k
Page 2/The Battalion/Thursday, March 13, 1986
Opinion
My book is better than yours
When I was in
high school I used
to hate taking En
glish courses. The
teacher would
make the class
read a book, tell us
what she had been
told it meant and
then ask us to re
peat what she had
said. 1 felt in-
sulted. I could read. I could come up
with my own interpretations about a
book. Why did she have to force her in
terpretations on me? Why couldn’t she
ask herself a few questions?
Four years ago I hated English. Now
I’m minoring in it. Now that I’m in col
lege my view of English courses has
changed because English courses have
changed. My teachers make the class
read a book and then ask us what we
think it means. Now that I’m allowed to
form my interpretations of what I read I
feel closer to the book. There are big
class discussions over the book and ev
eryone is allowed to form his or her own
opinions and interpretations of the
book. In the discussions you can further
your understanding of the book.
But there still are a lot of people like
my high school English teacher out
there. These people have a book they
like so much that they feel they have to
force their interpretation of that book
on everybody else. That book is the Bi
ble.
People feel strongly about their Bi
bles. These people think that since their
Bible is the absolute word for them it is
the absolute word for everyone else.
Since there are so many Bibles which
one is the absolute word?
Go to a book store and look for a Bi
ble. You will be able to find The King
James Concordance, The Rice Refer
ence Bible, The E.W. Bullinger Com
panion Bible, The Holy Bible in the
Language of Today: An American
Translation, The Modern Language Bi
ble, The Visualized Bible, The Scofield
Reference Bible, The New Scofield Ref
erence Bible, The New English Bible,
The Cambridge Pitt Minion Bible, The
Cambridge Compact Bible. The Cam
bridge Cameo Bible, The KJ V Compact
Text Bible, The Bride’s Bible, The
Smallest Bible, The Tim Testament,
The Master Study Bible, The Crown
Reference Bible, The Riverside Refer
ence Bible, the Personal Reference Bi
ble, The Ryrie Study Bible, The Open
Bible, The Thompson Chain Reference
Bible, The Thompson Chain Reference
Handsize Bible, The Hebrew-Creek
Key Study Bible, The Oxford NIV Sco
field Study Bible, The NIV Family Bi
ble, The NIV Study Bible, The Wom
an’s Bible, The Book, The Book for
Children, The Word, The Word for
Children, The Living Bible, The Living
Bible for Catholics, 1 he Living Bible for
Children, The Children’s Story Bible,
The Bible Illustrated for Little Chil
dren, The Lindsell Stud) Bible, Nave’s
Topical Bible, The New Nave’s Topical
Bible, Nave’s Compact Bible, Nave’s
Study Bible, Baker’s Topical Bible, The
One Year Bible, The New Catholic
Study Bible, The Good News Bible, The
Amplified Bible. The New Jerusalem
Bible, The New Oxford Annotated Bi
ble with the Apocrypha (Expanded Edi
tion), The Book in Dramatic Stereo,
The Bible (New Testament) narrated by
Alexander Scourby, Bible Challenge,
Bible Challenge (Youth Edition) and
many, many, many others.
There are about T) major English
translations of the Bible and countless
translations in every written language
on earth. It has been translated, re
translated and re-re-translated over
thousands of years. No one is really sure
who wrote it or when it was written. Few
people can read the original Hebrew
and Creek in which it was written. Many
people are willing to argue what, it
means. Many people have died because
of these arguments.
Some Bibles are distinctly different
from others. The Old Testament con
tains either 24, 39 or 46 books depend
ing on whether you're Jewish, Protes
tant or Catholic and there is some
disagreement about these books within
each particular denomination. The
Aprocrypha and several other gospels
are considered by some scholars to be a
part of the actual Bible while other
scholars discount some of the books that
have been included in most Bibles for
thousands of years. There’s even a huge
argument over who can be considered a
biblical scholar and who cannot.
There are five Bibles — the King
James Version, the New King James
Version, the Revised Standard Version,
the New English Bible and the New
Catholic Edition — that are used by the
majority of the English speaking world.
There is a bit of a difference between
the five.
Proverbs 14:15 in the King James
Version reads: “The simple believeth
every word: but the prudent man
looketh well to his going.”
Proverbs 14:15 in the New King
James Version reads: “The simple be
lieves every word, but the prudent man
considers well his steps.”
Proverbs 14:15 in the Revised Stan
dard Version reads: “The simple be
lieves everything, but the prudent looks
where he is going.”
Proverbs 14:15 in the New English
Bible reads: “A simple man believes ev
ery word he hears; a clever man under
stands the need for proof.”
Proverbs 14:15 in the New Catholic
Edition reads: “The innocent believeth
every word; the discreet man consid-
ereth his steps.”
Most of you are intelligent people.
Obviously you can read. Read your par
ticular Bible and form your particular
interpretations. You can talk to others
about your interpretations and perhaps
improve your understanding of the
book. But don’t be like my high school
English teacher. Don’t force your views
on everyone else. Don’t be afraid to ask
yourself some questions.
An idiot believes everything he’s told.
A wise man asks questions.
Karl Pallmeyer is a senior journalism
major and a weekly columnist for The
Battalion.
Monopolizing the friendly skies
I have very
mixed feelings
about permitting
Eastern Airlines to
join up with New
York Air. The two
carry the majority
of passengers be
tween Washington
— New York —
Boston, and have Art Buchwald
been the only ones ■ -
providing competition in the Northeast
corridor.
New York Air is known as the bagel
airline, because on mealtime flights its
stewardesses throw paper bags filled
with bagels and cream cheese at the pas
sengers. It also serves drinks, coffee and
beer. This doesn’t sound like much until
you’ve flown the Eastern Shuttle. The
only thing they give you is a stale timeta
ble. The reason the Eastern Shuttle will
not allow food in the air is that it prefers
to use its aisles in flight to collect your
fare for the trip.
Instead of an Eastern stewardess
asking if you want coffee, tea or milk,
she wants to know if you are going to
pay with cash, check or Mastercard.
To make up for the lack of refresh- -
ments in the air. Eastern keeps a hot pot
of coffee cooking in the waiting area
with free Danish on the side. As a sea
soned shuttle traveler I have always pre
ferred a New York bagel in the sky to an
Eastern Danish on the ground. Eastern
tries to make up for the no-food-while
flying policy by advertising that it gives
away Frequent Traveler trips to Hawaii
instead.
And then there are the seating ar
rangements on the planes. New York
Air proudly claims it has only five seats
across, while Eastern jams in its passen
gers with six. Some people prefer the
five-seat configuration, while others
would rather sit in the six.
Before the recently announced
merger (actually Fexas Air. which owns
New York Air, bought Eastern) we saw
competitve merchandising forces at
work. While prices were the same, the
services were different. We the consum
ers benefited from two ruthless compet
itors, each determined to steal custom
ers away from the other.
But now we must face the prospect
that New York Air and Eastern will be
under the same management. What can
we expect from the merger? I talked to
a leading airline passenger consultant..
He said, “The good news is we have
always found when two airlines merge
the service inevitably goes down as the
fares go up.”
“What is good about that?”
I he company s stock goes up and
Wall Street is impressed with the prof
its.”
“But what about the bagels?” 1 said.
“Aren’t the loyal passengers who have
flown with New York Air entitled to
their bagels?”
“There is no need for New York Air
to serve bagels il it is no longer compet
ing against Eastern. And if they don't
serve bagels New York Air no longer
has to provide cream cheese. Without
bagels and cream cheese you might as
well dump the coffee out the window.
Without coffee you don’t need a galley,
and without the galley you can add four
to six seats.”
“That’s awful.”
“Mergers aren’t made for people —
they’re made for companies. It isn’t just
New York Air that will benefit from the
economies, it is also Eastern. If New
York Air doesn’t serve bagels Eastern
won't have to serve Danish. Both air
lines no longer have to worry what the
other does because they’re not compet
ing anymore.”
“Isn’t there a monopoly here?”
“Why do you say that?”
“With two airlines flying the same
route we had the choice of five seats
across or six, and we could leave on the
half-hour or the hour, and we could opt
for a bagel, a Danish or a Hershey bar.”
“Nothing will change for the first six
months. Then naturally the New York
Air-Eastern people will have to tighten
their seat belts.”
“Does the merger violate the law or
doesn’t it?”
“It depends on how many friends you
have in Washington.”
“I smell a first-class antitrust viola
tion.”
“That’s impossible. The Reagan ad
ministration would never allow it.”
Art Buchwald is a columnist for the
Los Angeles Times Syndicate.
Mail Call
Letters to the Editor should not exceed 300 words in length I he editni i.il stalTreservesi
to edit letters Lor style and length hut will make e\er\ el toil to maintain the author's /ntti
letter must be signed and must include the address and telephone nunihei ol the writer.
Unive
Not on the right side
EDITOR:
VViih hot,
ist approac
-»acl your i
■ much ei
Bean help
s at
The Battalion Editorial Board has not come out in favor of thepolit
right on a single partisan issue this semester. In the Feb. 5 issue, (“NotV
Sharp”) the Editorial Board attacks both the ( IA and the Contras they?
port, perhaps justifiably, but makes no mention of the oppressive Marxi
gime the contras are trying to overthrow.
Certainly none of the regular editorial writers
Murtha, Loren Steffy or Cynthia Cay — could be d<
either.
Michelle
cribed as
This is fine! These people are entitled to voice their own opinion!
free country such as ours. What concerns me is the overall balance ol
Opinion Page. Visitor to this campus, knowing nothing of its strong const
live background, might think af ter reading I he Battalion, that they arc
liberal t.u.!
nd Miners
[“You mn
ently use e
ffigy.” spe
jsue of Tex;
cation.' “Fc
Itric bill
■ng and
(Biter use<
gl cause. S
B efforts
Hr air cc
Btly and <
nyour horn
mhe nexi
r K take tin
list and tf
ay.
Mark Ude, guest columnist in the Jan. 28 Battalion, wrote an artideii
vor of military aid to the Contras. Since then, not one editorial hasappe
in favor of the conservative view. Have we heard anvthing about then:
Angola or the bloodbaths in Cambodia or Afghanistan? No, but wesurel
heard all about South Africa.
Gro
It would be nice to hear from Bill Buckley again, but apparently,!
been replaced with someone more in line with The Battalion's ownopi
(i.e. Richard Cohen).
opinions
I believe the students of this school deserve to heat the
sides of an issue. After all, is balance not part of accurate journalism?
Bobby Weisman ’88
■frqjec I <
^■ed at Tt
H Hogg F
the prograi
pfrojecl (
Bring Ini
ni/ations ii
sional men
said Roy da
BP r °se, a
Educationa
the first ye;
funded by l
I think Cov. White has taken, with the state-wide testing programforlB^ pro
chers, the wrong approach toward the qualitv-of-teaching dilemma.Teai on 8rati°n
Testing one two
EDITOR:
need more pay, not more hassles; they need, and deserve, res—""B^ 0 ' 0 ^
kind of subtle condemnation that a “quality assurance” test gives. BesiiijReui'
that’s the purpose of principals, and locally-elected school boards: Toi Countv.
itor the personal level, the teaching staff of their schools and school distritt'B’Right n
cal nursing
Cov. White has taken the “Big Brother" approac h, trying to replaceiBfhe volt
wide range of individuality and diversity allowed various regions (asi arc tra
omized by their schools) under the present system, with a state-wideuniO rs ' n 8
mity. He would do what the Gramm-Rudnian Act has done to the fedeif
government — centralize control, reduce the people's input to a bare mi-
mum, distancing us from the apparatus which is our c oust itmional preM
tive.
I say the governor, too, should be given a test, on decision-making ffl
example, what’s more important, money to improve the state penitenti
system, or $30,000 for a playhouse for the governor’s kids. White choseil
latter. And how would you choose between a major cutback in all statef
grams, versus a modest state income tax? And just how eff ective do vout
the governor’s teacher testing will be? Is high tear hei inoi ale and good*
the classroom more vital to education, or an obtuse, i arified arrogancejS
time, of course, will tell — I for one hope Cov. White’s gambit pays off.
William H. Clark II
Right to bear arms
EDITOR:
What are full automatic weapons for? What are cars that can bed™
three times the national speed limit for?. What are X-rated movies for?Vtij
lies in the federal Constitution of the United States — freedom.
Michelle Lowe’s Basement Arsenal article should never have gotten(
the cellar. Ideas like the ones expressed in her column on Friday are besia
plemented into laws through a “Five Year Plan.”
Sure! I wouldn’t hunt deer with an AR-15 rifle (grossly miscalled an!
because the 5.56 caliber is not sufficient to down large game. However,ml
deer hunters use other rifles the military employs; the MIA, FN-FALa
HK91 are all good for deer since they all use a larger caliber than the"
No! You cannot buy “guns and bullets” through a magazine, itsagail
the law. All firearms and ammunitions can be purchased only throughf
censed dealers.
Soldier of Fortune is a very good survivalists’ medium magazine. Suni
valists — those people who still believe in the tradition that the far leftin^
world can destroy life as we know it. Its just unfortunate there are thostM
bad apples who exploit the magazine for their own personal gain, likegui
for hire and uninformed newspaper editors.
Charles H. Young
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Editor
Managing Editor
Opinion Page Editor.
City Editor
News Editor
Sports Editor
Sttl
Michelle Pi
Kay Mai
Loren 5
Jerry
• < lailiie Andei
Travis
Tinfl
Editorial Policy
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Station.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the Editorial Board or the author and do not necessarily reprtWl
opinions of Texas A8cM administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents.
The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes uithint
Department of Communications.
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