Page 2/The Battalion/Tuesday, February 23, 1987
Opinion
Men should resist feminist amazon intimidationr’
In recent years,
I h e w o m e n ’ s
movement has de
viated from ad
dressing injustices
to perpetrating in-
justice against
men. Armed with
the vicious word
“chauvinist,” these
modern amazons
h u n t d o w n a n y
man who dares
oppose them, even
dless incursions, we will lose valuable in
stitutions to the detriment of all.
Brian
Frederick
in the most trivial
matters. Recently their misplaced zeal
led them to criticize Judge Kennedy’s
nomination to the Supreme Court
merely because he had belonged to two
male-only clubs.
That such idiocy is taken seriously is
evidenced by the politicians who fall all
over themselves to accomodate feminist
demands. These demands threaten our
freedom of association, but men seem so
intimidated by the amazons that they
now surrender their rights without a
fight. But if no one will resist these nee-
fake the case of the Boy Scouts of
America. On Feb. 11, the executive
board voted unanimously to admit
women as leaders, reversing a 70-year
policy of requiring male leaders in order
to provide role models for the scouts.
Supposedly, the board was not forced
to make this change. As one board
member said, “The board just felt it was
time to change the policy.” It was time
“to recognize the valuable leadership
women can provide.” No doubt women
will provide boys with invaluable exam
ples of how to become men.
Yet for the last several years, Boy
Scouts has been involved in a lawsuit
with Catherine Pollard of Milford,
Conn., who wants to become a scout
master. The Connecticut Supreme
Court rejected her suit last July on the
ground that a private organization can
set its own requirements for its leaders.
Pollard had been preparing another suit
when the policy change was made. We
Debate or game show?
You have to ad
mit, it was a good
idea.
Take a slew of
presidential candi
dates from both
parties, gather
them together and
Robbyn
Lister
Guest Columnist
let them debate over two evenings. Add
a 500-campus audience linked by satel
lite to watch the whole thing, invite stu
dent leaders and student media rep
resentatives from across the United
States to participate, and you’ve got a
success.
At least, that’s the way it was sup
posed to work. What really happened
was another story.
As part of The Battalion's effort to
cover the debates, I went with two of my
colleagues to the Southern Methodist
University campus to watch the pro
ceedings Thursday and Friday nights.
Instead of being ushered into McFar-
lin Auditorium, where the candidates
were to debate and where we thought
we were going to have the opportunity
to question them, we found ourselves
seated in another room with about six
small TV monitors. Three or four tele
vision cameras swept the room, and two
chairs were set on a platform for the
College Satellite Network Election ’88
hosts, Bob Ray Sanders and Cathy
Cron kite.
As we glanced around incredulously,
one of the program’s crew members
held up a sign that read, “APPLAUD,”
and proceeded to tell the audience
members, mostly students, to clap their
hands whenever the sign was raised. She
also instructed the audience that faster
clapping would make more noise, some
thing the show’s managers wanted.
One of my colleagues compared this
event to something that would occur on
a “cheesy game show.”
We decided to see how it would turn
out, despite our misgivings. (Besides, we
were trapped. We had to wait until after
the debates were over to catch the buses
back to the hotel.)
Unfortunately, waiting to see if it
would get any better didn’t do any good.
The program seemed to be poorly orga
nized, and neither Sanders nor Cron-
kite appeared to know what was going
on or what was coming up next.
A typical dialogue was:
“OK, now we’ll go to a commercial,”
one host would say.
The host would glance around the
room for a couple of seconds. Then, ap
parently hearing something from his
ear microphone, he’d say, “What? We’re
not going to a commercial? I thought we
were going to a commercial. OK, then,
let’s take a question from the floor.”
Even better were the attempts to com
municate with students telephoning
questions to the program from around
the nation. These conversations gener
ally followed this pattern:
“OK, we have a caller from Arizona.
Go ahead, Arizona.”
Seconds of silence.
“Caller from Arizona? What’s your
question?”
“Caller ?Caller?Caller?”
Both hosts made attempts at being
entertaining and keeping the program
moving, but they couldn’t get anything
together, and neither looked profes
sional as they tried.
The debates themselves were more
amusing then informative — the candi
dates bickered back and forth, but rar
ely offered insight into their campaign
strategies.
The Democrats took the stage Thurs
day night. Among them, the Rev. Jesse
Jackson, as usual, showed his great ora-
torial style. Whether he has any sub
stance to back it up remains a question.
Massachusettes Gov. Michael Dukakis
seemed to sidestep, showing only
glimpses oF meahing behind his well-
chosen, well-employed words. Rep.
Richard Gephardt of Missouri was em
phatic, especially in defense of his eco
nomic plan, but the details of that plan
somehow never came up.
Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. was
argumentative. Anything and every
thing was targeted, possibly because he
felt he had to show a tough Texan
image to win approval from the South.
Colorado Sen. Gary Hart was smiling
and unflappable — somewhat surpris
ing considering his poor showing in the
New Hampshire primary, after lie said
he would let the people decide whether
he should run. And Illinois Sen. Paul Si
mon of bow-tie fame was a no-show.
About the only thing the candidates
could agree on was that leadership in
the White House was lacking. All the
candidates made some comment about
President Ronald Reagan.
“Gratuitious Reagan bashing” was the
term one friend used to describe it.
But the Republican debates on Friday
were no better. Watching this time at
home instead of in the studio audience,
we saw only two show up — Vice Presi
dent George Bush and Rep. Jack Kemp
of New York.
Kansas Sen. Robert Dole and tele
vision evangelist Pat Robertson pulled
out of the debate — Dole calling it a
rally for Bush’s supporters, Robertson
to hold a rally of his own.
That made it more a two-man talk
than a debate. And the foes looked
more like tiger cubs as they faced off —
one with a few teeth, one without —
than candidates for president of the
United States.
In fact, nearly everyone connected
with the program seemed to regard it as
a show, rather than a serious attempt at
informing the public.
And that’s a shame.
It was a good idea. It just didn’t work.
Robbyn L. Lister is a senior journalism
major, news editor and assistant city
editor for The Battalion.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Sue Krenek, Editor
Daniel A. LaBry, Managing Editor
Mark Nair, Opinion Page Editor
Amy Couvillon, City Editor
Robbyn L. Lister and
Becky Weisenfels,
News Editors
Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor
Sam B. Myers, Photo Editor
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are to believe that her suit had no effect
on the board’s decision, just as picketers
had no effect on the decision of a cer
tain convenience store to remove certain
magazines from its shelves.
Though all normal men enjoy and
need the companionship of women,
there are many relational benefits
found only in male company. Just ask
the boys at Deerfield Academy in Deer
field, Mass.
The Deerfield Academy is the last of
New England’s big all-male prep
schools. On Jan. 31, the school board
voted to admit girls in 1989, capitulating
to demographic shifts and popular no
tions on the equality of the sexes.
You would think that the boys would
be delighted to see girls admitted. After
all, high school boys think constantly
about girls, and we know that boys can’t
adapt socially without continuous fe
male company.
The boys, however, were less than de
lighted. As the principal announced the
decision, many hovs walked out in pro
test, singing the school song and chant
ing “Better dead than coed.” During the
ten months in which the proposed
change had been under discussion, the
boys had repeatedly spoken out against
it, but to no avail.
Feminists would probably character
ize these boys as vicious chauvinists.
Webster's defines a chauvinist as “a per
son unreasonably devoted to his own
sex and contemptuous ol the opposite
sex.” From the dictionary definition, it is
clear that feminists misuse this term at
least three-quarters of the time. But is it
an appropriate label for the boys at
Deerfield?
According to the girls at nearby pri
vate girls' schools who come to Deerfield
for school parties, Deerfield is “one of
the f unnest places to visit.” The\ lament
that when girls are admitted to Deer
field, the girls' schools will probablv no
longer be invited. These do not sound
like the remarks of girls abused b\ male
chauvinism.
Maybe the hoys have good
tor opposing the new policy
nothing to do with chauvinism
have discovered the value of i
1 riendship, a camaraderiethatl
rishes in the absence of women,
are able to show enthusiasm tiiln
w orrving about looking foolish id
eves of girls, w hom thev feel would
distrac tion to their studies. Asondaupenc*
put it, “You get a lot more done will
git Is."
It would he unfait to blamefenij
foi the changes at Deerfieli
Boy Scouts. Yet they may bej
lamed f or prejudicing ourswiij
against beneficial male instiiuiiwui To
making it nearly impossible fortheiiBf
Tied m
should bncJ^Kin
sur\ n e. f- ree associations of menifel
the same sex can and
t ie lung part of our lives. I'eniuwMv( or
labeling them all t hauvinistic,wouilBk)rd<
pine us of t hem, thus robbing usofi®| perfi
experiences and imperiling our!a on - ina *
dom of assoc iation. ■ ‘’ 0 , in
suie tha
Brian Frederick is a senior/i/storuBxkicti
Russian major and a columnistkw <lidn'
reasons Battalion.
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Mail Call
I’m sorry already!
I am writing in response to the recent hysteria that has
erupted over my article “Poverty: A Culture Shock.” I
have infuriated and horrified many of you. I hope, after
making some points, you will understand my position.
If you read the article carefully, you noticed it was a
spring break experience. That is, spring break 1987. It was
an OBSERVATION — NOT RESEARCH — class assign
ment. I could have easily written on the positive character
istics of the Valley. But, those were not the instructions. I
wrote with one audience — my professor — in mind and
never planned to submit the article for publication.
Right before the At Ease deadline, I got a call from a
staff member. Short on material, he asked if At Ease could
print my article. As a journalism major, I have written nu
merous articles and had no recollection of the content. He
needed an answer right away and read the article until I
remembered which article it was. Still without recollection
of the content, I trusted the staff’s judgement and said
“yes.”
As The Battalion editor said, “Had 1 seen it before
publication, it would not have appeared.” Well had I seen
it, it would not have appeared either! It was ridiculous for
anyone to think the article could stand without editing.
The article did not accurately reflect my views of the
Valley. I was referring to Mexicans who were raised in
Mexico and WAS IN NO WAY alluding to Americans of
Mexican descent.
My travel companion has also endured undeserved
criticism. When the subject of pregnancy came up on the
trip, she was describing a culture that cherishes children.
When a young Mexican girl gets pregnant, the baby is ac
cepted and welcome into the home. Abortion and adop
tion are rarely alternatives.
In conclusion, I apologize to all who wereolTeiided.|
realize the article was unfit foi publication. It wasnetfll
my intent to hurt anyone, and I hope we all can stopovel
reacting.
Jill Galarneau’88
College is just too hard
EDITOR:
Shaun M. Morrison raises a few interestingquestioiufl
his letter of Feb. lb. .Should seniors really be b
with finals, for can a test in one’s last semester reallyassff
their accomplishments in college? For that matter,d(
accurately reflect a student’s abilities and learning?;!
over, is this valid when one considers that nearly391
students, all with different abilities and backgrounds,
be evaluated on the basis of their answers on a particuw
set of questions? What a burden it must seem—collegtl
is just too hard.
And what about all those nasty members of the Fawl
Senate who actually want to have improved currier
greater respect for faculty rank? Views like that just r^J
of communism, heresy, and downright unamericaniii |l |
don’t they? Gosh, with all these mean, nasty, uglythinpiq
here it’s a wonder the students put up with it all. 1
they want? An education?
Thomas K. Tsotsis
graduate student
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The eiilonds
serves the right to edit letters for style and length, but will make ever) t,,
maintain the author's intent. Each letter must he signed and must incluitlktin
sification, address and telephone number of the writer.
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