The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, January 19, 1994, Page 5, Image 5
"?a
Servii
J.T. Wagenheim, Editor in (
Edit
Wendy Hudson, Carsi
Melissa Ti
Character
Cruel attack on Kerr
celebratory spirit of
Since ancient times, the Olym]
brate the highest physical achieve
Participants in the contests spe
day they will get a shot at Olymp
It's for this reason that Nana
inspirational at the same time.
When Kerrigan was injured t\
concerned ? not so much for fea
in Lillehammer, but that such a
public one day before the nati
berths.
Thankfully, Kerrigan was givei
and her attacker has apparently tx
The worst part of the story is t]
to her immediate rival, Tonya H
on the entire team and the U.S. rc
Adding insult to injury, new
U.S. Figure Skating Association
attack.
Is this what the sporting world
Instead of working for the g]
now seem more concerned witJ
putting forth the effort it takes to
one's opponent.
Even if Harding wasn't directl
Ue to show any concern for Kerr
slot.
Harding appeared to be more
ment than in showing any suppor
volumes about her character.
The spirit of the Olympics sug
very least, sent her immediate su]
herself in if she is involved in the
Harding is being questioned, bi
harder to defend.
The Olympic Committee sho
innocent as she claims before all
nowevei, ouiers migiu ai&uc ui
court of law before she is convi<
ion.
There is more to an athlete th?
acter and compassion must be c
seriously called into question.
Clinton civil i
deserves criti
In a speech given to a Howa
University audience Monda
President Clinton praised the R?
Martin Luther King Jr. for 1
heroics in the '60s, but said Ki
would be disheartened at the irn
tion of the past 15 years.
Clinton said it's the country
duty to continue King's unfi
ished struggle, especially addre:
ing the extreme violence that 1:
plagued the black community.
However, many civil rigl
activists say speeches li
Clinton's are the problem: H<
all talk and no action.
And in many ways, they'
right. Clinton has been quite sl<
at taking initiative in the ci
rights area. Urban issues ha
been neglected during his fi
year in the White House, and
still hasn't made appointments
two key civil rights posts in I
Justice Department.
Clinton diq announce Mond;
.^ Hpoinnm~ _ <- 44 ?
me i/v6??"?iig 01 an empoweni"zone"
community developme
program, while he also signed
executive order on housing di
crimination. Whether these init
tives are more substantive th
superficial, time will only tell.
But even though these criticisi
are deserved in some ways, Clint
has been making strides to help
Americans, including blacks.
New handgun laws and an
crime programs, universal hea
coverage and a revived econor
can help everybody in society a
should make life in America a 1
tie bit better.
And contrary to what some c
il rights leaders contend, t
increased push for welfare refo
mntiuatpH Tt'o
isn i raciaiiy a j
an attempt to fix an ineffici<
system, one which doesi
encourage work and educati
enough. Besides, welfare is u;
by all segments of society. 1
l(5aiflcock
Student Media Russell House-US
J.T. Wagenheim Tony Santor
Editor in Chief Sports Editor
Lee Clontz David Mandr
Viewpoints Editor Photo Editor
Carson Henderson Chris Muldrc
Copy Desk Chief Graphics Editor
Gordon Mantler Nora Doyle
Copy Desk Chief Ass,. News
ifeock
ig use Since 1908
Zhief Lee Clontz, Viewpoints Editor
orlal Board
an Henderson, Gordon Mantler,
ennen, Tony Santori
igan tarnishes
Olympic Games
pics have been an opportunity to celements
among humans.
:nd years training, all hopeful that one
ic glory.
/ Kerrigan's story is so tragic and so
vo weeks ago, the entire country was
tr that we wouldn't win the gold medal
heinous act could even take place in
onal competition to decide Olympic
n, by appeal, a place on the U.S. team,
;en found.
hat her apparent attacker is tied closely
arding, which casts a scandalous light
)le in the figure skating competition,
reports indicate that money from the
might have been used to help fund the
has come to?
lory of the United States, contestants
ti individual recognition. Rather than
be No. 1, the easy route is to take out
y involved with the attack, she did litigan
as she happily skated into the top
concerned with denying her involvet
or interest in Kerrigan, which speaks
gests that Harding should have, at the
jport and regrets to Kerrigan or turned
situation.
ut her position is becoming harder and
uld make certain that Harding is as
lowing her to skate on the U.S. team,
at Harding should be convicted in a
:ted by the committee or public opinm
muscles and sweat. Harding's charonsidered
as well, and hers has been
rights record
cism, praise
i
I c
f's
Gordon Mantler
^??
iaS COPY DESK CHIEF
US
ke stereotype of the single black
s mother just doesn't hold water.
Civil rights activists say
re Clinton is avoiding "liberal"
3w issues in order not to alienate
vil white suburbanites. And in some
ve ways, this is true but necessary,
rst To have any chance to win rehe
election in 1996, Clinton must
to keep white suburbanites, the
[he majority of whom voted for
Reagan and Bush in the '80s,
ay happy enough to re-elect him.
:nt If he doesn't, the Republicans
nt might win, and any reasonable
an chance of civil rights progress
is. will go down the drain. When is
[a- the last time a progressive
an Republican in race relations had a
chance to win the presidency? I
us think it was N.Y. Gov. Nelson
on Rockefeller in the '60s.
ail Even though Clinton should
have filled the two Justice
ti- Department positions and should
Ith have been more proactive conny
ceming civil rights during his first
nd year in office, the objectives he's
lit- trying to accomplish will help
minorities and whites alike,
iv- But Clinton must stay smart
he politically. If he doesn't, white
rm suburbia might go for the eleust
phant party again. How does
int President Limbaugh sound?
11 Gordon Mantler is a copy desk
?n chief of The Gamecock.
His column appears every other
he Wednesday.
AdvV77*7?6
F&8 49 Da,
ill-6482 Production Manager
0 Columbia, SC 29208 Jim Green
Asst. Production Manager
1 Darby Lackey Gregory Perez
Asst. News Production Asst.
e' Nancy Salomonsky Brian McGuire
Asst. Features Graduate Asst.
IM Matt Hanley Renee Gibson
Senior Writer Advertising Manager
Jimmy Debutts J. Taylor Rutland
Senior Writer Asst. Advertising Manager
"We all went into the doorways, stoppec
It was pretty scary for a second there. T]
calling everyone and lighting candles ani
Society must seel
H.L. Mencken, that irrepressible curmudgeon,
once wrote, "It is estimated that perhaps 50 percent
of the American population votes, come
election time. It is also estimated that only 50
percent reads a newspaper regularly. One can
only hope it is the same 50 percent."
Mencken was called many things in his day, j
but "optimist" probably never figured among
them. Even so, both of the figures he cites are in?
nee
maniacally optimistic by contemporary standards.
' JJJJf1
Ours has become a society in which newspapers
vie for the public's attention from w
machines designed to resemble television sets;
news, such as it is, comes to us in segments and
clips, spots and bites. The business of elected whi
officials has become a vaudevillian spectacle, in 11 h
which the sensational takes precedence over the bet\
substantive, because the sensational wins a stay
greater audience. We live our lives with fingers vet
poised over the remote control, ready to switch tion
our attention to something else, anything else, aud
the instant any subject drops below a given 1
entertainment threshold. our
Clearly, exceptions exist; they abound, even, met
But they exist against the odds in a world where scrc
quick and dirty is the rule, rather than the the
exception, and the odds against them are woi
increasing every day. We are slowly condition- us.
Columbia should c
Name one thing (JSC students do together. I"
There is one: football games. That's six or
eight Saturdays in the fall semester when everyone
can relax and have fun.
Now, what do we do for the rest of the year?
Maybe a day at the zoo or movies or the
occasional Bombers game, but there's really no
cheap, fun time that everyone can enjoy. of i
Charleston was the same way until this past witl
winter. Then, hockey came to town. "Za
Columbia and Charleston have a lack of unity ii
that seems to be common to many S.C. commu- T
nities. Nothing except high school or college feat
football games really brings the community out. to b
The S.C. Stingrays began playing in the North /
Charleston Coliseum, a beautiful building that to h
has siphoned most of the decent concerts from stro
Columbia, this season as part of the East Coast thei
Hockey League. 1
Who would ever have imagined hockey in mei
South Carolina? The prospect once seemed are
laughable. T
More than a dozen sellout games later, no one is 2
is laughing. con
T ? A_1 I 1 i:ira L
cmariestonians nave taKcu iu iiueKcy hmthey've
known it all their lives. Within a matter hoc
Should Tonya Hardii
P^L "No. because she was wrong.
jjjHfc,. involved. It made me think abo
^HI The Olympics are a very big e1
else's opportunities should not be
\ t Management Informatioi
Viewpoint
s
H ...MR. BUTWUO
1 fcNTENCKYO
||^ * QiKiEWiw
'' droPPed and rolled and stuff lil
f.n ]iShts went out and we w,
'ooking at the stars. It was an ir
University of California
k substance o1
individuals to expect that everything they
d to know will be served up to them
[haste in appealing sound bites, flashy segits
and summaries, a society of individuals
> believe the world owes them a good time,
"he reason is clear. People have become so
ituated to being entertained that anything
ch does not offer the immediate prospect of
as virtually no chance of bridging the gap
veen awareness and attention, much less
ing an itchy trigger finger on the hand of a
:ran channel surfer. We are making a transifrom
being a culture to being merely an
ience.
'his evolution poses an immediate threat to
capacity to think and act for ourselves. The
lia are so eager to stoop to any level for a
ip of our attention, we risk falling prey to
grievous misconception that the whole
Id will fight for the privilege of playing to
As members of an audience, we may be
apitalize on ho<
VIEWPOINTS EDITOR
Si! j_mvJ|Ts ????????????
nonths, conversation has become littered
i terms such as "icing," "hat trick" and
mboni."
:'s like nothing Charleston has ever seen,
he coliseum's capacity, 10,480, is a regulai
, especially on weekends, when tickets have
e purchased days in advance,
md when the 'Rays score, every person leaps
lis feet and does a peculiar form of the backke,
fitting in nicely with the mascot's aquatic
ne.
'he coliseum was quite an expensive investit
for the people of Charleston, but tickets
still between $5 and $10.
he sole bone of contention for the attendee;
t $4 parking charge, but for a carload, tha
les out to be about a buck a person.
lc if that isn't pnnnoh whpn rnnrprls n:
key or basketball games aren't being played
ig be allowed to skat
I know she was
ut Monica Seles. 1
vent and somone
taken away."
Keya Brown
i Systems freshman
(q-mft court m
u 16 $i* iaoniw* ||g
oop fin6,?np__ *
|SP
ce that. We all got up and freaked out.
ere kind of bummed, so we were just
iteresting night. It was fun."
Jeffrey Harris
- Santa Barbara philosophy major and earthquake survivor
eer sound bites
kings in our homes, but the real world is much
less willing to play the sycophant. Our attention
there is no longer a commodity, but a necessity.
It is far too easy to be persuaded by the barrage
of cleverly presented, pre-packaged information
we are spoon-fed each day that society
owes us something, that if we stand back, the
whole world will present itself to us and we can
pick and choose from an infinite number of
- cushy existences as we like. If information has
not been properly couched in an easily palatable,
quickly digestible form, it simply isn't
worthy of our attention.
All of this is, of course, rather apocalyptic. In
truth, what is occurring is the natural result of
technological advances in a free market economy.
It would be good to bear in mind, though,
the "Brave New World" of Aldous. Huxley's
imagination, in which the ruled participate in
their own domination, a society in which entertainment
and leisure are the most noble pursuits.
One can indeed hope the few who trouble
themselves to be informed are the same few
who trouble themselves to vote. Of course, if
ptllipr arrtnri chrinVc mnrh hpunnrl u/hal if
VllllVi V/U^/ OUAAIUVvJ 141UV-A* \J \* J VIIU ?Y?*C*V It
1 already has, it won't matter much anyway.
Patrick Sharbaugh is a columnist
for The Gamecock.
ckey's popularity
the rink is open for public skating.
Hockey has revitalized the people of
Charleston in a way I haven't seen in my 20
years there.
The reason for bringing the issue up is the
notion has been raised that maybe Columbia
should get a hockey team. City Council is skeptical,
but it should reconsider.
One would assume that the Coliseum might
be convertible to ice, though I'm no architect. It
- might be expensive, but if the space is properly
used, it would be ultimately profitable.
Building a new rink would definitely be cost1
ly, but people would come out. No one would
have thought it would work in Charleston, but
it's a truly amazing experience.
I hope everyone involved in the decision travels
to Charleston. One game, and they'll be
>
hooked, too.
; Hockey in South Carolina ? stranger things
t have happened, eh?
r Lee Clontz is Viewpoints editor
of The Gamecock
e in the Olympics?
>u're innocent until proven guilty, so the only
g we can do now is to let her skate."
Andrew Matthews
History junior