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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 27, 1994)
inc 27,; :ks lia lake shot broke wit. a. tude qualtf uth as hree mile said in El Cer- ?e down® •e. and ar of their ding to Lu )ol emency. ome casti ” saidJJ. of the Saj uncil ar eteran. it built ii e going tt a case fh School, le of tit ; was citei on of dm; ts distrir, al zero dcials f tough t d in ex possessioi even years, a studen 1 to exce ool career ,e to that does unt thai Al ither ress-Nes d •obe apes scide dence (AP) - impsoo his ex- • of hav- eir chil- ,ape of a illy en- ociated Monday • June 27, 1994 Page 5 t r s 9 { GM VRF\Q RbCihJG l Vet>R t>e£R 6t^nje iVAuu part 43, th^ Gw CHRlSTAldS To TB-R rA6 vx/iTH ClAt* CvMRG OiTT Offal* l ' v v ' > Bugs dam AiJd Ca tvui v w Crr,. eiit« —my The Battalion Editorial Board Mark Evans, Editor in chief William Harrison, Managing editor Jay Robbins, Opinion editor Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views of the editorial board. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other Battalion staff members, the Texas A&M student body, regents, administration, faculty or staff. Columns, guest columns, cartoons and letters express the opinions of the authors. Contact the opinion editor for information on submitting guest columns. Carter’s Coup Former president salvages North Korean talks Sex pervades modern entertainment Hollywood should leave sex in bedroom, not show it all on screen O n every channel, in every movie, it’s the same thing. I mean, how many times do we have to sit through it before we have seen enough of it to get the basic picture? Maybe an explanation booklet ought to come with every movie ticket, including full-color diagrams in a baseball-card format. What are we talking about? Sex. For many of us sex is a fundamental part of life. After all, how many women would sit around being pregnant for nine months if sex did not have some sort of pleasure involved in it? From what I am told, getting up every morning and throwing up is not as fun as it sounds. And from the men’s side — if sex did not have the attraction it does for malekind, the floral business, restaurant business, clothing business — well, the whole stinking economy would simply fall apart. On the other hand, the sports celt market would flourish and alcohol would be the mainstay of any diet. Now, all that said, one may ask, why is SEX in EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF MODERN ENTERTAINMENT? I’ll tell you why. Somewhere, deep in our genetic code, a small chromosome causes every cell in our bodies to scream, REPRODUCE! This is-important. In the pre-history days, human beings were traveling around in clans and women would be hard-pressed, no matter how necessary it was, to get themselves pregnant when they were half-starved and battered by nature. Happily, most people like being with each other, especially when they are reproducing. In this way, the human species began its long trek of gaining enough of a stable population to start societies, learn about their environment, sail to the New World, and start Texas A&M. Whoop! Now that we all understand its importance, can someone tell me why we have to watch two, three, or multiple groups of people having sex on every TV station? Can someone explain why almost every movie, even those based on JOSEF ELCHANAN Columnist books totally lacking sexual encounters, have love scenes inserted by the screenwriters? I hate going to see shoot ’em ups and action films and have some dame stuffed into the movie plot simply for some weird profit-making scheme. Damsel in distress, ok; bad-girl, fine; killing machine, great; sex toy, big negative. I’m not saying that everyone shouldn’t be allowed to see the two-dimensional sex stuff if they want. There are special Look at the great movies: 'Apocalypse Now/ no sex; 'Patton/ no sex; 'Star Wars/ one kiss, no sex; 'Blade Run ner/ lots of innuendo, no sex. places you can go to rent that kind of stuff and those porno magazines that can probably satisfy most people’s sexual cravings. That’s what’s great about a market economy — something for everybody, except for the sickos who like ... well, we won’t discuss that. Anyway, I want quality! I want lots and lots of guns in my movies, no Freudian intent there for the psych majors. I want the cool death scenes and the helicopters and the tanks and the rocket launchers and not one bit of naked porno stuff. Let the sissies and dateless get their own movies! I mean, look at the great movies: “Apocalypse Now,” no sex; “Patton,” no sex; “Star Wars,” one kiss, no sex (anyway, it’s her brother, and you psych people shut up); “Red Dawn,” no sex, “Blade Runner,” lots of innuendo, but no graphic sex. You see all the best don’t need bodies, except the ones that are piled to the skies and filled with lead. Now let’s look at some loser movies: “Pretty Woman,” a dumb movie with those worthless actors, Julia Bigsmile and Richard Dumbstud, whose characters are both scum, decide to have sex all the time and everywhere without any sort of decency or commitment (“An Officer and a Gentleman” was stupid too because Richard would rather have the girl than his F-14); Basic Instinct, where Michael Douglas, normally a good actor, flirts with the slutty blond-bisexual- bimbo murderer woman throughout the whole movie; “The FYano,” which I would not even lower myself to go see, where a mute woman finds a guy who she would love to have sexual encounters with, instead of her husband who bought her (what a »ice film!); and so many other trashy, worthless movies that waste the very film they were recorded on. Yeah, I know that those stupid movies made lots of money and won some awards, but who cares? When it comes down to it, you can watch “Star Weirs” a hundred times and still love it — and the whole family can go see Luke Skywalker torpedo the Death Star and still have fun without figuring out new ways to contract venereal disease. That’s what it’s all about. Just remember, in the old days Gary Cooper got to shoot Germans, Cary Grant acted cool, Tishiro Mifune cut ’em down, and John Wayne shot ’em up, all of them just messing around a bit with the lovely ladies without having to show it all. Graphic sex ain’t macho, cool, sexy or anything else. Tell Hollywood to take it to the bedroom, not the screen. Josef Elchanan is a senior business management major Former president Jimmy Carter ap pears to have succeeded the late Richard Nixon as the United States’ top unoffi cial diplomat. Carter received great re gard from the North Koreans as a trust worthy representative and negotiator. Earlier this month, Carter was in vited to the North Korean capitol of Pyongyang to discuss growing political contro versy over suspicions that North Korea is building nuclear weapons as an of fensive method for eventu ally reclaiming South Ko rea and acting against oth er Asian nations. The U.S. government has been walking on political eggshells in hopes that the tensions would ease and avert the growing threat of military conflict. Since the Korean War of the 1950s, communist North Korea has been showing increasing interest in the economic rise and political stance of its neighbor to the south. This important visit had to steer talks around all those fears and interests. After conferring with North Korean President Kim II Sung, Carter brought back encouraging news regarding the arrest of nuclear weapons prepara tions. Despite the White House claims that the former president is not a rep resentative of the American govern ment and acted on his own. Carter’s gesture of good will has accomplished what no one else could manage — con tinued peace and open talks. Ironically, the Carter presidency end ed after four years of many embarrassing and infamous events. Enormous cars guzzled gasoline during the fuel short age. The Iranian hostage crisis was at the forefront of American political and military con cern. Interest rates hit 21 percent, and inflation was at an. all-time high. Justly or not, Carter suffered almost exclusive blame for most of the country’s problems and was considered by many to be a terrible president. Today, Carter also is using his political power and tireless concern to combat the ever-increas ing problem of inner city homelessness and despair. Through his Habitat for Humanity organization, Carter has spearheaded a number of programs implemented to aid urban degeneration without increase in fed eral spending. Carter left for the meeting without the support of the current administra tion. He returned with the gratitude and ear of President Clinton and the world. With his latest service Carter has redeemed himself in the eyes of this country, if not earned himself recogni tion as one of the greatest ex-presi dents in history. x-wifti emer 1 after broke i of the illigible it cow [y were ;ard Id ig you. 3 a s—• 7 s • leave: leave,” ny two iving,” in the asks ,ecause act in [ber of gating other tapes could i TV,” r told s in a day. ; had listen at the juror old to s,” he to us 5 911 erior 11s to probe 1 now udge ne if : e for Today’s university education neglects life’s great questions T he purpose of a university is to educate. Students should begin their higher education asking the very basic questions of human life. What is good, what is just, what is true. The university has the duty to guide its students in their search for goodness, justice, and truth. This is where the American university, including Texas A&M, has failed. In “The Crisis of Liberal Education,” Allan Bloom, the late professor of political and social philosophy at the University of Chicago and author of the best selling “The Closing of the American Mind,” argues that universities are no longer “a preserve for the quiet contemplation of the permanent questions ... and the pursuit of those disciplines whose only purpose is intellectual clarity, and more a center for the training of highly qualified specialists.” This type of school “does not appeal to the students’ longing for an understanding of the most serious problems, in particular, their doubts about the route to follow in order to live a good life and their questions about the nature of justice.” Rather than helping students answer, “How should I live my life?” the modem university simply trains students to be successful at particular careers. At Texas A&M we have a core curriculum of basic subjects like history, political science, and English. University-wide xrements .^uiand several credit hours of work in L Humanities, natural sciences, and mathematics. This requirement is a nice idea. Unfortunately, it does not serve to bring these fields of study together under what Bloom calls “the unifying grip of philosophy.” The engineer and the English major do not share much common ground. They do not see the relationship between their fields of study, or how each of those fields fits in the larger field of human knowledge. “All sense of unity and hierarchy has had to be abandoned,” c ays Bloom. As a student of chemical engineering for the past two years, I am receiving the best technical education money can buy. By the time I graduate, I should be prepared to take my place as a productive member of the real world with a good, high paying job. If all this goes according to plan, I should be a big success, right? But what will I have done to get there? I will have a thorough understanding of chemical and physical principles and a working knowledge of how to apply them to industrial processes. I will have spent four (maybe five) years pursuing this knowledge, receiving a degree which certifies me to accomplish such tasks. I will be a highly qualified “specialist.” Is this what I came to college for? Well, I do want a good job, and a degree from Texas A&M is certainly step in the right direction. I also want to graduate an educated man. Unfortunately, the contemplation of life’s ultimate questions usually takes a back seat to equations of state and second order tensors. I’m not suggesting that engineers are spiritually depraved machines who crunch numbers for a living and are oblivious to the world around them. If that was all that this field entails, it would have become obsolete years ago with the development of powerful computer that can accomplish these tasks in a few seconds. In fact, engineering requires the uniquely human characteristics of critical thought and abstract reasoning, in addition to the knowledge of a broad range of fundamental principles, that no computer can ever accomplish. Neither am I suggesting that we all abandon our plans for the future and become philosophy majors. What I am suggesting is that we take the time to look beyond our chosen fields of study and see what else is out there. Talk to people whose major seems to have nothing to do with your own. You might be surprised how much there is to learn from them. Take a liberal arts class, not just for an “easy A” or to get your humanities requirement out of the way, but to learn about something which we normally don’t encounter. Shakespeare may not help you pass fluid mechanics, Plato won’t inspire the design of a distillation column, Newton’s laws of motion are not the subject of American history. But these fields are not separate and distinct. They are inextricably interwoven to form the whole body of human knowledge. The technical sciences have an important place in this body, but knowledge of them alone do not make a complete human being. All students should make an effort to learn about others and see beyond themselves. Let us see the importance of all fields of human endeavor, including those that are “useless” to our own careers, and strive to become not just something, but somebody. Jim Pawlikowski is a junior chemical engineering major Mountain bikes ride well on B-CS terrain • I am writing this letter in response to Constance Parten’s actuate June 22 sports column entitled, “Mountain Bikes at A&M Just an Image.” My undergradu ate institution in Pennsylvania had nu- - ■■■■ . merous rocky, muddy, hilly trails. The al terations, such as front suspension sys tems, were added for comfort and safety. Unfortunately during the drive to Texas, my Trek 820 fell off the back of my car and was run over. After surveying Bryan- College Station, I bought the appropriate bike - a Murray mountain bike. Yet, I disagree with the author claiming tour ing cycles are appropriate, due to the fact the rims are too weak to withstand nu merous stairs and curbs. However, it is inconceivable to me that any intelligent rider would spend more than S200 for a bike without the intention of carrying the bike out of town for riding! Mountain bikes are not intended for road racing and the riders endanger other students and faculty when they utilize the campus as their “trail.” The student interviewed who spent S1000 dollars loading up his bike and then feared he had the ability to damage high-quality parts should have saved his money and bought the sports gear appropriate for the College Station area - roller blades. The “Joe-Dude Mountainbiker” interviewed ought to re alize the yuppie spending of the ’80s is over and give his bike to somebody who has the guts to tool around in the hills. Carol Thomas Graduate Student • I think Constance Parten is correct that many people at Texas A&M are buy ing very expensive mountain bikes that are made for real mountains. It is obvious that many of these people are seriously lacking bike handling skills and would not get anywhere with their 81,200 bike even in the mountains. I think she is totally wrong on her oth er opinions. I am from northeastern New Jersey and have been riding and fixing bikes almost all my life. I used my moun tain bike for running errands in central Manhattan and as an undergraduate at Rutgers University in the busy city of New Brunswick, N.J. Why a mountain bike is your best bet today - note I am referring to mountain bikes in the 8250-82500 range. Mountain bikes are much safer than hybrid or tour ing bikes on wet or dusty streets. Moun tain bikes are made to get wet and mud dy, and require less-frequent greasing of moving parts. They are also easier to maintain. Although fat tires can add ex tra resistance, the gear ratios and —m Ifl H1 HI H ■ amount of gears to choose from make mountain bikes more suitable for a wider range of riding environments. I ride from Scandia Apartments (on Anderson) to the Heep Center (on west campus) in about nine minutes, faster than the on-road bike riders I pass on the way. Jason Goldman Graduate Student The Battalion encour ages tetters to the editor and will print as many as space allows. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the au thor's name, class, and phone number. We reserve the right to edtt letters for length. style, and accuracy. Address tetters to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University CoBege Station, TX 77843-11T1 Fax; (409) 845-2647