The Battalion
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Tsday • February 12, 1998
ifi»NE STAR LOWDOWN
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I ( am a (ong.falf Texan
orah Winfrey's portrayal of Texans degrades, reinforces old stereotypes
am hot a ... hick.”
quote is my own, and
e, it is completely true,
t anyone who watches
prah Winfrey Show”
Deli|ve me. For the past
eeks, she has been
ig havoc on my image,
lage — the whole state’s
— by making all Texans
ke bumpkins on her
in Texas” shows. Maybe
d sue for libel. Wait, that’s been done.
1 bejcompletely honest. I am not a huge fan of
Winfrey. Her interviews, and I use the term
annoy me. It is because she interrupts people
ly wl ten they are trying to make a point,
st: When I met Gandhi it was the greatest mo-
Beverly
Mireles
columnist
ment of my life. He leaned over and told me the
meaning of life. He said —
Oprah: You know, that reminds me of the first time
I met Elton John. See, we’re really good friends be
cause we both own a lot of expensive things. Let’s
break for commercial.
Okay, sure, I made that up. But it is annoying, isn’t it?
Now that she is in Texas, there is something she
does that bothers me much more than her tendency to
interrupt people.
She makes Texans seem like bronco-riding, boot-
wearing, ain’t-saying morons with big hair and really
slow accents. Oprah might as well start her show by say
ing, “Instead of having Maya Angelou on, I’ll just make
fun of millions of people. Is that ok, you all?”
Um, no.
I like living in Texas, and I am basically Southern,
that is for sure. My hometown of China, Texas, is real
ly rural. “Going to town” rural. As in, “I am going to
town to buy some lotteiy tickets and Jell-O.” I have
drunk well water, fed livestock and I overuse the word
“y’all.” That does not mean that I wear a cowboy hat
everyday and have an oil well in my back yard. If I did,
I wouldn’t know what FASFA (Free Application for
Federal Student Aid) meant.
Yes, I know how to two-step. And yet, I manage to
live my life without two-stepping all that much. I
know there are people who actually enjoy going out
and country line dancing, the poor, misguided souls.
That is just fine for them. Not for me, but for people
who enjoy it, it is just peachy.
Line dancing or wearing boots does not mean that
you are a second-class citizen or that you are plan
ning to marry your cousin. Only special people like
Jerry Lee Lewis and Edgar Allen Poe can pull off stuff
like that.
(Non-Texans).
Truthfully, I really doubt that Oprah means any of
her comments in a derogatory way. And it isn’t that
she is the only person with a tendency toward
stereotyping Texans.
In February’s Vogue, there is a 19-page spread on
Texas fashion, with lots of Gucci dresses and a cow
boy hat on every head. Well, yee-haw. Now I know
what to wear to the rodeo.
The generalizations get really old, really quickly.
Lifestyles in Texas, or any other state, do not follow
one set pattern.
Some Texans live on ranches, some live on artists’
communes and some just live in suburbia. When
people attempt to make people in Texas look like one
long “Dukes of Hazard” episode, they are doing an in
justice to all of us.
So, to Oprah and the rest of the world: the mean
ingless stereotypes you have placed on Texans grow
less applicable everyday. And the next time you feel
like ridiculing large groups of people, try people from
Montana. They are wackos.
Beverly Mireles is a freshman microbiology major.
TE OF THE UNION
P'CS.
inimum wage increase poses problems
Donny
Ferguson
columnist
o ter an election year
liatus, the Era of
ct Big Government
e icialh resumed. In
, :e of the Union Ad -
| Resident Bill Clin-
)posed, among oth-
ind-spend
oggles, a minimum
icrease. No one
:ts poverty, but as
ost liberal causes,
iiimuin wage
symbolism over
nee and inflicts pain on whom they show-
i: phony compassion,
eates unemployment, raises prices for
ho can least afford it and is based on a
ly-packaged bundle of misconceptions.
the minimum wage means thousands
jobs and higher prices for food, clothing
dicine. The minimum wage increase is
ws for all Americans.
! pile what Democrats claim, a minimum
‘icrease will not help working families feed
the their children simply because mini-
agers do not feed and clothe children,
rcent are between the ages of 16 and 24,
font work jobs part-time and 80 percent
louseholds earning $50,000 or more.
|US learning minimum wage are bus boys and
a }| >ses, whose total income when combined
1 os, is as much as $40,000 annually.
O^ y eight percent of minimum wage earn-
(bport a family,and according to the Con-
tnal Budget Office, 63 percent advance to
■ l!! pay levels within a year. Minimum-wage
ofts are not mothers and fathers dependent
ir $5.50 an hour to feed a family. They are
entry-level positions, many at their first
e Minimum wagers work at fast-food restau-
dus tables, mow lawns and work for col-
iwspapers, and an overwhelming majori-
&'tot support families. As usual, Democrats
it to gain political victory by inciting class
n and spreading misconception,
lirrlum-wage increases also have the un-
& nt effect of raising the prices of goods for
jlliivho do not enjoy the higher wage (and
mm wage earners are disappointed to
3115
[k
it prices rise along with their paychecks).
In' ;her wages mean higher operating costs,
0 r gher operating costs force businesses to
’ |-rices or go out of business. Those hard-
by the minimum wage increase are the
111' / and disabled on public assistance, al-
1 .diving on small, fixed allowances, now
P to pay higher prices for essential goods
[jCs food and medicine. But actual compas-
L ever was the liberals’ goal, only the ap-
J ice of compassion in an election year,
l- b most heinous effect of minimum-wage
pises is the subsequent unemployment. As
Lf iment interferes with business and forces
y wages, business must either raise prices
V I /
, -! 'I, ,
;
(hurting consumers) or hire fewer workers. If em
ployers pay more for unskilled labor, fewer jobs
become available, forcing many onto the unem
ployment rolls, and those already there are pre
vented from climbing back into the work force.
A 1988 Congressional Budget Office study
showed proposed minimum-wage increases
could result in a half-million lost jobs, and those
hurt most are the young, minorities and
women. A study by Texas A&M economists Dr.
Donald Deere and Dr. Finis Welch, and Univer
sity of Chicago economist Dr. Kevin M. Murphy
show the devastating effects of the minimum
wage on those who already suffer economically.
According to the study, “we estimate that
during the year of the $3.80 hourly minimum,
4.8 percent fewer teenage men were employed
than would have been if the $3.35 minimum
had been retained. The corresponding reduc
tions for teenage women and teenage blacks
are 6.6 percent and 7.5 percent.”
Historically, Democrats claim to fight for
prosperity for many instead of wealth for a few.
Their stance on the minimum wage, which
tosses untold numbers into unemployment to
give more to a few, is amusingly hypocritical.
The difference is, although minimum wage in
creases hurt the poor, minorities and women, at
least they make Democrats sound nice on TV.
Perhaps someone should ask Bill Clinton,
since the minimum wage is supposed to be a
compassionate, livable wage, why Democrats
have not proposed a $10 or even a $100-per-
hour minimum wage. After all, if Democrats
are correct and minimum wage earners are
mothers and fathers trying to feed their kids
and put them through college, these people
should be making a comfortable living, instead
/
-
of being forced to live on $5.50 an hour.
The answer is simple. They know the mini
mum wage hurts, not helps, workers. To force
business to pay unskilled labor the same pay
as older, skilled workers would ensure eco
nomic disaster. They settle instead for a tiny,
symbolic increase, just enough to buy a few
votes with the phony compassion synony
mous with the Democratic Party, but not
enough to derail the economy.
Clinton’s minimum-wage increase is yet an
other election-year attempt to incite class warfare
and mislead the public. Minimum-wage earners
do not support families. They are not doomed to
a life of flipping burgers and writing for college
newspapers, and they usually advance within a
year. Minimum wage increases do not help the
poor, but they create unemployment and raise
the prices of food, clothing and medicine.
But then again, liberals have never been in
terested in actual results. They care only about
the sugar-coated symbolism of their actions
and how much it pays off at the ballot box.
“Let’s raise the minimum wage,” they say, “and
if we can salvage votes from the ensuing class
warfare — good job. And if it casts thousands
into unemployment and prices the poor out of
food, clothing and medicine — to hell with
them. At least we meant well.”
Government interference in business
should be a matter of what is best for workers.
Democrats, however, see the destructive and
economically devastating minimum wage in
crease as an opportunity to steal political victo
ry at the expense of working Americans.
Donny Ferguson is a junior political
science major.
ml
AIL CALL
, :S
)K'
cert date shows
i of consideration
a senior at this university, I
^vailed for the privilege of
ag my ring for four years,
ighi 1 would attend Ring
would be one of the high
lights of my life at A&M.
Unfortunately, I feel that my ex
pectations of the evening will not
be met due to the inconsiderate ac
tions of the Athletic Department,
who believes it is above and be
yond the rules and regulations fol
lowed by the rest of the University.
They do not feel that the Mark
Chesnutt concert it is hosting will
conflict with Ring Dance, both
scheduled for April 25; that simulta
neous events occur all the time at
A&M. That may be true, but this will
be two major crowd-drawing events
across the street from each other.
Ring Dance is a tradition that
most people wait years to attend.
One would think that the Athletic
Department could at least respect
that. How many other evenings
could they have chosen that
would not have conflicted with
the one night seniors have to get
together and celebrate a great tra
dition at A&M?
The Athletic Department said
that they do not believe the noise
from the concert on Kyle Field will
be a problem. I am assuming that a
concert with an estimated 20,000
fans will be louder than the Aggie
Band at halftime which can be
heard all over campus. Besides the
fact that i didn’t realize I might have
to walk several miles in a formal be
cause no one considered where
20,000 plus people would park.
Everyone at this university is
somehow interconnected and sub
ject to the same guidelines. It is
unfortunate that my ideas of Ring
Dance may not be met because of
the lack of consideration of the
Athletic Department in planning
their event
Marissa Schultz
Class of’98
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PERSPECTIVES
Prisons fail to
rehabilitate; create
violent criminals
T he night has come again. The night with its
dark, heavy air. Tossing and turning on the
lumpy top bunk, you attempt to ignore the
catcalls and threats from the other side of the
concrete. The dampness and smell of urine in
vade your nose as the walls again close in around
you. Sounds like rehabilitation, doesn’t it?
America has found a new industiy—a pros
perous industry that provides quite a cash cow.
No, not computers or nuclear engineering —
we’re talking about prisons.
The prison system in the United States is
booming. People applaud and politicians win
elections based on the economic prosperity
a :>y Jjip
X
Mandy
Cater
opinion editor
prison growth creates. However, this revenue comes at a cost. The cost
is the failure of the prison system to do its job.
When one thinks of jails, one thinks of violent criminals being
locked away, protecting innocent citizens. Although that is an impor
tant facet of the system, it is not the most important one. The real duty
of prisons is to attempt to rehabilitate criminals.
American prisons are bulging at the seams. This boom should not
bring about applause, but instead, fear. American prisons are creating
hardened criminals faster than jails can be built to house them.
Take for instance your first-time criminals convicted of posses
sion of narcotics. These people are in jail for taking drugs that dam
age their own bodies. Under the current system, these individuals
have little hope of rehabilitation.
Rather than sentences which focus on drug treatment or counsel
ing, they are shipped off to prisons where they may be sharing space
with violent offenders.
The environment behind bars is more violent than most inner-city
crime areas. Drug trafficking, assault and rape are only a few of the
events common to prison life. Small-time criminals are thrust into a
world that forces its inhabitants to swim with the sharks. It is a world
where one must be tough or face the consequences.
There is little hope a life like this will encourage rehabilitation.
More often than prison officials would probably care to count, jails are
on a revolving-do or system. Would-be one-time offenders are taught a
violent lifestyle for survival behind bars. This attitude, unfortunately
accompanies them when they reemerge into society. As a result, re
peat offenders are created.
Results such as these could be easily avoided if the American sys
tem of justice focused punishment on the crimes they accompany. In
stead of teaching people violence, it would be more productive to at
tempt to understand the crimes committed and take preventive
measures to ensure these people do not return to a life of crime.
In Massachusettes, state officials faced two lawsuits concerning a
practice of taking DNA from convicts and parolees. An Associated
Press story reported the information was used to compile a database
of “the molecular makeup of 33 categories of convicted criminals, in
cluding prostitutes, rapists and murderers.”
A Superior Court judge demanded the practice be halted since the
practice allows for the “possibility of wrongful criminal prosecution if
DNA sampling is not properly done.” Since detailed state regulations
for the sampling do not currently exist, the possibility is quite real. The
question of whether this practice is constitutional aside, this sampling
stands as a slap in the face of the justice system.
The money and time spent implementing a program such as this
would better serve society if they were channelled toward crime pre
vention and rehabilitation. Instead, practices such as this sampling
send the message criminals are expected to return to a life of crime.
Legislation in California raises similar concerns. Legislators in that
state have decided crime will be curtailed by eliminating weights from
their prisons. Additionally, law books will no longer be accessible to
prisoners in prisons such as Folshom. These books provide convicts
with a mechanism for better understanding of the law.
At the other end of the spectrum is the dilemma of white-collar
criminals. These individuals, often high-profile members of the busi
ness world, serve their sentences in posh country-club prisons where
rehabilitation is equally as unlikely to occur. Instead of being catered
to, their crimes should involve financial retribution — a punishment
that would hit them where it hurts.
Essentially, it simply is time for the prison system to step up and do
its job. Whether it is creating hardened criminals or catering to influ
ential white-collar convicts, it is time for the system to be reevaluated.
It is time for punishments to fit the crimes they accompany.
As for Americans, the time has come to realize the economic
boost from prison building comes at a cost, and that, in the end,
these costs will hit Americans in places even more important than
their pocketbooks.
Mandy Cater is a senior psychology major.