The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 19, 1995, Page 5, Image 5
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"tSaffeock
Serving USC Since 1908
Lee Clontz, Editor in Chief Chris Muldrow, Viewpoints Editor
Editorial Board
Erin Galloway, Wendy Hudson, Susan Goodwin, Allison Williams,
Jimmy DeButts, Ryan Wilson, Carson Henderson, Radhika Talwani
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Once upon a time in America, a man wasn't fully dressed without
a nice Colt Peacemaker hanging at his hip and a belt full of shiny
cartridges around his waist. Some of the less respectable gents
around town might also have a tiny Derringer pistol hidden away
in a boot or tucked in a trouser waist.
These times were more dangerous times than today. If a barroom
brawl or an argument in the street got a bit too hot, quite possibly
lead would fly and blood would spill. In South Carolina, often this
fire and blood was exchanged between family members; to this day,
it's more likely relatives in South Carolina kill each other than people
who don't know each other.
Today, however, it's awfully rare to see someone "packing heat,"
and a concealed weapon like a Derringer or a pistol tucked in a shoulder
holster could mean serious jail time without the proper permit.
In order to get such a permit, a potential weapon concealer needs
to prove to the state a specific need to conceal a weapon. In effect,
+ only a security employee or someone with a similar occupation or
need for a weapon could legally conceal that weapon.
South Carolina's House of Representatives might go the way of
Florida. However, it seems very intent on making it much easier to
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studies special laws such as the weapons permit law let the legislation
fly through with very little opposition, and it seems the bill
might become law without anyone questioning its validity.
Further, the sponsors of the bill have stipulated that the records
would be secret, so the citizens of the state won't know who is able
to carry a gun into the supermarket, the workplace or the church.
The sponsors say they fear if criminals know who has weapons permits,
the criminals will attack those people.
There is absolutely no need for easy-to-acquire concealed weapons
permits in this state. This legislation will mean that once again people
who fly off the handle in arguments or who have violent tendencies
will have ready access to deadly force in order to settle their
disputes. This legislation means more criminals will arm themselves
in an attempt to "even the score" with gun-toting citizens. This legislation
means South Carolina will return to a yesteryear when
f bloodshed ended fights and death lurked in coat pockets and tucked
in boots. This world is violent. Concealed weapons will make it more
violent.
This bill is most likely a reaction to increasing reports of armed
criminals and a world that seems more and more dangerous. But
making the citizens of this state vigilantes with pistols won't stop
the crime. Repeatedly people are urged not to take the law into their
own hands, but South Carolina's legislature is telling people just
the opposite.
Sadly, the bill will probably pass into law. The momentum it has
now doesn't show signs of decreasing. Ideally, some legislator will
halt it before guns proliferate. If the bill does pass, however, the
weapons permits must be made public record. People must be able
to scrutinize the state's methods for issuing the permits to prevent
them from falling into the wrong hands. The assertion that criminals
will use the information to target people is ridiculous; few muggers
or carjackers do heavy research before they stalk their prey.
The existence of concealed weapons didn't make old America a
safer place; criminals weren't scared they were going to get shot.
They just made sure they were armed and had the element of surprise.
Let's not bring back the dusty street shootouts or the pistol
shots under the poker table from bad cowboy movies. Keep making
people prove that they need concealed weapons permits.
Faces m the News
KATO
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Hey, can you believe that it is April 19, 1995,
already? I know that I can't. I am graduating in
less than a month, and I am getting married two
weeks after that. Whew!! Well, it is now time for
me to lift the curtain on today's topic for discussion:
People and events that amuse me. There
will be no rhyme or reason to what I am about to
write (hey, you try writing an article that is somewhat
interesting every week for an entire semester),
but I am relatively sure that all of you
have, at one time or another, encountered the following
circumstances or types of people.
The first "event" that I would like to mention
is the dog or cat food commercials that are shown
endlessly throughout the day on TV. Here is my
question: Why do people spend so mucn damn
money on purchasing gourmet pet food? I mean,
let's face it, animals are not the most discriminating
eaters on this planet; they eat out of garbage
cans and drink out of toilet bowls. They could
care less if they were eating out of a crystal, plastic
or metal bowl, so why bother with all the fancy
stuff? Give your pet love, a nice place to sleep,
food and a good treat once in a while and he or
she will love you forever.
Next on my list of amusing events is the infamous
"passing of people you know in the hall
or on the street" phenomenon. You probably already
know what I am going to write, but I am
going to do it anyway. This phenomenon takes
place nearly every day. It takes place when people
who know each other but can't remember each
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SUSAN RK6S and STEPHEN SAMUELS
Guest Columnists
There are few crimes more heinous than rape.
It is devastating to the women who are victims
of rapists, and it's an experience that colors their
lives for as long as they live. It is so sensitive a
topic that few are willing to question the "facts"
promulgated by rape service advocates. Sometimes
their numbers become like the fads for tattoos
and body piercing; they don't make much
sense, but they still pop up all over the place.
A few weeks ago, Campus Rape Awareness
sponsored "1 in 6 will be raped" day in an effort
to dramatize the alleged frequency with which
women are raped while in college. This caught
our attention because if USC is typical then, 825
women are raped here every year (assuming about
15,000 female undergrads at USC and an average
time in college of 4 years). That's an awful
lot of rapes! We think if that is an accurate figure,
then about 825 Carolina undergraduate men
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The "l-in-6" figure was questioned, and The
Gamecock printed a follow-up article where Campus
Rape Awareness indicated that their source
was a 1988 Ms. magazine study conducted by Dr.
Mary Koss of the University of Arizona.
We did some research of our own and found
that the Ms. study has been widely criticized for
its questionable methodology. It turns out that
of the women whom the study classified as rape
victims, fully 73 percent said what happened to
them was not rape. Even more astounding, 42
percent went on to have sex with their "rapists"
on a later occasion.
A headline in the Nov. 20,1993 Houston Chronicle
summed it up: "RAPE STATISTIC STILL
UNCORRECTED, CENTER SLOW TO ALTER
'1 IN 6' NUMBER IT ADMITS IS TOO HIGH."
One of the Ms. survey questions asked was
"have you had sexual intercourse when you didn't
want to because a man gave you alcohol or drugs?'
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others' names pass one another in the hall, and
you either (1) nod your head at each other; (2)
say "hey dude" (you can replace dude with either
man or girl) or (3) you say "what's up?" without
expecting any response other than "nothing much."
There are only two things worse than having
to deal with the aforementioned event. The first
thing that can happen is.that you bump into the
same person 10 minutes later, you have already
used one of the three phrases above, and now you
have no idea as to what to say. Most people choose
one of the two remaining phrases, feel like an idiot
for a minute or two and then forget about it
(until they need to go down the hall again; then
fear swells inside them for they may bump into
the person for a third time...). The second thing
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that can happen is tnat tne person aciuauy suups
to talk to you. This is even worse if you are with
a friend because now you must introduce the two
of them...this is a true bummer. Here is a trick
you may want to try. Introduce your friend first
(i.e.: "This is my friend Bark") so that the other
person (whose name you can n.ot remember for
the life of you) can say "Hey Bark, I am Porter."
Unfortunately, many people know this trick and
like to watch you sweat a little. So instead of inrialize
suffering of t
A "yes" answer was scored as a completed rape.
When challenged on this, Koss replied that she
was using the "legal definition" of rape, but the
generally accepted legal definition of rape is "penetration
of the vagina by force or threat of force."
Eileen Korpita, director of the Office of Sexual
Assault Services, defines rape as "any forced intercourse."
We agree.
To reach her conclusion, Koss' legal definition
for threat of force would have to be something
like "Of course I'll respect you in the morning."
However, Koss is the same woman who once said,
"We protect people from drunk drivers. We should
protect drunk women from the driver of the penis."
More objective people would define threat of
force as, "I'll kill you," or, "I'll beat you."
How many rapes really happen? Rape is one
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for Ms. magazine readers, one of the most overreported
as well), so hard numbers are elusive.
The official South Carolina statistics are 327
rapes reported among 17- to 21-year-olds in 1992.
That's for the entire state, and South Carolina
ranks eighth nationally for per capita reported
rapes. The same year, two rapes were reported
on the USC campus.
We don't dispute that unreported rapes occur.
Assuming the figures from the National Crime
Victims' Research and Treatment Center and the
National Institute of Health that 84 percent of
rapes go unreported is accurate, it still only adds
up to 2,043 statewide for the 17-21 age group and
12 on this campus. Too many to be sure but a far
cry from 1 in 6.
Some commentators argue that the accuracy
of the figures doesn't matter; the "rape culture"
is the problem, and it must be stopped at all costs.
Andrea Dworkin said, "The hurting of women is
... basic to the sexual pleasure of men." Naomi
Wolf wrote in "The Beauty Myth" that "Cultural
representations of glamorized degradation have
s
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troducing themselves, they will leave you hanging
by simply saying something like "nice to meet
you Bark." Oh, please...do not act so innocent.
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This kind of leads to my next source of amusement
(well, not really, but I needed a segue and
this will have to do): Opinionated people. Opinionated
people are, more often than not, clueless
as to what they are talking about...heck, even if
they do know, they are so damn annoying that
you don't even listen to them. These are the people
who have not figured out yet that there is no
such thing as a black-and-white issue in this
world; that everything is truly a shade of gray.
You can either laugh at these people and take
what they say with a grain of salt, or you can get
angry and frustrated...I choose to laugh ?it's
better for the blood pressure. Of course, the flip
side of this type of person is the "I need an opinion"
type of person. This person begs you to give
them an opinion about something, and then they
get angry or upset at you for not giving them the
rpsnnnse thev wanted to hear...anvone, in any
type of relationship, should understand this situation.
It is commonly referred to as the Catch22,
and it is inescapable (trust me).
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my latest attempt
at "journalism" (at least I hope that I did not bore
you to death). Stay tuned for my farewell article
next week. Until then, takeitez.
true rape victims
created a situation among the young in which
boys rape and girls get raped as a normal course
of events." Susan Brownmiller writes that "rape
... is nothing more or less than a conscious process
of intimidation by which all men keep all women
in a state of fear."
We doubt that this represents the feelings of
the vast majority of men and women. It certainly
does not comport with reality, but it shows
clearly, in their own words, the philosophical underpinnings
of those who would redefine rape to
suit their own nefarious ends. The promise of the
women's movement, that it would gain women
equal opportunities, has been replaced by a perverse
declaration of men as the enemy of women.
Rape is not the normal male sexual behavior
some people claim it is. It is a sick brutal crime
of violence. It's not about sex, it's about violence.
Rape treatment advocates who expand the defi
nition of rape to include mere ungentlemanly behavior
or regretted one-night stands are hurting
the real victims of rape by trivializing their experiences.
We do not minimize real rapes; quite the con
trary, we support services for rape victims and
tough punishment for rapists. Lying about the
real numbers may be a good way to get government
funding from politicians too craven to ask
hard questions, but it doesn't help anybody over
the long run. Truth is a friend of compassion. We
thought the women's movement was about making
relations among the sexes better, not turning
all men into violent sexual predators and all
women into whiny victims. This misinformation
reinforces the very worst sexual stereotypes.
It denies real victims justice.