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onday, September 6,1993
The Battalion Editorial Board
CHRIS WHITLEY, editor in chief
|lillPHILLIPS, managing editor MARK EVANS, city editor
DAVE THOMAS, night news editor ANAS BEN-MUSA, Aggielife editor
IELINDA BLANCARTE, night news editor MICHAEL PLUMER, sports editor
HACK HARRISON, opinion editor WILLIAM HARRISON, sports editor
KYLE BURNETT, photo editor
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Labor
EDITORIAL
pains
Students must hustle for jobs
As we sit back to celebrate
iior Day, it is ironic to note
i dismal state of the econo-
5 today.
Wages are down and jobs
{scarce. College graduates
tering the workforce face a
iren job market, where they
sforced to compete witn
ter, more experienced appli
es for the same low-paymg
isitions.
Inaddition, the newest gen-
3lion of workers is expected
liave a lower standard of
ig than the preceding gen
ital - for tne first time in
isnation's history,
large corporations such as
Hand General Motors have
inned massive layoffs and
liacks. Just recently, GTE, a
ras-based company, an-
iinced it intends to make
Stic personnel cuts.
This week, a study by the
ronomics Policy Institute
raid a disturbing trend in
nation's economy. Accord-
ijjtothe report, entry-level
ices are shrinking. Wages
Jblue collar workers fell 5.9
ircent over the last four
arsand white-collar wages
112,4 percent.
In addition, over half of the
new jobs created in the first
half of 1993 were part-time po
sitions that offerea no benefits.
Many job seekers looking
for full-time work were forced
to take part-time jobs instead,
resulting in underemploy
ment.
College students are one of
the main victims of this un
deremployment. Forced by
class schedules to take part-
time jobs at odd hours, stu
dents often find themselves
working longer just to make
ends meet.
For future graduates, the
job market also looks bleak.
The chances of people with
college degrees finding a job
in their career field are de
creasing.
This is why it is important
for students to think about
employment before gradua
tion. The Texas A&M Career
Center, academic advisers and
student groups can all help
the prospective graduate in
the great job hunt.
Students should prepare for
the workplace long before
they stand in the graduation
line, so they won't end up
standing in the unemploy
ment line.
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 11
Talk radio: Public Enemy Number 1?
Congress, FCC Fairness Doctrine threaten free speech
ELIOT
WILLIAMS
Columnist
B e afraid — be
very afraid. It is
becoming clear
that Congress is
scared of the Ameri
can public and is act
ing to save itself.
They've started by
attempting to take
away the right of free
speech. What right
will they revoke next?
The paranoia on
Capitol Hill is not un
justified. The last few
years have witnessed
uncontested public
discontent with Con
gress.
The recent fervor over term limits, the
check bouncing scandal and problems with
the House post office have our congressmen
running scared. Debate over President Clin
ton’s budget resulted in over 100,000 calls an
hour into the Capitol Hill switchboard, tem
porarily shutting it down.
Congress has blamed this recent surge of
attacks on talk radio and the likes of Rush
Limbaugh. According to the Sept. 1,1993
edition of The Wall Street Journal, 40 percent
of all Americans listen to some sort of radio
talk show. Rush Limbaugh alone has a self-
proclaimed audience of 20 million listeners a
week.
A new study from the Times Mirror Cen
ter for the People and the Press claims that:
"American public opinion is being distorted
and exaggerated by the voices that dominate
the airwaves of talk radio, dog the White
House switchbocud ... and respond to call-in
polls." Talk radio callers, the study professes,
are "rabidly anti-Congressional in their view
point."
The upsurge in public interest is causing
some congressmen to respond with legisla
tion.
Rep. Bill Hefner says talk radio "scares
me." He contends that negative attacks on
Congress are "getting to the point where
we're not able to govern." Talk about passing
the buck.
Hefner and some of his fellow congress
men are responding to the public's renewed
interest in government by resurrecting the
decrepit Fairness Doctrine — a policy dreamt
up by Federal Communication Commission
staffers in 1949 which claimed to require
broadcasters to provide equal time to all
sides of "controversial" issues. The Reagan
Administration killed the policy in 1987 after
proving that Congress hadn't approved it.
The Fairness Doctrine in practice, coupled
with the FCC's power to renew broadcast li
censes, could be used to censor whatever me
dia personality the administration opposed.
The Nixon administration used the doc
trine to torment left-wing broadcasters, while
Bill Rudder, President Kennedy's assistant
secretary of commerce, said of the Kennedy
administration: "Our strategy was to use the
Fairness Doctrine to challenge and harass
right-wing broadcasters and hope the chal
lenges would be so costly to them that they
would be inhibited and decide it was too ex
pensive to continue."
Look out, Rush Limbaugh.
Democracy has always thrived on the free
flow of information. George Orwell, in
"1984," claimed that easiest way for govern
ment to dominate its citizens is to control the
words they use. Big Brother was effective in
limiting thought to simple terms where no
debate was possible. Congress is learning the
benefits of Big Brother's policies.
Our society has found new and innovative
ways of achieving the free flow of informa
tion. Talk radio, CNN, C-SPAN, computer
BBSs and newspapers are just a few of the
ways American's are conversing and openly
debating today. We must continue to fight
for these media.
Americans are sick of blatant overspend
ing, and we are responding actively with
phone calls and criticism. This is what
democracy is about. In a true democracy,
public objections would be corrected by our
leaders. In America, our leaders attempt to
correct the public.
Congress' new efforts to subvert our free
doms are alarming. The revival of the Fair
ness Doctrine is just the first step down a
very dangerous path. I refuse to stand idly
by while Congress begins to revoke our basic
rights.
Joseph Sobran, a societal commentator,
once said: "The essence of tyranny is govern
ment without carefully defined powers,
powers whose limits can be invoked by citi
zens under the law."
If our Bill of Rights is subject to retraction
by any whim of Congress, it is clear that we
are moving ever closer to the tyranny to
which Sobran refers.
Eliot Williams is a sophomore electrical engineer
ing major
THE I
Editorials appearing in The
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opinions of other Battalion
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Contact the opinion editor
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Address letters to:
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Slacks must acknowledge individuality to form community
A si began
Ll writing this
• Xcolumn, it
smed to address
Mai point. Yet,
■lalized that the
iject matter
aches far into the
esof many
Jican-A meri
ts.
Ihis is the atti-
Jethat all Afri-
J-Americans are
sghly the same.
Itis a subtle atti-
4, but it is om-
Jtesent.
Mecided to write about it for this rea-
3and also because many blacks as well
whites seem to buy into this attitude,
lhat belief is far, far from the truth,
icome in all shapes, sizes, and colors,
ihave minds and capabilities just as
foneelse does. In the black race, there
■those who are slow or intelligent,
'Hinal or law-abiding, rich or poor.
TRACEY
JONES
Columnist
boisterous or soft-spoken — just like any
other people.
We have bad "apples" yet we also pro
duce doctors, lawyers, engineers, accoun
tants and other professionals.
Blacks are individuals.
The method by which many grocery
and drug stores organize their product
lines demonstrates how this attitude af
fects even the most minor and personal
aspects of our lives. In one store where I
frequently shop, all the hair products are
grouped together — all the White Rain,
all the Salon Selectives and so on.
Yet, the black hair products are placed
in a section of their own labeled "Ethnic
Beauty." Why is that? Why is that when
some black people use Salon Selectives
and White Rain?
Why can't all hair products be
grouped together, eliminating the "eth
nic" section? It is the same organizational
patterns with cosmetics, by the way.
As I mentioned earlier, this topic is
very important in part because it is an at
titude that some blacks seem to buy into
also — which has serious implications for'
the race as a whole.
We are not acknowledging the differ
ences. Perhaps this is why it is so difficult
for blacks to come together as a community
as Jewish and Korean people have done.
The "black" category encompasses a whole
range of religions, socio-economic strata,
education levels, parenting styles, etc.
We are not acknowledging
the differences. Perhaps this
is why it is so difficult for
blacks to come together as a
community as Jewish and
Korean people have done.
In knowing this, perhaps we should
abandon the idea of a centralized black
community and look toward a more de
centralized community.
For instance, it seems easier for a
group of blacks who have things in com
mon to come together and in turn work
with other groups of blacks who have
been brought together because of their
commonalities. This way, there would be
much less internal friction and members
could spend their energy negotiating with
other groups.
All of this is not to say that ethnic
groups have nothing whatsoever in com
mon. Obviously, people from similar cul
tures will have some things in common.
But the type of person that you are not
only encompasses culture, but environ
mental experiences as well.
The beliefs you are raised with deter
mine how you will integrate certain ele
ments of a culture. For instance, I am
from a small East Texas town where rap
music is not really listened to. As a matter
of fact, we don't even have a rap station
in my town. And although rap music
hails from the African-American culture, I
am acquainted with many black people
who have trouble relating to the violence
and intense cries of police brutality that
pervades much of this music.
Small towns as a whole don't appear
to have the blatant displays of violence
and abuse of authority that is evident in
big cities. Although corruption might ex
ist in small towns, it is on a much smaller,
less advanced scale.
But people from larger urban areas are
able to relate more to this particular topic
because it might be something that they
witness on a frequent basis, or at least
enough to know that it exists.
Therefore, people from large cities and
small towns can relate to different things
because their environment allows for di
versity, even though we are all a part of
the black culture.
People are individuals.
Not all black men and women are
slow, nor are they all sex freaks. There are
intelligent black men and women who do
achieve and who do participate in the
honor societies and go on to live success
ful, law-abiding lives. Because —
Blacks are individuals.
Basically, the bottom line is that truly,
some things should naturally be classified
according to color — and you may even
buy them for that reason — but not people.
Tracey Jones is a senior psychology major
People created to pick
between right, wrong
, I must say I was stunned to learn
rank Stanford believes there are only
> wrongs in this world - physical Wo-
Pce and theft.
■i I thought perhaps Frank had spent his
summer in some free-love commune, but
then again, you can't have theft of com
munity property, right, Frank?
I find it hard to to believe that if Frank
found out his wife was cheating on him,
his children habitually lied to him, and
vandals had just spray-painted his car,
he could simply shrug it off since "there
really is no right or wrong." The fact
that there are multiple views on a subject
does not mean all views are morally
valid. As politically incorrect as this
may sound, quite often one view is right
and all others are wrong.
It has been my experience that people
like Frank Stanford view human beings
as, at best, a half-step ahead of the
beasts. I, on the other hand, see man as
one step below divinity. It is my sincere
hope that everyone will ask themselves
the following questions:
Do you believe, in your heart of
hearts, you are a cosmic fluke, a speck of
dust on a rock circling a ball of gas, here
one moment and gone forever the next?
Or, do you believe you were created
in the image of God, equipped with the
most marvelous of machines — your
mind — not only to solve problems, but
to differentiate between right and
wrong?
This is not an attempt to give you a
religious "warm fuzzy," I assure you.
Your true belief in this matter is the
cornerstone of how you view yourself
and how you view others. It will deter
mine the boundaries of your spiritual de
velopment and ultimately the fate of
your immortal soul.
Grant Rnple
Class of'94
Shuttle bus changes
don't serve students
PTTS has once again amazed us all
with its stellar display of intelligence and
efficiency. Its so called "improvements"
in the intra-campus shuttle bus system
are a farce.
The reason for shuttles and the 20
minutes between class intervals are to al
low people such as myself to get from
oh, say ... Blocker to maybe ... Kleberg in
time for, oh my God ... the beginning of
class.
As it stands, it would take at least 25
minutes to get from Blocker to Kleberg
utilizing the shuttle system.
If the counter-clockwise buses were
still in operation, many problems such as
this would be eliminated. This new sys
tem may be more efficient for you, PTTS
... but, in reality, it is not for those of
whom you are serving ... THE STU
DENTS.
Donna Prewitt and Mike Cortwll
Class of '95