Page 2/The Battalion/Monday, March 21,1988
So long, shanty
The anti-apartheid shanty, A&M’s version ol political pro
test, was sadly short-lived. The “Desmond Tutu Center for the
Humanities,” which was built by members of Students Against
Apartheid and placed near the Academic Building, was over
turned and vandalized the first night it was in place. It was back
in place the next afternoon.
But the next vandals were more thorough: On March 10
they completely destroyed the shanty, tearing it into small
pieces.
And that is a shame. At a time when we should address the
atrocities in South Africa and at a time when somebody actually
does, the response to such a protest is nothing short of a childish
stupidity. Those who argue that the shanty marred the beauty of
the campus have a few things to learn. The shanty was ugly be
cause apartheid is ugly. Destoying it may have removed an “ugly
shack” from our campus, but in the process it also destroyed
some of our integrity and conscience. We blatantly told the
world, “Whatever happens, happens. We don’t care.”
It’s about time we wake up and discover that a world does
exist outside A&M, no matter how hard we try to ignore it.
The Battalion Editorial Board
We can only compete
if the Japanese pay
for their own defense
It was another
of those TV shows
explaining why
the Japanese are
outproducing and
outselling us. I
think I’ve seen a
hundred shows
like it and they’re
always the same.
We see the
young Japanese
managerial train-
Mike
ees, standing outside at attention. A cor
porate drill master shouts something at
them, and they respond by screaming
slogans about their love of hard work,
efficiency and devotion to the company
and its bottom line.
He shouts some more and they
scream some more, then they all run
madly into the building to infuse the
workers with their frenzy to produce.
Then we see the workers outside on
their frenzy break. They, too, are being
shouted at and are screaming back
something about how hard work is the
greatest thing since sushi.
We then see an American TV com
mentator who shakes his head in won
derment and says something to the ef
fect that, wow, this is the way we should
do it if we’re going to avoid being eco
nomically buried by the Japanese. Our
workers and managers must develop
that rah-rah spirit, that love of job, love
of work, love of company.
So it’s that simple. If we are to make
better cars, TV sets and VCRs, what we
must do is gather everyone in the com
pany parking lot for what looks like a
Ninja training session.
And anybody who believes that is just
as dumb as the people who put these
TV shows together.
The biggest reason Japan has become
an international business superpower,
while we have been slumping, has little
or nothing to do with brainwashing pro
grams for managers and workers.
It has to do with how Japan uses its
money as a nation and how we use our
money as a nation.
In, 1986, Japan spent between $20
billion and $30 billion on its military.
That might sound like a lot. But in
the same year, this country spent almost
$300 billion on our military.
Japan puts about 1 percent of its
gross national product into its military.
About 7 percent of ours goes for the
same purpose.
That means Japan can use far more
of its resources to develop its industries,
The same goes for Western Europe.
They’re big boys and should be able to
look out for themselves, or pay up if
they want us to do it.
You don’t have to play Ninja school
games with Americans to get them to
work. All you have to do is give them a
job and the right tools.
And the presidential candidate who
says he’s going to start sending Japan a
bill, payable by the 15th of the month, is
going to get my vote.
Copyright 1987, Tribune Media Services, Inc.
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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ulty or the Board of Regents.
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Opinion
! (A!
chad
Attack of the English mutant
the D
the d
1 count
South
Me;
new technologies and so on.
It puts more money into research
and development, which is why it stays
ahead of us in making prettier TV pic
tures.
We put a lot of money into research
and development, too. But about half
of what we spend is for the devel
opment of new military gadgets.
Now, we don’t spend that much just
to defend ourselves. A big chunk of our
military spending is for the purpose of
defending Japan and Western Europe,
which also has been cutting our throat
in world trade.
About 16 percent of our military
spending goes to protect Japan and
other Asian countries.
We do this because after we defeated
Japan in World War II, we gave it a
modern form of government and a con
stitution that forbids it from ever be
coming a military power.
It turned out to be a great deal for Ja
pan. Since we said it couldn’t become a
military power, we assumed the job of
protecting it. Japan then could concen
trate on developing new high-tech in
dustries while we had to get along with
old steel mills and factories.
Well, the war has been over for 43
years. And it’s about time we stopped
providing free bodyguard service for
Japan and European countries.
If a city wants a police department,
the citizens have to pay taxes. If a fac
tory wants night watchmen, it has to
hire and pay them.
And if we’re going to act as Japan’s
international bodyguards, we ought to
be paid for it.
If Japan had to foot its share of the
bill for its own protection, it woidd
mean we’d have more money for educa
tion and economic development. And it
would mean Japan would have less.
There’s nothing unfair about it. When I
pay my taxes for the police and fire de
partments, I have less, too.
While you were
o u t s o m u e h
STUFF happened
in our wonderful
world of politics
that I’ve decided
to not write about
any of it. I’ll save it
for George Will.
He gets paid more
than I do anyway.
What Sly conveys in those two simple
words, Nietzsche couldn’t do in tomes
and tomes. We call it the economy of
language.
ing 1
It didn't take long for it to hit.0ntHP res ^
H Vice 1
the answers on the Jeopardy BigB«™
had the word “thru” in it. I cam
Instead, today’s
topic is mutation.
Mark
Nalr
We all know those famous mutants —
The Incredible Hulk, The Toxic
Avenger, The Fly-, Sports Writers —
mutants who have made mutiny into
something great.
More proof? This is an excerpt from .
. . ahem . . . Death Race 2()0(). I . . . um ..
. I never watched this . . . um, I never
watched this movie. Well, ok. maybe a
little-. . . just a little . . . All right! I was
drugged, I tell you, drugged! They
made me do it! They put these things on
my head that held open my eyelids, and
I couldn’t move my head. They made
me do it!
member the answer; I was in agony;
“thru.”
“Aaaaaargh!” I said. I wanted
strangle the host. “Alex, Alex! lean’ll
lieve it!”
“Yo?” said someone f rom thekitd*
I ran to the dictionary. Was “thn
real word? Sure enough, there it*
sandwiched between “throw up
“thrum”. Thru —. var. of through.
Sylvester Stallone (to navigator):
Some people think you’re cute, but I
think you’re just a big baked potato.
But forget those guys. The mutation
I want to talk about is much more
deadly and more dangerous than tea
with Ronald Reagan and George Bush.
It is the mutation of the English Lan
guage. (And from the peanut gallery on
sorority lane: Ooooooooh grooooooss!)
Translation: Of all the gin joints in
the world, I had to meet you, you crass,
fatuous, nitwitted poor example of a
brainy baked potato.
Example, when words had dignity:
“We throw the albatross through the
window.”
Example, today’s stripped words:
“We throw the albatross thru the win
dow.
Ugly, isn’t it?
But back to the point. Everywhere
you go these days, or at least everywhere
I go, traveler that I am, the word “th
rough” has been mutilated into the
word “thru.” You seen it — NO THRU
STREET, DRIVE THRU, OFFER
GOOD JANUARY THRU MARCH, I
1HRU AN ALBATROSS THRU A
WINDOW SAYS CRAZY ASTROS
PITCHER.
Ugh. Variation of “through-
like saving Spam is a variation of
loaf. “Thru” is a mutant, exposedtol
many gamma rays or something.j|
same thing happened to “shoppe
had to have been exposed tosomethi
Now, I admit, 1 like the word “si
compared to “shoppe.” I’ve grown
with it. But sometimes I think,woul
it be fun to say: “Oh, dear, I’m
run to ye ole shop-eee. Need any
to sw
icontej
I Th<
Rico 1
than c
Th<
delegt
Convt
Demo
The ]
pectec
as a bl
But I don't think it would befutH
say: "B u almost thru?” Ii espi p''
woidd be fun the way you wouldhsifl
purse you lips w hen saying “thru,
it, you'll see — thru, like moo. Be'|]
careful not to pronounce the Vs
too heavily. Say it more like “thew."
The man responsible for this NEW
and IMPROVED economy of language,
I’m sure, is none other than Sylvester
Stallone himself. Ha! Scoff at me? Well,
to put it simply, you doubters will eat
your words soon enough. I have proof.
Call me a purist, call me a radical, hut
I prefer “through” to “thru”, “night” to
“nite” and “spud” to “baked potato.”
Scene 12. lake 1,242.
Sylvester Stallone: Yo, Adrian.
(Silence.)
Sylvester Stallone: Yo, Adrian.
On Monday of Spring Break I
watched televison for the first time since
The Beav went off the air. Jeopardy was
on. By the way, to our above list of fa
mous mutants, add Jeopardy contes
tants. I dread to think what would hap
pen if all that trivia locked in their little
brains ever escaped. It gives me goose
bumps.
This economy of language, it’steai
apart our very fabric of reality, our'®
being (a few Star I rek quotes al»| j
come in handy when pontificatinjH
large crowds). We have to rebel ag
the slaughter of millions of innofi
vowels and consonants every year.A
yourselves, prepare yourselves. It is
to us to stop the mutation before
thru.
Mark Nair is a senior political scie
major and opinion page editor fori
Battalion.
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