The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, March 03, 1995, Page 2, Image 2

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2 ?l5ar Serving Ui Lee Gontz, Editor in Giief ( Edttorl Erin Galloway, Wendy Hudson, Jimmy DeButts, Ryan Wilson, C JJUUgCUll? have tolc Greg Louganis, who was perhap a shocking back flip tfie other day1 AIDS for seven years. Louganis joins such sporting 1 Johnson in announcing his diseast to announce he contracted the disi The shocking thing about Loug; was gay ? that was widely known, nis kept his disease a secret from have contracted the disease from t In the Seoul Olympics, Lougani had to be stiched by an Olympic d gloves during the procedure. Gra gloves, but Louganis also should h itive. Louganis said he didn't tell p; but a contact sport, but he knew th juryOther athletes weren't really ii Chlorine kills the virus, and blood transmission of the disease. Thei tracting the disease off the playin T Tr\*^??nfftrtf a/I pav in mitnVi mr\i ?ASU1. UilpiUtCtUCU OCA. lO iXlUl/ii 111V/1 The fact is, however, that some fected. Doctors need to know so t friends and coaches need to know, t related injury, and they are much themself from blood-borne disease Most of all, potential sexual p? ease. If a person with AIDS has se about the disease, the person with er person. We have much work to do on in it's transmitted, and we have a lc We need to remove the stigma so telling people they are infected. Lou be repeated by others with AIDS. Indulge ot Ahhh...shhprring break ? a time of renewal. When students seek to heal and soothe their battered minds and bodies with vast amounts of alcohol. (This approach has come under criticism many times, but we're sticking with it, by golly.) College kids from all over the nation converge on a select few spring break hot spots (Daytona Beach, Key West, Chuck E. Cheese) for a weeWong bender of every vice imaginable. Indulgence reigns; exams and classes are forgotten in a haze of cigarette smoke and pickup lines. So what, may I ask, is this madness of professors giving midterms on the first day back from spring break? Could it possibly have been that long since they themselves were students? Do they not remember the sheer lunacy and chaos? I cant even open a book over spring break for fear of someone vomiting on it, much less aptually study for a test. I guess today's faculty is just a little behind the times when it comes to having their fingers on the pulse of student social life...whatever the hell that means. Well, the controversy surrounding last week's Student Government fiasco, excuse me, elections, has finally subsided. I think the next time there is some confu sion as to who is to serve in an otfice, they should automatically appoint the most ridiculous write-in candidate. Write-in candidates approach their campaigns with a sense of humor, which I always find refreshing. You get the feeling that none of the "serious" candidates would ever be able to have a good laugh at their own expense. I find this somewhat disturbing (much in the same way I was disturbed as a child when in the Hannah Barbara cartoon "Grape Ape," a 50-foot "gorillillilla," could sit atop a passenger van and not crush it. Hello ? physics anyone?). Hoo, boy, let me tell you about my grandchildren. But seriously, folks, I think I'm going to rip my windshield wipers off my car so I can't possibly get any more parking tickets. Rare is the day when I return to my chariot of crap and don't find a canary yellow envelope tucked under the wiper with care. It's gotten so bad that I've taken to parking at Sandy's Hot Dogs al"(fiaffenck a Let Clontz Jimmy DcButts Editor in Chief Ryan Wilson Chris Muldrow Sports Editors Viewpoints Editor Kim Truett Carson Henderson Photo Editor Radhlka Talwanl Ethan Myeraon Copy Desk Chiefs Ryan Sims Erin Galloway Graphics Editors Wendy Hudson Gregory Perez News Editors Design Editor Susan Goodwin All Ansaar Allison Williams Jason Jeffers Features Editors Cartoonists The Gamecock is the student newspaper of tb< University of South Carolina and is published Tuesday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters, will the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of thf editors or author and not those of the University o South Carolina. The fftock >C Since 1908 rhris Muldrow, Viewpoints Editor al Board Susan Goodwin, Allison Williams, arson Henderson^ Radhika Talwani i should 1 sooner is the best Olympic diver ever, pulled when he announced that he has had egends as Arthur Ashe and Magic i. Louganis is the first sports legend ease through homosexual relations, anis's announcement wasn't that he What was shocking w.as that Lougamany people, some of whom could ;he diver. s hit his head on a diving board and Idctor, a doctor who wasn't wearing nted, the doctor should have worn ave told the doctor he was HIV-posartlv because swimming is anything lat all sports carry a possibility ofina any danger from Louganis' blood, -to-skin transmission doesn't cause *e is much more of a chance of eong field or away from the swimming re likely to cause the disease, people must be told if a person is inhey can protect themselves. Close hey might have to deal with a bloodi less likely to know ways to protect !S. irtners need to know about the disix with someone without telling him ADDS is potentially killing that othforming people about ADDS and how >ng way to go before it's eliminated, people with AIDS feel comfortable ganis' seven years of silence shouldn't /er break s. n5655SSMfiT 1 ^ |b3fs matt morgan most exclusively now. The down part of this being that my car is there so much that people are going to start thinking I'm some sort of weiner freak or something. (I've seen 'im! He parks his car in the back and then disappears...for eight hours at a time! Somethin' ain't right about that boy...") Not that I don't like hot dogs, mind you. I'd just rather not be associated with them, you understand. I'd much prefer to have my name synonymous with "Baywatch." (Sorry, I really shouldn't even joke around like that.) Though I hear David Hasselhoff is really big over T?nrnrui T ran tVrinlr nf nn nns. sible explanation for that one. It ranks up there with the Bermuda Triangle and the abominable snowman (new workout video: "Five weeks to an Ice-Cold Six-Pack Stomach"). Of course, who are we to talk ? we actually bought that Menudo crap.. For the love of Pete, I'm really babbling here. Actually, one thing I could write about is my futile search for an apartment. I got a student loan back in January to pay for rent, and it has sat, untouched, in the bank ever since. I don't know what the problem is; I can't seem to find anything better than what I could build myself. My only criteria are walking distance to USC and a room to myself. Is that too much to ask? You would think I would be able to find some thing quite easily given the number of apartments around here. However, just when I think I've found the perfect place ("200 yards from USC, private room and bath, hardwood floors..."), something always goes wrong (" must love iguanas"). It's getting so bad, I actually looked into living in the Preston Residential College the other day (shoot me). Well, folks, I'm going to throw in the towel for this week. Don't do anything rash (or pick one up, for that matter) over spring break. And I may be in your apartment when you get back...with a hot dog. --n Chris Carroll WS. ///-/ /ZO Director of Student Media vertising: 777-4249 Laura Day X: 777-6482 Creative Director Jim Green Art Director TlefTa Harper Elizabeth Thomas Tina Morgan Ady Graduate Asst Asst. News James Ponce Renee Glbson Asst. Photo Marketi ng Director Ben Pillow Christopher Wood Stephanie Sonnenfeld Asst. Advertising Asst .Features Manager Larry Williams Erjk ColHns Faculty Ad ? Circulation Editor Letters Policy . The Gamecock will try to print all letters received. , Letters should be 200-250 words and must include full , name, professional title or year and major if a student. Letters must be personally delivered by the author to . The Gamecock newsroom in Russell House room 333. f The Gamecock reserves the right to edit all letters for style, possible libel or space limitations. Names will not be withheld under any circumstances. OanttccK V| > I ~ r ^ ~; ? : ' " Ouon Uwouon "HH Yars and tan I must be addicted. When I'm away from it for very long, I want to go back and take a few shots. I want to make a few hits. I want to assign a squadron of Apache helicopters to blow the living bejeezus out of a column of T80 tanks. Yep, I'm addicted to my new computer game. I'm the commander of an elite fighting force of fine American soldiers assigned to defend towns, take territory and blow commies sky high, and I love it. My computer makes ultrarealistic explosion noises as anti-tank missiles, grenades and assorted other instruments of destruction rain fire on my foes. The problem is, the game is on the same computer I use for such mundane activities as laying out the Gamecock Viewpoints page or doing silly homework or working on my senior thesis. This means that every time I turn on my computer for work, I turn on the switch to 33 megahertz of procrastination power. What's worse is the fact that we discovered how to hook my roommate's computer and mine together to facilitate two-player melees with detailed combatting armies. I'm convinced well both die old because well put off death for one more round of TacOps. It's not the first time I've been sucked in by a computer game. I've got a solitaire card game that times you as you play; I played it all summer long. I was copy editing at a newspaper from 4 p.m. until 1 a.m., so I'd get home and drool over my solitaire game until 3 or so in the morning. My older brother is addicted to Sim City, a game where you are a city designer and you try to make your city's residents happy. If your residents tick you off, you can get revenge by sending tornadoes, floods, fires and Godzilla through the center of town. My brother had cities larger than Rhode Island with residents who sang "Zippity Do Da" when they saw his car going through Nation's racial i The issue of race continues to be fueled by liberal politicians and the dominant media in this country. Whites, especially males, are constantly being attacked as racist because they support a conservative political agenda It seems that if you oppose the big government policies of the bureaucratic left, then you are a racist. Nothing could be further from the truth. The media have played the "angry white males" stereotype to death and have criticized "mean" white guys like Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole for pulling racist strings to gain support from their "redneck" constituents. Of course, the media elitists and the radical left are in a state of hysteria since several prominent Republicans announced their intentions to eliminate all federal hiring quota programs. Jesse Jackson is contemplating a bid for the 1996 Democratic nomination if Clinton doesn't stand firmly behind affirmative action. Clinton has also played the race game many times. He used quotas for his Cabinet appointments. One liberal congressman even accused the tax-cutting agenda of the Republican majority as being racist, which is a completely illogical charge. I have become extremely tired of the arrogance of the radical left. It is the liberals who play the race card, advocate hiring based on skin color rather than qualification, and are always pointing the finger. It is time for America to start pointing the finger back at them. I am a white, Southern male who supports conservative political policies, and I am not a racist to any extent. I grew up in Newt Gingrich's district, where the population is 90 percent white, mostly ITS Friday, March 3, 1995 __ _ / _ _ _____ MOM...I NEED\=== g^( MORt MONEY I p0K SCHOOL / \ SUPPLIES-^/ '/^^^lllllilini/iiii/i'i/n \ii//(iin^ are's no reason to have sewage in our drinking wa Susan Sarandon, On contaminated drinking water k wars can be CHRIS MULDROW [j Viewpoints Editor e( C( the streets. j Of course, then the company came up with Sim qj City 2000, where you have to lay out sewer lines, run electricity and actually pay off your Mafia ^ contractors. (Any of my Mafia readers out there...this is strictly a joke. I haven't been serious a day in .' my life, and I like my kneecaps the way they are. ^ Thank you. Sirs.) Next is Sim City 3000, where ^ you're actually given a small city somewhere in 11 the country. It'll be hard to actually fit a real city in the box, but all this computer stuff is getting V smaller these days. a I guess I'm drawn in by these games because S I always played video games on the ole' Atari 2600 a when I was younger. Ten years glued to Yar's Re- I1 venge was enough to convince anyone computer t] games must have some kind of addictive power. XJriiir mnnxr rvfU av t Viin rrc ^ A IfAll 1/n A \I7 f V\ aI Ufl 1 1 J.JLUW liidiljr Utlici biiingo uu jvu rv 11 \j w wiicau niu claim you're in control of a giant fly that spits balls a of energy at a glowing beach ball? p And what was the point of Pitfall, another Atari p classic? You controlled a little man in a pith helmet who ran along, jumping across campfires, on- ^ to crocodiles' heads and over rolling logs in order to get bars of silver and gold and a giant Pitfall Harry-sized diamond ring. The problem is, that's all you did. Run, run, run, jump, run, run, run, jump, fall in pond with croc, run, run, run, pick up silver, run, rim, run, run, fall in pit, run, run, F run, jump over Pitfall Harry-sized snake. Couldn't a Harry have run into the Temple of Doom or some- a thing? Maybe he and the Yar could fight it out or g something. We finally bought a real computer, a TI99-4A. i issues fueled by 1 TOMMY TOUCHBERRY [ middle- to upper-middle class and mostly college t educated. You certainly could not legitimately la- v bel many of these individuals as uneducated or red- r neck. \ My attitudes toward racism, equality and equal t opportunity have been molded not by the liberal elites but instead by conservative religious and po- j litical leaders. j I have learned that the principle of modern g American conservatism is equal opportunity for ? every individual with as little government interference as possible. v I have learned that racism is morally wrong from such conservatives as William Bennett, Rush Lim- ^ baugh, Phil Gramm and Pat Robertson. But the most powerful lesson on racism that I have heard came from the Rev. Andy Stanley, con- ^ servative pastor of the First Baptist Church of North c Atlanta. It is from these individuals that I have c learned that racism and sexism are morally wrong. On the other hand, the liberal race relations pro- J grams that I have encountered during my 16 years as a student have done nothing to improve my racial 1 attitudes. f In fact, these liberal education programs tend to alienate whites and males, which in many cases i creates racial tensions. It is these types of programs r that are doing the most harm to race relations in c this country. I rl . ( /| eco"9" 'a tit pI'BEl- ^ ter." addictive lQ ; had a tape recorder attached to it so we could * >ad really big games, and it had a speech synlesiser so it could talk to you. Talk about cutting dge of computer game technology. It ran at roughi the speed my $3 solar calculator runs now, ex;pt my calculator does more. (Not to digress, but knew people in high school who had those big le graphics calculators. They'd get them running fractal equation that would take the calculator . ays to complete. Is it just me, or should they have een out somewhere meeting more people? I mean, .'s kinda neat to draw Mickey Mouse with equa ons, but to draw every character Disney's ever lade?) Of course, now games are even more advanced, /hen I bought TacOps, my firend Jimmy bought game called Rebel Assault. You get to pilot cool tar Wars A-Wings and X-Wings through Tatooine, steroid fields and other great Star Wars settings, ve decided to quit school and fly an X-Wing for ie Rebellion. I figure it'll look good on a resume: . Employer: So what did you do after high school? Beardman: Trained with Luke Skywalker, did few strafing runs on a Star Destroyer, dated . Vincess Leia, chased some Stormtroopers through ' Indor and blew up the Death Star, leaving the niverse safe for truth, justice and the American fay. ? Employer: Do you type? Beardman: Yup. Employer: When can you start? I think some of the stigma has left people wwho >lay computer games. I was a nerd in high school ' ind probably still am, but people don't throw fruit' it me anymore when I tell them I play computer ;ames. I could go on, but there's this enemy armor colimn that needs my attention... liberal forces I believe it is time for America to try a new ap-' >roach to race relations, one founded in basic Amercan conservatism. Let's try educating our school hildren on the factual history of America. Let them ead for themselves the racism that Harriet Jacobs ncountered during her life as a slave. But don't try o teach kids that the Confederacy was absolutely vrone and that Abraham Lincoln was absolutely ight. On a moral level, slavery was wrong, but we lave to bear in mind tradition and education at the ime of the Civil War. We need to reject preference programs such as Hack History Month or the proposed Confederate listory Month. Let's educate kids on the historical dgnificance of all Americans, white and black, male ind female. We should also eliminate all federal luotas, including affirmative action. It's time to hire vorkers in a color-blind fashion. If I am an employer, I would naturally want to lire the most qualified applicant, whether he or she s black or white. Let's end all school busing programs. Little kids do not benefit from two hours a lay on a bus; let's find other ways to improve edu :ation for all of America's children. I believe the best way we can help minorities is o offer better educational and work opportunities, rhe best way for minorities to climb the economic adder is for more of them to be able to own and opsrate their own businesses. In closing, I want to remind all of you that this s America, and we are all Americans. We need to nove beyond using terms such as African-Ameri:an, Irish-American, etc. Let's all be proud to be Americans.