Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1999)
Y tici e Battalion o PINION Page 13 • Thursday, April 29, 1999 Mtogeft tant/she;,. ent hastotifi key toil raspontobei is, it has log; ore team-on e I'tges becais iditions. [Ab j have the i:. i to the Uni;- to its reputats new spon to fit the a: ithletics. It itions ofsu have toiM ns and spin leagoodsp nust be rel to watch,’ iderson, a: stribution i tpeciaicoih m chemist I and enjoy; athletic dq' a nav wm Seven spot nsidereAG are represe: ee are hst fhe day the music died Woodstock ’99 fails to project pirit of original, falls to greed David LEE 1- his career a; a got the ter idawaytoj amazing. Wi here and $ <erZachTTt'; hers like hit or thesntai; thasedown; f into pass a kness in# in the mii mailer guy make the P ersityandle 'ore enibafe ithout a doubt. Wood- stock ’99 is quickly be coming the most antici- :ed|:oncert event of the :ade. An impressive “who’s io”|of contemporary music is lednled to appear during the tival; the Woodstock ’99 band : as of this week includes Aero- dth, Sheryl Crow, Ice Cube, ve Matthews Band, Jewel, m.pletallica, Alanis Morisette, Red Hot Chili Pep- rsaaid Willie Nelson, among many others. Aslearly as this Sunday morning, music fans Hind the world began snapping up the $150 indi- lual tickets for the three-day festival scheduled for 6 Jiflly in upstate New York. With concert organiz- i predicting at least 300,000 in ticket sales, this ftcejft is well on its way to living up to the hype. There is a small problem with all of this fuss. High. Yes, it is going to be an unbelievable concert; laslarguably one of the hottest lineups in rock his- y. Few people would pass up the chance to attend, ekrer, it is obvious that the Woodstock name is lexploited in order to promote this concert, a ncert that does not share the same spirit of the ginnl festival held in 1969. The only aim here is to make money, an aim that secrates the memory of the original Woodstock. Unlike this concert and its 1994 predecessor, the ginal Woodstock was more than just about the isic or profit. It was the catalyst for a cultural ivement. It gave the youth of that era an identity, identity that had a huge impact on the social fab- of American society. Professor Terry Anderson documents this impact his book. The Sixties. With the nation in the midst the Civil Rights Movement and of dealing with the irrors of Vietnam, a counterculture evolved from e younger generation, tired of the establishment ler America had in place. Anderson cites “fighting § Organization” and rejecting mainstream culture the credos of this generation. Naturally, this move- ent caused the youth to be labeled as outcasts, con- led to their own circle of friends. With Woodstock, they found that they were not alone, that they had a voice, a collective power. “We used to think of ourselves as little clumps of wierdos. But now we are a whole new minority group,” said Janis Joplin, one of the performers at the original festival. The concert became the focal point of a mass pil grimage of sorts. Days before the first band even took the stage, wave after wave of young people streamed into the quiet towns of upstate New York. From Mia mi to San Fransico, hippies of all backgrounds and origins poured in. In such a mass of humanity, one would expect chaos, but the hippies took it in stride, playing their guitars, singing songs and making love as the traffic- clogged roads inched along. The sense of community and brotherhood that emerged from this gathering turned this simple rock concert into the pinnacle of the counterculture move ment. That is why even today, Woodstock is regard ed by many with warmth and pride. Needless to say, somewhere along the road the Woodstock spirit has been lost. In today’s compla cent society, it is doubtful Woodstock ’99 will insti gate any social change. It is unlikely that this one concert will give our generation any sort of rallying cry. The festival in 1994 was the first attempt at reviv ing this spirit; not surprisingly, it failed miserably. With merchandising and profit being more important than the atmosphere and quality of performers, Woodstock ’94 was doomed from the beginning as a product. In all honestly, that in itself is nothing to be ashamed of. Woodstock ’94 was for all intents and purposes a great rock concert that many people en joyed. The live album that followed went multiplat inum and the live pay-per-view broadcast broke all previous records. The bottom line, however, is that it did not come close to living up to the memory of the original festival. No one recalls Woodstock ’94 with the same warmth and pride as our elders do for the original festival. No matter how many tickets and al bums they will sell, no festival will ever live up to legacy of the original festival. David Lee is a sophomore general studies major. MICHAEL WAGENER/The Battalion loming soon to a 'theater The home look thf .’re they Soil and hah i UCLA can nt weather, lies poster ;:; j of Colo# j \ansas> [ourname nsouttherf vle rental industry "fi, still one of the ampin * Profitable in- K jistries in the coun- n2 re gulaisV- The main reason TheV that the entire ]|r .. : ovie-going experi- h NfAAth ice * s about as enjoyable as a flaming at the box office do not mean quality time inside Demond REID ,k honied The cinema journey starts out bad. trst of all, you spend 20 to 30 minutes Wside of the multiplex trying to figure „ tit which movie is not going to bore jes defee 1 ytheffih ia match J ;] winner ^ play/tf® ip at ip® ' ia|will not be a complete waste of the next two hours of your life, you have to pay the equivalent of a king’s ransom for the movie ticket. Once inside the movie theater you are greeted by an arctic air-conditioning blast that would make Frosty the Snow man shiver. Theaters are kept colder than the shoulder Hillary is giving to Bill. Since it is almost a federal offense punishable by death to bring food and/or drinks into a movie theater, a person has to make a pit stop at the the ater concession stand. Why do the movie snacks cost more than the movie tickets? After selling your soul to afford the jumbo-sized popcorn, it only takes the chewing of one or two kernels for you to realize that your bag of popcorn contains more salt than the Atlantic Ocean. Now you need something to drink, so you have to get back in the concession stand line behind some guy who is waiting for his bank loan to go through so he can get a box of Gummy Bears. After Gummy Bear man leaves you have to plunk down about $25 for a 32 oz Pepsi which contains about 29 oz of ice. Twenty-five dollars for 3 oz of Pepsi? A person could get a better deal on heroin. After you have your snacks, it be comes time for the fun task of searching for a seat. Just your luck, the only seat left is between some fat guy and a teenage hormonal couple who seem to be engrossed in sexual acts so perverse they would make Madonna blush. Once seated, you realize that you have to keep your feet constantly mov ing because, if you kept them in the same place to long, the nacho cheese/Mountain Dew mixture the floor seems to be covered with will create a permenent bond to the bottom of your shoes. And once the movie starts you cannot decide which is worse, the trash on the floor or the trash on the screen. Movies are getting worse and worse. Love stories are nothing more than sex stories; comedies are a joke; and horror films are just horrible films. Note to Hol lywood: Quit putting singers who can not act in movies! No matter how popu lar a person is, if they cannot act, there is no need for them to be in a movie. For example, Brandy’s cock-eyeded self should not be allowed to watch movies, let alone be in them. To make matters worse, in every the ater in America there is always some jerk who thinks he is Cinematticus, the Greek god of motion picture destiny. Somebody should tell him no matter how loud he screams, the people in the movie cannot hear him. As long as the movie-going experi ence continues to be filled with idiots who talk back to the screen, outrageous ly priced snacks, and blistering cold temperatures, the home movie rental in dustry will continue to grow Demond Reid is a sophomore journalism major. Corps, military offers value-based education MAIL CALL alk around campus oming round 6:15 and •will be wit- [ to another Sd within as A&M. It is a Jason •Id filled with STARCH smell of sweat stTV , Hair from the members of the Corps J!;'; na5 4Cadets who sacrifice their time and Annfi 'nergy to develop leadership, charac- hthyW' erand physical fitness. Most have de- ne\v ^’ ennination in their eyes, as they push ^uijv'uBnselves beyond their preconceived T Ton^ toditions. a few of these cadets, who toy To?' vill take commissions in the armed ihanie Ton p»s this spring and in the years to miter ^ ,d*T rati V* :; je Whit 1 '"" rekW*; ,rilU'.cW jri Y 8 ® 3 f/ivo—e, are learning what their military ^ wai w ‘ i( |visers already know: too many are g for granted the blanket of free- om provided by the military because Ifish perspective and pursuit. ’ is is a major cause for the in sing separation between today’s tary and the rest of America with rd to morals and ethics, n a smaller scale, the same split «xists right here on this campus: the Corps versus non-regs. Is this a dis ing problem? Unfortunately, it is. n his book. Making the [Marine] s, Thomas E. Ricks states, “In a ety that seems to have trouble smitting values, the Marines stand out as a successful and healthy institu tion that unabashedly teaches values 5 *1 to... America. ... But over the past 30 2,t#®rs, as American culture has grown more fragmented, individualistic and consumerist, the Marines have be come more withdrawn; they feel they simply can’t afford to reflect the broad er society. ” The country is witnessing a great shift in experience in Washington, due in large part to the exodus of the last of the “soldier-statesmen,” men and women who have served their country in uniform before holding public of fice. This changing of the guard in these public offices is playing a large role in widening the gap between the military and civilian sectors, caused by a new era of leaders ignorant of personal mil itary experience. No one reasonably expects all to serve in the military, for it is as unnec essary as it is impossible. However, it would do America, from New York to Los Angeles to Bryan-College Station, a lot of good to reflect deeply on our commitment to each other and to solid values, much like the ones the military teaches on almost a daily basis. What Ricks was pointing out is a fundamental difference between the military and society. Simply stated, the American military, unlike many of its civilian counterparts, is still a servant of the Constitution. The military does not serve the rich over the poor, nei ther does it distinguish between race, color or creed. It only requires, in the words of the Marine Corps’ core val ues, “Honor, Courage and Commit ment.” The separatist stance often taken by the military, even evidenced in the Corps of Cadets, is a reflection of a strong underlying desire to hold on to a greater purpose. That purpose is to defend not only the Constitution, but in doing so, protect the values that have built this great nation and its citi zens. What values? If you are asking this question, you may already have fallen victim to the degradation of traditional values in our culture. Values like a sense of community, and being unselfish with our lives, our time and our resources are important, even if it costs us these resources now and then. The exercise of self-restraint to protect the rights of others, rather than only protecting our own rights, is a noble value. Self-discipline to do right, even in the face of adversity, is fundamental. From the American Revolution to the Persian Gulf War, the span of our national character has been, in part, forged by wars. We as a people have developed the basic principles the mil itary still holds dear by the shedding of American blood. And those values that the Founding Fathers upheld are still evidenced today. The military is a great example of this ethos of honor because it teaches honor constantly, so that when a new enlistee or officer enters service, they have a profound respect and devotion to serving that honor. The members of the Corps of Cadets are being taught these same values from their military advisers who learned them in the service. It is absolutely true that the mili tary, like the Corps of Cadets, has its share of problems, but both organiza tions have a lot to change because they must train into their ranks values that should have been taught through out childhood by families, schools and religious institutions. In a time where Americans are pushing “value-free” education and relating controversial is sues to the youth of America without instituting judgment skills, these young people find themselves plagued by a lack of purpose and direction in their lives. They are victims of materialism, re bellion to authority, and the profound knowledge that they have been failed by a system that cares more about pro tecting its own interests that those of its constituents. These children are the same ones recently witnessed in the nation’s school shooting tragedies. The meaning Aggies can gather from this small glimpse into the split of our society from our military and its traditional values is this: we have the responsibility to change our genera tion and those to follow. The Corps of Cadets, like the mili tary, needs to be humble in its rela tionship to the world. Honor cannot be passed through arrogance. Let us be the keepers of the tradi tions, not just Aggie traditions, but American traditions. If we do not, we are likely to continue to speed the de parture away from the values that have made us successful as a nation. Jason Starch is a junior rangeland ecology major. Reader offers list of advice, tips to Mail Call contributors 1. Begin with a personal attack on the writer of the article or letter in question. Unwarranted insults always persuade the writer to mend his or her ways. Catch phrases: “So-and-so and her following,” “Join us in reality,” etc. Note: indirect in sults (“His article reminds me how stupid and thoughtless people can be”) are a sure winner. 2. Miss the entire point of the article and take sarcastic comments seriously. Heck, don’t even bother to read the whole article carefully. Little words and phrases like “not,” “supposedly,” and “according to so-and-so" can’t make much of a difference. 3. Remember, the article writer is completely wrong. Con cede nothing, not even their humanity. 4. Correct grammar and spelling are optional. If no one can understand you, they’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. 5. The rest of The Battalion readers can’t think on their own, so just assume everyone agrees with you. 6. The Battalion staff is superhuman, so every little slip of the tongue (or pen) deserves a full-page sermon. After all, they’re well-paid professionals, and you can certainly write bet ter than they can anyway. 7. If you’re not a religious person, be sure to rant and rave intolerance over every religious event the Battalion writes about, especially Christian events. All Christians are hyp ocrites who are out to get you anyway. 8. If you are a Christian, exploit your falsely-assumed ma jority hold on Texas A&M. The Battalion shouldn’t cater to op posing viewpoints, which are immoral and inferior to yours. 9. A sneaky way to increase your believeability is to gripe about something the editorial writer does, and then do the same thing in your letter. Examples: “The writers should using better gramar and spelling, its really annoying.” “I hate all peo ple who are intolerant; they don’t belong at this school.” 10. No supporting evidence. Everyone besides your victim thinks like you anyway, so it’s a waste of time. 11. Finally, generalize. Your opinion is the only correct one, and it’s valid in every possible situation. Jason Placette Class of ’02