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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1996)
■ton- The Battalion Monday january 22, 1996 Opinion Page 9 ; 1000 or less ercial advertisers j get an nust call before 5 additional ancelled early. ng married soon' igoing to hold option? considered the Club? possible, ation, please cal it 862-2988. Sma//group lessons t Students, wlv« visiting faculty welcome • New classes begin it*’ January 29 Call or visit 1:00 to 5:00 Mon-Fri 696-6583 • Across from ASM billion in public & pros s now available. All & I grades, income, <x par all Student Financial Se- #58552 nlc writing skins for cofegt TOEFL, TWE for intern 93-4504/764-5651 ,000 sources operated t. Scholarships Unllmned- id Drive, Baytown, Tear course by Carolyn Cota annicutt. Starts Jan, 2S se 10-30 + lbs. NexlSfl akthrough. Guaranteed 1C/ Visa. 24 hr. free inlo: re available. Billions el Immediately. 1-800-243- ■mis, loans, scholarships your share! Free fads. 13 (TAMU) Blue Bell. PA. al results!!! Call 1-W . Must be 18 yrs. Touch I (619)645-8434 VANCE??? 1-900-255- jsl be 18 yrs. touch tone 1)645-8434 fh in Results >sified. ;e Them. FALIGN America's Obsession with Weight Fake fat has appeal but leads to real dangers Thin people also face weight discrimination Aja Henderson Columnist I t happened just a few days ago in Blocker. There I was, gazing at the slowly mov ing numbers above the eleva tor door when She tapped me on the shoulder. “Why, you are so thin, dear! You are going to have to wear lots of layers in this weather to keep that tiny body warm.” I gave the old bag a half-smile as 1 steered my sturdy 5’6", 105-pound body out the door. Is it just me, or could she have kept that little comment to herself? That woman is more com mon than you think. She is a personification of an often overlooked and hardly ever discussed dilemma — thin dis crimination. I define thin dis crimination as the harass ment, jesting, pestering and abuse of naturally slender folk. Thin discrimination runs rampant and it must be halt ed immediately. To be stopped, it must first be rec ognized. The discrimination usually occurs on two fronts — verbal and physical. Verbal thin discrimination involves niceties. A nicety is a comment that is meant to be “nice,” but is mainly nasty. That comment in the elevator was an example of a nicety. Other niceties often involve the word “bones.” The worst nicety I’ve heard yet was when a guy told me I would be PER FECT—just as soon as I “plopped out a few young uns.” Needless to say, I was not too flattered by that. Another ex ample of verbal discrimination is incorrectly labeling a person as anorexic or a bulimic. Are thin people not supposed to work out to stay toned and in shape? Are thin people not al lowed a foot-long at Subway without someone visualizing them with their fingers in their throats? We get hungry too, you know. Physical discrimination is just as bad, if not worse. This involves using another’s slen derness for the exclusive pur pose of making that person per form unpleas ant tasks. I cannot count the number of times I have been asked to put one of my limbs behind something for the purpose of retrieving a trapped object. And we are always the first ones asked to contort or sit in laps in a crowded car. I am flexible, but I can only be stretched so far. Ouch! Another form of physical abuse is the Finger Test. What makes people think that slen der people want«their wrists and/or ankles squeezed painfully as someone tries to close his or her fingers around that body part? Would they do the same thing to an over weight person? I don’t think so. According to Cynthia Lont, associate professor of commu nication at Georgetown Uni versity and a leading women’s studies expert, the average woman stands 5’4” and weighs 144 pounds. Unfortunately, many women seem to be dis content with this number, probably because the media continually perpetuate an ide al thin and waif-like figure. Not only does this fuel jealous ly and hostility toward thin people, but it causes self-ha tred in women. This is really sad, because women — any body, really — should be ap preciated for their hearts, minds and souls rather than for the shapes of their bodies. OK, so I might not get quite the same effect when I do booty dances as those shapely women with their rotund but tocks do on the music videos. Still, I proudly shake what my momma gave me. And whether you are tall or big, short or little, you should lift your head up high and do the same. Aja Henderson is a junior political science major Erin Fitzgerald Columnist I t would be nice to be one of those models who eats what ever he or she wants and never worries about gaining weight. Not everyone will be able to look like Cindy Crawford, hilt care-free overindulgence may be possible in the near future. All we have to sacrifice is our health. After 25 years, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is ex pected to approve Proctor & Gamble’s fat substitute, olestra. This would reduce food calories and fat grams without reducing taste. Olestra is actually fat, only indigestible. A Jan. 8 Time magazine arti cle explained that olestra mole cules “are much bigger than [naturally occurring fat mole cules] and packed so tightly that the enzymes can’t cut them apart. They pass through the in testines without being ab sorbed.” In short, it goes in one end and out the other. This seems like great news for our overly weight-conscious society. So why are so many con sumer and health groups against olestra? Perhaps because olestra re duces the body’s absorption of cartenoids and vitamins A, D, E and K. Per haps because olestra can cause cramps, bloat ing, gas, diarrhea, fecal urgency (or, the need to “go right now”) and what has been politely termed as “anal leakage.” But somehow Proctor & Gamble has man aged to get the FDA to overlook these nutri tional problems because they have not been proven harmful. There are only speculations on the consequences of eating too much olestra. Effects are not known because, in or der to test it, rats would have to eat only olestra and they would die from malnutrition. Therefore, human beings will be the guinea pigs. Sacrificing a healthy immune system and increasing the chances of getting prostate can cer, lung cancer, heart disease and vision im pairment are only possibilities. And not every one would suffer from the disgusting gastroin testinal effects. Oh, don’t worry — olestra products will have a warning label. Imagine the promotions for this new substi tute. The fat-free and toilet paper industries could team up for specials: “Buy two bags of potato chips and get a roll of Charmin free!” What is the FDA thinking? This govern ment agency was created for national health concerns, and society’s health problems will only increase with the approval of olestra. Studies show that the fat-free market is not decreasing calorie intake. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control have reported that more people are getting fat. This makes sense. The weight-worried col lege student eats less so that he or she can drink more — or buys fat-free cookies and then eats the whole box. People obviously can neither control their craving for fatty foods nor their obsession for looking skinny. But if the FDA were doing its job, it would refuse to approve olestra. The body needs nat ural fat. By substituting these with chemically treated or laboratory-created fats, people risk unknown damage. Although olestra has not been proven harmful, it definitely has not been proven safe. Approval of a fat-free fat will cause physi cal and mental damage. It indirectly promotes the idea of not living a healthy lifestyle. Obesi ty is a warning sign sent by the body. Depriv ing the body of natural fats fools people into thinking that, because they are not dimpled with cellulite, they are healthy. The FDA does not consider these harms when evaluating foods, So, since it looks like olestra will soon bd available, let’s assume the best — everyone's eating habits will remain the same and fat and calorie intake will be reduced. If that hap pens, there will be a bunch of stinky, blind people running around eating fried food. No one will look skinnier because they will be bloated. Then they’ll die from heart disease. Erin Fitzgerald is a senior political science and English major Get your lies, deceit and harassment right here Michael Landauer ? C aL*. Cf J£r< j*. !,'*< J"' - . f ? i : ft : S t -wmtmmmmmMm Concealed guns can prevent crime Elaine Mejia said in her Jan. 19 column that if people are suddenly allowed to legally carry guns, they will suddenly start killing innocent Mail (^AI I people. She ends her article by saying that good sense should keep anyone from carrying a con cealed gun. Tell that to the young lady who helplessly watched as her parents were shot in a Luby’s Cafeteria because her gun was in the glove box of her car instead of in her purse (because that would have been illegal). Gun regulation does not curb crime. In Washington, D.C. guns are heavily regulated but the num ber of handgun deaths is through the roof. Virginia has the only con stitutional gun law. There it is ille gal to carry a gun for the purpose of committing a crime. The violent crime rate in Virginia is one-tenth that of Washington, D.C. Texas’ concealed weapons bill will require permit applicants to attend a training program. There they will learn when they may legally use their weapon and how to do so. We are under a moral im perative to protect our families and neighbors, and stopping law- abiding citizens from carrying guns will not make us any safer. Dave Johnston Class of‘97 The Battalion encourages letters 1o the editor and will print as many as space al lows. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author's name, class, and phone number. We reserve the right to edit letters fot length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 01 3 Reed McDon ald. A valid student ID is required. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvm1 .tamu.edu I t’s the second week of the se mester, which means the evil army of sales peo ple is retreating. The battle is over, but not the war. Vendors of all kinds swarm around college campuses during the first week of school to sell, but also to harass, lie and deceive. They will visit throughout the se mester, but we’ve survived their greatest onslaught. In one battlefield encounter, my friend’s doorbell rang (a sur prise attack). “Here’s your prepaid phone card. What’s your name?” Not even a “Can I speak to the man or woman of the house?” Not even a “Howdy.” My friend politely answered, “Who the hell are you?” “Oh, this comes with your sub scription to the Heame Tribune.” (I would use the real paper’s name here, but it isn’t its fault — it’s the vendor’s. I’ll give a hint, though. It’s one of the Houston papers, and it rhymes with “monacle.”) “I don’t want one.” “OK. What’s your name?” After explaining to this pest that he didn’t need her name if he wasn’t going to be delivering pa pers to her door, my friend shut that door pretty close to his face to emphasize the point. Commission makes people jerks. Other vendors for the same newspaper are constantly getting in my face trying to lure me with a free copy of the paper. “No thanks,” I tell them. “Much like football, the only major league newspaper in the state is from the metroplex to the north.” But this rudeness is my re sponse to many years of decep tive sales tactics. I’ve been told by competing salespeople that The Dallas Morn ing News doesn’t deliver on cam pus. I’ve been told that the ven dor from the Morning News had gone home for the day. One guy actually tried to tell me that the Houston Post went out of business. Of course, none of these is true, and I hear the paper thump against my door every morning. But newspaper vendors are not the only guilty ones. Phone companies do their share of truth-stretching. When they say, “Our rates are lower,” they probably mean, “Our rate from Dime Box to Heame is lower than two of our competitors’ between the times of 12:30 and 12:36 p.m.” And of course there are the credit card companies. All you have to do is sign up, and they’ll give you your choice of a t-shirt, expandable thermos or a key chain. Free stuff rocks, but credit catches up. Credit card companies are the drug dealers of the vending industry. They give you free stuff, but then they’ve got you hooked. Friends don’t let friends overuse credit cards. They don’t outnumber us, but they’re crafty. They divide and conquer. They build on our own weaknesses. And they must be stopped. The vendors are gone, but they’ll be back, and we have to be ready to stand strong. But it will be hard because they know that in the face of a free koozie, even the strong will fall. Michael Landauer is a junior journalism major from Houston