Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 1997)
e niber20 lursday • November 20, 1997 O The Battalion PINION Let’s hear it for the boys \ggies should hail 01’Army days of Texas ASM, celebrate past traditions I JT ulticulturalism, speech codes, revi- 1X sionist history and jilaiism represent, for the [tpart, the plagues of po- 1 correctness that have h avoided at Texas A&M. lay College Station, Texas, raven for mush-minded ralism is a lot like saying Richards should use jehairspray. whether it is setting fire to usands of innocent tree j..:m ii Donny Ferguson columnist OM/TheBt parks ai asses, boasting about our beloved hometown jPhil Gramm, displaying the Stars and Bars of the federate flag or perpetuating the evil military-in- Itrial complex, free-thinking Aggies have avoided ; narrow-minded hysteria that is PC. Or have they? , 1 tealthily and cleverly disguised, leftist drone think- H tes crept onto campus and into, of all places, our ne War Hymn.” Some disgrunded liberal (perhaps la |. aught and angered over Gariy Mauro’s dismal poll je Its) has tampered with our War Hymn and infected theoiM ^ ant ® with a plethora of revisionist thinking. ^ 8 iccording to the original, official lyrics written by , , 'Pinky" Wilson while he was standing guard on asoniti ^ 1 ' ne a f te r World War I, the fourth verse reads, t ® eyare the boys who show' the real old fight.” a doc ie ^88‘ es ' however, are taught to sing, “They are andth ones w * 10 s ^ ow real old fight.” This gender- L ? tral rew'rite is more than a matter of simple se- i evnyii jjj cs | ( cuts to ( | ie ver y core 0 f university history, r! . lisa reflection on the backward lurch the nation 1 taken as a whole. ,j7 iuch “sanitization” of the Hymn should be expect- ’, 1 Jiaera when Americans are told to be ashamed ol ^ irhistoiy and heritage. Children today are no . , ‘ gertaught about George Washington’s courage l w . .!'! Ileadership. Instead, they are told to reject the icy of the man who founded the most powerful Ifiee nation on earth, because he was white, male laformer slave owner. A "progressive” school in New Orleans has ped the first president’s name. One history text colonial patriots such as Ethan Allan, but micles the life of lesbian singer Joan Baez. Kids in Pcnts at i help w stitution one elementary school history class were taught an cient Africans had wings and could fly, until white men came and shot them down (despite the fact firearms were not invented until several centuries lat er). The teacher refused to totally reject the story and said even if he made it up, it was permissible because it makes the children “feel better about themselves.” In a time when leftist intellectuals (perhaps the ul timate oxymoron) infest colleges and universities with their thinking, or lack thereof, such revision of University history and culture should be expected. It should not, however, be tolerated. Aggies should be proud of the University’s unique history as an all-male military institution. For over a century, A&M has turned out some of the finest leaders America has known, both in military and in civilian cultures. We should celebrate our military heritage and proudly cheer on our “boys,” even if we are cheering our softball team, women’s basketball team or nation ally ranked soccer team (who will no doubt win next year’s national championship). A&M’s finest tradition is not Bonfire, yell practice, the Thanksgiving game or getting a lovely yellow parking ticket. Aggies should take great pride in the University’s devotion to history, tradition and faith in God. While socially backwards universities in Austin, Berkeley and Cambridge are adopting speech codes to silence conservatives, removing prayer from schools and God from texts and churning out left thinking drones, A&M has proudly embraced its all male military past and coed future. Aggies should reject the “Love” Hymn thinking that has crept onto campus, and celebrate the Uni versity’s unique history and revel in its politically in correct traditions. When disgruntled liberals begin rewriting and re vising history and culture to fit into their narrow opinions, we lose a part of ourselves and our her itage. Instead of casting shame on the darker points of our history, we should honor our heritage and learn from it. The first thing Aggies should do is reclaim their War Hymn and reject the backwards revisionist thought that has infested so many college campuses. HULLABALOO, POLITICALLY CANECK N> Donny Ferguson is a junior political science major. -XT, irael should deal with Saddam Hussein Jeremy Valdez columnist addam Hussein no doubt en joyed his view' of Aggieiand two weeks igo. The current dic- iaior got to watch the gening of the con flation prize we live to decidedly for mer presidents. George Bush, the man who had promised to "kick Sad dam's ass,” stood a vic- of the electoral process, and his war to md Iraqi aggression had clearly done little damage to Saddam’s spirit of insolence. So even as it begins to appear cooler deads will prevail, we should not assume we dave seen the last of Saddam. Recalcitrant strongmen such as Saddam usually do not lose power until it is pried from their cold, dead hands. During the GulfWar, Saddam was compared to both Hitler and Mussolini, both of whom shuf- i!ed off this mortal coil before their peo ples were liberated. More recently, Romania’s Nicolae Ceaucescu serves as an example of a dicta tor who had to be executed to be removed from office. If Saddam truly is the scourge we say he ;,and he is unlikely to be removed from power through non-violent methods, how come a well-placed assassin has yet to elimi nate the problem? One possible answer is deep down, the American intelligence community be lieves an Iraq without Saddam would be worse than one with him. The power vacu um created by Saddam’s ouster could splinter Iraq into an unstable, brutal country with constantly warring Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish factions. The other explanation often championed by conspiracy nuts is really not all that nutty: Saddam is good for business. The existence of people such as him justi fies a gargantuan military budget bloated with stealth aircraft, laser-guided smart bombs and cruise missiles. The thought Iraq or any of the other ter rorist states (include the most favored na tion of China in the group) could harbor both anti-American sentiment and nuclear weapons has given what some see as just cause to resurrect some of Reagan’s hyper- expensive StarWars programs. Of course, the official line is the United States government does not engage in politi cal assassination to achieve foreign policy goals. George Bush continues to assert killing Saddam was never a priority in the GulfWar. The overwhelming amount of surveil lance equipment we employed trying to as certain Saddam’s exact whereabouts during the conflict speaks to the contrary. Why else would we want to pinpoint his location at all times? So we could make sure to bomb everywhere except where he was? For our leaders’ love of public image, we conceal the brutal honesty of our aggres sion. We deny we wish to assassinate one man in favor of going to war with thousands, because war seems more sporting. It also is far bloodier. If our politicians can not stomach putting out a contract on Saddam, or more to the point, fear the voters’ reaction to such a hit, we ought to encourage the Israelis to do it. Not only do Israeli intelligence operatives have no moral qualms about killing their en emies , they are devastatingly effective at it. Last year saw the death of Yehiya Ayyash, who had been the most reclusive bomb designer for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Ayyash’s head exploded when he turned on a cellular phone packed with plastic explosives, a gift from Israeli intelligence. Benjamin Netanyahu, four months be fore he was named Prime Minister, said the bomb served as a warning to would-be terrorists that “Israel’s long arm would reach them.” We give Israel $1 billion in foreign aid to support it in its conflict against the Pales tinians. Increasingly, Israel’s “long arm” kills more civilian protesters than true terrorists. As Israel tightens its grip on disputed ter ritories, the stones hurled by Palestinian youth are frequently met with bullets from Israeli rifles. Last week a nine-year-old Palestinian boy was killed when an Israeli soldier opened fire on a group of teens. We ought to demand the Israelis start saving some of those rounds for use on the targets that might actually warrant them, targets such as Saddam Hussein. Mail Call Jeremy Valdez is a senior chemical engineering and journalism major. (Hite. A>] camt you si6H he <30f=ST BOOK U Ke ELSE rL, & ■ K'jY' Aggie spirit varies among student body In response toLen Callaways’Nov. 19 “Follow the Leader”column: I completely agree with Callaway’s column, and I have a lot of very posi tive feelings for what the Coips has done in making Texas A&M what it is today. No one can say and honestly believe A&M would be the great uni versity it is today had it not been for the Corps of Cadets. Yet, just as we should respect the Corps and the many leaders it has formed, I believe it is time the Corps shows the same respect for students who do not wear a uniform every day to classes. My freshman year I was out at stack, helping to carry on the great tradition of Bonfire. I began to have a conversation with a fish in the Corps, and after a few minutes of discussion he ut tered, “Man, I could never stand to be a non-reg piece of s—t.” I wish this had been the only anti-non-reg incident I have seen, but throughout my four years at A&M, I have seen this same resentment members of the Coips have toward non-regs several times; a feeling of superiority simply because they belong to an organization I chose not to join. Walking away from the UT game last year, a t-sip started talking about how he did not understand Texas A&M. “Everybody here hates each other,” he said. “The Corps hates the band. The non-regs hate the Coips. The Coips hates tire Greek,” etc. As much as I wanted to turn around and deny this and talk about how A&M really is the friend liest campus in the world and we are all one family, I couldn’t be cause in a way he was right. It is time for all Aggies to have respect for each other and the Ag gie experience each person chose. It is time the Corps, Northside, Southside, Greek, Aggie Band and off-campus students realize we are all Aggies, and we are all “Keepers of the Spirit” in a very real way. This campus would not be what it is today had civilian students and female students never been allowed to enroll. This campus would not be like it is today unless the Greek sys tem had evolved. Unless we can put aside our differences and respect all other students for believing in the Aggie Spirit, that t-sip will be right. Joe Forman Class of’98 Column reminds Aggies what is important in life In response to Len Callaway's Nov. 14 “Holiday season marks a time for con templation” column: I just wanted to say thank you to Len Callaway for writing the article about being thankful for what we have. It is so true that we have so much to be thankful for, especially at Texas A&M. We go to an awesome university with great talents and traditions. We have family and friends and teachers to turn to. I too agree that “the real point is for people to reflect and be thankful for whatever positives they may have in their lives.” (We will have even more to be thankful for when we beat Texas!) Thank you so much for reminding us all of this important point. Amy Skidmore Class of'00 Aggie War Hymn verse embarrasses A&M The Bush Library Complex is a wonderful addition to our campus and to the larger community. The dedication ceremony was a memo rable event for everyone. I expect it was especially so for student partici pants, all of whom seemed to handle their responsibilities exceedingly well. There was only one thing I wish I could have changed. We should have used the other verse of the War Hymn. With a University of Texas graduate as Master of Ceremonies and graduates of UT in the audience who had contributed liberally to ward the construction of the Bush Library on our campus, the occasion seemed an inappropriate time to ridicule their fight song and express our desire to sever their horns. The other verse of the War Hymn would have fit the occasion much bet ter, as it would when we are vying in a sport with teams other than those from the University of Texas. Surely among our students are those who could adapt the sawing action we like so much to removing paws from Bears, spurs from Cowboys, tails from Cyclones, etc. Many of the students in my class agree with me that we devote too much attention to “beating” the University of Texas when playing teams from other universities, and on such momentous occasions as the dedication of the Bush Library, which was made possible by the co operative efforts of graduates from both of Texas’ flagship universities. MwrayH. Milford Class of’55 Professor of Soil Science