Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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10 THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, October 8, 2003 , SOUND OFF ONLINE POLL Create message boards at Should the College of www.dailygamecock.com or Liberal Arts and the College send letters to the editor to °f Math and Science merge? gamecockopinions@hotmail.com www.dailygamecock.com. Results published on Fridays. IN OUR- OPINION RAs can help ease burden As cyberspace grows increasingly treacherous, students on campus need all the protection they can get their hands on. Computer services has an 80-person staff, and because of budget crises, it doesn’t look to be gaining more people any time soon. Resident advisers, however, could help with the burden when computer disasters strike. If the university decides to train RAs in technical support, however, the RAs should receive a raise for Computer infections, especially worms, are virtually impossible to contain once on the server and can cripple the entire campus if not handled swiftly and competently. their added obligations. It’s not necessary for RAs to become hard-core experts concerning computers and software. Individual students should take responsibility for their computers and learn about virus-protection updates and network patches. Computer infections, especially worms, are virtually impossible to contain once on the server and can cripple the entire campus if not handled swiftly and competently. When rabid computer worms Blaster and Nachi hit campus earlier this semester, more than 1,500 computers were infested. But if another virus or worm were to strike campus, RAs could help alleviate an overworked Computer Services staff. With possible attacks coming daily, RAs need to know the basics to be a valuable resource to the students for which they are responsible. . ; • * '-r-' 1 ' ■. 'WRi ' Winners and Sinners DO-NOT-CALL LIST Court allows Federal Trade Commission to enforce program for time being. CHICAGO CUBS Break 95-year playoff-series curse and teach the Braves some humility. COLONIAL CENTER The mighty Gamecocks can now claim they play in the beautiful Colon’. THURSDAY-NIGHT GAME Screw exams. The nation’s going to watch us pummel Kentucky. RUSH LIMBAUGH Racist or merely inept? Either way, he’s got a great face for radio. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER He’ll be back — to grope again. COURTNEY LOVE Arrested for allegedly being under the influence of a narcotic. What a surprise. GAMECOCK CORRECTIONS If you see an error in today’s paper, we want to know. E-mail us at gamecockopinions@hotmail.com. ABOUT THE GAMECOCK Editor in Chief CONTACT INFORMATION Charles Tomlinson Offices on third floor of the Russell House. Editor in Chief: gamecockeditor@hotmail.com Managing Editor News: gamecockudesk@hotmail.com Adam Beam Viewpoints: gamecockopinions@hotmail.com The Mix: gamecockmixeditor@hotmail.com News Editor Sports: gamecocksports@hotmail.com Michael LaForgia Public Affairs: gckpublicaffairs@hotmail.com Online: www.dailygamecock.com . . _... Newsroom: 777-7726 Asst. News Editor _... . 777 on.. .. ...... Editor s Office: 777-3914 Alexis Stratton STUDENT MEDIA The Gamec°ck is the Viewpoints Editor editorially independent Gabrielle Sinclair Director student newspaper of Scott Lindenberg the university of South _. ... .... Carolina. It is The Mix Editor Faculty Adviser published Monday, Meg Moore Erik Collins Wednesday and Friday during the fall and Sports Editor Creative Director spring semesters and Brad Senkiw Susan King nine times during the summer, with the Asst. Sports Editor Business Manager «^°n°"Sity Wes Woffe Carolyn Griffin holidays and exam j periods. Opinions expressed in The Photo Editor Advertising Manager Gamecock are those of Morgan Ford Sarah Scarborough the editors or author and not those of the Head Page Designer Classified Manager University of South Shawn Rourk Sherry F. Holmes Carolina. The Board of Student Publications D and Communications Page Designers ‘nager Is the publisher of The Justin Bajan. Samantha Amber Justice Gamecock. The Hall, Staci Jordan, Philkp Department of Student Whitehead Creative Services Media is the Whitney Bridges, newspaper’s parent Slot Copy Editors Robbie Burkett, organization. The Amy Genoble, Alyson Sean °’Meara Gamecock is Goff, Tricia Ridgway supported in part by Advertising Staff student-activity fees. Copy Editors John Blackshire. Mary Waters, Steven Van Adam Bourgoin, Ben rea er. i lona Haren, Jessica Foster. Sinclair. Jesica oarh Alicia Osborne Johnson. Ryan Gorman. Laytoya ™e h Hi of Student Media. Online Editor James Tolbert TO PLACE AN AD -..hi,, The Gamecock Advertising: 777-3888 K fe er v O essler 1400 Greene St. J Classif,ed 777-1184 Kimberly Dressier Columbia, S.C. 29208 Fax:777-6482 f IT woutV \riV. / a UCT (5eTTf|2 ' Th^- geST Of -TH^ CO^TRT JI/5T VOT6I? To £6cau. cau^n/ia'/y STAlfH^O / —nrw /^OVNPHA RnAc^ ' 0/ o I s ivvs\ Ay] of). 5?A‘W*t' ' r^A CARTOON COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS Spend the extra cash wisely JULIE COOK GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM There are better ways for SG to use big funds. Student Senate votes today on a plan by President Katie Dreiling, Vice President Zach Scott and Treasurer Ben Edwards about what to do with $190,000 in excess student activity fees. The plan calls for such unnec essary expenditures as a GPS sys tem for shuttle buses and signs large enough to be seen from space. If we need more technolog ically cutting-edge expenditures instead of plain old asphalt park ing lots, why doesn’t SG get a Carolina Commuter Plane express service? With nonstop service to Gambrell and the coliseum, it would cut down on travel time be tween classes more than a call to find out the location of the shuttle bus. Maybe SG could even spend a few of those extra bucks on a few 14-foot high arrival and departure screens. It’d sure beat the $6,000 “you are here” maps. If SG is searching for more ridiculously costly ways to dis pose of this money, I have a few suggestions. Sidewalks that move are an other way to address “parking is sues" without actually solving them. Since students can’t drive to class because there is no where remotely nearby to park, at least a moving sidewalk could get us where we’re going somewhat quickly. A textbook credit, in the same vein as George W. Bush’s tax credit after the budget surplus, could also benefit students. Divide the money among all stu dents enrolled full-time and give them a credit to use toward next semester’s textbooks. Comfy leather seats in the stu dent section of the Carolina Center or a bowling alley would be examples of putting money to good use. The money could be used to lure Quentin Tarantino to shoot a movie on campus or entice Ben and J.Lo to consider becoming guest professors. We could probably even pay off a few select referees and NCAA officials to guarantee some impressive victories over LSU and Florida, the SEC divi sion title, and a great bowl bid. On-campus living could be im proved with a TiVo in -every dorm room, not to mention lap tops, TVs and DVD players. If parking is still a problem, we could invest in valets to move our cars from those not-quite legal places we park them during the weekends to the student garages before the meter maids arrive Monday morning. The leftover hundreds could fund transplanting the squirrels on the Horseshoe to Central Park. Remember when Student Governments promised things like Free Pizza Friday or senior class trips? Those were the days when representatives truly served the interests of the stu dents who selected them. My hope is that our senators will think over the plan and amend it to better suit the people who gave up their money for these fees to begin with. It’s odd enough that senators, save Lara Bratcher, have had no input on this major SG decision. This is SG’s chance to justify their existence. SG exists because —well, that’s your cue, Senators. By helping all of us get what we constantly ask for and whine about, they would be on the level of the Make a Wish Foundation in my book. Cook is a third-year art history and political science student. IN YOUR OPINION ‘Indian’ is the right word for headline I must congratulate The Gamecock on the choice of words for the title of the report (“Indian film draws celebrity objections,” Oct. 6,2003). By terming it an “Indian” movie instead of inap propriately labeling it a “South Asian” movie, a practice adopted by many a mainstream American medium, the Gamecock has set a good example. India has both a subconti nent and an ocean named after it. It has the fourth largest econ omy, the largest democracy in the world and is one of America’s biggest trading part ners in information technolo gy. The Indian-American com munity in the US is the richest ethnic community, with an es timated 200,000 millionaires out of a total of 1.7 million, accord ing to a Merrill Lynch report. ’ It is intellectual laziness on the part of the American main stream media to continue to club India with countries such as Pakistan — run by a dicta tor and seen by many as an epi center of international terror — into a common “South Asian” identity. Therefore, Indians on the USC campus should thank and congratulate' The Gamecock for showing the way. DINESH CHANCHALANI COMPUTER SCIENCE DOCTORAL CANDIDATE Tech support not RAs’ responsibility While the need to improve computer technical support is noble, the fact that SG President Katie Brewing wishes to do so by burdening the already overburdened RAs is a bit suspect. It’s already up to RAs to not only be the de facto enforcers of USC’s rules and policies (some of them rather arcane), but also to be the friends and shoulders for the students on their floor. Now they have to be tech support? Please, look for another way to solve the problem before throwing it on the already strained backs of RAs. SEAN SIBERIO FIRST-YEAR BUSINESS STUDENT TV conservatives running rampant I have a question for Jonathan Buerkert, whose let ter appeared in Monday’s paper (“Conservative words distorted by media,” Oct. 6): Where exact ly is this liberal bias in the me dia? After hours of analyzing numerous cable news networks and local news media outlets, I think I have a few clues as to what you’re babbling about. Perhaps you’ve seen Fox News in the past couple of weeks where, on the show “Hannity and Colmes,” they have said nu merous times that “liberals in power frighten” Hannity and that liberals “just don’t get it.” I think you’re right—that’s just a little too liberal. Or maybe you’re referring to Bill O’Reilly who promises “fair and bal anced” reporting, yet just like his counterpart Chris Matthews invites liberals on the show only to interrupt them while speak ing or even to tell them they are stupid for not being Republican. You might be referring to MSNBC and CNN, which took just a few days more to fire their liberal commentators and, suck up to The Party than Fox News did. (Phil Donahue comes to mind.) Or maybe you think The State newspaper is too liberal with its constant support of President Bush and his god-like abilities — even though we face 3 million lost jobs and a larger-than-life deficit — through a barrage of editorial pieces and articles. Maybe you mean the local TV networks, which by far are the most liberal with the WIS-TV station only hav ing a little over 30 yellow ribbons on its building. And the people in the city? Liberal as well with only one yellow ribbon on every man, woman and child, wishing for the day they can serve The Party as real Americans do. Just like you Jonathan Buerkert, I am irked at all the liberal bias in media! Actually, I think I’ve probably nailed down the thing that really makes you mad: You’re P.O.’d that you can’t watch every chan nel on television and be bom barded by conservative politics. Lighten up; ESPN is a sports net work, for crying out loud! Limbaugh had no place on the show in the first place. Of course, I can offer another opinion — which I know your conservative little heart can’t stand me having. I think you’re upset that another stuffed-shirt, prominent conservative figure got caught eating his foot and was called out on it, which seems to be happening oh-so frequently these days. MATTHEW SMITH SECOND-YEAR HISTORY STUDENT Submission Policy Letters to the editor should be less than 300 words and include name, phone number, professional title or year and major, if a student. E-mail letters to gamecockopinions@hotmail.com. Letters will be edited. Anonymous, letters will not be published. Call the newsrcjom at 777-7726 for more information. America suffers tolerance addiction 'll III.I in RYAN HOLT GAMECOCKOPINIONS@HOTMAIL.COM Respect people, but not necessarily their views. I don’t doubt the greatness of democracy. For generations, the profound idea of freedom flour ished in the United States, respect ed and promoted by the citizens of our country. However, during the ‘ past decade, the appreciation for democracy has translated into an obsession with tolerance. The leaders of this “tolerance movement” build on the relativism of our day, saying “what is good for you is good for you, and what is good for me is good for me, so let’s respect each other.” It sounds nice at first, but fine print yields some concern. I’ve seen the revolution. I grew up in an environment that pro moted views similar to mine. But one day, when I was having a spir itual discussion with a newfound friend, someone overheard our conversation and pointed out that it was OK for me to share my be liefs as long as I didn’t push them on someone else. I felt strange that | someone would say that. Her in tent was to explain to me that I had to be tolerant of everybody else; if not, I would be intolerant. I then realized that a new type of person has seized the mentality of many Americans. The approach of addicts of tol erance allows for the appreciation of a diverse arena of perspectives, some of which are completely re pulsive. If we were tolerant in such a manner, we would accept Hitler murdering millions of Jews or we would accept al Qaida’s destruc tion of U.S. buildings and American lives. If we were toler ant in this way, we would accept the massacre of a million Cambodians by leader Pol Pot. | In no way am I tolerant of these viewpoints. Some might call me a bigot. To them I would say, your claim of bigotry is an example of intolerance itself. With the current foundation of tolerance, the cycle is endless. Who s to say members of reli gions should respect every view point? When the tenants of some re ligions say that theirs is the only way to heaven, why should they be forced to be tolerant of the belief that all religious roads lead to paradise? Who’s to say that a member of Congress who spends his life on the floor arguing for a woman’s right to choose should be tolerant of the idea that abortion should be ille gal? For him to tolerate this would ' go against his belief. And who’s to say that a mother who spends her days fighting for lower tuition for her college-bound child should be tolerant of legisla tures’ decisions to raise it? This past week, Rush Limbaugh was pilloried for bringing up race. Religious representations such as the Ten Commandments have been'removed across the country for fear that people would take of fense. Simple words such as stew ardess and secretary have been deleted from the social dictionary in an effort to appease. I think we are never required to be tolerant of other opinions. Instead, I hope that we are un equivocally tolerant of others’ rights to hold these opinions. Despite our disagreements with principles, standards, opinions and beliefs, we should always be toler ant of people themselves. With that, I usher a challenge: Let’s create a new tolerance and replace the uneasiness of political correctness with a place where democratic rights allow us all to share our opinions, no matter how much others might disagree with them. Holt is a first-year political sciencf student.