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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 1989)
The Battalion [he OPINION History is not goiii to be kind to us • -toeTbrk. Knk^>+ -Swoop dcv>r) on -the UO- Suip^-fin^ Henthnc^n of Ei/]L- 1 _ foivs 11 - A Uhc&e uile q//oc<rfion (rP Campus ^Ju9. bis 4Kf«4ervS -fVe vJenj -fabric of human deGenCi^ I Every now and again, through the endless blat of fragments of informa tion about first one thing, then another — throughout the jangle of sound bites, of information without contest, of stories without background, of facts without nuance that shape our impres sions of our world and our time — comes something with the unmistak able ring of history to it. Mail Call Is good sportsmanship gone? EDITOR: Now, I consider myself to be one of the more loyal Aggies, but there was a moment this past weekend when I regretted, and was even ashamed, that I am an Aggie. When I recently received my mid-term grades, a note was at the top stating I was blocked from registration. A phone call to Parking told me I was blocked due to a ticket on my car that I hadn’t (and still haven’t) seen. She calmly told me it had more than likely blown off my car. I was watching the halftime show at the Rice game with a good friend of mine. He was both a Rice allum and a former member of the MOB, but said he wanted to see the game from the A&M side, because “the abundance of spirit there would make it more fun.” My friend was offended,and I was very embarrassed when the yell leaders started leading constant yells throughout half of the MOB’s performance. Both he and I, as well as several other studen.ts, were looking forward to hearing the MOB play. Not only did the yells interfere disrespectfully with their performance, but I am afraid it gave the Rice students a false impression of what the Aggie spirit is all about. I thought good sportsmanship and respect were a part of that spirit. Am I wrong? The next issue to arise was a question of if I had two park ing permits. I replied “no,” not understanding why someone with only one car would need two permits. She said it had probably been mailed to me and I hadn’t noticed it. I got the extra permit taken care of by reporting lost/stolen. I got the bill today. I was told I needed to pay my “never seen”, ticket at the Southwest Savings building on Uni versity, quite a hike for a Southside resident. I walked over there only to be told I had to pay at the Pa vilion. By the time I made it back to the Pavilion, it had closed. Lauren Manning ’92 Incidentally, my ticket on appeal has the wrong car make, color and license plate, but the woman at the Department told me there was no way the officer had made a mistake. Peeved about parking EDITOR: I know they have a huge job to do, but it should be done accurately. After all, isn’t $982,000 in parking revenues from tickets enough for one year? Susan Spence ’93 Madonna, hurricane, earthquake, have you seen the new Tom Selleck movie, hundreds killed in Indian riots, Congress unable to agree on budget, the president’s news conference, the No. 1 best seller, rape, murder, trial, arson, scandal, election, fall fashions from Paris, stock market tumbles, pol lution worsens, Legislature takes no ac tion. It all comes tumbling off the presses, out of the television sets and radios like a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. has known about it for years, lu; confession that was so unexpe Shevardnadze said, “Thepowero(| catl01 estroika does not in itself against mistakes. It’s importantnn hide them, to admit them and«! dents them. score “All these years, we havebeenw All of which is by way of saying I think we missed a Big One the other day. Sure it was front page, top of the news hour, but it was pretty much a one-day wonder — a speech by a for eign minister, for pity’s sake, how much of a gee-whiz factor can you milk out of that? Bad visuals, of course, guy making a speech from a podium in front of a curtain —deadly, talking head, they call it in television, it was big factor in killing the Dukakis campaign. And no one will ever accuse Eduard A. Shevardnadze of charisma or sex ap peal. ing hard to keep up the ABMTreji a foundation for strategic stability all the while, there stood thesui the size of an Egyptian pyramid, resenting, to put it bluntly, a violi of the ABM Treaty. “At last we resolved this announced we would dismantletlm tion. This has brought somed in the country, as if we were our own interests. As smoothly as most A&M service offices run, I think the Department of Parking, Transit and Traffic Services still needs a little grease. 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 will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and telephone number of the writer. Nevertheless, what the foreign min ister of the Soviet Union told the Su preme Soviet this week was aston ishing. Unprecedented. Historic. Read it again yourself and see what you think. “In fact, we are saving the) Treaty and opening the way to the elusion of the treaty on strategic* ons, and we’re gaining the le moral right to demand clarity question of American installation Greenland and England, which modernized, we understand, in tion of the treaty.” Develop your own political beliefs On Afghanistan, according to The Associated Press translation, he said, “When more than 100 U.N. members for a number of years were condemn ing our action, what other evidence did we need to realize that we had set our selves against all of humanity, violated norms of behavior, ignored universal values? The response from the Bushai istration is the one we have becomt customed to — petty, shallow andc fused. The general line is that shouldn’t get excited about anyofi much less do anything, because don’t know howolong Gorbachev last. How true. So what? There's downside risk in negotiating Soviet Union: Worst comes tow we’re back to the status quo. Where! all this shuffling and trimming; “I am referring of course to our mili- One shrewd reading of our curr dilemma comes from the Soviet Uni I was desperately looking for col umn material on Sunday before the REM concert. Much to my delight, I found that material at that very con cert. I am not a music comlumnist and this is not the entertainment section, so I will not discuss how much I hate “Stand.” I want to focus on some of the attitudes that were exposed during the concert. The first thing that upset me was the prostitution that ran rampant at the concert. There were whores on the stage and in the audience. The band sold itself through some ridiculous pandering to the audience. We, the au dience, paid so we could learn we “are the everything.” These, however, are rather trivial matters, although I had hoped REM would avoid this showbiz crap. The most terrible act of prostitu tion occurred when many in the audi ence paid for some of lead singer Mi chael Stipe’s attention with their integrity. I am sure many people did this with out even realizing it. The situation was simple. When Michael Stipe began (properly) bashing George Bush, the audience exploded in one of the big gest ovations of the night. This is fine until one realizes the members of this great institution overwhelmingly sup ported, and continue to support our august national leader. This may not appear significant, but it underscores the importance of politics in most peo ple’s lives. These people would forsake their beliefs for some mythical accep tance by one simple music performer. Adam Mathieu Columnist pie who collect Greenpeace brochures at every concert they attend and never once act on it. I wish these people had the guts to refuse the lead singer and proudly pass these organizations. The politics are unimportant. tary engagement in Afghanistan. It should teach us a lesson that in this case, gross violations of our own laws, intraparty and civil norms and ethics were allowed. My second complaint relates directly to this lack of interest in politics. First, however, I would like to write a formal declaration of protest about Michael Stipe’s condescending attitude. He spouted a rather sickening load of good, but highly trendy, environmen tal politics. Then he had the unmiti gated nerve to point an accusatory fin ger at the audience before “Begin the Begin,” implying, of course, that no one in the audience had any sense of “personal or political activism.” I was offended and made this known. He then had the gall to dictate to each of us what our politics should be. He re ferred us to the tables in the back for information about his favorite organi zations. Why would he want a bunch of people with no sense of personal activ ism polluting these noble causes? He truly thought he could tell the audi ence how to believe. On this point, sadly, I think he was probably correct. This represents a fundamental prob lem. Every election day the phone lines hum with students calling their parents to ask them how to vote. If people do not mature in college, will they ever? Probably not. These are the people who go on in life to vote against Mi chael Dukakis because his eyebrows are too bushy. “At the time I am speaking about, M.S. Gorbachov and I were candidate members of the Politburo. I found out about what had happened from radio and newspaper reports. A decision that had very serious consequences for our country was made behind the back of the party and the people. We were con fronted with a fait accompli." specifically, from their leading? canologist Georgi Arbatov. Inarec interview he said, “The maindangf America doesn’t come from the treme right but from the foreignpoi and military traditionalists —thees lishment center. They are so act tomed to the old rules of the game, the United States and the Soviet Uffl may not be the only superpowersinl world of tomorrow. There is g have to be a perestroika in the win system of international relations By/ Of ft A Who and, disco ulurr P. catio ,pok< cessit “V and i her, iculi Kc H Ro saved hit a i oftra cerG Af Agui! reme lane ( se ByS Off? Hi Coec A couk tionv ica P le 1 want and ingtl T1 See< Not everyone needs to be political. Political inactivity is perfectly accepta ble, and, according to some political science professors, laudable. It is a vi able alternative for someone who sim ply does not like politics. I wholeheart edly recommend it to all those who currently bastardize the process through lack of information, interest or intelligence. Adam Mathieu is a senior chemis try major and a columnist for The Bat talion. On and on this speech rolled, one of those monster, multi-hour orations the Soviets are so fond of. In the mean time, our television industry is leaving us unaccustomed to anything longer than a 10-second sound bite. Much of the attention devoted to Shevard nadze’s speech here went to the ex traordinary public confession that his country had been cheating on the ABM Treaty with the Krasnoyarsk ra dar station. Neither the station nor the cheating are news — the United States We are past the point whenglasffl and perestroika are too astonishing their newness for anyone to knowfi how to react. T rue, it all keeps snfl balling faster and faster, while ii United States continues this Ion; matic, “Uh, uh, uh.” However thelo viet changes turn out in thelongm certainly is possible to say nowtheio viet Union is being governed by sena people, in the most profound senseo the word. Our guy, Mr. Smooth,is in deep doo-doo and Confusion 0 on the vision thing. History is notgofl to be kind. There were people who went to those tables, and for many this was a good thing. But I believe there are peo- The Battalion (USPS 045 360) Member of Texas Press Association Southwest Journalism Conference The Battalion Editorial Board Scot O.Walker, Editor Wade See, Managing Editor Juliette Rizzo, Opinion Page Editor Fiona Soltes, City Editor Ellen Hobbs, Chuck Squatriglia, News Editors Tom Kehoe, Sports Editor Jay Janner, Art Director Dean Sueltenfuss, Lifestyles Editor Editorial Policy The Battalion is a non-profit, self-supporting newspa per operated as a community service to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the author, and do not necessarily rep resent the opinions of Texas A&M administrators, fac ulty or the Board of Regents. The Battalion also serves as a laboratory newspaper for students in reporting, editing and photography classes within the Department of Journalism. 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