The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 18, 2003, Page 5, Image 5
^ THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday. April 18, 2003 5
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IN OUR OPINION
i
Don't build
giant fetus
%
Visitors on State House grounds will soon greet a 6
foot tall statue of an unborn child — if a joint
resolution makes it through the South Carolina
Legislature.
The bill even mandates that the memorial for
unborn children be visible from the roadway.
This statue would help no one. A tacky display
wouldn’t just make everyone’s morning a little
harder to bear; it could also deter tourists from
visiting the Columbia metro
area.
Anti-abortion groups
themselves have nothing to
gain. Building any
monument assumes that the
battle is over, but for
abortion groups, it won’t end
until abortion is illegal.
Rather than sympathy, a giant fetus would instead
inspire jokes about their cause.
Furthermore, the construction of this monument
would open a can of worms. If the anti-abortion lobby
builds the statue, others, too, will want to get in their
2 square feet Having granted one dubious monument
already, the Legislature would have no reason to
deny other groups.
The State House isn’t a park dedicated to its
preferred political groups — nor an exhibit of
modern art. With state budget funds scarce, the
blouse doesn’t need to build a giant fetus.
A grotesque
memorial to unborn
children would help
no one, including
anti-abortion
%r°uPS- If the battle
continues, what is
there to
memorialize?
Gamecock Quotables
“I just want to tell Zach and
Ben that I’m very excited
about this year. I can’t think
of anything better than
working with two attractive
males like yourselves.”
KATIE DREILING
NEW STUDENT GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT ON
NEXT YEAR
“It can be the biggest piece of
junk, and somebody will still
want to steal it.”
4 LT. HENRY GARBADE
^ USC POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICER ON
BICYCLE THEFT ON CAMPUS
“It’s not the press that gives
you freedom of speech; it’s the
soldier.”
SEN. JAKE KNOTTS, R-LEXINGTON
AT A PRO-TROOPS RALLY ON DAVIS FIELD
“Sometimes, you just got to
put the blinders on and do
your own thing.”
ANDY BRADLEY
use DIVER ON COMPETING
“I remember screaming that
it was so hot and that my hair
was on fire.”
JENNIFER LEHREN
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT ON THE
FIRE THAT KILLED FIVE PEOPLE AT OSH
GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS
A story in Monday's paper incorrectly reported that the School
of Library and Information Science and the Public History
Program are the first university units to use the two-way video
courses for distance education. The College of Engineering and
Information Technology has used the video courses for two years.
If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us
at gamecockviewpoints@hotmail.com.
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CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
USC’s Horseshoe-ites revealed
DAVID STAGG
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
Frisbees and homework
and lobsters, oh my.
It’s that time of year again,
when students get in as little
clothing as possible and flock to
the same place with the hopes of
young babes in a world of oppor
tunity. No, I’m not talking about
USC game day. I’m referring to
what is commonly known as the
“Flocking of the Horseshoe,”
where, in one of the oldest and
most famous ceremonies, a new
guard exchanges places with the
old guard in front of Buckingham
Palace while tourists take pic
tures and make themselves look
like jackasses.
TOURIST: Hey! Dude with the
huge black hat thing! HEEEEYY!
Can you even heeaaar me??
DUDE IN BLACK HAT
THING: (Silence.)
TOURIST: I knew it! I can do
anything to you and you won’t
move! Ha ha! Watch as I hump
your leg! (Tourist begins to hump
leg.)
DUDE: (Kicks tourist in the
face.)
In the Flocking of the
Horseshoe events, students
heretofore referred to as
“Horseshoe-ites” go to enjoy a
generally beautiful every-other
day because the weather in
South Carolina changes its mind
more than a bachelor the night
before his wedding. So to help
you out, I’ve compiled a list of all
the types of people you will see
on the Horseshoe. Take this con
venient field guide with you, and
be careful not to feed the ani
mals.
1) The Sunbathers: These are
usually the most prominent type.
They are unmistakable as they
lie half-naked, boys or girls, ei
ther reading a book or sleeping.
You can even distinguish these
Horseshoe-ites when they are not
on the Horseshoe. Just look
around you; see that girl who
looks like a lobster? She have
white circles around her eyes
with lines going back to her ears?
She’s one of them.
2) The Ultimate Frisbeers:
Also easy to distinguish. The
Frisbeers are the self-proclaimed
kings of the Horseshoe. They
take up more room than anyone
else, run around making ridicu
lous combinations of movements
with a Frisbee and their hands to
make you think, “There’s no way
that Frisbee will make it 2 cen
timeters,” and will run you over
if you get in their way.
3) The Homeworkers: Easy to
confuse with sunbathers. They
sit with a lack of clothing in the
sun, but do homework instead of
read or sleep. Definition:
Homework is the work that
teachers assign to do out of class,
but students all know you don’t
REALLY have to do it.
4) The Observers: These peo
ple don’t really have a purpose
on the Horseshoe. They kind of
come to see people, kind of want
to see what all the commotion is
about, and usually end up getting
hit in the face with a Frisbee.
So in general, those are the
four types of people you should
watch for when visiting the
Horseshoe. Keep all hands in
side the vehicle; it can be a
rough ride sometimes. And if
you need help with any of these,
just look for me. I’ll be the one
who looks like a lobster.
Stagg is a second-year media-arts
student.
IN YOUR OPINION
Student’s opinion
reflects media spin
After having a few hours to
let the letter fronrBrian Cox
sink in (“War protesters have
been proven wrong,” April 4),
I can’t help but ask: Where has
any semblance of intelligence
gone? Where did the original
reason for this war go?
Long before MSNBC and Fox
News told me this was a war to
liberate Iraq, they were telling
me it was a pre-emptive strike
against Saddam’s regime’s pro
duction of weapons of mass de
struction. Where are these
weapons now? Certainly,
Saddam would have used them
by now, since he’s so close to de
feat. Perhaps they ran out?
Of course, there are thou
sands in the streets of Iraq wel
coming U.S. soldiers. They are
now enjoying their new free
doms to loot and pillage
Baghdad.
But consider the math:
Baghdad is (or was) a city of
roughly 5 million people. A
show of support from thou
sands, even 10 thousand, would
be, at best, 0.2 percent of the
population. USC shows more
solidarity at a Gamecock foot
ball game. Granted, USC has a
better record against visiting
teams.
The lack of activity you per
ceive is not an acceptance of
the war’s outcome. It is a
stunned silence as we witness
the installment of yet another
corrupt Iraqi government,
sponsored by American inter
ests, as the rest of the nation
must stand idly by or be de
famed as un-American.
Finally, I must inform you
that your sense of irony is irre
vocably lost. How could you
possibly write^protecting your
pathetic self from foreign con
quest” and still be talking
about the United States? From
whom are we in fear of being
conquered? Iraq? Sorry, Iraq’s
national back is broken from 12
years of harsh economic sanc
tions and impending civil war.
And considering how quickly
we rolled over it, I doubt it
could have been a threat.
Perhaps you mean
Afghanistan? But that makes
no sense; after bombing them
into rubble, we’ve rebuilt them
into a willing stronghold of
democracy. Now they are one
of our strongest allies, right?
Perhaps we could take that
model to Iraq as well.
How about you, Cox, climb
out of the state media spin ma
chine and policy of acquies-'
cence you’re in and learn to
deal with the freedoms this na
tion is founded on. Oh, and
wash your hands. The oil on
them is unbecoming.
MICHAEL JACOBS
FOURTH-YEAR COMPUTER-SCIENCE
STUDENT
Student shouldn’t
assume so much
As a co-founder of Carolina
Food Not Bombs, I must say
that the recent attack on our or
ganization in The Gamecock by
Bryan Cox is completely un
warranted.
Clearly, this man has little
knowledge of what our organi
zation stands for. Food Not
Bombs is a nationwide move
ment that started in either
Boston or San Francisco (it’s
highly debatable). Its main mis
sion as an organization is to pro
vide free food to the homeless
without having a prerequisite
for the meal, i.e. a church ser
vice. The food comes from dona
tions from area restaurants and
grocers from what would other
wise have been thrown away.
Food Not Bombs as an orga
nization has the goal of raising
awareness of the homeless situ
ation here in the United States
by protesting the billions upon
billions of dollars spent each
year on our war-based foreign
policy and economy that could
be better spent helping the less
fortunate. This amount of mon
ey could be spent to help our so
ciety thrive, but instead it is
wasted on bombs, tanks and
planes while millions of our o wn
citizens die every single day
from living on the streets.
The food served by Food Not
Bombs represents a relatively
small portion of all that is dis
posed of on a daily basis — mil
lions of tons — that is perfectly
fine and reusable, but simply
wasted.
Food Not Bombs is a commu
nity service. We are trying to
clean up the state of our nation’s
population. What are you doing
to help us along, Cox?
Condescend all you want; the
war in Iraq was not a failure for
our movement, but instead a fail
ure for the United States’ foreign
relations and foreign-policy mak
ers. Those citizens you mention
welcome the aid we are giving
them, yes, and also the fall of
Saddam Hussein, but they do not
want us there by a large margin.
Rest assured that the war is not
over and that we intend to stop
naked aggression and direct vio
lation of the U.S. Constitution and
international law that we claim
to be defending.
MATT SMITH
FIRST-YEAR HISTORY STUDENT
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major, if a student. E-mail letters to
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Call the newsroom at 777-7726 for more
information.
Statue
would
be going
too far
ALYSON BIRD
GAMECOCKVIEWPOINTS@HOTMAIL.COM
State House isn’t the
place for a 6-foot fetus.
I was eating lunch when I read
about the proposed bill calling for
a 6-foot statue of an unborn child
atop a 2-foot base to be placed in a
“prominent location” on the State
House grounds. Just visualizing
a fetus monument taller than I am
turned my stomach.
Displaying the Confederate flag
was too controversial, but now we
might display an elevated, giant,
underdeveloped, dead baby? That
might sound graphic, but that’s
exactly what it will be.
u ay memDers oi me property
Tax Subcommittee are present on
Tuesday, the House will vote the
monument’s construction. I hope
our legislators leave their hearts
out of this one and use their heads.
Who will want to walk or drive
by the State House if they have to
pass such a nightmarish specta
cle? Who will want to show their
children where our state’s laws
are made if they have to expose
them to the concept of abortion
before they’re old enough to un
derstand human reproduction?
If this bill is passed, our State
House grounds will be a real mul- '
timillion-dollar freak show: a
monster outside, a few crazy folks
inside, and all our money going
to keep it running.
The anti-abortion movement is
respectable — an example of free
speech upholding the American
ideal of the natural right to life.
And I’m confident this bill will
never pass, but is merely an at
tempt to encourage anti-abortion
sentiments. What a failure.
You don’t have to accept abor
tion to accept that it’s not just a
20th-century problem, and it’s not
just going to end if we make it ille
gal. It’ll justleave desperate wom
en dead after seeking abortions by
whatever means are left.
I am a staunch opponent of par
tial-birth abortions: A fetus that
has been developing for months
is as much a person as you and I.
And I favor proposed legislation
forcing minors seeking abortions
to inform their parents. So many
grown women live in regret that
impulsive young girls should not
be allowed to accept carrying that
baggage alone.
But my anti-abortion senti
ments only extend so far.
If we erect this monument, it
will haunt those women who have
already had abortions. Granted,
memorials to the dead enrich us
as humans, but only when we
willingly seek them. If they are
shoved in our face, what is sup
posed to make us think will just
annoy us and desensitize us to the
underlying message.
If spiritual motives of men in
suits lay the foundation for the bill,
someone should tell them that the
real “good Christian” approach is
helping those who have already
had abortions recover physically,
mentally and emotionally — and
helping those considering seeking
abortions by calmly presenting the
alternatives in literature on adop
tion services, pregnancy camps
and support groups.
Sure, a picture is worth a thou
sand words, but this monument
would only conjure up words un
printable from me. We should
leave this graphic madness to the
anti-abortion nuts who park their
van on Greene Street and yell at us
all. At least we can give them nasty
looks, and at least they aren’t mak
ing our laws inside that van.
Spending money on a 6-foot -
tall dead baby in the heart of our
city won’t help anything, except
to perhaps affirm stereotypes
against our state.
__
Bird is a first-year print
journalism student.