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The Battalion
•OPINION*
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Thursday, November 15, 1990
Opinion Page Editor Ellen Hobbs 845-33
Thursd
IMail Calll
Aggies Against Bonfire misquoted
EDITOR:
As a co-founder and former president of Aggies Against Bonfire I am
writing this letter in reference to the article by Kristi Lorson, “Agency donates
trees from mined land,” that appeared in the special section of The Battalion
on Nov. 1, 1990.
The information concerning Aggies Against Bonfire was gathered during
a personal interview with me. Although I feel that I made myself quite clear
during the interview, it seems that she chose to highlight specifically quotes
that were the most trivial and failed to represent my major points.
She also wrote, “He suggested cutting trees into firewood for the poor in
the local community.” This phrase did not appear in quote, I suppose, because
I did not say this, have never suggested such a thing and feel that it is unwor
kable.
When asked to suggest a substitute use for the trees, I did say, however,
that it might be more practical to cord the wood and sell it as firewood to
alumni, faculty and students and use the funds for a worthy cause instead of
burning the logs for a pep rally. This idea may or may not be workable, but it
is significantly different from what The Battalion told readers I said.
Overall the article was certainly slanted (as were many articles appearing
in that issue). But that particular article went above and beyond being slanted
and into the realm of irresponsibility and misrepresentation.
I hope that the rest of the budding journalists at The Battalion develop
more respect for the power that they wield as journalists and learn to use it
more responsibly in the future.
Bryan Skipworth ’90
Bonfire bashers don’t understand
EDITOR:
Once again it has become “Bonfire bashing time.” This time every year
frustrates me to no end because all I read in The Battalion is people writing
about the dangers of bonfire.
I wish that we proponents of bonfire had as much time to spend voicing
our opinions as our adversaries do.
I hate having bonfire called an “embarrassment.” It embarrasses me that
there are people here who judge us as stupid without trying to understand
our motivations and goals.
Can all of you faculty members who signed that petition actually say that
you have tried to understand personally or talk directly with anyone who
works on bonfire? Do you believe us so totally devoid of sense that we volun
teer to sacrifice our time and energy to work on something without value?
For those of you who are not aware of the benefits of bonfire, it is a major
tool for the making of Aggies (not simply students of Texas A&M University).
The actual construction of bonfire is insignificant, it simply allows a single
unif ying goal around which all of us can rally around and feel part of.
However, the traditions behind the construction of a bonfire are very im
portant to the goal of unity and spirit. This spirit is something most people
take for granted; however, without it we would be no better than schools such
as l.s.u. and t.u. Is it because these are not our only goals as students that the
Faculty Senate members consider bonfire a needless waste?
I cannot speak for all Aggies, however I speak (I hope) for the majority.
Dear “Faculty Senate,” please do not consider yourself so intelligent and
all-knowing that you can take away something from us which we hold dear
simply to satisfy your own personal views of our school’s image.
We don’t tell you what to do with your free time, don’t tell us what to do
with ours.
Robbie Pateder ’90
Have an opinion? Express it!
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. There is no guarantee that
letters submitted will be printed. Each letter must be signed and must include the classification, address and
telephone number of the writer. All letters may be brought to 216 Reed McDonald, or sent to Campus Mail
Stop 1111.
war on medicine should en
Recently someone was kind
enough to place a copy of People for
the Ethical Treatment of Animal’s
(PETA) Catalogue for Cruelty Free
Living on my desk.
Between the ads for “cruelty free”
toilet bowl cleaner and “Fur is Dead”
T-shirts, I read with interest an ad
for a PETA video called “No Gravy
for the Cat.” It detailed the heroic
“liberation” of five cats from Dr.
John Orem’s medical research lab at
Texas Tech and their subsequent
“escape with their activist liberators
on the underground railroad.”
What the catalog failed to mention
was the fact that the “liberators” did
over $70,000 worth of damage and
significantly set back medical
research on Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome, which kills over 5,000
infants every year.
This is just one of many incidents
which occur every year in the
“animal-rights” war on medicine.
The Foundation for Biomedical
Research found that, since 1985,
attacks on medical research facilities
have endangered lives and cost over
$15 million in damage and beefed-up
security.
That is $ 15 million not spent on
medical research. The life which is
endangered just might be yours.
Consider the good which has come
from animal research. Since 1875,
animal research has led to vaccines
against diphtheria, polio, measles,
mumps, smallpox and whooping
cough. It has brought about
treatment of diabetes, powerful
antibiotics, the pacemaker,
microsurgery and cancer treatments.
Our average life span has
increased by 28 years in the last
century, and even as we speak animal
research is leading to medical
advances against AIDS and
Alzheimer’s disease. Unless the war
on medicine is continued.
PETA and other animal extremist
groups believe that animals are the
moral equivalent of human beings.
Ingrid Newkirk, the head of PETA,
stated unequivocally that, “A rat is a
pig is a dog is a boy.”
Newkirk compares the killing of
chickens with the Holocaust, telling
the Washington Post, “Six million
people died in concentration camps,
but six billion broiler chickens will die
this year in slaughterhouses.” What’s
next? Car bombings of Kentucky
Fried Chicken restaurants?
The militant animal-rights groups
claim that animals are no longer
necessary for medical research to
take place. They claim that animal
research is irrelevant, and can be
replaced by computers and tissue
cultures.
Preposterous! Bessie Borwein,
associate dean for research-medicine
at the University of Western Ontario
said, “That is nonsense. You cannot
study kidney transplantation or
diarrhea or high blood pressure on a
computer screen.”
Would you want a drug or
procedure tested on you which had
previously been tried only on a tissue
culture? I think not.
“I cannot conceive of telling
parents their sick child will die
because we cannot use all the tools at
our disposal,” says Dr. Michael
DeBakey of Houston’s Baylor
College of Medicine. “How will they
feel about a society that legislates the
rights of animals above those of
humans?”
The Animal Liberation Front
(ALF) which stole the animals from
Orem’s lab at Tech, as well as their
extremist comrades in the animal-
rights movement across the country
are giving legitimate animal welfare
groups such as the SPCA a bad name
by being loosely grouped under the
“animal rights” banner.
The many valid accomplishments
of people who are legitimately
concerned about mistreatment of
animals are being overshadowed by
the malevolent and criminal behavior
of zealots in the “movement”.
Secretary of Health and Human
Services Louis Sullivan, a leading
supporter of using animals in
biomedical research, says, “I am
saddened and a bit angry that we
have had to put up with major
disruptions to science by so-called
‘animal-rights’ activists — who are,i:
fact, nothing more than animal-
rights terrorists.”
The FBI agreed with Sullivan
when it added the Animal Liberate
Front to its list of domestic terrorist
organizations, along with groupslik
Earth First! and Trans-Species
Unlimited, whose charter states:
“The liberation of animal life can
only be achieved through the radia
transformation of human
consciousness and the overthrowo(
existing power structures in which
human and animal abuse are
entrenched.”
A rat is a pig is a dog is a boy,
indeed. I’m waiting for a group of
animal suffragists to start up.
The hypocrisy exhibited by some
of these groups is amazing. Conside:
the case of Cleveland Amory’s Fund
for Animals, w’hose animal
“liberations” and protests are somei
the most highly publicized in the
country. It was discovered last year
that many of the “liberated” animal;
were being taken to the Fund’s Blad
Beauty Ranch in Wimberley, Texas
which is (you guessed it), a
commercial cattle operation.
Slaughtering cattle to pay forstealir,
(oops, I mean liberating) mice and
monkeys is the absolute vilest forme
two-faced hypocrisy imaginable.
The war on medicine and animal
research is being waged daily incur
country. Besides the bombings and
the other terroristic acts, the
movement has at its disposal at leas:
$50 million annually, millions of
which it devotes to stopping
biomedical research.
The next time you see Paul
McCartney or k.d. lang asking for
your contributions for “animal
rights,” remember that your dollar
may go to prevent research which
could one day s^ve yours or a loved
one’s life.
These extremists have the
opportunity to make a real statemen
on their beliefs — by offering
themselves in the place of their
animal brethren. Until that day
(which, of course, will never come),
they deserve the same treatment as
members of other terrorist
organizations — a TV in their cell.
Larry Cox is a graduate student in
range science.
Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for giving
It’s a week before Thanksgiving.
People already are thinking about
turkey and all that food. There’ll be
some important football games on
Thanksgiving, and people are thinking
about them, too. And there’s a bonfire
to build. And there won’t be any classes
to go to for four days.
Turkey, food galore, football games,
bonfire and free time. These are
extravagant things.
We should be thankful for such
things. And we are. We’ll give thanks
for everything we have this
Thanksgiving. We’ll give thanks. Giving
thanks — that’s what Thanksgiving is all
about. Isn’t it?
On Thanksgiving, the millionaire
gives thanks for his millions. And the
billionaire for his billions. Those who
have a home give thanks for shelter
from the elements. The homeless give
thanks for a box they might have found
to sleep in. Homeless children give
thanks for shoes they found in a trash
can. Even the turkey gives thanks for
being put out of its misery.
But there seems to be something
wrong with this picture. Everyone is
giving thanks for what they have, but no
one is giving. Thanksgiving isn’t about
thanks for having; it’s about thanks for
giving.
Many people will give thanks this
holiday for everything they have,
intending to keep every cent or piece of
it. We have lost the true spirit of
Thanksgiving. We do not celebrate
Thanksgiving as the greatest
thanksgivers did centuries ago.
The Native Americans began the
greatest tradition that has ever been
passed down from one generation to
another. That tradition is giving. The
Native Americans, as always, shared
with the Earth just enough to survive.
And yet they shared what they had —
their knowledge, their food, their clean
water — with those who needed it.
Today, we have much more than
what we need to survive. To most
people of the world, what we have in
our bedroom is worth more than all
they could earn in years of working. Yet
most of us want more. We want the
maximum. And we will not give to those
who have the minimum.
Our culture has trained us to think
that getting and keeping as much as
possible is the natural thing to do. A
culture like ours today cannot truly
celebrate Thanksgiving as the Native
Americans did.
Their natural tendency was to give,
not to keep. And they gave all year
round, not just on special days. To
them, giving was not something special
that is done by the generous. Giving was
the given, the natural order, like
breathing. It is unfortunate we have
that Jesus gave all that he had, all it
he got, all that he made and all of he
life. Should we not, Christian or not
emulate Jesus?
And yet we do not.
But there seems to be
something wrong with this
picture. Everyone is giving
thanks for what they have,
but no one is giving.
Thanksgiving isn f t about
thanks for having; it f s about
thanks for giving.
buried this beautiful tradition, this
beautiful way of thinking.
In today’s rush to get, have and keep,
we even have abandoned the more
beautiful religious actions, as well. I am
not an expert on Jesus, but I do know
I’ve made about $70 this semestet
writing columns. I already have sent!
of it to the United Nations Children
Fund. The other $50 I will split beW
international and local charity
organizations. This Thanksgiving,!
plan on donating some food and tins
the local hunger organization. Allhu
it’s a tiny sum of time and money, bm
think about it. If 40,000 students
chipped in, the sum balloons to mi
of dollars and perhaps millions of ho
of time spent on helping people.
Loving reader: Let’s give thanks.t
let’s give, too.
Irwin Tang is a junior political 0
major.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
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Editor
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News Editors
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Eric Roalson, Art Director
Lisa Ann Robertson,
Lifestyles Editor
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