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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1997)
The Battalion Page 9 Monday • March 31, 1997 -leaven's Gate closes forever BS, Dan Rather incorrectly blame World Wide Web for cult suicides tie deaths of 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult IjnjBiithem California are to explain. They were - jj mp of dissidents, out- on society, who be- le enthralled with the In of a future paradise pght to them by UFOs, lis vision, however |mprehensible for the af the world to under- i,was none the less (■vision, something [believed in and it caused them to lemselves. (ut instead of seeing the issue as if individual choice, the media are ipting to place blame elsewhere, le victim this time isn’t Richard (11, or the U.S. Navy and their se- test missile—it’s the average In- ;t browser. According to CBS >, this constitutes a cult. CBS Evening News with Dan Tissued a low blow, insinuating [the Internet is a cult. Therefore, fone who uses the Internet is a [member. [he report went on to further de- iow members of Heaven’s Gate ip a web page design firm called ler Source. As web consultants, ibers earned a steady income to [rd flight suits, sneakers and hes.They also were able to pay : at the mansion where they com- ted suicide. )n the same date, The Dallas Columnist Stephen Llano Senior history major Morning News printed an article explaining the group’s web design activi ties. The article explains how easy and profitable the field of web page de sign has become. Instead of taking the logical view ofThe Dallas Morning News, CBS took this lucrative and easy form of employ ment and made it the reason for the bizarre mass suicide. If members of Heaven’s Gate were plumbers, would CBS attack the plumbing industry? What if they developed a tasty and re freshing soft drink? CBS would automatically assume that plumbing was a cult-like ac tivity, and the developers of Coke and Pepsi are in league with aliens. Just be cause the Internet hap pened to be their source of employment doesn’t prove a relationship exists between it and cults. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. The me dia love to probe and point fingers just to get at tention. The type of re port CBS aired is unac ceptable, but typical. Because the producers of the CBS Evening News don’t understand or / r maybe feel excluded from the Inter net, they assume it is a resource out side of mainstream society. This knee- jerk reaction to what people don’t understand is natural, and it some times breeds fear. But it is no reason to assume a network of machines is re sponsible for the actions of disenfran chised cultists. But in our society, fault is taboo. On a day to day basis, people are told by television, radio and events around them that if they suffer from anything, be it a headache, or financial prob lems, there is someone else to blame. ^ ~i . *•' & V/— With hour upon hour of TV watch ing, the viewer receives a simple, dis tinct message—“It’s not your fault.” Instead of blaming mindless devices, art or music for the bizarre actions of a few outsiders, society needs to start blaming individuals for their actions. Personal respon sibility for one’s actions has gone the way of the dinosaur. Our country will too, unless people start to take some indi vidual responsibility. The death of 39 people is the issue at hand and not much of an issue considering they didn’t do anything but kill themselves. They are the sole reason behind their own actions. But when ignorant reporters from CBS blame the Internet for these people’s behaviors, it is tantamount to saying that bul lets kill, not people, that drugs destroy, instead of drug users, and that we are worth nothing as individuals, save whatever soci etal label is posthumously placed on us. One of the astronomers, who helped discover the comet which prompted cult members to kill themselves, Alan Hale, has his own opinions about the suicides. “I’m not surprised (about the suicides),” Hale said in a state ment on CBS news. “There is a lot of ignorance and superstition left in our society.” CBS is no exception. exas Rep. Stiles flirts with antitrust allegations concerning A&M contract In Bvel iTIhe Texas Legislature has never been known as a bastion of ethics. Movies, filevision shows and pundits i such as Molly Ivins have made a wJfy'ugreamniing countless tales IfOfriTohd deeds. Austin is leem- IjjflM with sordid stories of law- ■fcers spending long nights at jiffleDriskell Hotel “interviewing” ptaries and collecting “cam- fign contributions” from“in- tsted parties.” |But the latest story from the JOs of the Texas Capitol doesn’t if. Jicern events in Austin, but what is hap- pf ling on the Texas A&M campus. 9-31 for the past several months, the lime- Columnist Donny Ferguson Sophomore political science major green cement trucks of the Tran sit-Mix Concrete Co. have rum bled through campus on their way-to the construction next to Evans Library. One of Texas’ largest concrete companies, Transit-Mix was awarded the contract to pour cement for the University’s new library, com puting/study complex and park ing garage. Transit-Mix, with headquar ters at the port of Beaumont on the Neches River, has grown from a small, family operation into a near-monopoly in the East Texas concrete business. The company and its long-time president are both well-known. State Rep. Mark W. Stiles of Fannett, chair of the House Calendars Committee and ar guably one of the most powerful men in Texas, runs the huge corporation. First elected to the House in 1982 from Southeast Texas’ 21st District, Stiles has padded his credentials as one of the most influential figures in the Legislature by serving as chair of the powerful Appropriations and Ways and Means committees. Something doesn’t seem quite right when a man on the state payroll, who can determine whether pro- University legislation lives or dies, stands to make money from a public institution. This isn’t the first time Stiles has been in hot water concerning questionable con tracting. The construction of Jefferson County’s Mark W. Stiles Prison Unit required large, expensive amounts of concrete. The company which was awarded the contract for the unit was none other than Mark W. Stiles’ Transit-Mix. Some media scrutiny fol lowed, but in a county where the Democrat ic Party machine is notorious for its power and influence, suspicions quickly subsided. Stiles may or may not have used his influence to win a construction con tract from a public institution. After all, Transit-Mix is a competitive company. It is so competitive it is driving com petitors out of business and facing an antitrust lawsuit. What is clear is that Stiles’ past contracting with taxpayer- funded institutions has raised serious questions about this Fannett Democ rat’s ethics. No one can know for sure all the fac tors behind the University’s decision to hire Transit-Mix to pour the concrete for the new construction. To charge Stiles with misusing his power would be unfair at this point. But what is obvious is that the contract borders on a conflict of in terests. In fact, the code of ethics for A&M employees clearly states they should refrain from actions which give an appearance of impropriety. Unless Transit-Mix offered a surprisingly low bid, putting a powerful state legislator in a position to make money from a taxpay er-funded institution is suspicious. For the sake of his and the University’s repu tations, Rep. Stiles should stop seeking contracts from public institutions. campus endures colorful makeup job from chalk artists Columnist , verthe past two I weeks a colored r dust has coated | sCl ipus sidewalks, sing numerous sers-by discomfort disgust. Despite nu- ous clean-up at- ipts by the Universi- tis entity continues tague the Texas A&M ipus. Sidewalk chalk: ever-present adver- ig craze of A&M. Most students are ac- tomed to the occasional chalk ad- Ifeements. During final exams Idents often leave messages of Glenn Janik Sophomore political science major “good luck” for their friends in front of Helden- fels Hall. “Happy Birthday” and “I love you” messages are sometimes left by boyfriends and girlfriends, hoping to make a lasting impression on their signifi cant other. And even the rare ad for a “Latin Party” or local band can be seen. All of these ads are usually done in a single area, and wear offinaday. However, these benign ads mark a stark difference from the new messages beginning to prolifer ate across campus. Prior to the Mar. 22 pro-choice rally at Rudder Fountain, student supporters took to campus sidewalks with buckets of chalk in hand. Soon, pro-choice ads could be seen across most of campus. Promotions for up coming events were sprawled on the ground and even on the walls near A.R Beutel Health Center. In response to pro-choice mes sages, pro-lifers retaliated the next day. Creative pro-life chalk artists turned "Pro-Choice Rally” into “real ly murder.” Other pro-life responses were “murderers” and “save the in nocent children.” Regardless of whether Aggies are pro-choice or pro-life, watching campus organizations fight ideologi cal battles with sidewalk chalk is em barrassing to the University. Imagine visiting A&M as a high school senior and seeing “murderers” scribbled across the cement. Free speech is a hallmark of America, but the side walks of A&M are not soap boxes for organizations to spread messages. Last week, several Greek clubs de cided to advertise “Derby Days” on A&M’s walkways. One sorority was even bold enough to scribble a mas sive “delta” in front of Rudder Foun tain. This symbol, large enough for a Marine helicopter to land on, was not only a colossal waste of chalk, but a distracting piece of graffiti. Greek organizations may have a wonderful message to spread to stu dents of A&M, but treating University property as a billboard is not only disrespectful to the meaning of the Rudder complex, but disgraceful to the organizations in question. Every campus organization must deal with the pressing prob lem of advertising activities. A&M provides kiosks, MSC banner space and tables, and The Battal ion offers a “What’s Up” section to let students know what organiza tions are doing on and off campus. If A&M groups say more advertis ing is necessary, they can buy newspaper ads, receive free TV time on CNN’s Home Front News and free radio timt on WTAW or simply use a phone bank to con tact members. Enough outlets ex ist for publicity that groups do not need to resort to campus chalking. Chalking is a bad reflection on all A&M students. It ruins the beauty of the University and forces the ground crews to spend extra time cleaning senseless graffiti. Walking across campus each morning, students should be able to enjoy the splendid trees and architecture of A&M. How ever, when students are confronted with a new batch of chalk scribblings everyday, the campus loses the lus ter of its appearance. W V P1D w 6ET YOUR NFORMKTION off THE IMTERRET ft. , ✓ Mail sit m rol KAP rtoP" MfeLucM Cultural anthem Feminism teaches not given respect Monday night at the Kuumba Fest presented by the Black Aware ness committee, I saw something that I was slightly offended by. When the time came to sing the Negro Na tional Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” there were people who did not remove their caps. That anthem is just as impor tant to me as the Star-Spangled Banner. I feel it deserves just as much respect. Some people may not realize that there is such a thing as a Negro National Anthem. Well there is, so let’s all recognize it when its announced and give it the respect given to our nation’s anthem. Mosadi Porter Class of‘97 women’s choice In response to Courtney Phillips’ Mar. 27 column. Phillips states, the first and greatest lie of feminism is “You can have it all.” She goes on to say this “you can have it all lie” preaches “self-esteem and em powerment above all. It should not sur prise anyone that an answer containing ’self’ cannot possibly be the answer to a problem of self-absorbed, self-actual ized and self-centered culture.” First, Courtney Phillips herself seemed incredibly self-culture centered when she ended her column by quot ing the Bible and saying that women should take faith not in themselves but in Jesus. News flash: Texas A&M is a public school and the entire student body is not composed of Christians. The so-called feminist assertion that women can “have it all” simply means that women can have a family and a career. If that were not the case, half the women at Texas A&M would have to drop out. I see nothing wrong with having a value of self-worth and seeking both a career and a family. If Phillips believes that a respectable lev el of self-esteem is anti-Christian, I paraphrase the Apostle Paul who said that we should have neither an inflat ed nor deflated image of ourselves. In other words, know your own worth. Secondly, Phillips states that “to be a good feminist, a woman must be ag gressive, dominant, preferably mov ing up the corporate ladder and using her sexuality to assert power over men, all the while claiming to be val ued totally for her intellect.” Feminists come in “all shapes and sizes” so to speak. A feminist is simply one who believes that women have the same worth as men and should be al lowed to choose their own path in life. Feminism is all about choice, and if a woman chooses not to enter the work force outside of the home, good for her. If she decides to have a child and pur sue a career, good for her. If she decides not to have children, good for her. Dawn Capp Graduate Student