Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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IN OUR OPINION Fighting on * all the fronts This weekend, the United States took the first step in what will be a long and difficult war against terrorism. However, in its eagerness to win the first phase of the battle, our nation must not forget to fight the war against terrorism on all fronts. Fighting the war on terrorism will involve more than bombing terrorist camps and rounding up Osama bin Laden and his followers. The terrorists are not the cause of terrorism, but the perpetrators; the roots lie in a deep-seated hatred of the United States. The war America must now fight is a battle for the hearts, minds'and livelihoods of potential terrorists. The Bush administration has taken the first step by dropping food along with its bombs, but there are more steps to be taken, and they must be continued long after the Taliban has been defeated and bin Laden’s network dismantled. First, the United States must stop a policy of ignorance and indifferehce toward Arab states. Aid should flow freely to states that are friendly to the United States; pressure must be applied to make sure that aid reaches the people. Second, the United States must pressure friendly regimes in the region to loosen their grip on power. In Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt, dissidents are sometimes jailed, and homosexuals have recently been put on trial. America must push its allies in the Middle East to stop such practices. Third, America must make it clear that America’s war is with the Taliban, not its subjects; and that we will finish the job only if the well-being of Afghanistan’s people is assured. Otherwise, the United States will never win its war against terrorism. It will continue to pull up weed after terrorist weed, only to have more and more ferocious enemies appear to fill the void. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS % In a headline, the name of a fraternity who sponsored a step show was misspelled. The correct spelling is Alpha Phi Alpha. A profile about Langston Moore that ran in the Sept. 26 edition of The Gamecock incorrectly identified the person in the photo as Moore. The man in the picture was Larrell Johnson, of Florida, the starting center for the Gamecocks. The Gamecock regrets the errors. GAMECOCK CLARIFICATIONS A chart that accompanied a story about the termination of some degree programs should have said no new students would be accepted into the programs only after the closing date listed in the graphic. If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. Write us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. Fighting the war on terrorism will require more than bombing terrorist camps. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Martha Wright Editor in Chief Mary Hartney University Editor Ginny Thornton Asst. Univ. Editor Victoria Bennett The Mix Editor Justin Bajan Asst. The Mix Edito Chris Foy Sports Editor Preston Baines Asst. Sports Editor Elizabeth Swartz Online Editor Aaron Hark Photo Editor Greg Hambrick City Editor Alicia Balentine Asst. City Editor Brandon Larrabee Viewpoints Editor Page Designers Mackenzie Clement Crystal Dukes, Katii Smith, David Stagg Copy Editors Crystal Boyles, Jasc Harmon, Jill Martin, Carolyn Rowe Political Cartoonist Graphic Artist F^ne Moffatt CONTACT INFORMATION Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com University Desk: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com City Desk: gamecockcitydesk@hotmail.com Viewpoints: gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com Newsroom: 777-7726 TO PUCE AN AD The Gamecock 1400 Greene Street Columbia, SC 29208 Advertising: 777-3888 Classified: 777-1184 Fax: 777-6482 STUDENT MEDIA Erik Collins, Faculty Adviser Ellen Parsons, Director of Student Media Susan King, Creative Director Carolyn Griffin, Business Manager Sarah Sims, Advertising Manager Sherry F. Holmes, Classified Manager Creative Services Todd Hooks, Jennie Moore / Martin Salisbury, Beju Sha Advertising Staff Betsy Baugh, Caryn Barowsky, Denise Leverea n Jackie Rice, Stacey Todd Gamecock Community Affi , Karen Yip Graphic Artist Candi Hauglum 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 organization. The Gamecock is supported in part by student activities i, fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for one dollar each from the jx. Department of Student Media. ilrs THE GAMECOCK Americans hurt America, too ANGELA WILSON GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM How can we clean house on a global scale If our own is filthy? Let me preface this column by saying this: I love our country. There are few places in the world I would rather live. I was even about to join the armed forces when I graduated from high school, but Uncle Sam said I was too fat. Having said that, I will move on to the rest of this column. I was riding down the street the other day and stopped at a light. As I looked out the window of the car, I saw two women folding the flag they had just taken down from the flagpole outside their place of business. I looked at my friend who was driving and told her I didn’t feel the patriotism that the rest of the country was feeling, at least not to the extent everyone else is. I mean, I listen to talk radio everyday, read the paper, and watch television like the rest of the country, but it doesn’t make me feel patriotic —just angry. I have been asking myself, what made the attack on the World Trade Center so much more different than the previous attacks on Americans within our own borders? “What other attacks?” you ask? How about the burning of black churches by the KKK? What about the daily sexual assaults perpetrated in this country? What about gay bashing? What about child abuse — an attack against the most defenseless of Americans? Are not all of these attacks on us as a country? If we are up in arms about the bombing of an American icon and all it stood for, then why not about these other atrocities? We seem to be holding in higher regard an attack on Americans by “outsiders” than those done by our very own. We can’t really expect to go to another country and clean house when our own is filthy. We as a nation will unite to show strength against an outsider’s attack, but we shut the door and draw the blinds to the terrorists living in our neighborhoods. We will sit idly by when the woman next door screams for help as her spouse beats her black-and-blue. Not many people will stand up and report suspected child abuse even when they see a child covered in bruises, and even after all the strides that have been made towards racial equality people still turn their heads when they hear slurs, pretending they are not involved nor affected. How can we pretend to be united when we are so divided? We need to take care of home first. If all the talk radio hosts talked as much about ways to end spousal abuse, poverty, or truly helping the homeless as much as they talk about how we should do our part to bail out the airlines, maybe I’d feel the love. TN YOTTR OPTNTON Paper shouldn’t run Maurice’s ad Before entering this university, we all pledged to “discourage bigotry, while striving to learn from differences in people, ideas and opinions.” We all understood that allegiance to the ideals of the Carolinian Creed required us to refrain from and discourage behaviors that threaten the freedom and respect every individual deserves. So do African-American students not deserve to open up The Gamecock without being offended? We guess not. On Wednesday, Oct. 3, we opened The Gamecock and immediately got offended by the discount coupon for Maurice's BBQ. Why should a company that goes against the beliefs of the university creed be able to advertise in the university's main publication? If Maurice's beliefs are so secular, why were his products taken down from so many shelves in America's grocery stores? The University of South Carolina is supposed to be a multicultural school. We would like to see ads in The Gamecock that stand for our creea, noi spit m laue: i ms ad is a symbol of hatred that is stirring the emotions of the tuition-paying African American students who attend this school. We believe this kind of behavior will lead to other subtle, somewhat unnoticeable forms of racism. How would one feel if they opened up The Gamecock and saw an ad from a company whose history has discriminated against one's race? Not very happy, huh? We understand that this ad supports this publication, but it does not support the CREED. We know there are many more businesses here in Columbia that would be willing to advertise in our publication that stand for what USC “says” it’s all about. With Creed Week just passed, let’s actually live by it and not just have something cute that the university’s forefathers came up with to make a week out of. CECELIA BOOKER SECOND-YEAR STUDENT COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS STEFANIE GADSON FIRST-YEAR STUDENT COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING Cuss words don’t belong in print Unless your faculty adviser, student editor or the columnist himself (herself?) uses the s-word and the f-word in conversation with their mothers, I don’t think they should be used on your Web site or in campus publications. If our educated people do not practice civility and decency in their communications, who will? During my 30 years as an editor at community and metropolitan newspapers, I cited a simple exercise for young reporters who wanted to print crude wordage: call your mother and use that expression in the conversation and permit your associates to listen in. Not one ever accepted the offer. Hard hitting comment is often the backbone of a good newspaper, but we must never offend our readers with barracks/street-druggie language. JAMES P. MCFADOEN DOYLESTOWN. PA. Cell phones disrupt classes too often I am writing this letter because something needs to be said about the use of cell phones in the classroom. I sit in class every day, and every day at least one phone rings in the middle of lecture. I have had two people in the middle of class actually pick up and talk during the middle of class. Now, I don’t pay $2,000 a semester to hear someone have a conversation while I am trying to take notes and can’t hear the professor because he or she is talking. Something needs to be done about the use of cell phones in class. It is inappropriate and disrespectful to those of us who actually have to pay for our education. It isn’t like these people are the only ones who have a cell phone. I have one, but mine isn’t on in the middle of class because I have respect for the professor who is lecturing. Classes aren’t that long. You can go 50 minutes or an hour and 15 minutes without talking on the phone. I hope this letter gets read by professors and that they start enforcing rules on phones in class. It really is annoying to me, and, I’m sure, to most students. S. HUFFSTETLER FOURTH-YEAR STUDENT Submission Policy Letters to the editor or guest columns are welcome from the Carolina community. Letters should be 250-300 words. Guest columns should be about 600 words. Both must include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. Deliver handwritten submissions to Russell House room 333, or send e-mail to ' gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. The Gamecock reserves the right to edit for libel, style and space. Anonymous letters will not be published. Photos are required for guest columnists and can be provided by the submitter. Call 777-7726 ,or more information. The real ‘tyrants’ TAYLOR MARSHALL GREEN GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM The audacity! The Taliban has the audacity to say that U.S.-led attacks on their country are a “terrorist act” against Islam or Muslims around the world? Good men! What are your brain capacities dwindling to? You want to sit there and say the U.S. is foolish to attack a “good and peace-loving nation” such as Afghanistan? Zaeef?! What’s up, my man? You binnie-Laden’s lap-dog or something? What happened to all that “America is chickens#@t” talk? And you got the knockers to call us “tyrants”? I mean, haven’t you seen New Jack City? When cultivating poppy seeds for your opium trade, don’t get high on you own supply! The smack you’re talking about, “direct violation and terrorist action done by the tyrant United States of America,” is apparently the diatribe of a junkie. The only tyrannical shit I see is the law you lay down on the women of your country. Mullah Omar?! You hear me, man? I said women are falling from their own balconies. They’ve taken a liking to caustic soda. It’s got a nasty aftertaste that lasts for three days, and the only way to get rid of it is to die. You and the “Students” are driving women to this, Bro. The suicide group of unemployed, depressed, oppressed women in Afghanistan is starting to look like a dentist convention in Seattle. You call us tyrants? I thought it was you who prioritized blowing up Buddhas instead of feeding your hungry. You got these people thinking this is the way the world operates. Take away their television and photos, take away a woman’s education, take away her appearance, take away her ability to live mentally sound, take away her 12-year-old sons and put ’em in terrorist training camps. You got the pit-sack to call us tyrants?! Haven’t you opened the bay windows of the cave and seen your training grounds? Your own soldiers are running to northern, greener pastures. Omar?! Didn’t we buy you a soccer stadium so you could play soccer in it? Weren’t you guys gonna try to make the 2002 World Cup? Last I heard, you were taking your “loyal" subjects and putting barrels of guns to their heads... “click-click bang-bang, cause it ain’t no thang” for you to spray a women’s frontal lobe onto midfield. Should we have sent instructions with the soccer stadium, Omar? You’re supposed to show yellow cards and Pele-like bicycle-kicks to promote youth and national sports initiative programs, not lobotomize a woman with an AK47 and 5.45-mm rounds because she likes hanging her arm out of the truck on sunny days. Tyrants? Us? Hey, we’re not perfect. Our women’s rights in this country are still developing but strong with commitments from both sides of the sexes. But I think I can say this without landing too far off... your equal-rights laws suck. Bottom line, Stupid. You make it so easy for the little one up in our Executive Mansion to press the round, red button. You can call us tyrant all you want. But when the veil falls, Omar, Zaeef, Taliban, everyone in the world is going to see the flies. And it’s not the flies that cover the walls and cots of your hospitals where many of your women sit battered and in neurosis. It’s not the flies on the grain you feed the young recruits who had no choice but to give up marbles for German G-3s. It’s the flies on your corpse that everyone in the world will see. But by then your rule might cover only the caverns of Pamir. Then you can oppress and rape the stalagmites and limestone, and the only lip you’ll get from them is the echo of your hateful and tyrannical voice.