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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1998)
irsday • June 25,1998 The Battalion PINION Clourse, 3 Cloursc; JWg ^Kingdom for a (Qourse iM students, faculty should respect the liberal arts department Chris Huffines columnist ' ow is the ivinter of our discontent." — Shake speare, "Richard III." [tisafair- :j afe bet to at Texas ■■Univer- ' ^ school nded on disci- les of agri- Ifure, me- ink s and : military, I liberal He a lit- neglected. far, no- iypias complained. IMwever, A&M now has de- IR it wants to be a top-10 uni- IRy. To do this, the University Iphas decided it is necessary to l;f pp the College of Liberal Arts ardor to achieve this status, rthe first time in the over-100 ar history of A&M, a true fine spirogram is being founded. Mnanipulative approach to ucation is not something the liv^rsity should be stooping to. I"/ dote on his very absence." — IheMerchant of Venice." For many years now, the Uni- rsity really has not needed a liege for liberal arts. In fact, the liversity really needs to not ivea college for liberal arts. Af- rall, a college of liberal arts arks critical thinking. Heaven forbid there be some idal criticism of this fine, up ending, completely balanced ^itution of higher learning. In tradition-steeped atmos- ye red-ass Ags are addicted |liat kind of deviation into ealm of free thinking would be downright dangerous. To the mentally-inbred, homo- phobic, conservative collective brain of Aggieland, free thinking, and therefore a strong college of liberal arts, is not something to be desired. "Use her well." — "Othello." However, the University has decided to brave the criticism and strengthen the College of Liberal Arts. I his is being done simply because all the top-10 universities have good liberal arts depart ments, so Aggieland has to have one, too. Keeping up with the Joneses is being played out with thousands of students and mil lions of dollars. That's mature. Of course, the faculty and staff in liberal arts have jumped at the chance. Who wouldn't? Who would turn down the chance to really make a difference in many lives? Who would turn down newer, better facilities and more higher-caliber students? Who would turn away millions of dol lars? Only the heir to the throne of the kingdom of idiots. There is no shame in opportunism. "We few, we happy few. We band of brothers." — "Henry V." The most ironic touch to this little tragedy is that everyone is using everyone else, all the while smiling and exchanging hearty handshakes. The College of Liber al Arts is using the University's short-sighted religious passion to ward becoming a top-10 universi ty to increase them and theirs. The University is using the College of Liberal Arts' desire to finally expand to give the appear ance of wanting to provide a good education. As usual, the students are getting the sharp end of the sword. The decision to expand the Col lege of Liberal Arts or not should be based on whether or not the University needs its expansion to improve the University, not to sat isfy the institutional inferiority complex of the University. To enter into a program designed to nurture the minds of students and certify them to continue on into life with less than pure motives is to risk passing on that Machiavellian mindset to the students. Second-tiering students' edu cations in favor of looking better for a national poll is denying the very existence of this university, an institution of higher learning. The University exists to educate students; everything else should be secondary. Over the years, this has been forgotten in the politics and grabs for power. The ability to backstab and use everyone around you may be quite valuable at a departmental meet ing, but in life, knowledge of a field and how to successfully interact with, not over the dead bodies of, people is essential. Playing with lives is not a good idea. As Hamlet said, "The play's the thing, wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king." The king, in this case, the administration, is engaged in a very dangerous act. Whether it falls apart around their ears or not will be based solely on whether the administra tion is guilty of only using the colleges for the University's im age war, or if they honestly care for the students' educational well-being. Chris Huffines is a junior speech communications Major Graphic By Quatro Oakley/The Battalion Controversy concerning free peaking decreases unity Violence solves no problem, racism often is mistaken Len Callaway columnist ver the past few of weeks the nation has been exposed to repetitive commentary regarding pro football's most effective defensive end, ,gie White. ootball, however, has not n the topic of remarks from ryone ranging from Jesse <son to Republican Congres- lal leaders. The topic has n the appropriateness of 'ite's remarks before the Wis- isinState Legislature. Apparently, White gave a ech where he poked a little at every racial group, in- ding his own, and then tied speech together with a posi- e message. He had a little nething to say about homosexuality as well. The message since the speech, however, has been ihing but negativity and a stifling posture from who disagreed . It seems as if the phenomenon of political corrertness spun America into a state where it is unacceptable to ,e an issue or to make commentary on an issue for r °f upsetting some person or group of persons. As a ture we have spent so much time telling ourselves t we were a mean, intolerant people in years past t in effect, we have become mean and intolerant of 'se who dare to voice their opinions today. This trend has got to stop. . P°litical correctness is edging us toward a homo- (i|j noous society where everyone is encouraged to ® Ve exact same beliefs, publicly at least. Ahh, I'ty Wiite is an ordained minister, family man and quite 'hably the best defensive end to have ever played the 116 of football. Based on these credentials he should ^American hero, but he's not — in the past few T, m tle * 1as boon turned into an American villain. Why? Ifecause he dared to admit his true feelings on e °I the issues that are prevalent today: Race, sex- orientation, family values, etc. e admitted that he saw some differences between ' r f i ces of the world, not differences that make one fbetter or worse than another, just differences. . e obmitted that he prefers women to men and 1 e frankly, he doesn't agree with or understand fath- ^other man as a sexual or romantic partner. gh, so what? Most of us don't either. “Pinions are like ... well, you know the saying. le 0m °sexuals can't fathom having a member of opposite sex as a sexual or romantic partner, and P e °f one race usually can't fathom being anyone than who they are. gain -— so w bat? oes that mean that we are all incapable of seeing 0 her person's point of view or that because there are little differences between all of us that there can never be any common ground? A few years ago it was a regular occurrence to have seen comedians make fun of people's differ ences and things they don't understand, but no one ever complained. Weren't these comedians just pro fessing their personal opinions in a humorous way? Sounds sort of like what White was trying to do. White just went one step too far. He brought God into the debate. Of all of the arguments and all of the disagree ments that are out there in Irrationality Land for peo ple to disagree upon most can be handled peacefully, until somebody starts telling us what God thinks about this and what God thinks about that. Each religion has its own idea of what its deity is like and what that deity will stand for and what it won't, but for some reason when folks start talking about being intolerant of something their argument is usually finished off by religious reasoning. Pat Robertson and White seem to think we're in for some trouble because we keep "shaking our fists in the face of God" by tolerating homosexuality as a society. I guess they want us to round up all of the homo sexuals, drag them out in the street and throw them a solid beating. Trent Lott and Dick Army say that homosexuality is like a medical condition or a disability that can be treated. Well good for them. Congratulations, guys. They have mastered the task of asserting their opinion regardless of what people might think about that opinion. We don't have to agree with their opinion but at least they have the intestinal fortitude to get out and voice it. Be an adult; say what's on your mind. We have a television shows like "Politically Incor rect" and "Dennis Miller Live" because it has become such a nuance for someone to express an opinion other than the safe and expected status quo guaran teed not to upset anyone. America needs to grow up a little bit and get used to taking a punch again. Political correctness has allowed a trend to devel op that makes it wrong by public opinion for one to assert any sort of personal opinion that makes a val ue judgment about anyone or anything. We all make value judgments about other people everyday in the form of who our friends are and what religion we subscribe to; it's just become wrong to advocate your decision making criteria publicly. If we don't toughen up a little bit and stop crying every time someone shares an opinion there will proba bly never be open and honest debate on the issues of the day without someone getting persecuted in the process. Although some of us agree with Reggie White and some of us don't, he's got the right idea. Len Callaway is a senior journalism major. T hree weeks ago my skull was fractured in four places when I was assault ed, presumably for being a racist, at a concert in Albu querque, N.M. I'm not a racist, but l am a stand-up comic. At the concert, I was telling three of my friends a joke I was working on, and in the discussion that followed, I made a stereo Jeremy Valdez columnist typical re mark about Asian men. It just popped out. I did not mean it. Twenty minutes later I was ac costed by an Asian guy and two of his friends. I apologized sin cerely for offending them and offered everybody a beer for their grief. Instead of accepting my apol ogy, the guy told me he was go ing to bash my skull in, and then proceeded to do it. Since then I've struggled to put what happened to me into a larger context, to see if there were any latent racist tendencies inside of me. But racists, generally speak ing, do not apologize for their racist statements, nor do they of fer to buy their victims a beer. In truth, the assault was prob ably an act of random violence. The guy might have risen that morning wanting to hit some body, and I just happened to give him half an excuse. But my experience, and far more serious incidents like the brutal murder of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, illustrate the failures of political correctness in America. In our rush to condemn a vo cabulary of offensive words and phrases, we have largely ig nored their social context and the sentiments of the people that use them. That's because it's much easi er to attack the way people speak than it is to examine and correct the way they think. If the true goal is racial justice, this speech-correction is also far less effective. Mindless enforcement of a speech code won't make anyone any less prejudiced. Worse, it creates a society where it is as much a crime to offend someone as it is to batter them. For instance. New Mexico, re alizing the shortcomings in its law-enforcement and judicial systems, has established a tax payer-funded commission to pay the medical and funeral expens es of victims of violent crimes. The "victim advocate" I spoke to was sympathetic, but said the commission might find me financially responsible for the attack because of my remark. This "you-asked-for-it" men tality is particularly frustrating since as I was being loaded into the ambulance, I was told the as sailant had been caught but would be cited with a misde meanor and released. Since I was wearing dark glasses when I was attacked, I've wondered if my attacker ever paused to think that I might also be Asian. Truly the question is irrele vant, because being a member of a certain group doesn't grant one greater license to tell jokes or make stereotypical remarks. A dumb Jewish joke told by a gentile does not become witty social commentary when deliv ered by a Jew. PC dogma dictates that jokes and stereotypes dehumanize people and must be eliminated as roadblocks to social equality. Meanwhile, PC disciples fall all over themselves to label everyone according to his or her background, never seeing that this obsession with taxonomy must create more disparity than most stupid jokes. Perhaps the most oft-cited ex ample of this goofiness comes from the attempts made to name the black community. The newest non-offensive term, "African-American," is definite ly the clumsiest. My personal favorite has and will always be "colored person." I realized this while listening to Maya Angelou speak. The terms "colored person" and "person of color" spring forth from her beautiful full lips with a dignity that makes me wish I was 10 shades darker. Her understand ing and appreciation of her cul ture could make any dead word, even "nigger," sound less a label than a noble title. Yet most every dictionary identifies "colored" as offensive. While we kill each other in the streets, we tiptoe, giggle and talk about how we don't use the "n-word" and pat ourselves on the back for making a difference. It shouldn't matter what we call anybody. It should only matter how individuals are treated. And where all but the worst jokes and stereotypes are concerned, we'd do well to re member the phrase, "We're laughing with you." Not all whites are racist. Not all blacks are criminals. Not all Hispanics are lazy. Not all fat people are jolly. Not all Asians are hard-working and studious. But here's a stereotype on it's way up: Americans are vicious thugs. And 10 years of political cor rectness has done nothing to fix that. Three weeks ago while I was complaining about a few fractures and black and blood ied eye I got for making a stupid comment, a colored man who did nothing other than try to walk home was dismembered by demons with a pickup truck and a few miles of Texas road. What did they call him? Nig ger? Colored? African-Ameri can? Who cares? Which one of those terms is harder than the chains that bound him to a fend er? Which one of them is softer than sun-melted asphalt? This culture of violence won't be fixed by all of us learning a new language or telling new jokes. Our first step towards cor recting the problem should be more ambitious. Jeremy Valdez is a chemical engineering graduate student.