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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 1998)
i iiiri cai delude ( t was ad- clue i nne jonj niustli mday • July 6,1998 The Battalion PINION at or fiction? mass index formula ignores major components, falsely defines millions of Americans as obese '' e defe:M ut down that burrito, pick ontllSi piup a rice cake and dust off ■that Richard Simmons ora hi [eo. The : ‘ lm ^irern- S' 11 infs new illition J ly she over- lit just t ‘ le >> iated 29 S t0 att w n ■atties. aval ,i*er all slai )se hours Rec nter and trial date trial ;»ht s with r deter;Ab Flex. It just does not seem d violeMtter anymore. With our fast is easel* society and the ever-chang- rse arepads, bulimia is now out and itihgisin. No matter how hard we try r “government does not feel it lovedieneugh. According to the new finition of overweight, our kth. Hdent is steadily catching up I r th (’resident Taft who was our latelvHiest president. Clinton is it in the Orient for a social call organ® is representing our chunky lownalMtry for the title of Champi- iceniuHimo Wrestler of the world. Irianfllie new body mass index J) has defined a majority of [professional athletes as e and Fiona Apple has now d Weight Watchers. The new IV Mass Index is calculated by Itiplying one’s body weight by nd then dividing that num- Jr by your height in inches imred. If the number calculat- Richard Paddack columnist ed is greater than 25, then you are overweight if the number is greater than 30, you are consid ered obese. The same formula is used for men and women. Under the old BMI, a woman who stands 5 feet 4 inches and weighs 155 pounds was overweight. The same woman at 145 pounds is now considered overweight. Using the same formula, a man who is 5 foot 10 inches and weighs between 174-181 pounds is now considered overweight. The weight-loss industry, al ready a $35 billion a year indus try, will soon be laughing even louder all the way to the bank. Fifty-five percent (97 million Americans) are now considered overweight since the new BMI was released. The old measure ments showed roughly 60 mil lion Americans were overweight. This will cause more problems with a society that is already ob sessed with its weight. Are we running out of food? Is our mountain of government cheese melting due to the arrival of La Nina? What do we do? Well, a major ity of Americans will continue to gorge themselves with the popu lar new laxative manufactured by Frito-Lay, while some of us will realize these new calcula tions are bunk. Americans are known for their eclectic tastes in food, and we like lots of it. I am proud to say I live in the country where all-you-can-eat buffets were invented, where Mc Donalds is a household name and where breakfast, lunch and dinner are noted on every hard-working American’s daily planner. Americans do not just eat for the purpose of sustenance or sur vival. For centuries, eating has brought millions of families to gether for Sundays after church, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the list goes on. If we are hungry, we will make up a holiday or excuse to get together with friends and fami lies and eat. Americans work hard and play hard. That is what makes this country so great. So why should we take health tips from a bunch of government em ployed scientists who probably lost their jobs once Billy Boy cal culated his measurements? We shouldn’t, but a majority of Americans will. Plastic surgeons everywhere are warming up their vacuums, Richard Simmons is putting the finishing touches on his “Sweatin’ To the Oldies” sequel, and super models are checking in to Jenny Craig. Put down that frothy glass of wheat grass and cancel your lipo sessions — you are not overweight, America, unless you think so. Do not take health tips from a country that is being run by a man who has collected all of the Mulan action figures from McDonalds. Richard Paddack is a junior journalism major. &V®NN\ENr mOST USE PLAIN LANGUAGE, ■'A2L3 Gc\ERNN\ENT REFD(7r SMS TMERIQNS- ECPY [WSS INDEX ISTDO high:.. ...THW; TO Gore, THE REPORT biow SAYS, ♦AKAc:n>i/-*.kw- AREA FAT pigs::. Led J Wtebcfewcli lepublicans lean too far right Meredith Hicht columnist he Republican Party has enjoyed considerable suc- I cess in its campaign to win over mainstream i Americans from the Democratic Party. Because the locrats had begun to push envelope on what moderate rs found acceptable, leaning ier and farther to the left, was not a difficult task, he Republicans might soon themselves experiencing >ame kind of alienation 1 mainstream voters, J gh, considering the recent l ments made by several foment Republican leaders hmg homosexuals. The Re- Jtcan agenda has shifted to a f r r ^ht, embracing an ar- i staunchly conservative positions on controversial issues, such as homosexuality. 11 T® early 1990s, when conservatives feared the " l tty was teetering on the precipice of complete im- the Republicans began to emphasize “family •eir promotion of family values was refreshing to Rcans who were turned off by certain policies cd by the Democrats, such as gays being open their sexual orientation in the military. e Republicans’ denouncement of liberal policies , e at j Ust the right time politically, conservatives swept the 1994 congressional elec- s - For the first time in years, the Senate majority j 6r the House speaker and majority leader were . ar e) Republicans. They continued to domi- ]' n sta te politics as well, leaving many pundits to L e jh e Democratic party practically defunct. Id h emocrats ma y be revived, though, by what e a disastrous chain of events involving Republi- » on homosexuality l began when Senate majority leader Trent Lott questioned on “The Armstrong Williams Show” [th m ^mfs on homosexuality. When he answered L friid think it was sinful, a slight media frenzy en- r • owever, he added, “You should still love that person. You should not try to treat them as outcasts. You should try to show then a way to deal with that problem, just like alcohol... or sex addiction... or kleptomaniacs.” This infuriated many people more than the fact that he considered homosexuality sinful. While the “loving that person” part goes over well, the idea that homosexuality is lumped into the same category as kleptomania seems only to be indicative of Lott's ignorance on the issue. Representative Dick Armey, the House majority leader, made matters worse by citing the Bible the next day as proof that homosexuality is a sin and that Chris tians are called “to hate the sin not the sinner.” Politicians should not open up the Bible to legislate. There is such a thing as separation of church and state, and this country was founded on that very notion. The dilemma facing the Republicans is that many of the tenets of the far right’s philosophy stem from bibli cal injunctions. And many Americans are not willing to accept those kind of politics, just as they were not will ing to accept the far left wing of the Democratic party. Furthermore, the backlash to political correctness has not gone so far as to forgive what comes across as a blatant misunderstanding of homosexuality. Even though Lott’s comments were not necessarily spoken as part of a specific effort by the Republican Party to bring light to the concept of homosexuality be ing inherently sinful, it does illustrate how the Republi cans tend to treat certain divisive social issues. The Republicans come by their values honestly, at least. What Lott and Armey see as a compassionate view about homosexuality, backed by Christian princi ples, this view is easily twisted into words of hate by their political opponents. What they need to be careful of, however, is how their view will be interpreted by an American public that favors moderate politics, no matter which party they claim. If the Republicans begin to stray toward an uncomfortably far right position, they will lose steam just as the Democrats did with their far left politics. Mean-spirited administration clerks frustrate, anger students Alison Lackey columnist Meredith Plight is a junior journalism major. A n afternoon in The Pavil ion, Heaton Hall or Koldus Student Services Building in volves jump ing through the hoops of paperwork and juggling an assort ment of atti tude from administra tion clerks. This te dious process and mean-spirited behavior can prove to be a frustrating event. The afternoon is not all ponies, poodles and ice cream when students step into that office. A student enters the gates of hell, the threshold of the dark side . . . Not so long ago in a galaxy ever so near here lives a young Jedi knight named Luke Cam- puswalker. Luke protects the A&M galaxy from the dark side of ad ministration clerks and paper work. Luke fights the confu sion, the anxiety and the increased blood pressure that daily mangles students. Clerkvader, the emperor of the dark side infests the galaxy along with legions of adminis tration workers known as The Adminitroopers. Clerkvader’s army assists students in paperwork associ ated with registration, degree audits, change of address, grad uation and the horrific paying for ridiculous parking tickets. These types of student pa perwork and others generate employment at the University. Administration clerks have jobs at the University because of the students. They pay for these precious services and should receive amiable service. This may be an unattainable goal dressed in idealism. Re gardless, many times students receive services with an unkind demeanor. Wickedness and in consideration have gripped many administration workers. Often times, workers resort to ill treatment of students for reasons that many times are be yond the student’s control. Of course, not all clerks re sort to this. There are many helpful, courteous and hard working administrative clerks at A&M. Unfortunately, it is the handfuls of harsh and incon siderate clerks that overshadow the kind and helpful clerks. The entire community of ad ministration clerks is given a bad name. This is an unfortu nate tale of guilt by association. This should encourage staff meetings and discussions be tween clerks to examine the root of the problem. One problem is many times clerks give students the impres sion their helpfulness depends upon their moods. O, the power of clerks to de stroy students lives with one click of the computer keyboard. Students realize this is an ex treme misuse of power that su pervisors should control. However, the clerks do not have to answer to anyone. Ad ministrative assistants provide services that are a necessity to students making “service with a smile” a joke. They have given students the idea that if they look at clerks the wrong way, slightly shuffle their papers in frustra tion or maybe say the wrong thing, they can ruin students, waste their time and make things extremely difficult for them. Understandably, the rage, disappointment, hassle and other side affects from admin istration workers and paper work could very well be the fault of students, not adminis trative clerks. If students enter unprepared for taking care of their business, it is their mis take. But, to enhance the freakish frustration, students find visual commentary posted in these of fices. In one office, there is a friendly reminder that reads: “Poor planning on your part does not constitute a crisis on our part.” What is that, a reminder of just how obnoxiously witty ad ministration clerks can be? Stu dents do not need this snippy reminder. Here is a suggestion to clerks, this condescending tone only infuriates the stu dents more and enhances the stereotype of the nasty clerk. This unfortunate stereotype describes some of the cruelest, most incompetent clerks on campus, the female student clerks. Now this presents a paradox. They also are students pay ing for an education, working hard for their futures but con tributing to a stereotype of bu reaucracy? A student would assume this might change the attitude clerks give students. A student can only take so much from a young clerk who spins in her chair, rolls her eyes and con demns students because they actually expect her to work. These offices desperately need to make comment cards available. This would enable and encourage interaction be tween supervisors, clerks and students. This is not a session with Wendy Whiner — it is simply an attempt to create awareness of an existing problem. Communication is the word. Alison Lackey is a senior \ English major. >
