til
5 Battalion
O PINION
Page 5 • Monday, June 28, 1999
^Tunnel vision
Qiampus network of underground tunnels would eliminate pedestrian, safety problems
ity f ro ,, pittas A&M Uni-
'<j th e illversity has be-
^■come, in recent
list bar lrs ’ a somewhat
tied t friendly place for
iihel lestrians.
reman Aside from mania-
Johnn bicyclists silently
came iking, there are stu-
ican 1 nt drivers who will
rs ma parently go to any
rm to get in their kill for the day, de
le rou ery drivers who manage to block both
iwet," ce ijanes and sidewalks, maintenance
• id Ro: ‘ws in their souped-up golf carts. Old
l int g„ s With their maroon Cadillacs and fail-
Robit ; eyesight and finally, the yearly rains
le last it flood campus and leave students wet
O'Brii d cold in their classrooms.
In addition, A&M has begun gaining a
troph mtation as an unsafe place late at
wa jht, especially for women. Despite the
une orts of the University Police Depart-
?nt (UPD) and especially of the Corps
ivake: cort Service, A&M is just not safe at
. "I; : ght for pedestrians. There is too much
ie i : aunil for UPD to cover, and there are
ii over a many bushes and corners around
Ant lich the bad guys can hide. And while
joy i: e Corps’ service is without fault, many
noth idents simply do not make use of it,
chant: d suffer the consequences of this over-
cknr ;ht.
; an However, there is a solution to these
oblems that has the added benefit of
-rid, entually paying for itself — the build-
Gai g of a series of underground pedestrian
e Iv nnels around the campus,
nos The idea was already floated in re-
ig t iect to linking Main Campus and West
it pr ampus and is in the process of final
ugh anning. Buoyed by this success, the
old niversity should continue linking cam-
usar js buildings with tunnels. These tun-
:s on: els would benefit students in terms of
d’ur- anvenience, comfort and safety.
mo Aside from the fact that students will
am.
no longer be forced to dodge unpre
dictable train schedules to get to and from
West Campus, tunnels would be much
more convenient for students. A dedicated
tunnel system would provide clean, clear
directions for students searching out spe
cific buildings, as well as a fairly idiot-
proof method to get them there.
In addition to convenience, tunnels
would allow students to walk to their
classes even if a monsoon is raining
down on the ground above — in com
fort. These tunnels would be climate-
controlled, meaning students would stay
warm or cold all day, instead of walking
in and out of the heat and cold.
This maintenance of temperature is
how the tunnels would pay for them
selves. Every year, A&M Ipses an untold
number of dollars heating, and especially
cooling, air that is blown out into the
world as doors are opened to the outside.
Standing in the breezeway of the MSC
during Open House is a guaranteed way
to stay cool, since frigid air is gusting out
at you on an almost continual basis.
By keeping the majority of the stu
dents from opening doors to outside
every 50 minutes, A&M could save all
that heating and cooling money.
But, most importantly, the tunnels
would be safer.Aside from the fact that
access to pedestrian tunnels could be
very easily regulated via ID cards, tun
nels have the benefit of being covered by
video surveillance.
Not a purse could be snatched or a
student be harassed without the incident
being seen, recorded and if necessary,
prosecuted. Guaranteed accountability
like that has been proven to deter crime.
This drop in crime, especially violent
crime against women, should be the only
justification necessary.
The idea, admittedly, sounds a bit
loony. Who really wants to build a bunch
of tunnels — drafty, damp things that
don’t even let the sun in? Drafty? Well,
that’s just the air conditioning. Damp,
perhaps a bit, but that’s why there is air
conditioning. And while these tunnels
may be underground, skylights, indirect
lighting or even murals can easily cure
that defect.
Other cities and universities have
adopted this plan to ease above-ground
traffic and congestion. The cities of
Shanghai and London, the University of
Waterloo and the University of Illinois-
Chicago, are only a few examples. In
each of these cases, tunnels have been
created to keep pedestrians out of the
weather and out of traffic.
Thnnels sound crazy, but they may be
the sanest way to make A&M safe for
pedestrians. Such safety cannot be
achieved above the ground.
Chris Huffines is a senior
speech communication major.
Chris
HUFFINES
leroic villains glorify crime
Aaron*
MEIER
ty’s ne
i a retG
Friday n 1991, the country
sinus iwas introduced to a
j to mice little man named
t er day'i Hannibal Lecter and
L ] riglit hankering for “fava
i tl ’ppy Kins and a nice chi-
i. ” The Silence of the
0 f stinbs scared the collec-
, ms ijiit? bejesus out of the
whole i lr Py with Lecter’s
vvas juinibalistic quirks and
’chopathic idiocyncracies.
However, an unexpected thing happened,
tead of Lecter being seen by the public as
. tan who is evil, audiences began to glorify
nf/li. He became a cult figure. During the
5 IE’s closing scenes, people cheered for the
- as he sauntered away to have “dinner
;gres;h an old friend.”
King But Anthony Hopkins, who won an Oscar
ies Ik his portrayal of Lecter, was quoted in En-
team ainment Weekly as not wanting to reprise
e in L role due to the fact audiences misunder-
iweep od Lecter’s evil nature. He did not want to
” mote the glorification of a monster,
ne tt If Hopkins is true to his word, then do not
r-ganifp your breath for Robert Harris’ sequel
ie fir^elj Hannibal to reach multiplexes across
the country.
■,j s laJn Hannibal, Lecter is the hero of the
hefliki He’s not a helpful man of evil trapped
at ysly behind bars as in Silence. He quite sim-
is the character that saves the day, the
ma j 0 i| the reader is rooting for. It is a sad day
1 !(! erj the hero of a book walks off into the
’■'r iset and there is a genuine concern he will
the people he just saved.
But this isn’t some rare example in our
!l ture. Violent criminals have been glorified
^ qughout this country’s history,
cd- Think of the name Jesse James and peo-
r° ad conjure up images of Robin Hood, when
kto 1 act, he killed people and robbed banks In
fact Robin Hood, A1 Capone and Bonnie and
Clyde were all criminals who have been ele
vated to an almost mythical stature.
When people think of the Untouchables,
which character leaps to mind first? The
smooth-as-silk Capone, not the stuffy Elliott
Ness. Even though the show was about Ness’
attempts to nab the legendary gangster,
Capone captured the audience’s imagination.
Pop culture makes bad guys look cooler.
They get away with stuff normal people only
dream about. They ride around in fancy cars,
have goons at their beck and call, but most
importantly, they literally get away with mur
der.
But whereas once upon a time, the focus
of movies and television shows was getting
the bad guy, now bad guys have become the
focus of the story. What would a good action
movie be without a cool bad guy?
Ever since Jack Nicholson took make-up
tips from Bozo for Batman, bad guys have
been cool. Who cares who’s currently wear
ing the Batman cowl? Everyone wants to
know who will be the next villain.
Try and think of the last cool good guy
that appeared in a movie. Even in this
spring’s Payback, the trailers encouraged au
diences to “cheer for the bad guy. ”
And the MTV movie awards have a cate
gory for Best Villain, but who cares about
Best Good Guy?
Is it any wonder that kids are trying to be
the bad guys in real life? From Columbine to
the elementary school bully who steals the
kick ball, kids may be getting the message
that being bad is a lot more fun. Rue the day
when kids playing cops and robbers would
rather be the latter. Next thing you know,
they will pretend to be cannibals.
Aaron Meier is a senior political
science major.
Slaves to good intentions
Practice of slave redemption in Sudan should stop
I n the United
States, it was a
civil war which
broke the iron grip
of slavery once and
for all.
But across the At
lantic in Sudan, civil
war has instead
been responsible for
a modern-day out
break of slavery.
Although its extent is difficult to cal
culate, slavery has become widespread
in this desperately impoverished coun
try. Slave raiders from the north of the
sprawling east African country, encour
aged by the Islamic government, have
taken thousands of villagers into cap
tivity from the underdeveloped south
ern part of Sudan.
Sectional strife has ripped the coun
try apart, but on this continent where
the pernicious Middle Passage once be
gan, the peculiar institution belongs to
the north.
Aroused by moral outrage. Western
ers have mounted impressive cam
paigns to combat Sudanese slavery.
Unfortunately, these noble efforts have
given birth to a new and ignoble prac
tice.
Organizations like Christian Solidari
ty International have spearheaded a
movement for “slave redemption.”
Slave redeemers have set up exten
sive operations to buy slaves from
raiders in order to free them.
Numerous charities have jumped on
the redemption bandwagon, and even
some classes of Houston schoolchild
ren have organized efforts to raise
money to buy slaves.
These methods are surely born of
good intentions. But good intentions,
after all, are sometimes pavement for
the road to you-know-where.
In the latest issue of Atlantic Month
ly, an eyewitness investigation by
Richard Miniter explores two practical
reasons for opposing slave redemption.
When combined with one knock-down
philosophical reason for abandoning
the movement, these insightful cri
tiques should deter well-intentioned
Westerners from trying their hands at
slave redemption.
First, Miniter persuasively proves
that slave redemption actually encour
ages the spread of slavery.
Once slave raiders realize they can
turn a substantial profit by selling to
naive Westerners, they only try to ac
quire more slaves to shuttle off to
wealthy redeemers.
Already, per capita income in the
Sudan is woefully low. According to es
timates by the Sudanese embassy, the
average is around $500 a year. Because
of their utter destitution, slave raiders
are desperate to ply their trade. Slave
redeemers are happy to oblige.
“Selling slaves back to their families
for $50 to $100 each — with the finan
cial assistance of Westerners — is far
more profitable than selling them for
about $15 in northern slave markets,”
Miniter said.
This problem is built into the entire
theory of slave redemption. In order to
give raiders a financial incentive to re
turn from the north to sell slaves into
freedom, redeemers must offer a premi
um price for those in bondage.
“WeVe ma de slavery
more profitable than
narcotics”
— James Jacobson
Former slave redeemer
But because the prices must be per
suasive, they will unfortunately per
suade raiders to capture more hapless
victims. Slave redemption actually
makes slavery more profitable.
That realization caused James Ja
cobson, one of the earliest and most
vocal supporters of slave redemption,
to recant his beliefs on the subject.
“We’ve made slavery more prof
itable than narcotics,” Jacobson said.
The second problem with slave re
demption is the opportunity for abuse.
Northern raiders are not the only par
ties in Sudan who have seen the poten
tial profit in dealing with Western inter
ventionists. Some leaders in southern
villages have pulled the wool over the
eyes of slave redeemers in order to turn
profits of their own.
Shady incidents have prompted sus
picions about whether slave redemp
tion actually works as an incentive for
hoaxes. Miniter describes one such
scam. Although the majority of rebel
officials in the south are honest, some
of them have paid their villagers to
masquerade as slaves and slave raiders.
The officials can then capitalize on the
eagerness of humanitarians by selling
the “slaves” to unsuspecting re
deemers. Because of charades like
these, slave redeemers enlarges the po
tential for the exploitation of their good
intentions.
But aside from these two practical
pitfalls of slave redemption, one point
should be enough to discourage West
erners from continuing the practice.
Slavery is wrong because it is moral
ly reprehensible to buy and sell human
beings at a price. Yet this is precisely
what slave redeemers are doing.
Although they intend to ultimately
free their purchases, redeemers are tac
itly condoning a commerce in human
chattel by doing business with the
slave raiders.
The only morally consistent stance
to take with regard to slavery is an un
equivocal rejection of all it stands for.
Instead, slave redeemers hope to walk
on hot coals without burning their feet.
This paradoxical position is not un
known to the United States.
In the earliest days of the antislavery
movement in America, reformers were
unevenly split into two camps. On the
one hand, abolitionists called for the
universal and immediate emancipation
of slaves.
But an opposing majority wanted
slaveholders to have the personal
choice to free their slaves, so that
emancipation would be achieved by a
gradual process rather than by an im
mediate abolition. Many proponents of
this view authored dramatic manumis
sions to free their own slaves, but they
did not unconditionally insist that oth
ers must follow their lead.
Modern-day slave redeemers are
much like these half-hearted advocates
of personal manumission. But a call for
absolute abolition is more morally con
sistent. Rather than freeing the Sudan
“one slave at a time,” true humanitari
ans should lobby international govern
ments, including the one in Sudan, to
completely wipe away the institution.
Without question, American hu
manitarians should be actively in
volved in the emancipation of Su
danese slaves.
But they should not be actively in
volved in the market for Sudanese
slaves. Charitable advocates for Sudan
must find another way to break the
stranglehold of northern raiders on ter
rorized southern villages. For redemp
tion ultimately forges more manacles
instead of freeing more slaves.
Caleb McDaniel is a junior
history major.
Caleb
MCDANIEL