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uesday * June 9,1998
Keeping
The Battalion
PINION
y a fait
is The
bigtd i 1 j ! V:.j m
ithe good work
hris
all-
mmy
ieo.
)od lineil
April
Towery
columnist
ravism
A man with the inability to
astain an erection is certainly
t a disadvantage for himself
nd his wife or partner. Impo-
jnce is a medical disorder,
d although sex is not a ne-
ssity, Viagra erection pills
hould be covered by health
Kurance.
ar ^ al Having hair on one's head
snot a necessity, yet oral
emedies for baldness are
Ivered. Tallness is not a ne-
isity, but growth hormones
or short children are covered. Clear skin is not a
ality icessity, but acne medication is covered.
nfused I So why not Viagra?
f big Pfizer's potency pill is expensive at $10 per pill.
T funnv Ithout health insurance coverage, couples are
_ in undered from sexually enhancing their relation-
lip and from having children,
by 'Sul I According to a May 11 article in Newsweek,
sur . anaged-care executives are worried about their
p (J l b udgets. Is it right to allow a 65-year-old couple the
il e , ul( j pportunity to have sex just like they did on their
.p oneymoon, meanwhile denying someone's right
iprenatal care?
lyftjU- The answer is it must be regulated. As of now,
L one is screened for the pill. Someone who is not
unpletely impotent but sexually dissatisfied could
,alify to take Viagra.
Users say that taken an hour before sex, it relax-
the blood vessels feeding the penis, enabling it
to respond to erot
ic stimulation.
However, "club
kids" in New
York have talked
of using Viagra
to erase the erec
tion-inhibiting ef
fects of disco
drugs such as Ec
stasy and crystal
meth. Researchers
Health insurance should
cover Viagra, the newly-
marketed drug which
claims to cure impotence
say the drug, however, will not
provide this service.
This is what is wrong with
Viagra. There is no regulation
in who can and cannot take
the drug. Women are taking it
for various reasons. Even Bob
Dole has jumped on the band
wagon and become the virtual Via
gra poster boy.
Insurers have to draw the line
somewhere. Prior to the release of
Viagra, prescribers wrote about
20,000 prescriptions a week for
erection aids. Prescriptions in
creased six times that number
once Viagra hit the market.
Urologists are using
TfitsuRA/VCi f rubber stamps to
keep up with the
demand for pre-
~~~7 scriptions, the
Ty—r,. wwmaery ^ Newsweek arti-
' cle stated.
Viagra's popularity
will likely decline once peo
ple realize the actual effects of it. It
does not enhance sexual perfor
mance — it simply allows impotent
men to become aroused during fore
play and maintain an erection .
The Newsweek article stated the
drug has gotten 70 to 80 percent good re
sults from impotent men. Some men may not be af
fected by it. Others will be turned off by the recent
uproar about medical side affects.
Four deaths have been reported related to Via
gra. Some patients taking heart medication have
supposedly reacted poorly to the drug, which caus
es them to become "overworked."
People will eventually begin to realize this drug
is important enough to be used only by those who
really need it. It is not some sort of sex toy to be
played with. It is something that should be taken
seriously by men who are impotent and their wives
or partners.
Others who intend to use the drug to enhance
their performance will soon see it doesn't work,
and the drug's popularity will decline.
Once the popularity declines a little, managed-
care plans should be able to financially deal with
the coverage of Viagra.
Insurers should determine who needs coverage
based on their level of impotence. Only those who
are declared completely impotent should qualify.
Dosage per month should be limited as well.
No, sex is not a necessity. But it is an impor
tant component of many healthy marriages. If
health insurance can cover the luxuries of en
hancing appearance with plastic surgery, growth
spurt pills and baldness remedies, it can enhance
a few relationships.
April Towery is a senior journalism major.
es Only
Jnited we stand, divided we fall
ulticultumlism causes societal breakdown
call
>9
ulticulturalism is
thriving in Ag-
gieland.
There are organizations
/hich serve students rang-
ig from African-Ameri-
ans to those who wish to
low pride in their Con-
iderate heritage. Many
tudents find the opportu-
ty to get acquainted with
ers who have similar
grounds or character-
tics in these groups and
Nathan
Boucher
columnist
K /elop a sense of pride based on their identity.
Ten years ago, the Texas A&M Department of Mul-
iltural Services was installed. The department's
ission,"according to its Web site, is to "help the Uni-
sity develop and train future leaders for an increas-
gly multicultural society." The question is, are the
oups the department champions really forming stu-
dm nts into leaders for a multicultural society? The an-
'er is an emphatic no.
^ The primary problem with this type of system is
■ le of semantics. Am I, for example, a Hispanic-
9 merican because there are Mexican branches to both
des of my family tree? If so, why am I not a Czech-
merican because my paternal grandfather's family
unigrated from Czechoslovakia? My last name is
I nch (well, at least Cajun), so would it be correct to
py that I am a Mexican-Czech-French- American? No,
ost certainly would not.
am an American, plain and simple. I was born in
ation which was formed when members of varying
jdal, ethnic, religious and social groups fought and
ed for the protection of their shared dream of liberty,
m not the product of my ancestors' culture, I am the
nof a hard-working American family.
Like many others, I feel pride when I hear the sto-
is of my genealogy, and like many others, I am
oud of the man I have become. It does not make
nse; therefore, for me to base all of my self-worth on
ing a "white man." For I am not a "white man," but
nan of many colors.
I should not be segregated from the African-Ameri-
i simply because the color of my skin is a shade
;hter than his, just as he should not be separated
mi me because he happens to be a shade darker. We
are all human, and we all deserve respect.
Secondly, how do those who believe in multicultur-
alism, as manifested by the Department of Multicul
tural Services at A&M, equate separation of cultures
through this type of grouping with "training leaders
for an increasingly multicultural society?" Is it not
more logical to assume that if the students were
grouped with members of other cultures, rather than
separated from them, they would become more aware
of the complexities in dealing with them? Obviously,
the answer is yes.
How are we to become sensitive to the needs of
the members of the many cultures that make up
this nation if we are constantly refused involvement
with them through exclusive groupings? I can nev
er be sure how to handle a given situation with
someone not of my peer group, so I cannot be held
responsible for how my actions may affect individ
uals outside of it.
Furthermore, if a peer removes himself from such a
peer group and forms a separate faction, that person
denies himself of the opportunity to become further
acquainted with my culture and robs me of the chance
to do the same with his. This is not evolution toward a
more inclusive society, one which is free from preju
dice and hate, but a devolution into a society of hostile
factions which tear at the threads of our society.
We have come too far from the dark days of
"white only" and "colored" signs to slide back
down the slippery slope of "multiculturalism," and
we must not let that happen. It is a slap in the face to
the memory of those who worked so hard to bring
this nation past that abhorrent time to allow all they
worked for to be undone in a misguided movement
of political correctness.
We must win the war against prejudice and injus
tice. That cannot be done if we divide ourselves and
declare war on one another. The old axiom stands as
true today as it did in the past — "United we stand; di
vided we fall." If we refuse to adhere to that axiom by
continually splitting the atom of society, that society is
doomed to explode in a great fission of violence and
hate. We don't want that to happen — just ask the Ger
mans of the '30s and '40s.
Nathan Boucher is a senior political science major.
Lack of character serves as no excuse
John
Lemons
columnist
MAIL CALL
wsuit resolved by
ident leaving Corps
wesponse to Meredith Might's June
{column:
I totally agree with Meredith
Hight's well-written letter concern
ing the lawsuit over displaying the
Confederate flag in the Corps dorm
room. The individual involved has
voluntarily chosen to join the
Corps; and, as such, should be will
ing to play by all the rules, not just
those he chooses to agree with.
He is certainly doing an injus
tice to both the Corps and the Uni
versity by taking ridiculous course
of action he has chosen to take.
I think he should just get out of
the Corps, then he can display the
Confederate flag tattooed on his
forehead if he so chooses.
Charles N. Robertson
Campus Mail: 1111
Fax: (409) 845-2647
E-mail: batt@unix.tamu.edu
E ver since Adam pointed at
Eve, and said, "it wasn't me,
she did it," people have pos
sessed a knack for placing the blame
somewhere,
anywhere be
sides on
themselves.
Since that
fateful day in
the garden of
Eden, little
has changed.
Not a day
passes with
out stories of
people offer
ing excuses
for their ac
tions make the headlines of our news
papers. Sometimes these excuses
even come from the mouths of our
own leaders. After all, this is the coun
try where the first lady suggests our
president's troubles originate from a
vast right-wing conspiracy and not
an inability to control his libido.
These instances of personal re
sponsibility absolution are so nu
merous, we are blind to them.
They occur, and we hardly give
them a thought.
Consider this story which broke
headlines last week. It surrounds
Viagra, the drug that has elicited
frank discussion on a subject no
body wants to think about — old
people and sex.
On May 15, Roberta Bernardo of
New York state filed suit for $2 mil
lion against her companion, Francis
Bernardo. The 61-year-old woman
claims Viagra led him to infidelity.
"He's rejuvenated and can get back
out there," Bernardo told the New
York Post. "At 70,1 guess he figures
he's going to party until he goes."
Furthermore, Bernardo is threatening
to sue Pfizer, the drug's maker, on
charges that the company was negli
gent by distributing the pill.
Viagra does make a great scape
goat. Here is a wonder drug find
ing its way into millions of Ameri
cans' bedrooms by promising them
miracles. If one of those miracles
turns out to be more than the user
bargained for, well, it makes great
lawsuit material.
But Viagra is not the cause of
Francis Bernardo's infidelities. Char
acter, or the lack thereof, is. Pills, no
matter what they do to one's hor
mone levels, do not make people go
out and have affairs. People choose
to cheat on their spouses.
To blame a character issue on a
drug is morally bankrupt. By this line
of reasoning, a pill could give or take
such intestinal qualities as honesty or
courage or honor. No pill, however,
made Patrick Henry say "Give me
liberty or give me death." No pill
compels a soldier to protect his coun
try. And no pill makes a person tell
the truth, when a lie would be easier.
Character comes only when a per
son resolves himself to what is right
and then acts on it. It is the stuff that
allows a person to make those essen
tial kinds of lifetime commitments
that go for better or worse, for richer
or poorer, for potent or impotent.
Character allows people to place
blame where it belongs rather than
making the sad excuses that pass as
acceptable these days. They are ex
cuses that should be familiar to
everyone by now.
Much has been made of the rash
of highly-publicized shootings that
have occurred in public schools dur
ing the past year. While people have
been quick to blame television vio
lence and easy access to guns for the
violence, few have been willing offer
a more realistic cause of seriously dis
turbed children and parents whose
lack of supervision allowed the kids
access to guns.
Passing the blame even finds its
way onto campus here at Texas
A&M. Consider A&M's parking
problems, which most students as
cribe to overly zealous Parking,
Traffic and Transportation Services
rather than students who will park
anywhere in an attempt to get
away with murder.
Of course these days, it is en
vogue for people to say they are for
personal responsibility. No one
says they are against it, except
maybe Democrats who back the
welfare state. But reality shows
what we say and what we do are
two different things.
By the looks of today's head
lines, personal responsibility is a
fleeting characteristic. It is too bad
that Pfizer can't put character in a
pill, this country could sure use it a
lot more than Viagra.
John Lemons is a graduate student
in electrical engineering.
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