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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1999)
lie Battalion O PINION Page 11 • Thursday, February 25, 1999 xp.:: 5564 fs: 3 eletubbies more than telebuddies? dwell crosses line in denouncing Tinky-Winky as gay omitting other 'homosexual characters' hr; Houst®■ 1 have | 81 Rodetsl)jhing nice ing y Anything lair iCli to LSJ Demond REID BA's i*: I :oachmo’f;|jiist when ^ms peo- if he had Jan not —iiiii icago CMjJny stu- ne else a;'J they do. The Rev. Jerry West saiijfallell, the leader of the Moral to anyoiiplrity, has come out of the dly." Btdenouncing Tinky-Winky is beforectj,}t|e Teletubbies as a homosex- ;ers poiayjymbol. thowasttiJe R ev must be sneaking a tig Iasi J] e 0 f eX f ra chugs of wine to qylomething that insane. and Vantii ishipoveti (, Ark. (Af , who Mfi cetball te. ed Wednf iking tei legame, !, fell am loor dtiiiai 'P- te two H points it ’s 64-49 it For those who do not know, ’eletubbies are a multi-col- I foursome who host their n children’s show. They are iious creatures with televi- iotlsets on their stomachs. Questioning the sexual orien- ionof an imaginary creature owsthat Falwell has a little ouch time on his hands. I the Rev really expect the Irican public to believe that Jy-Winky is a gay? [The Rev questioning which laiTinky-Winky’s door swings due to the fact that Tinky- y has a triangle on his B, is purple, and carries a ipurse. 'hat eliminates him from the s homosexual right there. No |respecting homosexual male "ever were a purple suit with handbag. The first tenant ■egay lifestyle is probably 'Thoushalt not color clash.” | The Rev would not have so quick to say Tinky- Tuesda Winky was gay if inside that red ititle. B|eTinky-Winky carried a s takeni4t. v White CD, a 12-pack of d aftald^ r^^ed condoms and di- cansastfi«ons to Barbie’s house. fist for a moment, ignore all Pbnal thoughts and accept Fal l’s assertion as true. Does it ly matter if Tinky-Winky I to butter his bread on the oachTooWler side? f the pl«Homosexual characters in iveanaiteffdren shows are a fixture in ision history. Nearly every one in the 18 to 25 demographic grew up watching shows with homosexual characters. For example, those little blue sodomizers, the Smurfs, are more homosexual than mono- grammed “His & His” towels. With a hundred guys and one girl it was only a matter of time before they started experiment ing. They were always running around the village laughing and giggling. Unless those smurf- berries were filled with cocaine, the Smurfs could not have been face Jacks ment ga® 1 hunty» determin'd A medici j lursday, ( Icoim sjM Romantic relationships should tart from friendship, not lust [7(St 11 omething [is serious ly wrong society’s jng habits len many jople give R- hearts nd relation- Christina fps Iwav BARROWS « the wave ifahand. Jiday’s method of dating usual- Insists of two people entering a Jmitted relationship before they ly understand each other, only lave as soon as something bet- Icomes along. This can leave se- Js emotional scars that are |y times tossed aside with each J relationship, causing nothing it a sea of more mistakes. It is )e for a change. need convincing? According ie United States Census Bureau ily 1998, the marriage to di lb ratio was two to one, and has iged little since 1980. Based on |e statistics it would seem ?rica is stuck in an unsuccess- Jating pattern that leads to di- 50 percent of the time. Jhe current method of dating is |ntially defective because it not help people practice mar- |age, as many claim, but instead it Hs people down a habitual prac- lof divorce. Couples pretend to lommitted to each other when leality they can leave at any larriage however should be a png commitment that is never pdoned because of differences, “love ’em and leave ’em” tlegy is hurtful in the future be- f|se it creates poor habits of giv- iup. ■ radical new perspective on ing needs to be looked at, one in which commitment occurs only af ter a couple truly knows and un derstands each other. The best way to achieve this is by setting aside romantic feelings and developing a deep friendship first. Writer Joshua Harris explains that one aspect of society’s dating habits is it very often skips this friendship phase. The premise of dating is “We are attracted to each other, so let’s get to know each oth er.” The very premise of friendship is “We have common interests, so let’s share them together. ” He addresses the fact that some times a romantic atmosphere can cause people to behave differently than normal. Many couples begin their rela tionships in an exclusive setting where very often several months are spent presenting a fake per sona. People tiptoe into the water and reveal the not-so-appealing stuff one thing at a time. In a friendship however, people are more likely to act like them selves. When two people are able to discover each other in a more genuine setting, most often the re lationships that form are much stronger. Any commitment after this stage has a better chance of being based on a true realization of each other, and can have a much greater sur vival rate. By its definition, dating is about two people focusing on each other. Unfortunately, this tends to cause everything else in the word to fade into the background. It consumes all thoughts, conversations and es pecially time. Today’s dating methods also iso late a couple from other vital rela tionships such as family and friends. Diving so ardently into a relationship not grounded in com mitment can be dangerous. And when the walls crumble many peo ple find their ties to other relation ships permanently severed. Harris both discuss the impor tance of viewing singleness as a gift. A single person is better able to explore his or her interests. It is a season of life that contains un matched opportunities for growth, learning, and service. Another important aspect of to day’s dating is the development of fake love through physical feelings. Many times when evaluating the merits of their relationship, a cou ple will immediately picture their intimacy and passion instead of common points of interest they share together. Harris points out that many dat ing relationships begin with physi cal attraction; the underlying atti tude is that a person’s primary value comes from the way he or she looks and performs as a date. Because society tends to regards the words “sex” and “love” as in terchangeable, it should come as no surprise that many dating rela tionships mistake physical attrac tion and intimacy as real love. Sex is a concrete method of ex pressing love. It can be dangerous and hurtful before marriage. Yes, there are times physical involvement can make two people feel close, but just because lips have locked does not mean hearts have joined. If society made an effort at deep friendship prior to romantic in volvement, a lot of heartache could be avoided. Developing a relationship on a more stable ground with a lot more flexibility would bring more suc cess in future relationships. Christina Barrows is a sophomore English major. that happy without having some sort of sexual relations. Peppermint Patty and Marcia, of Peanuts fame, were the Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche of the cartoon world. They were lesbian lovers be fore being lesbian lovers was Jesus fish means a lot to Christians In response to Glenn Janik’s Feb. 24 opinion column. First of all no one is attacking anyone.The Christians are just defending their belief and a sym bol that means a lot to them. They were the ones who came up with the fish in the first place. The symbol was invented due to Christians being killed for be ing open about their religion. They came up with this sym bol in order to keep themselves safe for being a Christian, but at the same time able to identify others who were hiding because they were Christian as well. The way this worked was that one Christian drew half the fish and some other Christian recog nized it and drew the other half. By being able to recognize other Christians through this sys tem, they were able to be open about religion without being killed for it. Now you can see how impor tant this symbol is to Christians and why they defend this symbol when people like Darwinists are tainting it. So no one is battling any one just defending what he or she believes in, something that has been going on for a long time. How is that hypocritical and unchristian? Secondly, the Jesus fish peo ple do have truth on their side. Jesus is a factual and historical person. He was seen and documented to have walked on this earth per forming miracles, teaching the word of God, and dying on the cross. These are facts. So if I am not mistaken truth is part of the Christian religion. Lastly, all I have to say is Dar win is dead. Now he knows the ~cWIARK MCPHERSON/The Battalion cool. The way they were always together and the affectionate way Marcia always referred to Patty as “sir” signifies a typical dominant/submissive relation ship. If that is not proof enough, both of them played for the girls MAIL CALL truth ... Jesus lives! Ryan McMullan Class of '00 Materialism not always beneficial In response to Lisa Foox’s Feb. 24 opinion column. Materialism, like most other ideals, has both positive and neg ative aspects. Needless to say there is noth ing wrong with people working hard to improve themselves. Hard working citizens are necessary for a strong nation. But examine the motives behind the desire to work hard and gain new material ob jects. Providing for a family or your family’s future is a noble thing. However, constantly buying the newest car, computer, VCR, video game, etc. leads to selfishness. Greed and gluttony can otherwise be called “applied materialism.” Too many hard working profes sionals, such as lawyers, bankers, accountants, etc. create stagna tion in their field as there is a sur plus of these professionals. As the surplus mounts, the quality of service these professionals can provide is lessened as they lose money and business to the crowd of rival businessmen. Is this a plus for society? The most common belief held by most every businessman is to make as much money as possi ble. If this coincides with good service, so be it. But if the ways to make the most money are blue and white collar layoffs, downsiz ing and globalization, be sure that shrewd businessmen will employ them. Should the desire to possess new, shiny objects drive your everyday life? As a last note, I will leave you with this; there is a heaven for those who only want. There is a place where all materi- field hockey team. The sport of field hockey has probably at tracted more lesbians than a 3- for-1 k.d. lang CD sale. Bert and Ernie were the quin tessential homosexual couple. In all the time they lived together they never once had a female over. Strange, isn’t it? What is even more strange is that they lived in a two-bedroom apartment, yet they slept in the same room. It does not matter how good of friends they were, the only place where adult het erosexual males should share a bedroom is prison. The Reverend and his flock are worried about the wrong thing. It should not matter how Tinky-Winky gets his groove on. It is not important what vehicle people use to reach the state of orgasm, just as long as they travel through that state on a regular basis. It is the people who are not sexually gratified that the Rev should be worried about. Sexu al juices tend to build up and then they have to get vented some kind of way. The Unabomber was not get ting any, and look what he did. Also keep in mind that as long as Monica was smoking the presidential peace pipe, space aliens could have tried to take over this country and Clinton would not have order an attack. But as soon as she stopped, the President dropped bombs on Sudan, shot missiles at Afghanistan and he has plans to invade Ontario next week. Many people wrongly thought he was doing those things to draw at tention away from his sexual scandal, the Wag the Dog sce nario. Tinky-Winky, or any other fictitious character, does not de serve to have his sexual orien tation brought into the public eye. The sexual practices of imagi nary characters should be left to the imagination of the ones who watch those characters. Demond Reid is a sophomore journalism major. alists can find succor and safety. It’s called the mall. Cary Allen Class of ’01 Students need to look beyond group In response to all Irfan Shaikh’s Feb. 22 mail call. On a campus this large, where people with so many different back grounds come together to receive an outstanding education, and learn more about themselves and life in general, it amazes me that so many people get so irritated by a choice that somebody else makes for himself. I think people are all too quick to jump on the anti-Greek bandwagon before they take the time to see the similarities of the groups and orga nizations they choose to join. Why does it bother someone else if a person chooses to belong to a group that wears T-shirts with Greek letters or T-shirts with department names? Should we not wear T- shirts anymore? I thought when I graduated from high school I left the narrow mind ed people who believed if they meet one person in a group, then they had met them all. Courtney Clinton Class of '00 The Battalion encourages letters to the ed itor. Letters must be 300 words or less and in clude the author’s name, class and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed Mc Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: batt@tamvml.tamu.edu