Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, February 11, 1986
Opinion
Malltigers continue to thrive
despite hostile environment
This past weekend
I received quite an 1
education in ani-
mal science. I
don’t usually go to
a shopping mall,
but I was feeling a
little masochistic,
so I loaded up the
checkbook and
went off in search
of new pants. LorOfl Steffy
Naturally every- 1 1 ■ - ■ —
one else had the same idea, so tne mall
was chock-full of slow-moving fat peo
ple and kids with runny noses. Shop
ping under these conditions I refer to as
“getting mailed.”
But in the middle of my bemallment,
I came upon a wonderous sight — wild
life. There were big cats in the middle of
the mallway! At first they looked like
Bengal tigers and African lions, but I
soon found this was not the case.
I forced my way through the crowd to
where one of the attendants was stand
ing. I asked the man who was putting
the Good Housekeeping Seal of Appro
val on one of the cages what kind of
creatures these were.
“Malltigers,” he replied.
“Malltigers?” I repeated, somewhat
confused.
“They’re a distant relative of feline
family that thrives in shopping centers.
These particular beasts were born in the
wilds of Bloomingdale’s.”
“How can a tiger be born in Bloo
mingdale’s?”
“Well, it’s still a bit of a mystery. Sci
entists have found that the cages go up
first. Once they’re fully developed, the
animals just sort of appear.”
“What happens when there gets to be
too many for one cage?”
“That’s been the biggest problem. We
tried redistributing them to other de
partments at first, but eventually we had
to start relocating them in other stores
and malls.”
“Isn’t that cruel, taking them out of
their natural habitat?”
“Not at all. Proper mall wildlife man
agement is very humane. Of course, you
hear of some freak accidents, like the
mailed eagles that flew into the ceiling
fan in Gimbles, but that’s an exception.
We have to take care of them. How else
would they get fed? Nature planned it
all out with the mall offices.”
“There sure seem to be a lot of lionesses
in that one cage,” I said.
“Oh, well Bloomie lions were born in
that kind of environment. They’re very
inactive and they’re used to compan
ionship. They wouldn’t be happy if
there weren’t at least eight to a cage.”
“What if one of them turns on that
little kid who’s blasting them with that
Rambo Automatic Water Rifle?”
The attendant began to get indig
nant. “Sir. these are not vicious jungle
animals. They have to be prodded,
pinched,yelled at, gawked at, made fun
of and pelted with small objects in order
to survive. It’s what Nature intended for
them. Look at how docile they are.”
He pointed to a child who was having
his pictui'e taken with one of the mal-
Itiger cubs. While the photographer was
reloading, the kid stuck his finger in the
cub’s eye.The little cat purred.
“See?” the attendant said. “They love
it.”
“It musthurt,” I said.
“All malltiger cubs are born with an
inner eyelid that protects their eyes
from children’s fingers. Nature takes
care of her own.’ -
I looked at the adult malltiger step
ping over his comrades in the cage. He
found a comfortable-looking storelion
in the corner and, after fluffing him up
a bit, lie down to take a nap.
“I ought to get one for my house,” I
thought out loud.
“You, sir, are despicable,” the atten
dant retorted. “Taking a malltiger out
of its naturalenvironment is cruel. They
wouldn’t lasta day in the wild.”
Loren Steffy is a junior journalism ma
jor and the Opinion Page editor for
The Battalion.
MAftCOllES
G>I9B6 HWWCrt POST
United Feature Syndicate
Christa McAuliffe’s legacy
A few weeks
ago I wrote a piece
about schoolteach-
ers going into
space. I speculated
as to what kinds of
candidates my
own teachers at PS
35 would have
made if they had
applied for the
trip. It was a light
piece because, like most Americans, I
never dreamed anything could happen
to the flight of the shuttle Challenger.
During the last numbing week, as I
watched the television screen, I got to
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Kay Mallett, Managing Editor
Loren Steffy, Opinion Page Editor
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Travis Tingle, Sports Editor
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thinking about teachers. Although
Christa McAuliffe wasn’t a professional
astronaut, she did leave behind a won
derful legacy.
Consider this.
For the past 15 or 20 years, America’s
teachers could not have been held in
lower esteem. They were underpaid,
underrated and blamed for anything
that went wrong with our schools.
It appeared the only time we saw tea
chers on TV was when they were on
strike or arrested for child abuse. The
perception was that teachers were peo
ple who taught because they couldn’t
make it in the rea/world.
Except for covering vandalism and
crime in schools, the media ignored
what was going on the classroom. And
with reason: if teachers were teaching,
and students were learning, it wasn’t
news — that is until the destruction of
Challenger.
Suddenly our schools received more
attention than they have ever been
given before. Seven brave people died
that morning, but it was the death of a
schoolteacher that made our children
cry.
When the TV cameras entered the
nation’s classrooms to record their grief,
we saw principals &nd teachers fighting
back their own tears as they tried to
comfort the students.
The cameras not only focused on tea
chers but also panned to the agonized
faces of the students. They showed tea
cher to pupil and pupil to teacher —and
in that moment of sadness we witnessed
the educational process at its best.
When these pictures came into our
homes we were reminded of something
we tend to take for granted: the role tea
chers quietly play in the lives of chil
dren.
The lesson was not just for grown
ups. You had the feeling that the stu
dents had gained a new respect for tea
chers as well.
It went something like this. “Christa
was a teacher, and Christa died in space,
but it could have been anybody’s teacher
— including mine.”
So what was Christa McAuliffe’s le
gacy?
When Sputnik went up and we real
ized the Russians were ahead there was
a great clamor to educate American
children and make our schools second
to none. Then after the successes of our
own space program, the clamor died
down. Education was dropped as our
No. 1 priority.
At least it was until last week. After
that one horrifying moment in Florida,
things changed again.The parent-tea
cher-pupil bond that had been fraying
for a generation seemed to be joined
again.
Christa McAuliffe’s gift to us is not in
the skies but here on earth. From every
thing you can read, she was a teacher
before she went up and she intended to
be a teacher when she returned. In
death her legacy is to give her fellow
professionals new dignity and honor.
Thanks to Christa, each one of them can
say with pride, “I’m a teacher too.”
Art Buchwald is a columnist for the
Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length. I he editorial staff rm
right to edit letters for style and length but will make every effort to maintain thn
intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the address and telephone nut
the writer.
Unprovoked and vindictive
EDITOR:
We are writing in response to Karl Pallmeyer’s column ofjai
“The Liberty Federation: new name, same game.” We were trulyeu!;
rassed that his article was published in The Bait. We felt that it wasn’tl
morous, and that it was unprovoked and vindictive. We further felt;
his cute little recommendations of possible names (and abbreviations
uncalled for (especially in Falwell’s Universal Commie Killers). Since*
is profanity necessary to make a point? We guess we should haveexpec
it out of one of the founders and writers of Students Helping li
Trouble.
While we would not classify ourselves as Falwell Followers, we do
lieve that men of all walks of life, including preachers and those greaif
lectors of democracy, the journalists (“ha ha"), have a right to have ;
ions of people and their ideas. However, when expressing theiropi:
about someone else’s ideas in a public forum, people should justify
opinions with reasons why they do not adhere to another’s viewpoint
not resort to personal attacks to try to make their point.
Such attacks are tasteless and fail in their attempt to sway an audio
views. In his article, he implies that Falwell would like to burn evero
knowm to man (except the Bible) and that he supports fascisman^
Carthyism, yet he provides no evidence to back up such statements'
we all know that Falwell is not the simpleton that Pallmeyer implies,
wouldn’t have attracted so many loyal supporters.
We never will understand why some journalists fielieve that itis
for people of all professions except religion to express their politic!
liefs. One of the intentions of the separation of church and stateh
government was to keep the U.S. government from officially supp:
and bankrolling one religion, not to gag anyone with any religiouscot
tions whatsoever.
However, if Karl feels some sadistic, uncontrollable urge to perse
all religious leaders who dabble in politics, we’ll give him a tewc
names of religious leaders who have become involved in politics
Jackson (lie ran for president in 1984 — remember, Karl?), the pope
mand Tutu (who won a Nobel Peace Prize), Ghandi and Martin Li
King Jr. (he even has a national holiday in his honor).
In short, if Pallmeyer must criticize someone, he should at least
vide some semblance of justification for his views. We would havetho
that with all of his worldly experience and knowledge which he ha
pressed through past columns, he could have at least backed u|
thoughts with some evidence, especially when lie’s been given halfo
Opinion Page to do it in.
Mike Head
Mike Neben
Clay Paulos
‘Lady’ not derogatory
EDITOR:
After reading Sheila J. Cloudt’s letter of Feb. 6, l really have
just what type of “woman” Ms. Cloudt is. In her letter she stalest
‘lady’ is a word which implies a ‘lifestyle’ — a way <>t passively -I
It isn’t a complimentary adjective.”
Concerning her statement of a “lady” just “passively existing,” !M
of no better example to contradict that than our own first lady.
Reagan is a “lady” in every sense of the word, and she is constantlyoiil
go. Traveling the countryside to speak out on school-age drugC
working with the Humane Society and helping further thecausesofj
ter Seals are just a few ways in which this “lady” passively exists.
As far as “lady” being a derogative adjective, according to Websitj
few of the definitions given for “lady” are as follows:
1) a woman of high social standing
2) a woman who is polite, refined and well-mannered
3) the title of respect given to a marchioness, countess or barond
spec
the daughter of a duke, marquis or earl, or to the wife of a baronet, Nj
or lord.
Seeing as I am neither a person of high social position orofroyall
age, I feel safe in assuming that when someone refers to me as a
they are, more than likely, referring to me as a woman who is polittl
fined and well-mannered, and I can in no way consider that as at
but a compliment. (Does a male being a “gentleman” make himanvl
a man? Quite the contrary I believe Cloudt).
My parents brought me up to be a woman of the ’80s. Theyt
that I can be anything that I want to be and achieve any goal Isetf
self if I persevere. But, they also taught me that in striving toreadii
goals and achievements I should always act like a lady, and I cant’
believe that being a “lady” can only helj) me to attain all that 1 am sol
for. I also can’t help but believe that there are many more “ladiesj
there who feel just as I do.
Pamela R. Pieratt
Gramm-Rudman and the shuttle
EDITOR:
The Challenger died on Jan. 28, taking with it seven crewmen^
wasn’t the first space disaster, nor will it be the last — unless,thatiii
media has its way.
The TV stations in particular. They covered the shuttle explosion
the exclusion of all else — until well into the night; over 12 hoursoft*
sive video coverage of an event about which nothing was really kno^J
say that’s going a bit to the extreme.
Such extensive coverage is liable to make the Challenger crash
Hindenberg kind of memorial to space travel, as that blimp wasti
the end of a dirigible flight. Indeed, such a regrettable end may all
have been accomplished.
The crash had several positive aspects, though. Vice President
and Sen. John Glenn got some good exposure when they rushed do 1
Florida to bask unshamedly in front of the TV cameras. And Ptf 9
Reagan — always the expert user of catastrophe — got his own
before history; an enviable prelude to his State of the Union
when all are sure to be quite attentive and expectant .... Politics,^
ence of thriving on disaster, is hot in this election year.
Again, on the positive side, maybe the American people will fin#
alize that space travel is really a risky and dangerous business;
will recognize that it is not the kind of thing to overly publicize bysd
attractive all-American teachers aloft. Maybe we will look upon spa®
as a Michener kind of adventure fit for the flashy media hype as I 1
companied the shuttle program from the beginning, but as respo
people who recognize that challenge must be met cautiously.
Maybe we will realize that the pressures on NASA to beacon# 1
fiscally independent operation has placed so much pressure on that 1
nization to succeed. Stress is the biggest cause of accidents. Hence, j
is not to blame, but the nation as a whole; the government espeda"'
being so demanding of NASA while the government itself cowswea
the looming prospect of making the operation of the governmental'
cally liable via the Cramm-Rudman bill.
William H. Clark, II