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OPINION
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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
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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-
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