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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1996)
Pagt November 8,1 : The Battalion Page 9 Friday • November 8, 1 996 Olajuwot 15 rebounds, j srs, divf Kansa- A&M Men's mming and Oi awrence, Kan., ce the Universi wa State. The!! len compete to e the 24th-rai compete Sati Robinson Nai as campus. A&M, the Aggie layhawks while home the victi be ready for ach Mel Nash t was very close the same this Coach Kevin Wi meet will serve on for tough cor ive business executive attend- ig an expensive developmental con- rence in the MSG. During a lecture called “IfYou’re Not lotivated ... Get Motivated,” nature alls the businessman. He quietly excuses himself and heads >r the men’s room. The cadets playing ith their hip belts only distract him omentarily as he picks a stall. In mere seconds he finds himself ransported from a place of learning nd prestige to a seedy adult book- tore. Some of the political graffiti round him isn’t too tasteless, although ill Dn wil® e won ^ ers why A&M students bother I* l“* u w Bo argue issues on the stall doors. Five or six people have left a chain of omments starting with “Clinton Sux” nd ending with a treatise supporting Jillary’s failed health care plan. This last comment inevitably leads i a flattering picture of the naked ^ a&m tear®dhn y with certain detached body aster Michael >arts of the President, ng with 500 pif be fun to com| of the Big said. “These stepping stone* the champion: tions." klahoma ked Texas A&M brought home he Poos Broils Do ChampiooSi Edmond. Oklali n petition n, John Garn aurg, Elise Leu ardo Perez-Car id Kirk Walters al medals. Stepl as a coach. isketba iges tod &M Men's B. engage in a* scrimmage f 1 at G. RollieW— public is im • iyTheir« Bonfire credit given (Australia} COrpS tOO fTlUCh andalism flushes Texas A&M’s reputation very Aggie uses the cam pus bathrooms, and ! every Aggie, male or fe- mle, endures the assault of [raffiti on the walls. Whether political, sexual, Ipiritual or racial, bathroom haffiti reflects poorly on our University and its sometimes oo prolific student body. Columnist graphic descriptions of sex — some involving people’s moth ers, others making a feeble at tempt at poetry. The com ments are disgusting and degrading toward women. They are sexual harassment at its cheapest. The business executive briefly wonders if he shouldn’t Marcus Goodyear Imagine being a conserva- Senior English major send his little girl to Baylor. Surely, those Baptists don’t allow offensive comments in their bath rooms. Surely, they would erase the ho mosexual advertisements and phone numbers from the walls. (Some of these Aggie advertisers seem to have put their names in virtually every men’s bathroom on campus.) Luckily, A&M is not without its Baptists and Catholics and other reli gious folk. They, too, brandish their shiny pens and fur ther defame our Universi ty, happily condemning the authors of all graffiti (themselves excluded, of course). Religious graffi ti is the ulti mate hypocrisy: evangelistic vandalism. Machiavelli would have had fun with that one. The business executive begins to feel Some draw their personal vision of levels in bothfa lildly offended. Surrounding the picture are man hell. A few simply evangelize all who j. . C . .. .1 ’in*' a. . 1 ' t .... t .. .. ay 1 Kriialk-: '. must defecate. But these zealous fools are just as moronic as the perverted poets — the name of God shouldn’t be reduced to graffiti in the stall. Religious graffiti is the ultimate hypocrisy: evangelistic vandalism. Machi avelli would have had fun with that one. However, these tasteless, hateful judgments are not the worst thing to adorn our bathrooms. There seems to have been a recent resurgence of racial slurs peppered in all the other filth. More than one bathroom has been branded by the KKK and its claim to white superiority. Racial jokes are trick ling into the sexual limericks and polit ical insults. They are hateful, threaten ing, degrading and evil. Visitors to our University must be amazed at the trash produced by edu cated Aggies. The business executive reading all this graffiti is now certain his daughter will not attend A&M be cause he is an African American and doesn’t want his money to pay for such a bigoted education. Texas A&M is not a bad university. But the cowards who anonymously insult women, minorities and God in our bath rooms undermine the reputation of A&M with a few pen strokes. The janitors could clean or repaint the stalls more often, the University could take the stalls out entirely, or igno rant, disgraceful Aggies could stop van dalizing our bathrooms. The solution is so simple. Vandals should relieve themselves and leave, so the rest of us can pee with our eyes open. .... I Dole’s life goes on Ws Columnist Shannon Halbrook Junior English major lat can an ex senator and ex- presidential candidate do? For Bob Dole, who fought brave ly in World War II to pre serve America from op pression, who was almost handicapped for life but pulled himself up by the bootstraps, who served his country politi cally since 1951, things look downright — as we used to say in Russell — boring. But now, today is the first day of the rest of Bob Dole’s life. Let’s see... what can Bob Dole do with his time? 10:00: Get up. 10:30: Eat two hard-boiled eggs for breakfast. Bob Dole likes eggs. 10:40: Walk on treadmill to get the blood pumping. Wear shorts and be proud of thighs. Nobody’s looking. 10:54: Call up Kemp and leave a nasty message on his answering machine. Now that all that poli ticking is over, Bob Dole can tell that no-necked gridiron dope what I think of him. Coloring books, schmoloring books. 11:11: Sharpen Crayolas. 11:58: Give a minute’s thought to the 2000 election. 11:59: Let’s see, then Bob Dole would be ... nah. 12:07: Enjoy a big fat cigar. 1:24: Call some Hollywood ex ecutives to do some talking. Get a fax number and send them the first draft of my script for Bob Dole: From Russell to the White House. Make sure they don’t change the ending. Ask about the lead role; make sure Clinton doesn’t get it. Talk to them about the part of the cuddly grandfather in the new film of A Christmas Carol. 1:59: Have lunch. Egg salad sandwiches. Bob Dole likes eggs. 2:25: Go outside to sun face. Careful of the stairs. Bob Dole doesn’t like falling. 2:47: Old war buddy comes by with a half- filled bottle of Jack. He asks me how a weed smoking, draft-dodging guy with hazy ethics at best could be elected in a landslide instead of somebody with a distin guished record and the love of the people. Then he starts babbling about Ross Perot. Bob Dole gets sad. 2:55: Call up TVent Lott. Leave a detailed message on his machine about what to do, what to avoid and how to keep Newt in line. Tell him to call Bob Dole if he has any ques tions about the way Senate majority leaders should run things. 3:24: Make note of the states that voted for Bob Dole: Idaho, Utah, Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, Indiana and North Carolina. Send Thank You cards. Bob Dole never got a Thank You card for 45 years of service to his country. Bob Dole likes Thank You cards. 3:39: Take a nap. 5:56: Call up Liddy and leave a message on her machine. Some thing intimate. 6:12: Go to the computer. Take a look at that web spite of mine. Www dot DoleKemp96 dot org. 6:14: Never mind. Couldn’t find the power switch. 6:18: Eat dinner. Something with eggs. 6:29: Have another big fat cig ar. Who cares if it’s addictive? 6:47: Read newspaper. What are columnists going to write about now that they can’t write about me? 8:00: Go to bed. Sleep sound ly. What should Bob Dole do to morrow? I need to go to the store. Bob Dole’s low on eggs. Mail m. is Regarding Erica Roy’s article, ffienterpole, students ready for stack": I This University is an institu- _ , tion based on tradition, and Bon- om Page7 fireis one of them. and sophonio I’d like to say that it’s an all- ; Shun Horn abound Aggie tradition, but that nings not onsimply is not true, well has been 1 worked on Bonfire for several lears and put a lot of sweat, blood nan, he really Itand tears into it. As a non-reg, nei- n said. “It was w e r I nor my buddies ever got the dm play as wellp rest jg e ^ or ^jiHing Bonfire that soon as he c or p S 0 f Cadets receive, e, hes going | j un j or re dpot, James LaMarr even seasons, if omments about Fish Wrap and assed an amai 8 ettm g centerpole is a statement inst opponents^ 31 is untrue. The statement that r last loss coroli 16 outfit or dorm that puts out e a roller coasffle most gets centerpole ... at cut, ennings said iB|erywhere, all aspects of Bonfire” ontinue theirUs misleading and what I would iber” battle cn' consider a flat-out lie. s are dedic# I have yet to see any non-reg A/e are goingij'dorms that obviously put out ) matter whatn {Han any Corps outfit “get a few games Center p 0 i e » anc j g et to fjy their tour tails. _M, rm banner on centerpole un- j| Bonfire burns. “p I’m not saying the Corps r ftes nothing, and non-regs Riild Bonfire. I But, in my experiences, non- ■gs contribute more. I It would be nice if some of ■e Corps prestige could be Bared with the non-regs. After p, we’re all Aggies. NTS: rt in the eCut!! h00 a.m. turday) Boots -5228 for cipate in 1 s more Steve Saldana Class of ’94 -linton does not compare to Hitler I Regarding Trent Owens’Nov. 7 ill Call, "Comparisons drawn tween leaders”: Jl can’t believe that in today’s ociety someone can compare le issues that our president P$ put forth to make the Unit- P States a safer place to the ideas of a madman and a mur derer of Jews. Trent Owens needs to retake History 106 and maybe pay at tention this time. I realize the Texas A&M is a very conservative university, and most people don’t like Clin ton. But I can’t believe that someone here would go around comparing the United States to World War II Germany. Gun ownership is protected by the Bill of Rights, but so are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Gun control laws are put into effect to protect all citizens. They are not there to create distress for gun-owning Ameri cans. They are laws to follow just like any others. Police are also employed to protect the rights of citizens and not to round up people and send them to death camps. I am sure that many police would be very distressed to see that Owens is comparing them to past German organizations such as the SS. I would like to know when people like Owens are going to stop these idiotic comparisons. Is he going to say next that the U.S. Air Force is the Luft waffe and American submarines are going to sink passenger ships without warning? I really don’t think America is going to turn into a fascist country. We will shoot each other be fore that happens. Eric Nelsen Class of’98 Henderson makes wrong assumption Regarding Aja Henderson’s Nov. 7 column, "Critics of Michael Jack- son should just beat it”: Henderson’s Michael Jackson column professed to be against prejudice. However, her hypocrisy re veals itself in saying that Asians are sushi lovers. To tell the truth, sushi is a Japanese delicacy. Some Chinese do eat sushi, but not in the same form as the Japanese. Henderson might think it is cute blaming the University for small beds or advocating females run ning Texas A&M, but don’t stereo type the Asian people. Wilber Wang Class of’00 Henderson thanked for Jackson column Regarding Aja Henderson’s Nov. 7 column, “Critics for Michael Jackson should just beat it”: Thank goodness for Hender son. I’m so glad that someone has finally spoken up regarding a cru el and unfair practice that goes on in America today: ridicule of pale skinned llama owners. A dear friend of mine once owned a llama, but was forced to sell it because of all the “hag gling” he had to endure. This friend also happens to be pale-skinned and, unfortunately, selling the llama was only half the solution to his problem: Now he has to shoe-polish his entire body before appearing in public. Oh, the humanity. Henderson is right (as usual). Michael Jackson does not deserve to be haggled just because he’s a “little pale and owns llamas.” If people want to judge him and haggle him because he’s been repeatedly implicated in child molestation cases with pre-teenage boys — fine. But no more llama/skin color ridicule. William Lucy Class of’97 u° U o o to MAfsmies dPWWft RSWW ® TI T) 0 ^4 a * “7fe*re running low on confetti, Hillary... shred some more files/ Generation X earned its bad rap M The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or fewer and include the author’s name, class, and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid student ID. Let ters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvml.tamu.edu For more details on letter policy, please call 845-3313 and direct your question to the opinion editor. 'any members of the so-called Generation X become defensive .when the media label them rude and inconsiderate. Although this may be stereotypical, it is not far from the truth. Members of the 18 to 25 age group are lambasted for being rude and dis respectful to their peers, elders, people in authoritative positions and society in general. Although the premises on which these arguments are based are often vague and sometimes inaccurate, members of our generation have be come increasingly rude and sometimes hateful toward people. When traveling down roads or highways, individ uals have a good chance of being cut off by a car ex ceeding 90 miles per hour — usually accompanied by a certain raised finger. Carloads do not know each other, and will probably never run across each other’s paths again. Despite claims that chivalry is reviving itself, in many instances it is either comatose or just plain dead. It used to be when someone’s car broke down on the side of the road, someone, often a stranger, would stop and try to help you out. In my case it was certainly not true. Last month a large piece of my car fell off while I was driving down Highway 6. I stopped on the side and had to get under neath the car to make sure it wasn’t the engine that fell out. As I kneeled by my car, many mo torists decided to take it upon themselves to speed up as they passed, or they didn’t care enough to stop. It is understandable that people are scared to stop, never knowing if someone will pull a gun. However, this is College Station, and whatever happened to Aggies helping each other out? At least 20 cars with some type of Aggie paraphernalia stuck Asst. Sports Editor Kristina Buffin Senior journalism major to back windshields or bumpers passed by without a second glance. But, hey, does a person driving a Volvo with GIGM97 li cense plate really seem threatening? C’- mon, my car screams “I’m nice and unas suming.” Not only is chivalry dead, but people have become increasingly insensitive. They do not think before they speak. People just say what immediately comes to mind and don’t consider what they say to another will hurt that person. People do not live by the old adage, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,” anymore. The weekend of the Texas Tech game, my roommate and I were walking to our car when I said something jokingly, but nice, to a guy from Tech about the College Station police. He responded with, “You fat bitch!” He didn’t think this was an inappropriate response or if it hurt me. This has happened to other people I know, as well. Oftentimes, people are forced to listen to strangers curse at them. English might be a great language, but it has been grossly abused. Although it is taboo to use racial slurs, people have no problem using such degrading words as fat, bitch, slut, whore and bubblebutt, to name a few. People do not think about the consequences of their speech. Using these words hurts the feelings of the person to whom they are directed. Although they might not cause the victim to pay for years of thera py, the mental damage has been done. Members of Generation X complain that they get a bad rap. But until young people take a long look at themselves and decide to try and be a little nicer, we will have a baby boom of rude, insensitive and all-around mean people. Take a chance on being nice — it might actual ly make you feel a little better about yourself.
