The Battalion
us to
n
1;/, THURSDAY
lilt; July 11, 1996
OPINION
Page 5
nts for someonfj
oints for a very
lall bathing suit
lubled if the per
sled if it’s a pro
act you witness
iiscretion accord
irse, you getM,
kI-looking girl or
— you lose lOi
taring — a good
ople where the;
caught laughing
ind get a fat lip
id ploy from alii
3w members?Oil
i snob. Everyone
of it only make;
can be a victim
rid. That’s the
people-watch is
Recreation Cen
jeople-watching
i is incredible
fts and lounge
a shell around
have to adjust
;e period? One
I saw set the
ous note, the
d especially
is a wonderful
ecause of the
who live here
their interest
Terences. Our
little behav
yuirks are part
tat gives each
i our identity,
-obably would
cool if occa
nally we all
k the time to
eet some of
ese people we
re looking at.
So all you
\ggies out
rhere who
are feeling
guilty for not
exercising:
Try exercis
ing your ob-
servation
skills and
your sense
of humor.
For
rt — a sport
The Battalion
Established in 1893
Editorials appearing in The Battalion reflect the views
of the editorials 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.
Editorials Board
Stacy Stanton
Editor in Chief
Dave Winder
Managing Editor
Jason Brown
Opinion Editor
David Taylor
City Editor
Editorial
Ted Hopgood
The newly appointed commandant
should do well in his new role.
Since the resignation of for
mer Corps Commandant Maj.
Gen. Thomas G. Darling on
June 1, Texas A&M adminis
trators have been searching for
a suitable replacement for him.
After an exhaustive selection
process carried out by the
Search Advisory Committee,
Maj. Gen. M.T. “Ted” Hopgood
has now been chosen for the
position. And judging by oth
ers’ comments about him, the
panel has chosen well.
Darling, who announced his
resignation last spring, has
worked closely with the Uni
versity to select a successor.
He recommended that the
committee look for someone
with leadership skills, strong
ethics and team commitment.
He also said he hoped the new
commandant would possess a
“genuine ... love for Texas
A&M and the Corps of Cadets.”
Considering Hopgood’s
record, there is nothing to sug
gest that Darling — or anyone
else — will be disappointed in
the new commandant.
The selection process was
rigorous, involving interviews
with the committee, an open fo
rum and final approval by Vice
President for Student Affairs J.
Malon Southerland, but Hop-
good stood out from the begin
ning. His enthusiasm and qual
ifications impressed those in
volved in the process.
The new commandant
comes from a distinguished po
sition as president of the Ma
rine Corps University in Vir
ginia. His job combined a top
military position with an in
volvement in higher education
— an appropriate combination
for a Corps commandant.
Hopgood has stated his in
tent to keep open communica
tion between himself and the
cadets, which is always an im
portant goal for people in high-
ranking positions.
Finally, his status as an Ag
gie shouldn’t be overlooked.
Applicants don’t have to be Ag
gies to be considered for the po
sition of commandant, but
Hopgood — who graduated
from A&M in 1965 — knows
from experience what it’s like
to be in the Corps. Being a part
of A&M and its traditions for
over 30 years should contribute
to his perfomance and make
him even more respected
among cadets.
Though the outstanding
performance of Darling will
be a hard act to follow. Hop-
good could become one of
A&M’s best and most-appre
ciated commandants.
Incivility marks American politics
11
A merican politics
has never been a
bed of roses. Some
early presidential candi
dates even had to endure
jabs about their mothers.
But today’s political
landscape is a particularly
nasty place where my
mother fears to tread.
With an increase in nega
tive advertising and grow
ing extremism in political
commentary, many Ameri
cans are wondering why nobody engages in
civil public discourse anymore.
Ironically, the technological advances that
have enabled the g bal village to communi
cate freely in; t have hastened our country’s
descent im,u verbal violence.
Before the explosion of broadcast media,
there was no point in a politician or com
mentator being vicious towards an opponent,
because relatively few voters would hear the
message in a timely manner.
Now, however, there is a skyful of broad
cast outlets that can publish news (or per
sonal attacks) instantly and in shallow, less-
than-a-minute sound bites. The way the
news is reported invites scathing diatribes
that evoke emotions rather than thoughts.
How would Rush Limbaugh survive with
out omnipresent microphones, cameras and
politically motivated news editors? Limbaugh
makes a multimillion-dollar living taking the
worst 30 seconds of a Democratic press con
ference and playing that clip over and over for
15 minutes as he ridicules the speaker.
The audience is not the least bit con
cerned whether the quote was taken out of
context, and Rush wouldn’t dare give them
more than 30 seconds of the clip to deter
mine the context.
How can Rush claim a moral high ground
when he has captioned a picture of Chelsea
Clinton with the label “White House Dog”?
The modem hit-and-run style of news
broadcasting is what enabled Capitol Hill
Democrats to sabotage the appointment of
Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court.
With a constant barrage of sound bites,
Bork was demonized as a right-wing extrem
ist who would single-handedly demolish
abortion rights and protections against un
reasonable searches and seizures.
The current spirit of maliciousness in pol
itics may have helped us cultivate our cyni
cism toward government officials.
A recent ABC News poll found that more
than 60 percent of Americans believe Presi
dent Clinton is evasive and dishonest about
his Whitewater investments and the misap
propriated FBI files.
However when the same poll asked, “Are
you satisfied with Bill Clinton’s performance
as president?” more than 60 percent of the
respondents indicated that they approve of
the chief executive.
There’s the rub. Whether or not Clinton
is guilty as charged, there are a significant
number of Americans who believe that a
dishonest president can do a good job.
Some of us no longer demand truthfulness
from the president.
And why should we? The president lives in
a Washington populated by legislative Tiki
gods who speak loudly and throw small sticks
at every opportunity. When the verbal brawls
of congressmen spill out of chamber doors and
onto the television sets of Americans, the vot
ers slowly conclude that government officials
lack a sense of common decency.
Americans who can’t expect decency won’t
raise their hopes for honesty. This general
disdain for government officials extends
down to the lowest levels of government.
Even forestry agents and meat inspectors re
port increased threats of violence directed
towards them.
The lack of respect for politicians and the
offices they occupy is significant precisely
because we are a nation where government
rules by consent of the people. Unless the
government can recover some semblance of
public regard, the notion of popular consent
is jeopardized.
The lack of civility in political discussion
will not be easy to remedy. It isn’t a problem
that can be solved with yet another piece of
legislation. The solution requires that indi
vidual government officials exercise new re
serve in their actions and speeches.
Additionally, the people who report on and
make fun of Washington will have to reconsid
er their professional ethics and work to ensure
that their coverage is fair and issue-based.
There is a legitimate need for robust de
bate. And if laughter can be used as a de
fense mechanism, then certainly political
satire can be used as a weapon against
tyranny. But if our elected debaters and our
lauded reporters and satirists don’t learn to
settle down and behave, weil have a Wash
ington that needs not just a proper candi
date, but a mother.
Jeremy Valdez is a Class of’96
chemical engineering major
rketing major
as
an
sy helped us
m made his
le attending
He said he
nmates and
tradition at
le started to
aid. “It was
e, just play-
ngram has
d lyrics and
scribes his
itry with a
am said he
j influences
Jerry Jeff
was simple
id of music
1 listen to.”
aat has en
case of his
m said he
ay life. b
; to write,
he road or
Clinton spreads amnesia across U.S.
I ’m OF Army. No
... I mean Oooool’
Army — class of
’95 and still going
strong on that under
graduate degree.
Recently, though,
my extreme age has
filled me with nostal
gia ... courtesy of Pres
ident Clinton. Yep,
our illustrious first
champion of the prole
tariat is spending all
his time reminding Americans how aw
ful things were before he took over.
I long for the day when anyone could
go to McUzi’s and order those super ex
tra value meals to go. Ah yes, I remem
ber well ordering a Coke, fries and an
AK-47 with armor-piercing bullets —
which I would get for the extra Monop
oly game pieces.
After dinner, we would go next door to
shoot at old people and children just for
kicks. As Republicans, we hated old peo
ple and wanted to starve children, so
this was perfectly normal in those days.
Being Republican had some other
bonuses in the good days under Reagan.
Since, as Republicans, our parents were
all unbelievably wealthy and never paid
a dime in taxes, we never had to work.
Sometimes, though, we would go to
see how the oppressed working-class
families lived on the other side of our
completely white town.
I remember Fred at the 7-11 on the
corner.
Poor Fred worked 400,000 hours
every week, but, because the minimum
wage was so low, could only afford to
buy one loaf of off-brand white bread ...
without jelly.
Women knew their places back then.
They veiled their faces in public, but usu
ally didn’t go out because they were too
busy cooking and having illegal abortions.
All the kids ran wild and took funky
pills until Clinton was elected — but we
never swallowed them.
Come to think of it, all those pills
might be affecting my memory about
the whole Republican experience.
Back in our brave new Democratic
world, yesterday, the president firmly
promised to veto any bill the Congress
sends him which repeals the assault
weapons ban. Now it might be that auto
matic assault weapons have been basical
ly illegal to manufacture for public pur
chase for almost as long as Bill Clinton
has been alive, but my memory fades ...
As for Fred, well he didn’t really
earn minimum wage, but that doesn’t
matter. The Congress is in the process
of sacrificing common sense on the altar
of demagoguery — that means “cool
sounding words meant to make people
who disagree look like jerks.”
Of course, the majority of minimum-
wage earners are under 21 (Oh, did they
leave that little fact out of the TV report?).
Congress must be paying heed to the old
slogan, ‘Teenagers of the World, Unite!”
Lots of votes in that “I love Joey
Lawrence” crowd.
The more I think about it, I don’t quite
remember things the way the president
would like me to. Maybe I should check
my journal to see what really happened
— oops, almost forgot: We were all illiter
ate before the Arkansas crowd took over.
Some good things may have come
from Bill’s foray into revisionism: No
one has worn parachute pants since
Clinton has been in office.
But if he can prove he deserves cred
it for that one, I might just vote for him
in November.
David Taylor is a Class of ’95
management major
Mail
and write
^s care oi
the Beat
Colorado
return to
Valker on
—•am s
aid-
KISS is so normal, even
Garth Brooks likes them
I am writing this letter in response
to Amy Uptmor’s column concerning
the band KISS. Who is she kidding?
Has she never been to a rock concert
before? KISS fans are no more crazy
than any other fans, and not all of us
are “old men in tights and makeup.”
Most of us are simply ordinary people,
and apparently she isn’t a country mu
sic fan either, because she would know
that Garth Brooks’ biggest influence
was KISS. Last time I checked, Garth
Brooks didn’t wear tights — although
his Wranglers may be tight enough for
a close second.
I am sorry Uptmor doesn’t like
KISS. I guess my advice for her would
be to turn off the radio the next time
one of their songs comes on and let the
rest of us enjoy it.
Yvette L. Segura
Class of ’9 7
Many Aggies know that
dancing is a sport
This letter is in response to Kristina
Buffin’s “dancing is not a sport” comment
in her column on Wednesday. This com
ment could only come from one of two
kinds of people: someone is ignorant or
someone who is not a dancer. Giving
Buffin the benefit of the doubt, I will as
sume the latter.
She says, “Dancing does not involve
serious training.” Oh really? Why don’t
you tell that to the Texas Aggie Dance
Team, which trains and practices hours-
on-end every day of the week, or perhaps
to the Aggie Wranglers, whose newest
members train in nine-hour summer
workshops and have numerous practices
during the school year. Or maybe she
could tell that to the Fade to Black dance
organization, the Silver Spurs of Ag-
gieland, the Dance Arts Society or a bal
lerina who trains for most of her life. I’m
sure they would all agree that dancing
does not require serious training. A sport
involves "physical exercise and having a
set form and body of rules.” After telling
these groups that dancing does not re
quire serious training, try telling them
after a performance or competition that
dancing does not require physical exer
cise ... that is, if you can get an answer
between them gasping for air and guz
zling water.
As for the set form and body of rules,
let me refer her to the United Country
Western Dance Council rules. These con
sist of more than 70 pages and 74 sec
tions regulating everything from how
high the heels on your boots are to penal
ties for losing your hat.
And as for dancing not being a game,
Webster’s Dictionary defines a game as
“a contact governed by specific rules.” So,
how is basketball, baseball, track —
whatever — any more of a game than
competitive dancing? According to
Buffin’s and the American Heritage Dic
tionary’s definition of a sport, dancing
meets all the criteria.
So, while I’m not saying ballroom
dancing, or any kind of dancing,
should be in the Olympics, I do believe
she is mistaken in saying dancing is
not a sport.
Michelle Metcalf
Class of’98
Columnist presents
mainstream values
Kudos to David Boldt. His refresh
ingly simplistic and ordinary observa
tions make for an enjoyable read. It’s
great to see someone highlighting mid
dle-class, drug-free, non-gang member,
white-boy values in The Battalion.
Stephen C. Stout
Class of ’97
The Battalion encourages letters to the editor and
will print as many as space allows. Letters must be
300 words or less and include the author's name,
class, and phone number.
We reserve the right to edit letters for length, style,
and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at
013 Reed McDonald. 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@tamvml .tamu.edu
i I : 't