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Quote, Unquote ‘I played one play. I threw one pass. Let’s not make a big thing of this and take glory away from the team.’ Eric Kimrey, Backup QB who threw the game-winning touchdown fflic (Bamccoclt Serving the Carolina Community since 1Q08 Editorial Board Brock Vergakis • Editor in- Chief Kevin Langston • Viewpoints Editor Nathan White • Asst. Viewpoints Editor Patrick Rathbun • Editorial Contributor Brad Walters • Editorial Contributor Students should express concerns at Coble forums Columbia Mayor Bob Coble has launched a series of meetings in which he has invited the public to discuss issues of importance to them. This is the perfect chance for students to get their voices heard when it comes to the city's decisions on issues that af fect our campus. Coble's initiative, which he's tagged "Meeting with the Mayor," is a noble effort to fight the apathy and disconnection Columbia residents might feel toward city government. Such open forums for public debate and discussion are refreshing in a time when closed doors, secret meetings and doublespeak seem to be becoming more commonplace among both profes sional and student politicians. The next meeting is at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17 at Martin Luther King Jr. Park, and we encourage as many students as possible to go and voice their opinions on such issues as Greene Street lighting, a need for more city parking spaces around campus and the proposed two-laning of streets running through the university — all decisions over which the city has ultimate control. Until now, when the university proposes such changes to city government for approval, the only voice the city hears is that of the campus administrators who make the proposals - not that of the students. A strong student turnout would cer tainly raise some eyebrows and perhaps force the city to think a little harder about issues that are important to our students. Preston College should be open to all students The Preston Residential College is a residence hall in which both faculty and student's live and interact together. The Preston Residential Experiment has been an ongoing study of such relationships between students and faculty. Is such an ex periment really necessary? Absolutely not. The only thing Preston accomplishes is segregating students from one another. USC should focus on uniting its students, not dividing them. What does it say about the university if “special” students are kept isolated from the rest of the students? Students accepted into the Honors College have obviously dis played academic potential in high school, but why should the Pre ston experiment receive similar treatment? Preston College is the best residence hall by location, considering it lies in the center of campus between the Horseshoe and the Russell House. If the uni versity is going to segregate students, put them in the Towers, not one of the nicest residence halls on campus. The best residence halls should be open to everyone, not just those that meet Preston’s special requirements. No upperclassmen should be forced to live in Columbia hall while a Sophomore sits pretty in a spacious suite right next to the Russell House and the Horseshoe. The 240 spaces in Preston should go to upperclassmen and not for "special" students. This experiment isolates Preston from the rest of the campus student body. Preston is an anomaly in the cen ter of the campus. About Us The Gamecock is the student newspaper of The University of South Carolina and is published Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the fall and spring semesters and nine times during the summer with the exception of university holidays and exam periods. Opinions expressed in The Gamecock are those of the editors or author and not those of The University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of The Gamecock. The Department of Student Media is the newspaper’s parent onzanization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities fees. Adoress The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Student Media Area code 803 Advertising 777-3888 Classified 777-1184 Fax 777-6482 Office 777-3888 Gamecock Area code 803-777-7726 Editor in Chief gamecockeditordhotmail.com Uniyersity Desk gamecocudeskdhotmail.com City/State Desk gamecockcitydeskdhotmail.com Viewpoints gamecockviewpointsdhotmail.com Spotlight gamecockspotlightdhotmail.com Sports gamecocksportsdhotmail.com Online www.gamecocksc.edu Submission Policy Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from all members of the Carolina community. Letters should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be an opinion piece of about 600 words. Both must include name, phone number, profes sional title or year and major, if a student. Handwritten submissions must be personally delivered to Russell House room 333. E-mail submissions must include telephone number for confirmation and should be sent to gamecockviewpointsdhotmail.com. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be pub lished. Photos are required for guest columnist and can be provided by the submitter Call 777-7726 for more information. Tm o«mkock Brock Vergakis Amy Goulding Editor in Chief Sean Rayford _ . , __ . Photo Editors Brandon Larrabee University Editor Charles Prashaw ,, . „ Amanda Silva John Huiett Asst University Editors City/State Editor John Bailey Kevin Langston AVi^ City/State Editor Viewpoints Editor Nathan White Jared Kelowitz /^ssf. Viewpoints Editor Daytime Sports Editor MacKenzie Craven Kyle Almond Meredith Davis Night Sports Edita Asst. Spotlight Edita Jason Harmon Miranda LaLonde Ashley Melton Ann Marie Miani Brad Walters Jennie Moore Martha Wright Katie Smith Copy Editas Design Editors Stuoo<t Media Erik Collins Robyn Gombar Faculty Adviser Melissa Millen Ellen Parsons Brantley Roper Director of ^ole Russe Student Media Adverting Staff Susan King Sean De Luna Creative Director Todd Hooks Melanie Hutto Carolyn Griffin Emi|ie Moca Business Manager Martin SaMsbury Sherry F. Holmes Creative Services Classified Manager College Press Exchange ( APPARetfTLY He ALSO DOESN'T UNDCrSTAND | \ Trte DEFiNiTiON oFthe WORD 'LAME".,, J Media Violence Media violence depicts reality Ceal ords tossed around, as they have been in the last few weeks, regarding the media’s sup posed casual re lationship to vio lence, my answer is usually more complex than those given by the tag-team forces of Geoige Bush and Dick Cheney vs. A1 Gore and Joe Lieberman. (lean see the World learn from television and movies how to kill and violate, they would never ask why adults feel comfortable pound ing away at an innocuous Mickey Mouse doll, or an inanimate heavy bag. The answer seems abundantly clear to me—the adults and the violence en acted were products of a culture of vi olence, and violent art and imagery is the product of that same culture. Three years ago I would never have made this concession. I would have brushed away Bandura’s evidence as too overwhelming to my basic com mitment to free speech. But I believe, along with many other feminists, that the bloodless, anorexic models in fashion magazines perpetuate eating disorders, confidence crises and other hazards of being female. Like the candidates’ position on media violence, this suggests that imagery has a powerful affect on the psyche. However, as with violent imagery in mainstream entertainment, I don’t believe that these images should be censored. Rather, I think that we—and I include in that plural our presiden tial nominees—should conjure up the quality of vision necessary to change our society. Sure, we as people are in ured to the suffering of other living things, and in turn, our artists grow up to express this apathy with a product tiiat represents this violence as an every day event. Make no mistake—this is no ad vocacy of governmental or inter-in dustry ratings boards. Now that Lieber man and Gore have waffled and said they would never encourage legisla tive or legal control of artistic prod uct, I’m even more scared for the fu ture of free speech. Their affirmation that there will be no legislation on these matters only ensures for music and television what has happened to the movies—the outgoing product will be labeled and judged by self-perpetuat ing, anonymous committees (like the Motion Picture Association of Amer ica) with no system of accountabili ty The MPAA’s rulings are frequent ly arbitrary—the recent movie Saving Grace, a fairly innocuous comedy, was rated R because the plot centers around a British widow who grows marijua na to save her estate. The Kids in the Hall had to change the name of their 1996 movies from The Drug to Brain Candy, because the MPAA will not rate a movie if its title contains the word “drug.” Meanwhile, Trey Park er and Matt Stone relate stories of the rating fiasco of the recent South Park movie—over time they brought it in with cuts made, and they were given even more editorial suggestions. Some of the dirtiest jokes in the film, they say, made it in because the I IMA did n’t understand them. One such joke is the scatological reference in the title itself: bigger, longer and uncut. The mainstream candidates, like the MPAA, just don’t get it—they would rather affix a Band-Aid to our cultural bloodlust than really at tempt to change it. That would require the first in a series of changes—the change one must make internally. Wrestling Federation’s advertisement for that cage fight, and I can also see the four men weighing their options. Professional wrestling, after all, is a perfectly acceptable form of “media violence.”) The Republican and Democratic nominees have never gotten much be yond the first level of the argument, all agreeing that “the media” creates an environment in which violence is more acceptable. My answer to that is “perhaps.” Albert Bandura’s studies on children who observed adults punch ing bobbing inflatable Mickey Mouse dolls and suspended heavy bags sug gests that it is a possibility. While the mainstream party can didates might look at Bandura’s results and say, without a doubt, that children Jennie Ughtwets is an English major and writes every Monday. She can be reached at game cockviewpoints ©hotmail.com. Letters Media censorship sometimes needed To the editor, In your editorial of Sept. 20, you try to absolve Hollywood of any responsibil ity in monitoring its fare by invoking the much-abused notion of censorship. It’s sad that the guardians of free ex pression pipe up most when somebody’s already-padded bottom line is threatened. Where are you when it counts? For most folks in the real world, censor ship is alive and well, rarely evenly ap plied, and sometimes necessary. It’s alive and well for the millions on this planet who get their heads sliced off for opening their mouths. It’s not evenly applied by mainstream media that routinely shuts up innovative voices of the far, left and far right by ig noring them, while publishing all the same old crap from corporate lackeys. And finally, it’s sometimes necessary, perhaps to restrain people who have sold their souls to turn a quick buck. The fact of the matter is that Holly wood and others of that ilk need a king sized kick in the ass every once in a while. No, parents can’t protect their kids from everything; so yes, they sometimes need a little help. It would be nice if the anti-censorship parrots changed their tune ever so slight ly, and invigorated true causes by not giv ing legitimacy to phony ones. Joel Atance Doctoral Candidate Biomedical Science Sign indicates need for greater religious understanding To the editor, On Tuesday, Sept. 19, we noticed a sign posted in the lobby of the Humani ties Classroom Building. While, as Catholics, we do not necessarily always wear our religion on our sleeves, so to speak, we do take offense at attacks lev eled at our faith. We’re not certain that a response to the theological commentary in the sign is necessary as the assessment of our faith is so ridiculously simplistic and un informed as to escape merit. However, we do believe our mutual learning environ ments should be free of such assaults. This is not to say that we do not rec ognize the right of free speech that pro tects the posting of such signs, nor do we discourage critiques of our religion. It is only through the continual reassessment of our beliefs and our practices that we gain further insight into the nature of our Catholic religion and our personal faith. Instead, we are merely suggesting that a more informative and positive exchange of ideas would be preferable to encourage a community tolerant of other faiths and ideas. This sign is clearly not the only one of its kind, and perhaps we would not have noticed it had the marginalized group not been our own. That is why we take this moment. not to start a bout of indignant insults and insinuations or to educate USC stu dents on Catholicism, but to call attention to the need for the greater understanding of opposing viewpoints across all theo logical, sociological and cultural vistas. Maty Husetnann James Harris Brian Cooney KeaghanKay (text of sign posted in Humanities Class room Building): Beware of the Roman Catholic Church It is the instrument of the enemy to try and deceive the whole world. It claims that it is the original church, but the doc trines that it preaches are contnuy to God’s word. The pope can’t ever get married, homage to Mary and praying to saints that are in heaven are just some examples of what this organized religious system sup ports that are contrary to the word of God. There is only one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus. Don't think that serving the Catholic Church is serving the Lord Jesus. Social Issues TRL has killed the rock 'n' roll star Recently, MTV’s ■ show Total Re quest Live (TRL) celebrated its 500th episode. Not only did I not cele brate it, I lamented it. The reason is because TRL has single-hand edly destroyed Amer ican rock ‘n’ roll. Since TRL’s first air ing, what was once rock'n’roll has gone underground. Cor porate rock has tak en over. Not coinciden tally, TRL’s existence has paralleled the rise to fame of the boy bands (Backstreet Boys, ‘N Sync, LFO, yo uegiueb, eic.y me buiu leuiaie (Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, etc.) and the hip-hop rock groups (Limp Bizkit, Kom, Kid Rock). Not only is the corporate filth terrible racket, but it has no substance and no re deeming social value. Spears and Aguilera have no talent whatsoever. But with TRL’s help, pre-pubescent boys and dirty old men love to watch them shake their thing. The boy bands make pre-pubescent girls scream, and dirty old men love to watch them shake their thing. The hip-hop rock bands offer nothing but noise, and dirty old men love to watch them shake their thing. How did TRL contribute to the down fall of rock ‘n’ roll? The show doesn’t even play the entire video of the totally re quested songs. Obviously, the music heard on the video is not important. What’s im portant is selling the image these pitiful “artists” present. An image that promotes everything that’s immoral and provocative, things that corporate America knows will sell. MTV has totally sold out to this corpo rate scheming. For those of you that don’t have a clue as to how the music industry works today, it works like this: MTV con trols the music industry. If you want to make it in the music industry, you better butter up to MTV. And MTV is a television chan nel. That means if you don’t have the looks, you don’t make it today. Do you think Ma ma Cass could make it today? Hardly. If you don’t know who Mama Cass is, you’re a case in point of my aigument. Look at some examples. Look at the latest country music “crossovers” to main stream pop: Shania Twain and Faith Hill. Granted, they can sing, but that would be absolutely irrelevant if they weren’t ab solutely goigeous. Britney Spears and Christi na Aguilera. Need I say more? And what about the guys? How about people like Kid Rock, Eminem and Fred Durst? They present the image of the hard drinkin’, skirt chasin’, rough neck 11CUUclo.5. 1 lltj piUJvin IU UIV Hill lions of shy, pitiful male fools that think they can possibly obtain the fallacy these “artists” present. TRL is just the epitome of a trend that has started since the music video became the primary marketing tool for the music industry. When that happened, the substance of the lyrics and the quality of the music were pushed aside to make room for the vi sual imagery that corporate America has used to seduce mindless teenage members of the mob who buy up the records and fill the arenas. TRL, though, represents a dramatic but subtle change in MTV’s history. For near ly two decades, MTV represented a sort of anti-establishment teenage angst. The MTV music awards and movie awards shows were spoofs on the Academy awards. Now they have replaced those awards shows and are on par with the Academy awards in their le gitimacy. MTV is no longer the anti-estab lishment institution it once was. Although it pretends to represent the young genera tion, this is merely a falsehood that MTV’s shameless corporate heads use to promote themselves. MTV is now an integral part of corporate America with its leadership in the music industry. TRL is the center piece of the new corporate MTV. Our only hope is that Napster and the MP3 movement will destroy the music in dustry and the hacks that control it. Nathan White is a senior history and polit ical science major and writes every Monday. He can be reached at gamecockview points@hot mail.com.