Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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_ IN OUR OPINION Respecting other voices The test that our nation now faces — whether it can struggle against terrorism while maintaining its respect for civil rights — is inherently one of values. Will we be able to maintain our respect for all races and points of view despite a strong pull to disregard them in answer to the recent tragedy? One of the least discussed aspects of our respect for American values is a respect for dissent. There are many voices of dissent in America today, many who question the value of America’s war against Stifling dissenting voices would give bin Laden a victory against America. .rvLgllclilloLoll c15 \)<XL L UI Lilt; larger war against terrorism. This paper has, through several editorials, voiced support for the military effort currently under way. We think t>_• j_x __^x jl i coiucin uuou oui i when he says the al Qaida network must be rooted out through a sustained campaign against the Taliban. However, we also agree with the president’s call, voiced in Thursday night’s press conference, to respect the opinions of all Americans. Those who disagree with the war have every right to do so, and to voice their opinion that America’s strategy is wrong-headed. In fact, we encourage them to do so. Debate has long been a crucial part of America’s representative democracy. To cut off dissenting voices, to stifle the friendly argument that is the hallmark of our system of government, would be to give bin Laden and his organization a victory more devastating than any terrorist strike could ever hope to achieve. Winners and Sinners BUSH Gets through a press conference without any Bushisms or “crusades.” If the press would just drop that “dead or alive” thing... GAMECOCKS Ranked No. 9; Holtz says we H don’t deserve it. Be careful: Wofford’s starting ; to look live Navy circa 1984. D.C. Bipartisanship lives... for now. Let’s hope it won’t take another tragedy to make it last. TALIBAN Hurt much? The president gave you another chance; retreat would be disgraceful, | but painless. 0 NEW YORK CITY Giuliani orders budget cuts, hiring freeze. We feel your pain. ‘UNDERPERFORMING PROGRAMS’ USC programs that don’t meet state standards are being eliminated. What a concept. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. Write us at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Martha Wright Editor in Chief Mary Hartney University Editor Glnny Thornton Asst. Univ. Editor Victoria Bennett The Mix Editor Justin Bajan Asst. The Mix Editor Chris Foy Sports Editor Preston Baines Asst. Sports Editor Elizabeth Swartz ummc i_uilvji Aaron Hark Photo Editor Greg Hambrick City Editor Alicia Balentine Asst. City Editor Brandon Larrabee Viewpoints Editor Page Designers Mackenzie Clements, Crystal Dukes, Katie Smith, David Stagg Copy Editors Crystal Boyles, Jason Harmon, Jill Martin, Carolyn Rowe Political Cartoonist/ Graphic Artist Rene 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 PLACE 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 Shah, Advertising Staff Betsy Baugh, Caryn Barowsky, Denise Levereaux, Jackie Rice, Stacey Todd Gamecock Community Affairs 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 fees. One free copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for one dollar each from the Department of Student Media. 1 RENE MOFFATT/THE GAMECOCK IN YOUR OPINION Abuse, attacks aren’t comparable I just read the column in The Gamecock by Angela Wilson. Could your staff somehow put together a group of journalists that have some sort of intelligence? I don’t know why I read this paper. I have seen better papers at high schools. The Viewpoints section is the worst. I guess that I can tolerate the immaturity from many of your “hip” writers, but this column was outlandish. Comparing spousal abuse cases to the deaths of 7,000 or so people in one incident is simply dumb. How do you become a writer for this _o a nnrvnrm DAVID RODRIGUEZ FOURTH-YEAR STUDENT, COMPUTER SCIENCE America doesn’t have 'dirty house’ I’m writing this in response to Angela Wilson’s column in The Gamecock this past Wednesday. First off, I can’t comprehend that Angela cannot find the difference between the terrorist acts on New York City and the Pentagon. It’s not like the “atrocities” she mentioned are being ignored. She stated her view as if these things are a common occurrence in our nation. Don’t get me wrong, they DO occur and that is a problem that needs to be dealt with, but her comparison to the terrorist acts are unthinkable. We, as a society, acted when the KKK burned down a local black church. How do I know? I was one of the people there cleaning up the mess and helping rebuild the church. Why? Because I wanted to. I’m willing to bet you didn’t see that in the news. These atrocities are being dealt with. TT_i_ . ■ 1 U A UC1 V1CWJJUUHU1 U UUIJ house” is inaccurate. I believe we have a very just and reasonable society. Any civilized society is going to have its problems with criminals. It’s just our job to do whatever necessary to prevent them from happening again. She says, “We seem to be holding in higher regard an attack on Americans by ‘outsiders’ than those done by our very own.” This attack has affected every citizen in the United States. Thousands of people were killed instantaneously on live television as all of America watched. This attack was not made because 30 percent of the workers in the WTC were African-American. It happened simply because extremists decided the death of 5,000-plus innocent lives was less important than their I own demented agenda. How can we possibly worry about problems in our own country if there are organized terrorist groups in the world out to destroy our national security? MATTHEW HARRISON THIRD-YEAR STD DENT, COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING U.S. problems not as bad as some I was disappointed to read your opinion of the attack on our country. I couldn’t decide where you were coming from. Every country has problems, including America, but I would rather live where I have the freedom to not only discuss the problems, but also the freedom to try and change them. The reference to the Klan is unfortunate because though there is a long road ahead in race relations, we clearly don’t live in the 1950s and 60s anymore. There are so many broad, sweeping statements in your column that frankly are not well stated. To call our own country filthy is unacceptable. This country provides you the freedom to call it filthy, and I’m glad for that, but feeling the need to actually do it sounds more like a chip on your shoulder than a valid argument. You suggest there are a few places in the world where you might rather live, so maybe you should give them a shot and then see how you feel about our “filthy” country. Are there problems? Clearly, yes, but I suggest we work on ways of fixing the very important issues you raised, but not by saying we shouldn’t support the effort against terrorism. Unfortunately, that war has been waged against you and I regardless of our differing opinions. I have never been more proud to be an American and find it unfortunate that you don’t seem to agree. CHAD ECHOLS THIRD-YEAR STUDENT, USC LAW SCHOOL Dropping resources is appeasement Resources spent on humanitarian airdrops are resources diverted from self defense. It shows our leaders putting the lives of Americans below those of citizens in enemy countries. It is also appeasement. Some fear Muslims will think we’re warring against Islam. The airdrops are an attempt to show this isn’t true. If we fear these people will turn against us, best we not help them? We’ve been appeasing by trying to form a coalition with communists, in refraining from attacking other terrorist countries, in failing to declare war, and now in these airdrops. Fifty years of appeasement led to Sept. 11. More will mean worse. CHRISTOPHER GRACE AURORA, CO Lecturer was disrespectful I just departed from the reception given after Dr. Austin Hughes’ lecture (Tuesday, Oct. 9). I approached Dr. Hughes during the reception to make mention of a philosophical position regarding his lecture, A Catholic View of Evolution. I was bombarded by “argument against the man” and childish commentary. Upon making my opening point, the man asked how old I was with a laugh — as if to suggest that if I was not a certain, predetermined age I could not possibly come up with a logical argument. The next attack from Dr. Hughes was that he has a B.A. in philosophy. I told him that that was irrelevant to the discussion, and for the record, I possess such a degree myself. The next unbelievable statement from him was, “My degree is better than yours,” which he said in all seriousness. The man never commented on my original comment, which is the only reason I approached him in the first place. Furthermore, I did not say whether I was disagreeing or agreeing with his position, anyway. I’d like to inform all professors at every institution of higher learning that the “Yo’ mama is ugly,” and the “My toys are better than your toys” arguments are to be left behind in the third grade. I do not appreciate being treated with disrespect, and (considering Dr. Hughes’ Catholic faith) the man should have the courtesy to interact in a manner that reflects the dignity of humanity. Dr. Hughes is merely a natural scientist talking out of his field, a biologist playing theologian. From the experience, I learned one thing: there are a lot of neo sophists in institutes of higher learning. OBLATE BENEDICT PUISYS GRADUATE STUDENT, PHILOSOPHY 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 e-mail 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 for more information. -----, GAMECOCK VIEWPOINTS. LET EVERYONE KNOW THE SCORE. Why war isn’t good for US. n i MICHAEL BERG GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM Killing Muslim civilians only creates more radicals for bin Laden’s groups. More than any other time in history, right now fighting a war is against the best interest of the American people. By fighting a war, the U.S.A. is doing exactly what Osama bin Laden wants. Bin Laden uses legitimate grievances that many Muslims around the world have with American foreign policy to attract men to his insane cause. He wants to begin a war between Islam and the West. Right now, the man and his goals have little popular support in the Muslim world. However, if America begins a war and kills innocent Muslim civilians, his message will resonate aim L/ci/Uiiic limic pujjuiai. The search for the organizers of the attack should be conducted in the manner of a criminal investigation. After the Oklahoma City bombing, U.S. troops did not occupy Michigan and engage the forces of the Michigan Militia. Such an action would have provoked more action from those sympathetic to Timothy McVeigh and his cause. Instead, the government more appropriately used the FBI to conduct a criminal investigation. The conspiracy to destroy the World Trade Center and the Pentagon is international in nature, thus an international court is the appropriate vehicle. The United States was a member in good standing of the World Court until 1986, when the Reagan administration wrongly rejected a ruling condemning our country for its terrorist campaign of mining Nicaraguan harbors. The U.S. already has the pledge of almost all countries for cooperation on a worldwide criminal investigation. Such cooperation would be even more forthcoming if the U.S. would recognize the jurisdiction of the World Court and pay Nicaragua the damages assessed in 1986. The U.S. should also turn over to an international court terrorists harbored within our borders, such as former head of the murderous Haitian death squads Toto Constant, showing that our country opposes terrorism both at home and abroad. u.o. invoiveiiieiu in Israel ana Saudi Arabia are the top grievances with the America that bin Laden cites in his appeals to obtain new members. Although the means he uses as well as his ultimate aims are horrifically wrong, these grievances are justified. The U.S. should stop aiding Israel as long as it occupies Palestinian lands and remove the American troops that protect the corrupt Saudi dictatorship. Such action was right before Sept. 11, and is right now. War will not make us safe. Ten years ago the U.S. killed over 100,000 civilians in a war against the country of Iraq, led by former U.S. ally Saddam Hussein. The people of America cheered the victory, with few of us weeping over our victims lying in the rubble of Bagdad and Basra. People in the Middle East remember how /iliiei xta vaiueu Ulieap Oil mUCfl more than Arab lives. According to Osama bin Laden, this war was the defining event that turned him and his followers against the United States. Now our country is getting ready to fight bin Laden, another former U.S. ally who has defied us. Unlike in 1991, if people are killed en masse overseas, we can expect something to blow up in the United States. Do we want a cycle of vengeance to spin out of control? Or do we want to try to stop this cycle? Nothing can make us safe, but promotion of justice for all people of the world can make us much safer.