lie Battalion
O PINION
Page 11 • Thursday, February 25, 1999
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eletubbies more than telebuddies?
dwell crosses line in denouncing Tinky-Winky as gay omitting other 'homosexual characters'
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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
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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
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