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Waco cult Judgements on FBI decision to raid compound premature This was not the way the FBI wanted it to way the Clinton administration and Attorney wanted it to end. The shock the nation felt as news reports : fiery destruction of the Waco, Texas, cult com] And for good reason. As of press time Tuesda; pie were confirmed dead, including 17 childre: cult members were accounted for. Ironically, saving the children from alleged reason why Reno decided to approve the FBI cultists with tear gas. The FBI said they thought the non-flamm force the cult members and their leader, David compound, hopefully ending the 51-day stando However, all were surprised by the flamt wooden complex within 30 minutes, trapping inside. The FBI contends that the cult membe on fire, while many outside critics suggest th have actually started the fire themselves. The dust has hardly settled on the site of before critics of the government have come c to question the FBI's every move, everythir botched ambush in February to Monday's tragi Rather than mourning the deaths of at let instantly pounce on a government, which, in to save those children, might have made a mist But nobody knows for sure. Until the invesi preceding the burning of the compound it Treasury and Justice departments, we will no happened. Any judgments made now would n( but would ultimately hinder any objective in the government into their own actions. We all want to know why those people died cue or an event which no one, with the poss cult members themselves, could predict? But blaming the government for the deaths not only counterproductive, but ultimately m why the FBI were in Waco in the first place w And who broke the law? David Koresh. The Gamecock will try to print all letters should be 200-250 words maximum. Full 1 sional title or year and major, if a student, ed along with an address and phone nun cock reserves the right to edit for style, space limitations. The Gamecock will not under any circumstances. Fond memories re when moving out e Sometime in elementarv school, we are introduced to the jM saying about how sweet our JH homes are and how there are no other places quite like it. Ironically, it is only when you are away from it that the truth in it hits you. It was after I had spent several hundred hours in my department office that I realized how attached I R had become to it, and how SHAR much I yearned its companion- L?_ ship. there is a I There is nothing more pleas- brewing out: antly compatible with my sense before my ; of untidiness than that room but the stac with its messy table, stiewn ^rs trom m) books and the general chaotic ers gIOws. I ambience. There are planned foi Doublemint wrappers compet- scant hopes ing for floor space with the My anno other poorly aimed trash that ^as reared bounced just otf the rim. again, rende There is that old, dried patch al serious st of spilled Pepsi, shaped uncan- impossibilil> nily like a smiling face, peeking gut as j shyly from behind the book within the 1 rack. When the air circulation is mate -mymoj just right, the musty smell ot coat rack day-old socks mingles with the metallic aim lingering but ferocious odor ot should I eve the cleaning woman's perfume phone now to create a strangely congenial head, givin aroma. Its walls are adorned by encourageme Post-Its that had unsuccessfully mouth-shap tried reminding me of deadlines Pepsi patch 1 that are now history. sticky, stale And yet, ensconced within its been denude barriers, 1 feel comfortable and bubble can s totally at peace with the world, couldn't I! It is my own little private oasis, There I sit secluded far away from the hus- Gp good oh ding and bustling world of friendly and depressing influence. It's the ings that wil one place where nothing can at"my si<je jr ever go wrong, and things are ^ntj 0 always the way I want them to seems to ma be. At this moment, it is 3 a.m. ^ on a Sunday morning, and a columnist I end. Nor was it the General Janet Reno flooded in about the pound was immense. y, more than 80 peon. And not all of the abuse was the main plan to drive out the able tear gas would Koresh, out of their ff. is that engulfed the most of the people rs set the compound ie government might the Waco compound >ut of the woodwork tg from the original c ending. tst 20 children, they their good intentions ake. ligation of the events > completed by the t know exactly what )t only be premature, ivestigation made by I. Was it an FBI mis ible exception of the of those 80 people is isplaced. The reason ^as to uphold the law. name and profes, must be includtber. The Gamepossible libel or withhold names turn )f office A H U L ANGPANI big thunderstorm side. The days left graduation shrink, k of rejection let/ potential employhave tons of work tomorrow, with of ever completing ying mental block its ugly head yet :ring any attempts udying an absolute r# x>k around, nothing mm seems inani e. The sturdy, staid seems to extend is, offering support r need it. The teleresembles a human g silent shouts of :nt through its open, >ed dial. And the eminds me dial if a fly magnet that has d of all its fizz and till smile, then why . Right in the midst unconditionally familiar surround1 always literally be i uoubled times, f a sudden, nothing iter any more. alnil Sharangpani is for The Gamecock. ?>0U Columnist's diatribe on smoking ignorant To the editor: This is in response to Tige Watts' diatribe concerning his addiction to cigarettes. Mr. Watts, I pity your weakness and your lack of self-will. I also pity your lack of self-determination. It seems to be a custom among many younger people nowadays to place blame for their problems where it should least lie. However, there is no possible way to excuse the bigotry, stupidity and ignorance contained in your April 19 column. In a thoughtless, two-sentence paragraph in the middle of your column, you have managed to provoke me, profoundly insult my people, belittle our way of life, uivialize and blaspheme our religion and profane an ancient tradition. Is it a general policy of yours to publish statements about cultures other than your own without the slightest effort to research and add some knowledge to your writing ? especially these days when harmony between cultures and races is so important. Peoples of all our nations have struggled, fought and died to come this much closer, and all that is needed to tear apart such a fragile unity is one voice shouting through a powerful medium, with a total disregard for common sense and plain good manners. Mr. Watts, when ignorance speaks, it has a voice like thunder, and its touch strikes like lightning. It can kill individually, and it can devastate civilizations, yet ignorance is so easy to overcome that I am surprised and somewhat Uoubled that you did not avail yourself of the opportunity. I do not have the space to educate you on the tradition of the peace pipe, the sacred NEWSROOM 777-7726 P.O. BOX 85131 Editor in Chief Associate Editors Viewpoint Editor Copy Desk Chief News Editors Asst. News Editors Carolina! Editor Asst. Carolina! Editor Sports Editors Asst. Sports Editor Photo Editor Asst. Photo Editor Graphics Editor Asst. Graphics Editor Cartoonist Copy Editors Student Media Coordinator Production Manager Asst. Production Manager Advertising Manager Asst. Advertising Manager Faculty Adviser Graduate Assistant Darkroom Technicians I -? & "iwsune iptor/ you mm \ vwtcmv/v Mere undergraduates who dare to challenge die scholarly consensus are subjected to ridicule for standing up for the fundamentals of the Christian faith. I learned this on the first day of class when the Book of Isaiah was attributed to three different authors because the original prophet could not have predicted events beyond his own lifetime. I have no strong objection to that conclusion, but I lake strong exception to its premise that prophecy is VLJttlll UNIVERSITY OF SO Patrick Villegas Lee Clontz. J.T. Wagenheim Gordon Mantler Brian Garland Jack Dunn. Melissa Tennen .... Lea Clayton. Rochelle Killingbeck Jennifer Fuller Melinda Waldrop Nancy Salomonsky. Tim Thorsen Roh Rodusky Stephanie Nevvlin Kelly Johnson Gregory Perez (. "tins Muiurow Paul Jon Chris Davis. Thorn Hannan Jim McKcllar I.aura Day Jim Green Renee Gibson Michael Van Bergen Erik Collins Brian McGuire Erin Galloway. Rika Hashimoto ijjjjjjjj? significance of tobacco in medicine, ceremony and gift-giving, nor is it truly my place to do so here. I do, however, demand that an apology and a retraction be printed in The Gamecock in the very near future. Since you have done so much, you can now do no less. As an afterthought, shame on you, Mr. Villegas, for letting such damaging tripe be printed, and shame again for the unmitigated irony that printed your Editor's Note with its particular subject matter on the same day. You both should know better. Christin A. B. Cross Anthropology student Religion 101 course insulting, overly rigid To the editor: Let me put it bluntly. If you take the Bible seriously as a book that can and has changed lives and has been vindicated by historical evidence, do not take this course. What appeared in the beginning as an objective treatment of the Bible as historical literature, with room for discussion and disagreement, soon turned into a platform for anti-Christian, academic pontification paid for by the people of ^rmfh Cnrnlina *' . v;-* * r "' ,T* !liP*lN*; impossible. When I approached the professor after class, I was brushec aside by the logical fallacy ol appeal to authority obvious enough for any Philosophy 110 student tc recognize. I would soon learn tha "most scholars think," and "mj studies have shown," were rock solid proof in Religion 101. Problems with the scholarly con sensus being taught continued. Ii Isaiah 9:6, scholarly consensu; insists that the words "Might) God" therein do not attest to the coming Messiah, but refer insteac to a newly crowned king of Judah In a society so fiercely monotheis tic, raised out of slavery under t Pharaoh who claimed deity, this i; not even sound history. It is t manipulation of the facts to mee the conditions of the scholarly con sensus. But, apparently, appeal tc authority can only be used to sup port, but never to refute the schol arly consensus. Realizing that m) own conclusions were not to be trusted in light of such perfec scholarship, I checked with tht scholars who edited the Livint Bible. They too found room to dis agree with another conclusion oi the scholarly consensus. In particu lar, they differed with the dating 01 the first five books of the Bible given in class as 950 B.C. at tht earliest. Instead, these editors rtnt ed the writing of the these Scriptures at either 1220 or 142( B.C. Five centuries difference between Bible scholars and the earlier dates were not even men tioned in the lectures. When raised this topic for discussion, the opinions of the editors of the Living Bible were dismissed a: extremist and based on ignorance. Appealing next to the text itsel to prove a theological point usins Christ's own words, I found tha they didn't pass the test of evi dence invoked by the scholarly icOCl! UTH CAROLINA C The Gamecock is the studen South Carolina and is published Wednesdays and Fridays during weekly during both summer se: versity holidays and examinatioi Opinions expressed in The Ga author and not those of the Uni\ The Board of Student Public; publisher of The Gamecock. T the parent organization of The C Change of address forms, sub respondence should be sent to The University of South Carolir Subscription rates are $46 a Columbia, SC. The Gamecock i of the University of South Caro dent activity fees. 1 r* * -? >0? ,"T..**7 u anrawa niynr^i , \jy uiw uv.L wAtnaiixw VJI lutad aiiu ; the objective presentation of the facts, the truth would always pre: vail. Can that be true in a religion ) course taught by die state? If my 2 professor's determination to escape 2 die basic rules of logic in order to present his own opinion is any 1 indication, I'm afraid not. 2 However, I refuse to transfer to a 2 school where my beliefs are reinsi forced, letting these static views in public schools prevail. I can figure f that much out without die authority z of a Ph.D. to appeal to. t Brian Eshleman History sophomore ADVERTISING 777-4949 OLUMBIA, SC 29208 t newspaper of the University of I three times a week on Mondays, the fall and spring semesters and ssions, with the exception of unii periods. mecock are those of the editors or 'ersity of South Carolina, ations and Communications is the he Student Media Department is J a mecock. scriptions, requests and other corThe Gamecock, P.O. Box 85131, la, Columbia, SC 29208 year. Firsl-class postage paid at s a registered student organization lina and is partially funded by stu ; consensus, bucn consensus con1 eludes" that the writer's goal in the t Gospel of John was to prove Jesus' i divinity. Therefore, any material > this writer attributed to Christ's t own lips that testified to His divini\ ty is to be regarded with suspicion. - Has this scholarly consensus ever heard of the fallacy ad liomenim - circumstantial? Just because some1 one has their own goal in mind s does not by itself make their action r suspicious and invalid. i So, having tried to use my own 1 intelligence to evaluate the scholarly consensus, having quoted - respected authorities and having i used the text itself as the point on ? which I stand, I have still failed to i move my professor from hrs* t dogged and exclusionary insistence on what "most scholars think."1 Perhaps this is what I should have ) expected in a course evaluating the pillar of my faith in the critical eye - of history, but still I am paying i tuition, and the Bible-believing i people of this state are paying taxt es, so this view can continue to be : insisted upon as it has for past 35 I years. I came to a public school knowf ing that I would encounter values different than and often opposed to f my own. However, I believed that K\ j tha fi-ao r\f i Hono arvrl