Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, November 2, 1983
Obnoxious, part 2
Letters: Gay writer
raises questions
> Editor:
This is in reply to Miss Brown’s letter
last week. I would first like to thank her
for raising a very real question that I
think we all could benefit from ponder
ing: “Why are homosexual people tre
ated so differently from others?”
I am not gay. In fact, I have personally
always felt disgust and confusion when
considering the issue of homosexuality.
Miss Brown, I would like to thank you for
reminding me of the importance of
equality and respect for all — no matter
what race, religion or sexual preference
one may have. Now, please do not get me
wrong, I am not endorsing a public cam
paign of “Aggies Show Gay Support,” but
I do think that individually, we should
ponder our motives before tossing out a
faggot joke or biggoted remark (tell a
longhorn joke instead)!
Texas A&M is not a university that
discriminates against minorities, so why
should we, as individuals?
Miss Brown, although I do not sup
port the concept of homosexuality, I ap
plaud you for your honesty and courage.
will be more accepted in society, but until
then, get used to it.
Ray Watson *85
Since the publishing of a column a few
weeks ago about obnoxious people, I
have been approached by several stu
dents who have wanted to read more ab
out obnoxiousness.
Well here it is folks. Obnoxious: Book
II.
Obnoxious: Book II is dedicated to a
guy I danced with recently at the Texas
Hall of Fame. We were dancing when he
asked me, “Aren’t there any dance halls
in Amarillo?”
“Well, there is one,” I answered inno
cently. I then added, with a little laugh,
“Why? Am I doing that bad?”
Gays not singled out
Editor:
In response to “Basic Aggie Gay,” I
would like to suggest that Ms. Brown take
a good look around. Gays are not singled
out on this campus as scapegoats for any
jokes anymore than any other group. If
she is sure that gays are just like everyone
else, then why is it that they should not be
the butt of jokes, just like everyone else?
There are jokes about the Corps, the
non-regs, the greeks, the Jews, the Catho
lics, the Polish, the rich, the poor, etc.
Wisen up, Ms. Brown — if the gays are
to be like everyone else, then they must
‘ il
“Well you aren’t the best person I have
ever danced with,” he said.
I wanted to tell him that no one is a
great dancer after 12:30 a.m. and several
beers.
Mr. Obnoxious Dancer . . . this one’s
for you.
One of the most obnoxious things in
the world are pants that shrink while
clo
hanging in the closet for several months.
Girls who dress up as hobos for Hallo
ween in their week-old Calvin Kleins are
as obnoxious as people who never have
wrinkled clothes.
People who have no sense of humor
are extremely obnoxious as are people
who get on an elevator to go up only one
floor.
Another thing that is high up on the
list of obnoxiousness is when a police
officer tickets a person for going 75 mph
in a 45-mph zone when he was really only
going 71 mph.
Personally, I call it obnoxious if anyone
can eat barbeque chicken on a first date
without making a complete mess.
So is a person who can eat two hambur
gers, a burrito, a chili dog, two orders of
french fries, a six-pack of beer and a fried
pie, and not burp. After eating all that he
should have at least enough human de
cency to feel a little bit uncomfortable.
Those fiends who take other people’s
clothes out of the dryer before
dry are as obnoxious as those peof
always seem to find an open m
machine. fe
People whose class schedulesn\
come out scheduled around ther
rite soap operas are obnoxious.
Students who claim to be failing ® I r ‘* zo i ;
and then confess to having an mIT^ 6 i'
n u • Station h
average are really obnoxious. f m i ssa g,
Anyone who studies in lieu offekhses <
mediately after a football gameis: | e g t - Stat
obnoxious but he is probably (Ik Yeag
person who claims to be flunking.gation o
88. County
. • i a secont
If you want to get downnghUr tG | n pi et(
about it, goody-two-shoes studef ourt h n
pretty obnoxious. Everyone hase&j j...
tered at least one of these gems . • , r n , 1(
righteousness. You know who sl
the student in a class of 150 whot(r tu ig S> ”
fessor knows will read the assigmuBher’ th
fore class. Kd un
But probably the most obnoxkwe’i e no
pie are those who swear they wi JLady
their final project done before'Lion’s I
sgiving and then actually doit. J lollst ^
The only people who are more ( () ‘ (
xious than those who finish projecJEjstitui
are the ones who count down ho ^ jeach,
days until Thanksgiving. By thtMKJnde
there are only 22 days to turkey these “cl
;ORB3CNW _
take the ridicule, too — no special treat
ment.
Donna Scheider
Carolyn Curry
Gays in minority
Pedestrians liable
Editor:
This letter is in response to The Batta
lion on Oct. 26. Maybe you do all the
things a “Basic Aggie” does on campus,
but you can not leave out the most impor
tant thing that makes us individuals: our
personalities.
Maybe you have no choice in your
sexual tendicies, but we all are born into
situations in which we have no choice. As
far as I’m concerned, gays have been, are
and always will be minorities. My advice is
to ept the situation and deal with it. If you
expect to get any special sympathy or
consideration from the other 35,000 of
us, you can forget it! Your frustration
about the jokes is only a sign that you are
insecure about your own sexuality. If you
really have accepted being gay, the jokes
shouldn’t bother you. In society today,
the ridicule will accompany you wherever
you go. Maybe in 200 years, homosexuals
Editor:
This letter is im response to a letter
written by Mr. Weiss on Oct. 24.
Mr. Weiss, when did you become an
authority on the traffic laws of this state?
What you stated in your letter about
pedestrians always having the right-of-
way is absolutely false. If you have ever
been in an auto-pedestrian accident, you
will find that a pedestrian has the right-
of-way only at an intersection or a cross
walk. I can also tell you that a pedestrian
can be charged with failure to yield right-
of-way.
I belive that it would be advisable in the
future, Mr. Weiss, to check your facts
thoroughlu before you go about dispens
ing your advice to people who may just
elh
belive you.
Brian A. Koontz ’86
College
Against
ing org;
. Pe g?
I League
[tion, sai
■ Bryan-(
Tip O’NeilTs blindfold patriotism out of style
by Steve Gerstel
United Press Internationa)
WASHINGTON — Speaker Thomas
O’Neill, now nearing 71, may be living in
a political world that no longer exists — a
world that died in the Vietnam War.
O’Neill’s old-fashioned approach during
a national crisis is to rally around the flag
on whatever foreign soil it is planted by
American Marines, American Rangers.
In the past month, O’Neill has given a
remarkable demonstration of this form
of blindfold patriotism.
To begin with, O’Neill strongly sup
ported an 18-month extension of the U.S.
presence in Lebanon, as requested by
President Reagan.
This, despite the serious misgivings
among many younger, more vocal Demo
crats under his command and the near-
unanimous opposition of Senate Demo
crats.
After the Beirut massacre, O’Neill
once again rallied to Reagan’s call that the
Marines must stay in Lebanon.
And in the days after the invasion of
tiny Grenada by 2,000 U.S. soldiers and
leathernecks, the speaker refused to criti
cize the administration’s action, of which
he was informed but on which he was not
consulted.
“I’ll have plenty to say about this after
the action is over,” O’Neill said on the
second day of fighting in Grenada. “This
is not the time in my opinion for my party
or the press to try to divide the nation.
“It’s great to be partisan but there are
times when people have to be patriotic
too,” O’Neill said. “I’ll have plenty to say
about Grenada when the action is over
and our boys are secure.”
O’Neill’s genuine patriotism and his
sincere efforts not to make either Leba
non or Grenada a partisan issue are laud
able.
Yet, in neither case would O’Neill’s cri
ticism endanger the security of Amer
icans under fire.
What is lost, however, is a major voice
in opposition. And only O’Neill, as the
:d ~
highest-ranking elected Democrat, can
provide that.
The criticism leveled at the administra
tion’s policies in Lebanon and the inva
sion of Grenada by rank-and-file Demo
crats, in addition to good number of Re
publicans, has negligible impact.
The O’Neill approach was the prevail
ing one in Congress during the Korean
War, the invasion of the Dominican Re
publican and the Vietnam War.
Only because it existed, was President
Lyndon Johnson able to rush through
the Gulf of Tonkin resolution — which
he then used as a a virtual declaration of
Only two back-bench senatoi
Ernest Gruening of Alaska and!
Morse of Oregon — rose in oppoi
smothered by their colleagues eaf
give Johnson a free hand.
war.
The unquestioning loyalty tea
idential action that sends Ameriaa
combat is no longer valid. Manyc
Democrats, and some of the Repubi
recognize that.
“I’ll have my views and mv saji
what the president did, whetherl
he was right or wrong, when I (hit
the proper time to speak up,” O’Net
after the invasion of Grenada.
That, in O’Neill’s case, is really®
The Battalion
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77843.
Auto safety proposals overdone
by Dick West
United Press International
flash automatically when the braking car
reached a stop.
WASHINGTON — A third brake light
the government has ordered installed on
all new cars beginning in 1985 still does
not meet all the safety concerns of some
of the more nervous organizations.
For example, Dale Lowdermilk, ex
ecutive director of NOT SAFE, has called
for a “twelfth light” by 1993 and “a full set
of brightly colored blinking strobes” by
the turn of the century.
As part of its goal of “protecting every
one from everything at any cost,” NOT
SAFE subscribes to the motto that “if it’s
worth doing right, it’s worth over doing.”
Only the very rash could quarrel with
that precept.
Would not motorists feel safer if they
knew another driver was slowing down
without braking? You bet they would.
Lights to indicate a reduction in velocity
are an idea whose time has come.
device could be augmented by
atop the car. It would burn whenlli
exceeded the speed limit and tut
when the brake light came on.
Slouch
I don’t necessarily agree with Lowder
milk on the need for a 15 mph national
speed limit. Nor do I endorse his demand
for “radar guided lasers” to “incinerate
the tires of any auto following too
closely.”
by Jim Eai
I can’t even urge that the Transporta
tion Department require that new motor
vehicles be equipped with rear bumper
gadgets that would simulate screeching
brakes and tire smoke.
Two years hence, an extra taillight,
mounted near the rear window, will emit
a red glow when the car’s brakes are ap
plied. Although this may help prevent
rear-end collisions, as the Transportation
Department envisions, it gives no warn
ing to drivers approaching from the
other direction.
Neither, I might add, would the pin
ball machine lighting arrangement advo
cated by Lowdermilk.
I do, however, secon i Lowdermilk’s
motion that all cars have “a special tam
per-proof electro-shock device” that
would be activated whenever a car is
speeding.
“Ten thousands volts can be a great
safety tool,” Lowdermilk writes in his
latest news release.
Yes, but electrocuting a speeder might
far.
Even a regulation requiring that autos
have front brake lights wouldn’t go far
enough. There still would be no light to
be carrying the safety campaign too
Merely galvanizing the driver should
suffice. Nobody wants to drive for long
all a-tingle from an electrified car seat.
If need be, however, the electro-shock
‘We need your signature
this letter to the editor, f
figure out what the issut
going to be later. ”