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WEDNESDAY
July 17, 1996
and
Logic
E very once in a
while you see
something that
makes you question
what you believe.
I’ve always
thought of myself as
a pretty progressive,
open-minded person
who is tolerant of dif
ferent and controver
sial opinions.
The past four years
of college have seen a
marked liberalization in my thinking. I
think homosexuals deserve equal
rights. I think people should be allowed
to bum the American flag if they want
to use it as a powerful symbol of protest.
I think some people get a little too excit
ed about Aggie traditions.
However, sometimes your emotional
response to a situation does not corre
spond with your logically held beliefs.
OPINION
emotions often collide in decision-making
At a Houston Astros game a few
weekends ago, I stood for the national
anthem as the game was about to be
gin. I always stand for the anthem, re
move my hat in the MSC, and things
like that out of habit more than fer
vent patriotism. Although I certainly
honor the flag and respect fallen Ag
gies, I’ve never been particularly gung
ho about demanding that other people
do the same.
But as the national anthem played, I
noticed a pimple-faced teenage kid a
few rows in front of me chowing down
on his nachos.
Suddenly, I was transformed. I want
ed to kick his snot-nosed little ass.
This was even before my rational
thought processes were clouded by a
few $4 Dome Foams.
Throughout the game, I referred to
him as “The Commie.” Several times I
mumbled that he should love America
or leave it.
As the boiling maroon blood coursing
through my veins started to cool down, I
began to wonder why such an emotional
response overtook me. A few months
ago, I remember expressing support for
Mahmoud Abdul-Raouf, the former
Denver Nugget guard who refused to
stand for the national anthem because
he thought the American flag symbol
ized tyranny and oppression. Abdul-
Raouf was suspended by the NBA for vi
olating league rules and incurred the
wrath of self-proclaimed patriots
throughout the nation.
The disparity between my intellect
and emotions has troubled me. Do I be
lieve something other than what I think
I di Why would I react in a way that
violated my rational belief?
The ancient Greeks used the term
harmartia to describe harmony between
one’s emotions and intellect. To have
harmartia was an indication of a well-
ordered life.
My reaction to the kid not standing
for the national anthem at a baseball
game, then, seemed to indicate that
conflicting thoughts and feelings are
causing disorder in my life.
Of course, one big difference in the
two situations between Abdul-Raouf
and the teenage punk is that Abdul-
Raouf had an honest protest and made
a conscious decision to violate NBA
rules by refusing to stand. The punk
was more interested in his nachos than
any burning social issues.
The question still lingers, though. If
I read in the paper that a hot-headed
Aggie beat up a 16-year-old kid be
cause he didn’t stand for the national
anthem, I would shake my head at
such idiocy. At the moment in the As
trodome, though, I thought he de
served to be taught a civics lesson in a
not-so-civil way.
If I read in the paper that hundreds
of cadets rushed to defend the integri
ty of Kyle Field from hundreds of cele
brating t-sips, as I did last December,
I would shake my head at such idiocy.
However, in the heat of the moment,
as I stood there on the second deck
watching the events transpire, I was
hoping to see some bones crushed.
So logically Fm a liberal two-per
center, but emotionally I might as well
be Rock the Good Ag.
If there are many others like me,
that would explain A&M’s overzealous
school spirit. Unfortunately, some peo
ple are a little more emotional than log
ical. That’s why people are harassed for
leaving their hats on during yells, sit
ting down at football games, and walk
ing on the grass around the Memorial
Student Center.
A little harmartia could help us
avoid a lot of problems.
Jim Pawlikowski is a Class of ’96
chemical engineering major
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owing Billy
mpbell and
Building remnants
could be recycled
As a result of the decision
made by the A&M system Board
of Regents to demolish Deware
Field House and Law and
Puryear Halls, several con
cerned student groups have
been planning the post-destruc
tion land use alternatives such
as “green space” or memorials.
Yet to my understanding, little
if any thought or planning is go
ing into what will become of the
building materials left after the
structures have been bulldozed.
Construction and Demolition
(C&D) debris materials are
quite heavy, bulky and usually
intermingled. These character
istics will all have a detrimen
tal impact to the landfill we
use. Texas A&M currently
Mail
Call
sends 8000 tons of waste to the
area landfill each year at a cost
to us of $20.50 per ton. Build
ings such as Law and Puryear
would create a ballpark of
36,000 tons of waste. This addi
tion to the landfill we share
with 17 other counties would
bring down the already low re
maining life span of the landfill
to just two years.
Habitat for Humanity, the
second largest home builder in
the country, estimates that
about 30 percent of C&D mate
rial routinely dumped in Texas
landfills could be reused. To
put that amount in perspective,
it is roughly the equivalent of
throwing away 80,000 one-
thousand-square-foot homes
every year across the state.
The cost of separation may
seem high to the traditional de
molition contractor, but their
reluctance is unfounded be
cause of the rising value of the
recoverable materials and the
increasing cost of disposal.
C&D debris is often not recy
cled because of simple inertia:
things continue to be done the
way they were because that is
how they have always been
done. Toward that end, con
tractors, administration, staff,
faculty and students should all
be in on the complete planning
of this and future projects. We
can not ignore these obvious
problems just because the solu
tions are hard in coming.
Cassandra DeLarios
Class of ’96
The Battalion encourages letters to 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 for
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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
Congress should pay attention
to Parliament’s “Questions”
L ife is pretty sweet on
Sunday nights at 11:00.
It’s time for “Prime Min
ister’s Questions.”
And little C-SPAN junkies
across the nation are glued to
their television sets. Yes, you
know who you are.
But “Questions” isn’t just for
these helpless addicts to enjoy.
Twice a week, the British
prime minister and his cabinet
must account for their deci
sions to the House of Com
mons. Members of both the ruling and opposition
parties are given the opportunity to ask ques
tions — and insult each other.
It makes for a rather hilarious half-hour.
Of course, the content of the questions isn’t al
ways interesting. Rather, it’s the reactions that
the queries cause among the members.
People jump up and down. Yell. Boo. Some
even throw paper across the benches at rival par
ty members.
And then come the insults. Oh, the insults.
They all begin with “my honorable friend,” but
what follows isn’t always cordial. Even the prime
minister himself joins in the festivities.
Members sling comments across the aisle with
a blatant disregard for each other.
Comparisons to various barnyard animals aren’t
uncommon. Neither are “dimwit,” “nitwit” or the
mother insult of them all — “little squirt.” Ouch.
It’s the one time you don’t see the British try
ing to act overly proper.
But attempting to keep things running
smoothly is the first female speaker in Parlia
ment’s 600-year history, Betty Boothroyd. She’s
constantly yelling, “Order! I shall have order in
this house at once!”
And she throws out a wisecrack or insult of
her own if things get too heated.
It’s all in good fun. But “Questions” also has
an important purpose — to ensure accountability
from the prime minister and his cabinet.
Here in the good ol’ United States, we don’t
have anything like this.
Instead, we inherited the most boring national
legislature on Earth — Congress.
Have you ever seen these guys? All they do is
yield speaking time to one another.
“Mr. Speaker, I yield 10 minutes to the gen
tleman from Georgia.” Then the gentleman
from Georgia yields six minutes to the gentle
man from Wyoming.
And so on. Until there is simply no more time
to yield. Or until everyone in the chamber falls
asleep from absolute boredom.
It’s a great cure for insomnia.
No speeches are given and no debate takes
place during this ridiculous process. Members
simply trade time. And it seems as though noth
ing is accomplished.
Whenever someone does manage to give a
speech, few other congressmen are in the cham
ber to listen. So what’s the point?
Worthy debate and riotous insults are some
thing we just don’t see in our Congress.
And why not? Why doesn’t somebody stand up
and call Ted Kennedy a fat alcoholic?
But the greater issue is this: Our nationally
elected and appointed officials aren’t as account
able as their counterparts in Britain.
Making the people who run this country ac
count for their decisions on a regular basis could
only help. I can only imagine the way this coun
try is governed would change immensely.
With that in mind, “Questions to the Presi
dent” might not be a bad idea.
Can you imagine Bill Clinton being grilled by
members of Congress twice a week? He would
run out of the Capitol begging for mercy.
So after stealing their language and declaring
our independence, it appears as though it’s time
to take something from the British once again.
I say, “give us ‘Questions’ or give us death.”
Well, scratch the part about death.
Michael Heinroth is a Class of ’96
political science major
MICHAEL
HEINROTH
Columnist
Record companies hit sour note
in dealing with drug problem
K eith
Rich
ards,
Scott Weiland
and Dave Ca
ban. Future
inductees to
the Rock and
Roll Hall of
Fame, or
merely mem
bers of the
Drug Rehab
Clinic All-Star
Band?
Though musicians have been
abusing drugs since the turn of
the century, only recently have
the media latched onto the
deaths and arrests of promi
nent musicians as an example
of how widespread drug use is.
As a result of this media spot
light, many began to question
the response of record labels to
ward the drug problems of the
artists they represent. In the
past, as long as the hit albums
came out, no label interfered.
But with the recent public
scrutiny, music industry leaders
vowed to stop “this senseless
tragedy.” Although this state
ment and any resulting actions
are seemingly altruistic, it is a
farce for any record label to pre
tend it has the moral right to in
terfere in the lifestyles of its
recording artists.
One key problem in the re
sponse of the recording indus
try lies in the timing. The first
industry-wide conference on
drug abuse, sponsored by the
National Academy of Recording
Arts and Sciences, was held in
December. Drugs have played a
key role in the premature death
of musicians since the ’50s, and
it takes 40 years for the indus
try to meet to talk about this
problem? Evolution has a
quicker response time.
Another problem with the
sudden paternalistic care by the
record industry lies in the con
duct of the labels. Record labels
fight to sign the latest band,
even when band members have
a known drug addiction. And
according to those within the
music industry, some labels be
lieve signing a band with
known drug problems adds
some sort of credibility to their
“authenticity image.”
It is a farce for any
record label to pretend
it has the moral right to
interfere in the lifestyles
of its recording artists.
Once signed, labels ignore
the addictions of the bands un
der contract, unless they inter
fere with album output or tour
ing capability. If the drug use
wasn’t a problem for the compa
ny when the band was making
money, then it shouldn’t be a
problem afterwards.
Yet another reason for labels
to stop intruding is the
hypocrisy involved. The last
time I checked, no record label
was presided over by someone
with wings and a harp. Those
within the industry acknowl
edge that drug abuse is just as
prevalent among those repre
senting the artists as among
the artists themselves. In fact,
the magazine Underground re
ported how a certain record la
bel pays someone to take daily
drug orders from employees.
Yet these are the same people
who are supposed to be encourag
ing musicians to stop taking
drugs. How realistic is it to expect
an artist with a habit to lay down
the needle or pipe when the per
son telling them to quit is waiting
for his dealer to page them back?
Perhaps the most compelling
reason record labels should not
interfere is that, as grim and de
plorable as it is, drug abuse is a
personal choice by the musician.
As an illegal activity, labels
should leave law enforcement to
the police. But if artists choose
to abuse themselves through
drugs, love or any other self-de
feating substances, how can a la
bel rightfully interfere?
Drug use is not worth glam
orizing, let alone condoning.
And as a music fan, there is a
certain sense of sadness in
volved in seeing one’s emaciat
ed idol led off by the police,
pleading guilty to drug posses
sion (why Dave?). But artists
with problems should only be
helped by family, friends and
drug therapists — not the self-
righteous, hypocritical inquisi
tions of a music industry that
cares more about the product
than the problem.
Steven Gyeszly is a Class of ’99
finance and sociology major
STEVEN
GYESZLY
Columnist