A
The Battalion
OPINION
Thursday, March 23,1989
Mail Call
Correction
A column concerning the Aggie Band’s performance at the Southwest Conference
Post-season Classic, which appeared in the March 22 issue o/ The Battalion,
incorrectly identified the person directing the band as Col. Joe T. Haney.
Col. Haney did not accompany the band to the tournament, and he was in no
way involved in the Aggie Band’s performance during the tournament.
The Battalion regrets the error.
Greeks study, too
EDITOR:
In response to the March 8 letter of Ray Kornhoff and Kevin Jimmerson, I
would like to def end the actions of at least one of the Greeks at the Feb. 21 Aggie
basketball game.
I am a sophomore electical engineering major taking 18 hours and, believe it
or not, 1 left the game at halftime to go home and study.
You obviously still cling to the outdated notion that “fine young fraternity
men” party to the exclusion of all other activities. My lifestyle far more resembles
that of the stereotypical Geek rather than the stereotypical Greek discussed in a
recent Battalion column.
Most Greeks are “real” students, here for the primary reason of obtaining an
educaton and a degree. What really says little of your intelligence is that you
assume otherwise.
Dan Darveaux ’91
Letters to the editor should not exceed 300 words in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters for style
and length, but wilt make every effort to maintain the author's intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the
classif ication, address and telephone number of the writer.
I honestly didn’t
believe Lorenzo
could keep the
airline flying
without pilots
and mechanics
MA»
Confusion is normal in today’s relationships
rjjy?
♦
James
j rip
Cecil
Silip
Columnist
I caught part of a conversation the
other day in which a guy said to a
friend: “I tried to drop her a hint by
asking- her who else she had gone out
with lately, and I just about died when
she said I was the only person she was
seeing. I don’t know what to do about
her. She’s nice and all, but . . . oh, I
don’t know. I told her she ought to see
other people.”
At first I didn’t think anything of it; I
hear about this from a lot of guys. Then
it hit me, I really hear this type of prob
lem from a lot of guys. A girl decides to
make a certain guy the object of her af
fection, and the guy feels like he’s put
on the spot if he’s not interested. Why?
In these situations it’s the girl who is
making the advances. The guys feel the
pressure and has to devise a carefully
planned response (or no response) that
will get him out of a bind.
Call me a romantic, but isn’t it sup
posed to be the other way around? At
least traditionally? I hesitate to use that
word, traditionally, because it has been
known to incite anger on this campus
from some fringe groups, but here I’m
referring to the traditions in human
existence.
Traditionally, women expected a
man to be strong, virile and wise so he
could help support a family and bring
home an income. The wife was expected
to nurture the family and use the money
for food and household items. This af
fected the way men approached women
because men were supposed portray
this “macho” figure during courtship,
while women were to supposed to act
timid and subordinate. Even people
who did not possess these qualities
usually had a good act to get them
through the initial attraction stage. For
the good of the family, the man was ex
pected to be the best he could be in the
career world. The woman, being vir
tually excluded from career ladders,
was expected to take care of things at
home.
Now things are different, generally
for the better.
The job market says it wants women.
It offers them higher wages and better
jobs than in the past. If they were to stay
at home they would miss out on the op
portunity to make more money and ad
vance themselves professionally and so
cially. So, as has been obvious in the past
twenty years, women have started work-
ing.
This gives women an option they
didn’t have before. Now they can do
their best work at home or at the office.
What does this do to the traditional
courtship? t r ,,
Women are no longer looking at men
as bread-winners — they can win their
own bread if they want to. Because of
this, men have had to change the way
they approach women. 1’ h e y ’ v e
dropped the “I can put you in a castle,
baby” attitude and tried to figure out
what the ladies are looking for in men.
Because the role of women has con
stantly been changing, so have the pick
up lines men use in a vain attempt to
find the new attributes women want.
Men tried everything from compar
ing astrological charts with, “Hey baby,
what’s your sign?” to wearing tight pants
and gyrating to disco music. All were
just fads that didn’t work.
So what do we have now?
We no longer have defined roles in
our mating rituals. It is not clear who
should be pursued and who should do
the pursuing. At times, women may
want to pursue a particular man, but are
usually unsure about how to do it. When
men pursue women, the men aren’t
sure what to do anymore. So we have an
awkward confrontation in which neither
person knows what is going on.
How is a girl supposed to respond to
a guy’s advances in a way that will show
her independence and strength without
scaring off the guy? How is a guy sup
posed to respond to advances made by a
girl and still exhibit a little of the tradi
tional male control?
These dilemmas have led to other
problems for us. Because sex roles have
changed, most of us experience
relationships rather than actual love.
Relationships are something that two
people work to maintain, usually with
out much commitment. Love is some
thing spontaneous and exciting that
doesn’t need to have a great deal of ef
fort exerted for it to work.
Today, people are too concerned
about fitting into the “independent wo
men” role and the “sensitive guy” role to
allow their emotions to carry them away.
Where these two personas are supposed
to come together is still vague. No one is
“swept off their feet” like the generation
before ours.
What about the guy I mentioned in
the beginning of this column?
He has enough respect for the girl’s
feelings not to hurt her, but because he
doesn’t know where he stands, he can't
approach her and tell her how he feels.
So he plays games with her until she gets
the hint or gets tired. She will keep call
ing him for a while until she feels that
she has gone too far in her pursuit to
still be considered “lady-like,” in the tra
ditional sense. It seems like an awful lot
of effort is spent just because these two
people don’t know what level they’re on
with each other.
Despite the social progress made by
women being able to advance on the:
own, we are now faced with othersoai
dilemmas. Sex roles have changeds
men can show respect for women’s fro
doms. But, in our haste to abandontk
traditional definitions and expectation
we did not make any new rules forlfe
game. Courtship no longer exists as:
did, and our “mating rituals” have bet:
replaced by confusion and chaos.
James Cecil is a senior economic
major and a columnist for The Battal
ion.
Those who protest must be
responsible for their actions
Soviets are protesting the election bid
sabotage of a man who is not favored by
the Communist Party.
Students at Howard University took
over their administration building to
protest the self-appointment of Lee At
water, George Bush’s former campaign
manager, to the board of trustees be
cause the students feel Atwater used
racist tactics during the campaign.
It would seem that protesting is off to
strong start this year.
Protesting is an art form that should
be used to alert officials that something
isn’t being taken care of — that some
people are dissatisfied with the present
state of affairs. It is a way for a minority
(or occasionally a majority) of the peo
ple to bring their cases out in the open.
Protesting is a way for the masses to re
lieve some frustrations, and it is also a
means for showing people in high posi
tions that it is time for change. To para
phrase Thomas Jefferson, a little rebel
lion now and then does wonders for
both the people and the government —
provided, of course, that both parties
realize the full extent of the problem.
A recent student art exhibit at the Art
Institute of Chicago involved the laying
of the American flag on the ground.
What more do you need for a writh
ing folly?
Scott Tyler, a student at the Institute,
displayed the flag on the floor as a pro
test of the inequality and injustices he
finds in America. In his view, he was ex
pressing his feelings and thoughts in a
“free” form of speech — art.
Todd
iWmr
Honeycutt
W"'-
Columnist
This infuriated many citizens, espe
cially war veterans, who began to protest
Tyler’s exhibit and the Institute itself.
They thought the flag was too impor
tant a symbol of America to be thrown
down and stepped upon. The flag is
what the veterans fought for in wars.
The exhibit was a desecration of Amer
ica.
Their demonstrations initiated coun
ter-protests by students who believed
Tyler’s actions were protected under
the First Amendment of the Constitu
tion.
But it didn’t end there. The govern
ment got into the act.
The Chicago City Council came up
with a resolution condemning the Art
Institute for allowing such an exhibit
and called upon it to remove the flag
from the display as a gesture of respect.
The chairman of the U.S. House Vet
erans’ Affairs Committee, G. V. Mont
gomery (from Mississippi, a logical place
of origin), is trying to push a bill
through Congress which would make it
a crime to display a flag on the ground
or floor.
The entire escapade is ridiculous,
showing the absurdity of our system am
our people and giving Tyler a few min
utes of recognition in the art world.
When did Americans becomi
worshippers of icons and idols, fightitj
for a ridiculous flag? When did the
stop living for freedom and democrao
and the rights to live as they wantandif
say what they believe?
Why should it be a crime tocallatten
tion to a problem, even if it involves^
ing drastic measures. Why are institii
tions denounced for allowing freed®
of expression?
Why is it that one can criticize Aniff
ica through words with impunity, bui
the symbols of America cannot k
touched?
On the other side of the issue, whats
it ahe . America that is so wrong that!
person would lay the American flagon
the ground in an art exhibit? Whatis
sues is he trying to get across? Is hesuo
ceeding? Or is it his purpose to attrao
attention for his art?
Protesting incurs responsibility. lu ;
not a means of change to be used blind!'
for every problem that comes along
Other methods exist — letter writing
petitioning, lobbying. To achieve pro
testing’s full impact, it must be used as!
last resort and not abused.
The case of Scott Tyler and the com
troversy he created is one of abuse-on
both sides.
Todd Honeycutt is a sophomorepsf
chology major and a columnist for Tin
Battalion.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Becky Weisenfels, Eciitor
Leslie Guy, Managing Editor
Dean Sueltenfuss, Opinion Page Editor
Anthony Wilson, City Editor
Scot Walker, Wire Editor
Drew Leder, News Editor
Doug Walker, Sports Editor
Jay Janner, Art Director
Mary-Lynne Rice, Entertainment Edi
tor
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