August 4,1991
mrsday • August 4, 1994
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Page 5
filling to save unborn ‘lives’ murders Americans’ civil rights
)
i military operation
erisms suspicious!)
ituation even moie
tontra affair
is series; no mate
n events, his acule
im into a crisis, aoi
; own hands,
- but, with films sudi
ones” trilogies, Tre-
i/e” to his credit,
nerve-fraying pefr
le of intrigue is welt
octors are being murdered. Last
Friday, another man who
practiced legal abortions, along
h a clinic security volunteer and his
was gunned down in front of a
lie. The reaction to it, or lack thereof,
some radical pro-lifers should have
ry American scared of where this
ntry is headed.
legardless of your stance on
ELIZABETH
PRESTON
Columnist
rtion, this past weekend’s horror speaks to
ry one of us.
)r. John Britton arrived in Pensacola, Florida
irDr. David Gunn was murdered last year,
of the reasons he came was to take up
on’s traveling practice. He lived in fear for his
and constantly wore a bullet-proof vest. He
wearing it when he died, but he was shot in
head.
James H. Barrett, the volunteer who was
ined down with Britton, also began work at
clinic as a direct result of Gunn’s death.
Tett and his wife, June, who also was shot
survived, both decided to become escorts for
ients because they believed strongly in
[tecting access to the clinics.
[he n
Nicholson’s “Jokei,
n instead of
eton’s “Beetlejuice,
instead of the
lartin’s “The Jerk'
possible, while _
man arrested and charged with these
women come easilrders, Paul Hill, was stopped as he was
s The Mask, butwtiS
love of a club singe;
in Diaz.) Tothisde
and befuddle h
es crossed up
id a police lieutenaf
ter Riegert - of'Aii
io is suspicious Oll|
Carrey’s oveiwrougS
t over it and seetis
Russell backs Caitti
a ensemble of scree;
edic accompanre
rformance is almci
>, Ipkiss’ trusty tenie
moments of uproar
utine of Ipkiss andfe
mask in this film
fleeing the scene
on foot. He had
shotgun shells in
his pockets and
more attached to
his legs. He is
married and the
father of three
children under the
mxaaum. a g e 0 f yQ.
Hill was described by people associated with
him, including Don Treshman of Rescue America,
as a “loose cannon” who “felt it was totally
justifiable to hunt them [abortion doctors] down
and shoot them where they ply their trade.”
Treshman also said that while he does not
condone this killing he can’t condemn it, because,
“lives were saved in Pensacola today.”
This “life-saving” act is murder.
Pro-life or pro-choice, we should recognize the
fact that these victim’s lives were not in debate.
The question of where life begins is complex and
very intriguing, but has nothing to do with the
cold-blooded murder of men and women. A tiny
cluster of cells that represents a life with
glorious possibilities is still - arguably — not a
human being because it can not yet survive on
its own.
If Hill is guilty, he has inadvertently
destroyed everything he claims to stand for. He
was supposedly saving children by killing an
abortion doctor, yet his own children are now
virtually fatherless.
The Barretts and Britton were living, thriving
people who believed in a woman’s right to choose
right or wrong for herself. If the ability to take a
stance on a moral questions becomes a life or
death issue, what will become of our society?
America in its greatness is built on freedoms:
America in its greatness is built on freedoms
including the right to be wrong in the eyes of
others. When even one of these freedoms is
threatened, we all stand to lose our liberties.
freedom of speech, life, liberty, religion, views
and the right to be wrong in the eyes of others.
When even one of these freedoms is threatened,
we all stand to lose our most important liberties.
Americans must stand together and refuse to
allow this destruction of fundamental liberties -
whether they’re pro-life, pro-choice, NRA members,
gun control advocates. Beef Farmers of America,
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,
Greenpeace, loggers, devout theists or strict atheists.
Murder cannot be justified by the saving of
unborn “lives.”
Even if everyone did agree that abortion at
any stage of pregnancy was murder, and a doctor
still carried out abortions, his murder would not
be justifiable. A society that permits vengeance
to rationalize actions and admires men and
women who take the law into their own hands is
a society on its way out.
In the same vein, if any pro-
choicers shot a protester blocking
an abortion clinic door, they also
should be put away for life.
The irony of killing someone to
protect someone else is horrible in its
tragic intensity. As long as abortion is
legal, clinics should not have to
request federal marshals at their
doors, doctors should be able to go to work without
bulletproof vests, and the entire country should fight
for these rights with the intensity that they stand on
either side of the abortion issue.
A society out of control must be contained or it
will fall.
Elizabeth Preston is a junior English major
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, guesl columns, cartoons and
letters express the opinions of the authors.
Contact the opinion editor for information
on submitting guest columns.
Summer of Questions
Students must pay attention to A&M problems
PlIZA CAUCUS
— ©6 'h/AsCr
'54
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erefore art those sexy Romeos?
umans' animal nature still hasn't evolved enough to make love simple
ast week I saw
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SUSAN
OWEN
iWillllil—W
Guest Columnist
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swooning and complaining of
alady I think songwriters have described as the Why-can’t-
d-a-guy-like-that Blues.
So, where do you find a guy brave enough to crawl under a
ding bus, strong enough to rip open elevator doors, and
ve enough to counsel frightened hostages? OK, OK, guys
.’t get a lot of opportunities to show off that stuff. Besides, as
odem woman, what I look for in a man is sensitivity,
Iligence, communication ... And what happens? Show me
action flick and I come out grunting like a cavegirl. You’d
the species hadn’t evolved at all.
Actually, it’s just that our instincts haven’t caught up with
level of civilization. Part of that emergent sophistication is
e.” The sexual-emotional attraction that binds two humans
ether, arose as a method of survival when mankind moved
of the trees. Look around. You see another species that
oads this kind of grief on itself? Believe me, there’s a reason,
e ancestors of man were apes that lived in forests,
ching their fruit and quietly minding their own business,”
[uote zoologist Desmond Morris. A change in climate and
.action of the forests, Morris speculates, forced them to start
ting food on the plains with the other carnivores. Those
ie. no minimum grade pom 1 uys had already adapted to hunting, however, and were
ge gives details. 696 8925 stronger and had much sharper teeth.
o mankind got smarter. Evolution gradually extended the
Igth of our childhood, allowing the brain to continue
eloping after birth, Morris says. Other species mature much
I jre rapidly, requiring little or no care. Human children are
erable longer and need supervision and education; the
^ n grows rapidly for six years and is not complete until
jur foreign car specialist Mrf#ut the age of 23. The female, then, stays put protecting and
ve have the next dents?" w w‘aching the young while the larger, stronger male hunts food
the family. In other words, your typical John Wayne movie.
s is a situation unique to humans - the survival of our
cies depends on heavy parental duties that have to be
d over a really long period of time. Evolution’s way of
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conning humans into pairing off and staying together was to
make them fall in love. Great sex and emotional attachment
became, biologically speaking, good survival strategies; and -
Voila! - here we are in the 20th century, with romance novels
and a thriving pornography industry.
You can extend this idea to explain major concerns of
modern society, like the stereotypes that men are only
interested in physical attributes and women demand
deeper commitment (otherwise known as the “Hey, check
out those gazongas!” and the “What the hell do women
want, anyway?” attitudes.)
One theory says that in order to improve the chances of
having healthy offspring, males are conditioned to seek healthy
females - beauty being a sign of health. Correspondingly,
females are vulnerable while pregnant and when the child is
young, and so they seek a strong male who will be around long
enough to offer protection.
In today’s overcomplicated society, this means the instant
visual stimulus of pornography is popular with males, while
romance novels, which develop a relationship over a longer
time, sell by the truckload to silly females.
All this may suggest some possible lines of defense the next
time you’re accused of being a “typical male” of “typical female.”
“Hey, baby, blame it on my genetic programming,” or “Excuse
me, I haven’t finished evolving.” Try it in the Chicken and let
me know how it works.
So these urges I have to find a big strong man to protect me,
despite my modem appreciation of more intellectual qualities,
are in fact not my fault, and I refuse to feel guilty or
hypocritical about them. Some day, evolution will catch up with
us, and Fabio will be out of a job.
If love evolved when we became hunters instead of
gatherers, what evolutionary gambit will evolve to keep the
species alive now that we punch keyboards? We moved out of
the trees about 15 million years ago; we moved into cities only a
couple of thousand years ago. As Morris says, it will take
millions of years of natural selection to change our animal
natures again.
So until then, my out-of-date animal nature and I can just go
cruising around looking for guys who like to leap on moving
trains and defuse bombs in their spare time. Of course, that’s
not the kind of behavior that really attracts a woman;, we’re
much too sensible for that. Maybe I’ll just stay home and watch
my John Wayne movies again. And try to evolve.
Susan Owen is a senior journalism and Spanish major
Dear Joe Aggie —
How’s it going? It’s too bad that
you weren’t here in Aggieland
this summer. Instead of the usual
summer doldrums, it was pretty
eventful around here.
The most publicized event of the
summer involved a few of our uni
versity officials getting busted for
allegedly buying alcohol the wrong
way. No one seemed to know what to
do or how to do it when the school
buys booze. Well anyway, five
university officials were in
dicted for tampering
with government
records. They were
charged with falsify
ing information on
state vouchers, dis
guising alcohol pur
chases as purchases
of food, soft drinks,
and ice. That’s how
The Battalion reported ^
it. It must be okay to say *
it that way; the Batt would
never say anything to get in
trouble.
We also had quite an adminis
trative shakeup at the University.
Dr. Ray Bowen was named as the
new president, succeeding Dr.
William Mobley and replacing Dr.
E. Dean Gage, who served as inter
im president after Mobley was
named chancellor last year. Right
around that time, Robert Smith,
the vice president for finance and
administration, was reassigned.
He spent much of the last year
weathering scandals over the pri
vatization of management of the
new Sbisa Underground and the
Texas Rangers’ investigation into
the business contracts he and
Board of Regents Chairman Ross
Margraves negotiated with Barnes
and Noble Bookstores.
Mobley later resigned as chancel
lor and was replaced by Dr.
Barry Thompson, who was
named by the Board of
Regents just a few
weeks ago, who just
named a new chair
man in Mary Nan
West, who became
the first woman to
fill that position. Got
all that? That’s okay,
most other people
don’t, either.
It is unfortunate
when so much administra
tive activity occurs during the
summer, because student input is
very limited during this time. Less
than half of the students are here,
so the administration can act
without worrying as much about
the reaction of the students.
Of course, they can do this even
during the fall unless the stu
dents pay attention to the issues
and demand answers.
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wy 21, Carrabba Rd.
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ut Midnight Aggie Rid®'
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r 052 or 778-4118^ ° 1
■'rl am writing to advise the staff of The
^6 YOUf Ad If! i ^ a k° ri that it be sure to send a clip of
e water conservation checklist featured
e Battalion its July 27 issue to the groundskeeping
ii rwr- rsnrsr ! partment of A&M’s physical plant. It
)// 845-26%
seems that in the area of watering, A&M
is not so conservative.
I ride my bike all around campus
every day, and I can attest to the fact
that those in charge of watering deserve
a great big medal for practicing the most
wasteful watering techniques in exis
tence. This includes watering during the
hotter hours of the day, every day; using
fine mist sprinklers that spray the water
high above the ground (into the air); and,
my favorite, watering the sidewalks and
streets. (Is this supposed to help the con
crete grow better?)
I also had one more thing to say. I find
it quite hypocritical of A&M to have its
agricultural extension station out in my
hometown of El Paso advise the urban
public on how to practice water conserva
tion techniques, while back in College
Station it squanders water like there was
no tomorrow.
Frank Silva
Class of ’95
Homophobia, ignorance
constitute social threats
I am writing in response to letters by
Susie Carter (July 13) and David Muralt
(July 27), which assert that homosexuali
ty is a dangerous lifestyle, that deviant
sexual practices are exclusive to the gay
population, that AIDS is the “gay plague”
and that, basically, homosexuality is go
ing to bring about the downfall of civiliza
tion as we know it. Aren’t there enough
problems in the world to worry about be
sides whom someone chooses to love? The
struggle should not be against gays, les
bians, bisexuals or the transgendered
populations, but rather liberation and
equality for all peoples.
Homophobia and ignorance are ram
pant in our society and cause problems
such as gay bashing, an increased ten
dency for gay teens to commit suicide and
legalized discrimination based on sexual
orientation. The two letters expressed
particular ignorance when “quoting” cer
tain statistics. One percent? Try 10% and
believe it! Lesbians and gays are your ed
ucators, next-door neighbors, accoun
tants, clergy, politicians, entertainers,
doctors and the list goes on.
As a teacher, it particularly offended
me that David Muralt claims to be a “Cit-
iiil
izen for Excellence in Education.” Such
radical right wing, close-minded views
will not bring about the excellence we
strive for. Only by teaching our children
and society as a whole to respect one an
other and individual differences will we
succeed in making this world a better
place to live for all people.
Kris Anthony
Houston
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Address tetters to:
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