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Page 2AThe Battalion/Thursday, March 24, 1983
Complaints, praises
for satirical issues
Editor:
We're glad that you inserted Monday’s
“humor supplement” upside-down in
The Battalion, otherwise we would have
never found it. We were unable to find
the humor. You said it was subtle, but six
mentions of “precious bodily fluids” is
not subtle, it is juvenile.
In the editorial in the straight pages,
you claimed that the Aggie Rag was pat
terned after the Deadly Texan. Howev
er, a Battalion staffer was overheard tell
ing his English professor that you were
“going to show the Buttalion how it’s
done.” If he meant you were going to
show them how to put out a parody, you
missed the boat. It seems that they
showed you how it should be done by
coming out the day after the Rag.
Overall, the Aggie Rag lacked not only
humor, but also originality. The Emily
Latella and Francisco Franco jokes were
straight out of old Saturday Night Live
episodes. Some jokes, such as the apathy
bill which was not voted on, were even
older. The editorial policy was merely a
tame version of the policy from the first
Buttalion. The photographs were not
even original, obviously taken from Files.
At least you could have had an original
staff picture.
According to the editorial in the Rag,
Frank Irwin
Graduate Student
Editor’s Note: The advertisement that
appeared in The Aggie Rag was for ‘‘Trash, ’
not “Shear Trash."
Editor:
To: The editors, staff and mentality of
the Buttalion
I myself am not a conservative-
redneck-superpatriot type by nature,
therefore I can somewhat humorously
relate to your satirical publication.
However, I have a problem with what I
perceive to he your goals. If you want to
poke fun at the abundant supply of nar
row-minded, conservative hypocrites in
the world, that’s one thing. But if you are
somehow trying to make a stand for ra
tional, mature and sensible human be
havior, then you are missing the boat. By
offering negative satire without anything
constructive, your publication reeks of
smug, self-righteous cynicism. Say some
thing constructive if you want to effect
any real change around here.
P.S. Though there are indeed plenty
of seemingly hypocritical or fanatical re
ligious types around for you to make
cynical jibes about, your anti-intellectual
presuppositions about Christianity are
not warranted by any philosophical, his
torical or psychological evidence.
Unanonymously,
J.R.C. Robinson ’83
Editor:
Congratulations to the staff of The
Battalion for publishing The Aggie Rag.
I was genuinely surprised to discover that
you have so many clever, talented writers
on your staff. The Aggie Rag was an ex
ample of satire at its very best, and you
should all be proud of your ability to
parody the University with subtlety and
wit.
Good satire, written without malice, is
probably the most difficult kind of writ
ing, but you managed to do just what you
set out to do — you made us think, and
you made us laugh at ourselves. And you
did it tastefully, without resorting to
crude, vulgar language.
Bad satire, however, serves no pur
pose, and The Buttalion, which came out
one day after The Aggie Rag, was the
epitome of bad satire. It was tasteless,
crude, unimaginative, unoriginal, and
worst of all, BORING. The Buttalion
staff used absolutely no humor or subtle
ty. In fact, the only purpose The Butta
lion served was to give a few obnoxious
students and faculty members a place to
write dirty words. Come on, people —
that’s what bathroom walls are for.
To all of you who contributed to The
Aggie Rag, congratulations and thank
you for a truly humorous parody. And to
the so-called writers of The Buttalion —
give it up. You don’t know what satire is,
and you never will.
Starla Bradley
Graduate Student
Slouch
By Jim Earle
it seems that you had the same purpose
that those who put out the Buttalion had,
yet when it came out, you lambasted it.
Do you feel that something out of the
ordinary is acceptable only if you do it?
The Shear Trash advertisement was
impressive. We would have thought you
would fear repercussion from Shear
Class. That shows that at least you have
got some gall.
Your excessive apologies for offend
ing anyone led us to believe that you
actually wanted some people to be
offended. It seems that the only group
you came down hard on was SWAMP.
I his was probably due to the fact that
they displayed last fall’s issue of the But
talion and the rumor that they produced
the same. Yes, some of us are members of
SWAMP and no, SWAMP is not respon
sible for the Buttalion. Probably the only
people who were of fended by the Aggie
Rag were those who read the entire six
pages, hopelessly looking for intelligent
ly written satire and not finding any.
ence r.cb
ntfvvest. ’
clispU' v
Sl' e sal
pilxiniat
end-
>m the S
gas such
^J-kafisas.
P, Rylainlr
feauu t
iors and .
>ns, conn
IJoWs and
jiceSi icti 01
-Some ol
■own are
r ” “Star
kfan."
amts 1 h
ssional w
-pics such
Lights out to express dissents
by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Don’t be misled
by narrow interpretations of a federal
appeals court decision giving demonstra
tors the right to sleep in tents they have
permits to erect on National Park Service
property.
nonetheless exercising their constitution
al right of free speech — particularly
when snoring.
I myself happen to be a fairly eloquent
nd whil
A major constitutional issue was at
stake in this case. Make no mistake about
that. Military snoozers the country over
may sleep better at night because of the
outcome.
sleeper. And while I seldom demonstrate
against anything, I agree that keeping me
from the arms of Morpheus denys me a
means of selfexpression.
Does not the late Martin Luther King's
“I have a dream” speech still live in mem
ory? And is not dreaming a natural part
of slumber?
The ruling implies that sleeping may
be a form of protest that is protected by
the First Amendment.
That is exactly the point sleeping
activists have been trying to make for
years.
Of course it is. You don’t have to be a
federal judge to understand how sleep
ing and demonstrating complement each
other.
It is evident that grabbing a little shut
eye may be a way of expressing yourself
and therefore is covered by the first
speech guarantee. Anytime you see de
monstrators sawing logs you can be pret
ty sure they are trying to get a message
across.
Some Constitution experts try to argue
that a demonstrator must be talking in his
sleep before he is protected by the free
speech amendment. That interpretation
patently is too strict. The very act of fall
ing asleep can itself speak volumes.
The message may be only a tacit plea
for quiet in the vicinity. But they are
Suppose a potential campaign contri
butor dozes off while a senator is
announcing his candidacy for president.
The message thus imparted is, I sub
mit, more meaningful than any comment
he might make to political reMaP 1
Or what about a drama cnttllT A I
gins nodding during the secomip?
Broadway opening?
by ^
His droopy eyelids surelyldw
about his opinion of the plar A L rou a .,
review he might write. ave for !
Sleep is indeed a pithy forced ijytfr
pression. ( )r can Ik* when perfon, r f£ ( i ucat
subtle snoozer. Rtiuei
Sieve 1
Is the demonstrator sleepmsie center;
supine or on his side? Is he streamer's ass
or curled up in a fetal position met Joyce
breath through his mouth or^Texas Ai
Hary for tl
Each of these variations give le l np-
rent shade of meaning to the
is striving to convey alxnit thecP? 1 ^
which he is sleeping. Km'jmo
&M stuck
Since very few park servicerar fo Brazos
trained to distinguish betvveeudents w
undertaken f or communication! Pejovidi
which merely knits the ravelleds con p rn j cs
care, it is well to give all slumber^ cre i < ; l ‘ l h
nefit of the doubt. ^TeJe
How wise of the Founding
have recognized that principled ntei "p r j se
were drafting the Bill of Rights artment t
surages le
ee enter
Letters: More coaching complaints
i rough t
:tual on-s
Tlie cen
oviet Uni<
le could si
Editor:
This letter pertains to the new three-
year contract awarded basketball coach
Shelby Metcalf. Granted, he is the win-
ningest coach in SWC history with 186
victories, but combine this with 1 10 los
ses, you obtain a winning percentage of
only 59 percent: an F by A&M standards.
His overall percentage is slightly better at
66 percent (324-214), but still a D.
Although Metcalf is not a student, some
sort of system judging his success must be
implemented.
Some may argue Shelby’s ability to
recruit outstanding high school pros
pects justifies his continues employment
here at Texas A&M. Many believe these
recruits come to this University because
of coach Metcalf.
Although anyone who read the article
about freshman Doug Lee in The Batta
lion a few weeks ago realizes that players
such as Lee come here because they know
their chances of playing extensively as
freshmen are much greater here than at
basketball powerhouses. Take the case of
Jimmie Gilbert, who was recruited by two
1982 final-four teams, Houston and
Georgetown. Some say he came to A&M
because of coach Metcalf. Or was it be
cause he didn’t want to play back-up cen
ter for three years behind Olajuwon and
Ewing of Houston and Georgetown re
spectively? And what happens to these
great recruits of Shelby Metcalf? Ask
Rudy Woods.
A possible alternative to Metcalf would
be the coach of the Lamar Cardinals, who
consistantly wins 20 or more games a year
and attends the NCAA post-season tour
ney with smaller less talented players
than TAMU. So it would appear that the
Texas A&M ‘sixth man’ must be content
to watch Houston and Arkansas play on
TV for at least three more years. Thanks
Shelby.
starting at 5 p.m. when I was taking an
exam in the Academic Building, my con
centration was broken several times by
companies of Corps members who were
(loudly) singing their jodies as they were
passing by. My performance on the ex
amination was definitely adversely
affected by the recurring disturbance
they created. I do not mean to imply that
the Corps should not go on runs at all but
this is a big campus and if the members of
the Corps must sing their jodies there is
no need to run past buildings where ex
ams are possibly being given.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who was
disturbed during the exam. Disturbing
classes and exams is not the only problem
that Corps runs present to non-regs. Last
semester, a fairly large traffic backup was
caused on a Houston street when drivers
were forced to wait while sevei 1 ^" " '
of Cadets crossed. Sudi
panics v,. cm
show a disregard for the impoit^L ver j 1(
other people’s time and thebiisiif| sm j s ” j
traffic backup could have been%t isn’t th
by using a little more thoughtiilfor them
nating the run and staggeringi 1 The grc
at which the individual compaJ e |reedo
sed the street. Inked St;
ny phot
Again, let me emphasize thatirl^^J
saying that the Corps shouldnotw checkei
only saying that if the member;£,<1^ a u
Corps wish to maintain their tken froi
level of esteem among non-redhilegrou
must make an effort to be moreco| Bible to
ate when organizing Corps activitiP (m ed to
might interfere with non-regactif^e toi
eningrad
Marvin K. Miller. etUl '
Jeff Williams
Scott Guppies
Walton Hall
Corps disturbing exams
Editor:
On the Wednesday before spring break,
USPS 045 360
Member ot
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion
Editor Diana Sultenfuss
Managing Editor Gary Barker
Associate Editor Denise Richter
City Editor. Hope E. Paasch
Assistant City Editor Beverly Hamilton
Sports Editor John Wagner
Entertainment Editor Colette Hutchings
Assistant Entertainment Editor. . . . Diane Yount
News Editors Daran Bishop, Brian Boyer,
Jennifer Carr, Elaine Engstrom,
Shelley Hoekstra, Johna Jo Maurer,
Jan Werner, Rebeca Zimmermann
Staff Writers
Melissa Adair, Maureen Carmody,
Frank Christlieb, Connie Edelmon,
Patrice Koranek, John Lopez, Robert
McGlohon, Ann Ramsbottom, Kim
Schmidt, Patti Schwierzke, Kelley
Smith, Angel Stokes, Tracey Taylor,
Joe Tindel, Kathy Wiesepape
Copyeditors JanSwaner,
Chris Thayer
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Graphic Artists Pam Starasinic
Sergio Galvez Thompson, Fernando
Andrade
Photographers .... David Fisher, Eric Lee, Irene
Mees, John Makely, William Schulz
.■>1 Mill/.
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