The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 11, 1997, Image 7

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    The Battalion
Page 7
Friday • April 11,1997
r CP correctness
egalization solves America's ineffective drug war
he phrase “war on
drugs” is used to
day more often as
unchline rather than
jerious political
ince on a chronic
iblem for America.
The reasons are ob-
« us. Billions of dol-
shave been wasted
a futile attempt to
ip the flow of drugs
;o America. Ineffec-
lelaws have been
ated and imple-
bnted with the vain hope drug
jalerswill actually respect the
vs and fear imprisonment.
Columnist
Jon Apgar
Junior
journalism major
Both Republicans
and Democrats live in
this fantasy world,
where more money
spent in an effort to
fight drugs will make the
problem just go away.
Meanwhile, drug
dealers still buy Mer
cedes and gold jewelry
while millions suffer
from drug addictions.
Politicians’ attempts
to stop the flow of
drugs look good only
on paper. In their minds, an in
creased police force coupled with
stricter laws will scare people into
avoiding drugs.
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inister fails flock,
sinterprets Bible
response to the April 8 article,
dstor: Homosexuality is genetic,
Controllable.”
God’s truth is plain and clear,
^people like Rev. Piazzamanipu-
ethe Bible to accommodate their
'n beliefs. He intentionally states
at Christians frequently misuse
ttin the Bible to persuade and
isguide those who are unfamiliar
4 the Bible.
However, it is he who manipu-
Gfldfi} fe the Word of God in an attempt
rationalize homosexuality. It is
rd to comprehend how one would
sitse or misread verses in the Bible
ten it explicitly says, “ Do not lie
4 a man as one lies with a woman;
it is detestable” (Leviticus 18:22),
d''Men committed indecent acts
4 other men, and received in
atnselves the due penalty for their
rversion” (Romans 1:27). There are
ter verses that make the same
dement about homosexuality just
dear: Leviticus 20:13, Romans
16-27 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, to
me a few.
Rev. Piazza’s comment that Jesus
dboth heterosexual and homo-
J dial feelings and that he struggled
G° J 4 ways to live with his sexuality
no base. I can find no verse in the
Bible that says anything about Jesus’
sexuality, much less homosexual
feelings. This argument is ludicrous
and has no foundation, ft should be
taken as one man’s twisted, misguid
ed opinion and not fact.
However, this does not mean that
there is no chance of redemption for
homosexuals. If they will simply give
up their perverse lifestyle, be repen
tant of their sins and ask Jesus into
their hearts, they can be forgiven and
allowed to enter the Kingdom of
Heaven. “For the wages of sin is
death, but the gift of God is eternal
life through Christ Jesus our Lord”
(Romans 6:23).
Biyan Hager
Class of’99
The Battalion encourages letters to the ed
itor. 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 Mc
Donald with a valid student ID. Letters 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.
But the cold, hard reality is that
drugs are rampant in America and
easily smuggled into our country.
Politicians need to stop proposing
“feel-good” drug policies and start
looking at the problem from a dif
ferent perspective.
The biggest problem with
drug policies today is their em
phasis on harsh punishments for
drug offenders.
Republicans sit on their own
Cloud Nine in this dreamland —
They want to implement the death
penalty for convicted drug dealers.
The death penalty rarely deters
anyone except the person about to
be executed (if even them), and
this law would not stop drug deal
ers from peddling
their goods.
Drug dealers fear drive-by
shootings or brutal paybacks from
rival dealers, not rich white politi
cians threatening them with 10
years on death row.
Members of the Pat Buchanan
fan club, who think money and
legislation are keys to combating
drugs, should realize the war on
drugs is a big failure.
More money and more police
are unable to stop drug dealers.
The real solution is the legalization
of drugs.
The idea has been called
“crazy,” “abominable” and many
other phrases not fit to print. Dr.
Jocylen Elders was removed from
her post as Surgeon General for
even suggesting the idea.
The reason people fear legaliza
tion is their unwillingness to admit
defeat in the war on drugs.
Consider the facts. The war on
drugs has not reduced drug use or the
number of dealers, and random con
fiscations amount to only a fraction of 1
a percent of the total amount of drugs
on the streets. Taxpayers’ money is
being flushed down the toilet.
If drugs were legalized, dealers
would go out of business. Crime as
sociated with dealing would become
a moot point if someone could pur
chase them legally.
Consider alcohol.
Alcohol is legal and regulated by
the government. There are no “alco
hol dealers” on street corners, nor is
there crime associated with the sale •
of alcohol.
If drugs were legalized, the gov
ernment could regulate their sale
and impose taxes on them.
The billions of dollars saved by
eliminating unnecessary and inef
fective drug enforcement agencies
could be used for rehabilitation ef
forts for addicts.
Despite fears, the legalization of
drugs would not increase drug use.
Those who want to use drugs do so
now, regardless of legality. Making
drugs legal would not incite those
who previously declined drugs to
suddenly become addicts.
Scores of murders occur every
day in America due to drug traffic.
It is a tragedy politicians continue
to enforce failing drug policies
while ignoring a viable—yet un
popular—alternative.
If politicians were not so worried
about re-elections and favorable im
ages with voters, Captiol Hill bureau
crats might actually consider the
benefits of drug legalization.
Legalization might be the first drug
policy to actually decrease crime.
Sometimes the most unortho
dox ideas turn put to be the most
beneficial ones.
Vanity diminishes
female self-esteem
Columnist
Kate Shropshire
Freshman biomedical
science major
S ociety’s warped
concept of how
women should
look leaves many ma
turing young girls
constantly displeased
with themselves.
From puberty on,
and sometimes even
earlier, young boys and
girls are faced constant
ly with society’s images
of the “perfect mate.”
Images of perfection
are thoughtlessly uti
lized in numerous advertising cam
paigns when, in reality, such an ob
ject of perfection remains elusive.
For young boys, this subterfuge
surfaces in ads relating to sports,
cars, beer and other certain aspects
of conditioned male interest.
For girls, Seventeen and YM
magazines serve as delusional
guides which dictate the route to
wards the “Most Desirable Female of
the Month” award. Graduates of this
brainwashing school can then move
up to Cosmopolitan which can
teach women successfully how to
earn promotions “the otlier way.”
After such bombardments from
new-and-improved special interest
groups, such as glamour media, the
effects of the persuasion becomes
ingrained in America’s youth. The
media underestimate die harm of
their power as young women turn to
anorexia and bulimia in order to at
tain the perfect body.
Becki Elkins-Elkins-Nesheim, co
ordinator ofWomen’s Programs at
Texas A&M, said agrees society defi
nitely has expectations of women
and said she attributes much of the
problem to the media.
“The most powerful way of
communicating this message is the
media,” she said. “It is hard to say
where the idea originated from.
Parents, school, and peers play a
roll as well. Parents and grandpar
ents ask more questions pertaining
to who you are dating rather than
how are your classes.”
If a girl fails to get a date for a
Saturday night, she will attribute
her misfortune to the size of her
rear end and the lack thereof in her
bust line. Rarely do women exclaim
“I look fabulous in this dress.” In
stead, they often say, “I see I am
wearing the Thanksgiving turkey
on my hump.”
With men it is a totally different
story. Men rarely express disap
proval when looking in the mirror.
Actually, men seem to have a more
confident air, which unfortunately
most women lack. This automatic
acceptance heightens men’s toler
ance of themselves and
decreases their tolerance
of women.
Elkins-Nesheim said
she recognizes the de
cline of self-assurance
in young women as they
become accustomed to
society’s potent and
permeating ideals.
“Girls are confident ‘til
around the age of eleven
or twelve,” she said.
“Then we see a decline of
confidence due to em
phasis on dating and how you look,
rather than who you are.”
With such environmental influ
ences, it is extremely difficult for
women to be content with them
selves. An inherent fear of the oppo
site sex seeing them naked, hence
exposing their flaws only diminishes
any sense of self-worth they have.
When men expect women to re
semble Playboy bunnies, it is no
wonder women’s security is tossed
out with die garbage. Men even
have expressed disappointment at
seeing a girl naked for the first time
only to realize Penthouse toys are a
figment of the imagination.
Elkins-Nesheim said she sees
these prospects of the sexes as a pre
cursor to unwholesome attitudes.
“I think we set women and
men up by images which leads to
unhealthy behavior,” she said.
“Some men think that with a little
coaxing they can get women to
attain that image.”
Age can also be considered a
factor in society’s reliance on cer
tain dream replicas, Elkins-
Nesheim said.
“Men become more distin
guished as they get older, while
women become more invisible,”
she said.
As women fade into the shad
ows of their doubts, the poten
tial pride and power of the
woman is lost.
It is unfortunate when a
woman’s conformity to society’s
limits is placed above their value
as a person. Women must stop
believing their bodies are a myri
ad of defects to apologize for.
Elkins-Nesheim said she be
lieves these distorted deviants of re
ality could and should be avoided.
“When we start talking about
these issues we need to see that
it doesn’t need to be this way,”
she said.
Women are under no obliga
tion to achieve attention or ap
preciation through personal
reincarnation of the theoretical
boy toy.
International students add spice to Aggie pie
M any students fantasize
about study-abroad pro
grams and touring the
world, but few take advantage of the
part of the world that comes to
Texas A&M.
Texas A&M students should
broaden their perspective of the
world and make foreigners’ stay
here at A&M educational through
friendships with international stu
dents and teachers.
Lisa Klintworth of the Office
of International Student Ser
vices, said A&M hosted 1,726 in
ternational students, about one for every
24 Americans.
Although it is true that sitting at a cafe beside
the Eiffel Tower or treading the expanse of the
Great Wall of China are unique experiences,
much of the allure of other countries is the cul
tures and thought patterns of their peoples.
People must explore and understand oth
er countries’ image of America. Internation
al news, specifically the way other countries
relate to the United States, is often puzzling
to Americans, who usually do not under
stand that minds in other countries work
slightly differently than Americans’.
Bonnie Cross, a sophomore Spanish major,
works with the Baptist Student Ministry's con
versation class.
“They have different perspectives on every
thing; they think differently about things in gen
eral,” she said.
Yulong Wang, a visiting professor of English
rhetoric from Qingdao University, China, said he
sees the United States in much the same light as
many Americans. He said America currently is
the most powerful country in the world and
should use that clout in the U.N. to guide world
affairs to a more peaceful planet.
On the other hand, Mohammed Al-Mishil, a
visiting chemist from Saudi Arabia, said he does
Columnist
Joshua Hill
Sophomore
English major
not agree with American foreign poli
cy at all. He would prefer the U.S. to
take a more hands-off approach.
A second interesting question is
foreigners’ view of their own coun
tries. Even for those who pay close at
tention to the news, their view of other
countries is somewhat distorted. Con
versely, international students from
some countries don’t have a clear pic
ture of their countries’ activities be
cause of tight social control.
For example, Al-Mishil said he
adamantly believes that the Hebrews
never had inhabited the Palestine area
until 1948, when they were given the land ac
cording to their mythology. The hatred most
Arabs have for Israelites is easily understood if
their governments are teaching such lies.
Many Americans
have had an image of
China seared into their
minds by the American
media’s treatment of
Communism, the Chi
nese civil rights record of
restricted childbearing,
and theTiennaman
Square Massacre.
Many Chinese, how
ever, disagree with the
American image of
their country.
“We have a different
interpretation (about Tiennaman),” Wang said.
“It is a very sensitive issue in our country. It
harms the stability of our government, but some
things were changed.”.
A third insight Americans can gain from frat
ernizing with internationals is the picture other
countries have of the world and its future.
Complementing his respect for America’s po
sition, Wang quoted George Bush, saying “rela
tions between the United States and China will
“(International students)
have different perspec
tives on everything; they
think differently about
things in general.”
Bonnie Cross
sophomore Spanish major
be the most important [of all nations] in the
coming century.”
He said he sees America and China leading
the world across Bill Clinton’s “Bridge to the
21st Century.”
Al-Mishil had no grandiose plans, just day-
to-day life and his practice of Islam, which I got
to watch and learn about. He and I had several
talks about Islam over an evening meal of
lamb, spiced rice and dates during the holy
month of Ramadan.
This cultural exchange is not, of course, one
sided. A group of Mexican exchange students,
here for only three days, were so anxious to learn
and experience American culture they almost
denied themselves of sleep all together.
Internationals are eager to learn about Amer
ica and Americans. Many of them are here just
for the culture and training in English.
The English as a Second
Language (ESL) program
and the BSM’s conversation
class are just two ways stu
dents can help and be
helped by internationals.
Karen Smirmaul, a Ju
nior biomedical science
major, participates in the
BSM program.
“It provides them a way
to make friends with Amer
icans; they probably
wouldn’t be able to other
wise,” she said. “[Also], you
get information about the country first-hand,
not processed through the media.”
Cross said he believes the label of “foreign
er” can often be applied to Americans.
“You always profit from getting to know
people, even people here,” she said.
If students at A&M are to be informed and in
telligent citizens, they need to have a clear picture
of the world around them. The environment of
this university provides an excellent opportunity
for students to see the world through its people.