured and
e used in every conceivable fashion.
Citing crime statistics and clinical test re/,
suits, MacKinnon argues that pornography
Jl is extremely effective in altering the cone
sumers' view of women, and in many
d cases, films and pictures arc models for violent
demands that are then (breed on hu)
miliatcd and terrified spouses, family mcmbcrs
or strangers, grown women and
:e children.
Many of the victims, MacKinnon asserts,
ts remain forever silent. Meanwhile, the con>
sumers, high on the power of pornography,
require ever stronger doses of violence,
y -Katherine W. Mille
:n Katherine Mille is the Assistant Director of
profession should be?
mJ m
Chi Pham
m major Pharmacy major
I feel that a "Those putting their lives
the future of on the line for others. But
trong teachers, there is really no one job that
deserves more than another."
Better pay means
better teachers
- Tige Watts
Merit. Those who deserve should receive.
Too bad it doesn't work that way in America.
Our country has a messed up way of figuring out
who gets paid what.
Capitalism: It can gyp those who should be paid
well.
And it doesn't care. It will pay annual salaries to
a baseball player of S6.4 million and SI5,(XX) to a
teacher. That seems wrong, but our society has decided
to turn its back on the deserving teacher.
South Carolina's fiscal 1992-93 budget included a
raise for stale teachers when it passed in the House.
That raise was taken out when
the Senate worked over the
budget, leaving a lot of teachers
.out in the cold. 1
President George Bush prescnted
a budget with a modest
dclcnsc cul. About S271 billion
went to dclcnsc. Within that
same national budget, only $30
billion was proposed for
education.
Therefore, Bush says defense should receive nine
limes as much funding and is nine times more important
than education.
How much more wrong can he be?
We would not be here, at USC, if it was not for
the work of our teachers.
We would not be able to develop new technology
if it was not for the guidance and encouragement of
our teachers. And without technology, how can we
produce the bombers and missies the defense budget
is paying for?
So, what do we do?
We pay them a small salary.- We pay them such a
small salary that they wonder where their next meal
will come from.
They live on a. paycheck-to-paycheck basis.
And it's going to catch up to us.
We're already sagging in international lest scores
in math. We're turning out a less educated work
force. We're falling behind, yet we're not doing
anything to catch up.
We're losing the best teachers because they can't
afford to live on peanuts. What else could be more
important?
We need to make it enticing and challenging to*'
teach. We need to make it monetarily rewarding..'
We need a better leaching force, and higher salaries
are the only way we can accomplish this.
Wc need to start re-evaluating our priorities. We
need to slash the defense budget and increase teachers'
pay. Wc need to have the national government
start giving credit where credit is due.
We need action, and wc need it now.
PESERT NORM
IGamecock
Editor in Chief Brie Ward
Managing Editor Tige Watts
Copy Desk Chief Kathy Heberger
mssi. oupy ut>sr\ v^niei jennuer uaDionsai
.Viewpoint Editor Shelley Magee
News Editors...Patrick Villegas/Gordon Mantler
Asst. News Editor J.T. Wagenheim
Carolina! Editor Greg Rickabaugh
Asst. Carolina! Editor Lee Clouts
Graphics Editor Ryan Sims
Cartoonist Paul Jon
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
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