The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 11, 1997, Page 3, Image 3
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Serving U.
Chris Dixon,
~ Stephanie Sonnenl
Editor
Lucy Arnold, Achim Hunt, Bryan Johnston,
Nikki
t Same-sex
can be urn
Lefs return to kindergarten
for a moment Everything you
ever needed to know you
? learned in kindergarten,
remember?
Rule number one: Be fair.
That was the most frustrating
aspect of toddler-dom. Grownups
sometimes weren't fair,
Santa Clause sometimes wasn't
fair (why did Tynika get a
better bike than me?), and
teachers, good lord they
certainly weren't fair (Scott
threw the fingerpaint, not ME!)
0 So in our ferocious little
hearts, we vowed to be fair,
because life certainly wasn't,
and damnit, we wanted it to
be!
Yet this mentality of fairness
sometimes gets lost within all
the new mentalities that seem
to come along with adulthood.
We, as adults (or soon to be)
% still want our lives to be fair.
We howl over the injustices of
unfairness.
Everyone else can, but you
can't. Why? Because I say so.
That doesn't appeal to us now
just as it didn't appeal to us
as helpless 4-year-olds.
Yet we are helpless against
f other adults with governmental
power who forget to be fair
Health cai
need to be
Nursing home workers and
home health-care workers are
supposed to be people who care
9 for sick individuals and provide
them with the best help they
can. But, things don't always
operate the way they're
auppuaeu UJ.
Ask Lynn Williams, who
was featured in The State
Thursday. Her husband was
a nursing home patient for six
years. When he started having
drastic changes in his
personality, she sensed there
W was something wrong. She
was right.
His nurse had been stealing
his pain medication. The lady
was fired and rehired two days
later and placed in another
part of the home.
Williams, along with other
patients' families, urged state
Student
Media Russell Houa
Chris Dixon News:
Editor in Chief Advertisin
Stephanie FAX: 1
Sonnenfeld
Viewpoints Editor Mark Hopkins
Karen Layne Pillow j
Jennifer Stanley _.?CoW Desk
News Editors Thorpe
^ Locy Arnold nPhot?E^tor
% Features Editors *** Maldrow
Achlm Hunt Graphics Editor
Bryan Johnston
Sports Editors
The Gamecock it the student newspaper of the Uni
Wednesday, and Friday during the Fall and Spring semi
periods.
Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the ?
Carolina.
The Board of Student Publications and Communicahoi
Student Media is its parent organization.
The Gamecock will try to print all letters recei
include full name, professional title or year an
^ delivered by the author to The Gamecock newsi
reserves the right to edit all letter for style, post
withheld for any circumstance.
T A.
5amecock
SC Since 1908
Editor in Chief
feld, Viewpoints Editor
lal Board
, Karen Layne, Ben Muldrow, Jennifer Stanley,
Thorpe. ,
marriages
derstood
sometimes.
Everyone else can drink
out of this water fountain, but
you can't. Everyone can eat at
this counter, but you can't.
Everyone else can vote and
hold property, but you can't.
These were unfair laws,
created by unfair adults,
overthrown by people who
stood up and said, like a
kindergartner, "This isn't fair."
The mentality is changed, and
now most everyone sees the
unfairness.
Yet here's another injustice:
Everyone else can get married,
but you can't.
Many people believe
homosexualitv is wroner: is
immoral. Many people believe
love is love, no matter who
your partner is, and love is
good. But no matter what you
believe, look at the unfairness
of such a statement. Everyone
else can, but you can't. That
is not fair, to quote many a
pre-schooler.
The perception of marriage
has been questioned since the
idea of interracial marriage.
Once illegal and considered
immoral, it is now acceptable.
It's time for such fairness to
be extended to homosexuals.
re workers
; checked
lawmakers to pass a law
requiring criminal background
checks on nursing home
employees and home healthcare
employees. This would
not only protect patients, but
their health as well.
Health care is the last place
we want to see corruption and
scandal erupt, but it does.
There are two solutions to this
problem: ignore it or try and
fight it. It's only rational to
choose the latter.
"... we need to do more to
protect people in society at the
beginning of and at the end of
life," S.C. Attorney General
JTinrlio oairl nf f ho Kill
V>V/11UUJ A OCUU Ui U&AV WiXl.
His argument seems to sum
up the issue?let's protect the
ones we care about by hiring
people who can more than
adequately care for them.
e USC Columbia, SC 29208
777-7726 JefTNIcholaon
ig: 7774249 Asst Photo
(77-6482 ^fmwnyder
(Jffice Manager
Mdd La Rocque Jeffew
Asst. Viewpoints Cartoonist
Reginni Green Melissa Sellers
Asst News Online Editor
Jessica Nash M"fUPl .
i?, p, , Edwards Taylor
AsstFeatures Marketing Director
Erik Collins
Faculty Advisor
versity of South Carolina and it published on Monday,
esters, with the exception of university holidays and exams
iitors or the author and not those of the University of South
is is the Publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of
ived. Letters should be 200-250 words and must
d major if a student. Letters must be personally
room in Russell House room 333. The Gamecock
tible libel or space limitations. Names will not be
VIEWI
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PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEW;
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Our government is
extremely hung up on
the difference between
right and wrong. Is
abortion right? Is smoking right?
Was receiving illegal campaign funds
right?
And, in two out of three of those
situations, the government has no
business even beginning to ponder
the ethical implications of the
questions. (Don't even ask which
two I mean.)
Yet clearly these are issues facing
us. Young women are becoming
pregnant while they have careers
to juggle, and young fathers are
taking up smoking. We all have to
decide what side we are on. I smoke
or I don't. There is no in the middle.
And there shouldn't be. As a
society, we should have values and
we should expect certain behaviors
from our neighbors and children.
That doesn't sound like law to
you, Lucy?
Frankly, no. Law should be
reserved for rare instances of actual
Marilyn Mans
To the Editor;
"So Marilyn Manson isn't Amy
Grant." That's awfully profound.
It never ceases to amaze me how
little journalistic integrity and
common sense your "newspaper"
actually has. Is the goal of your
editorial staff to come up with the
most ludicrous editorial items as
possible? At one time I wanted to
become an editorial writer to add a
little reason to the Viewpoints page,
but I've decided that I really don't
want my name associated with your
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I LUCY ARNOLD I ?
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need. Protecting stupid people from
themselves does not fall into that P
category. Neither does legislating d
morality. xl
We are lazy. We want
Washington to do our thinking for n
us. Is smoking okay? I don't know,
ask the President Is abortion alright? c
Ask Congress. a
In other words, we want "legal" ?
to mean "moral."
Well, abortion should in fact be r
legal, just as it is, but you, individual 0
person, should not interpret that as p
moral.
And before you ask, Fll tell you f
why not First, and very importantly, t
why does the government need more p
power over us than it already has? k
We are headed in the direction of p
Big Brother-based society (Cigarette jj
Smoking Man Land, as I have come
to call it), why are we so hell-bent c
on accelerating our journey? ta
The U.S. government is like a
monster growing on bureaucracy. t<
*nn rnnrert nr
v/ jljl v * v v
pulp fiction. ii
The issue behind the Marilyn s
Manson concert is not free speech; tl
it is public safety. His concerts are n
nothing more than Satanic worship o
services, and to allow them to perform r
would be foolish at best. I have in o
my possession sworn affidavits that if
suggest there is a lot of truth many n
of those "rumors," which include u
allegations of animal cruelty, drug p
distribution, indecent exposure, and S
a whole lot more. n
I understand that as nonChristians,
you have no background o
ft
c
I
fc.
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I
id that's what it's
m captain on playing for USC f
i
own mi
lore laws just add to that
iureaucracy, feeds the monster, so
o speak, and increases the power
his real-life T-rex has over you.
Secondly, we don't need the
;overnment to make our moral
lecisions for us or our children. Yes,
: takes a village, but not if the village
i foil of blood-sucking vampires and
oindless zombies.
Let's teach our children to be in
harge of their lives and to live
ccording to the values, not the laws,
hat we teach them.
This emphasis on personal
esponsibility will also have the effect
f reducing many of the societal
iroblems we face.
People spend too much time now
iguring out who, other than
hemselves, is responsible for their
iroblems. Values underscore the
lea that you are in charge of yourself
iidieu to the victim mentality that
3 so prevalent today.
We as a society should be in
harge of values. We should be able
o draw the lines of right and wrong.
And not only should we be able
o do this, but we should do it.
)t an issue o
i spiritual warfare, but suffice it to
ay that Manson's behavior is more
hanjust a publicity stunt; they are
eal He is a high priest in the church
f Satan. Satan is real, demons are
eal, and anyone who attends that
ancert will leave that place oppressed
* not possessed by demons. You may
nock such beliefs as ancient and
insophisticated, but Fve seen Satan's
ower with my own eyes. While
latan has real powers, Christ is that
luch stronger.
The average age of a Manson
oncert-goer is 15. Frankly, it scares
%
*5
all about.
ans
Drality
It is part of our individual
responsibility to outline what we
think is right and what is wrong.
But it is important that we steer
clear of dogma and search for the
best society we can build.
For example, we might come to
believe as a society that abortion is
usually an irresponsible act. We will
invest our time and money in
providing education for our children
and birth control for ourselves. We
will take personal responsibility for
our actions.
On the other hand, other
moralistic views some of us hold will
have to be tossed. The stigma against
homosexuality, for instance, is just
an example of ignorance and
prejudice. The attraction some people
have to others of the same sex is not
causing our society any kind of
problem.
Morality is necessary and good
for our society. Forced morality,
absolute rule by government, is not
positive because it deprives us of
our personal responsibility and the
thing that makes us human beings:
freewill.
f free speech
me of how each and every child that
goes will be hurt. I thank God that
our state's leaders are standing up
and being leaders, doing everything
in their power not to allow such trash
into our state.
On Q nnfo irmi V>mm
WAX U OlUC JUU UaVC
every right to publish whatever you
want, but not with my money. Who
do I need to petition to eliminate
funding for this "newspaper?"
Kirk Whitworth,
Sophomore