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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 2000)
Monday. Februan ‘ OPINION I donday, February 7, 2000 THE BATTALION Page 11 lanChoose or lose sensationalism >n ovenvhemlinglyfj lay, it should bethel] , said the low tumoi pin on it.” ird straight victory,i n the New 1 lampsha ■point edge on Brae;| ad ley made a ■rs who campaigned; . The candidates hi| iry of friction witbl oft'primary state wa ilendar encroachmer, uses w ith a marginol] TV special series avoids solid issues, highlights insignificant tales of candidates youth or most college students, there is only one thing to when election cover- |ge appears on the telev i- ion screen — change ne channel. Many stu- lents claim that main- nream media coverage fthe presidential election NICHOLAS ROZNOVSKY Under Democratic tes could choose del o such restriction.G ics are campaign® n Tuesday. Sen. Job i Hampshire, skippe, t eat in Iowa and a 1 nd smallest stateo d there would ben beat him 50 percern ocuses on the sensational and ignores the is- uesthat face their generation. Young adults laintain more concerned w ith the environ- lent and human rights than they are with the andals of the candidates’ pasts. Enter MTV — the favorite media outlet of oung America — to save the day. Fear not lisenchanted students, the network which i New Hampshire ■rought you “Beavis and Butthead” is try ing the state-run priirA make the presidential race more accessible intest oilers I2tvmnd meaningful to the youth of the nation, go withthewm-i'Murely MTV w ill w ade through the media sen- ■ationalism and bring the issues that young ■dults care about to the forefront, right? ^ Time for a dose of reality. MTV is merely Rehashing the same stories that other net- orks have been obsessing about for months, he only difference is that MTV managed to Jet it all to music and make it look hip. In- •, jltead of attempting to educate the young vot- C Cl [Brs of America, MTV is just tn ing to sell 0X1 ^ lli 4iore ad space. I MTV’s coverage of the upcoming presi- lential election, titled “Choose or Lose 2000,” Regan last week airing the first in a series of ■our-long specials the network plans to pre lent until November. “Where Were You at ■2?” was billed as a fresh look at the candi- ■ates and what they did during their college Jit 261, leavingthv•-'■cars. Instead it was a fast-paced, dumbed- e but collecting xf-Bow n collection of the character questions that lave already been raised by the press, lal I ransportatioo vp Al Gore smoked marijuana in college, detailed pictureo!rel jeorge W. Bush had a drinking problem and ore pieces ol theplaj lv - 0 ij cc j fighting in Vietnam b\ defending surface. at w ill be brouA* - I NT Mi:, Calif. ( apped more oftli near the crash site her interpretationofl lit voice recorder;. Texas in the Air National Guard. John McCain yas a rebellious hell-raiser w ith a weakness for women and the “dev il rum” at the Naval l ana'lv/ed in'\fe:f' LCadem y• Bil1 Bradlc > was really tall and esman said. Iplayed basketball. Apparently, these were the . have been.'iej::a|teround breaking looks at the candidates that y Williams.‘teMy going on. find any bodies^ iringing them up." area is about 10irate: nta Barbara Channel'' bout the size ofafo 40 feet deep. . more memorials 4 sand friends ofthe Sii c plane. Among then Cardinal Roger Mr .os Angeles, who ledi \ngeles Intemationi only MTV and its crack staff of political ex perts could provide. But wait a minute. These stories are neither new nor fresh. These are the same news items that have been plastered over the front page of every newspaper in the land for the past six months. All of these past improprieties have been revealed on the evening news, editorial ized in the opinion page and debated on the Sunday morning political roundtable shows. The addition of goofy clips from the ’60s and music from the Forrest Gump soundtrack can not make any of these revelations more perti nent to college students than when they first appeared in the news months ago. What happened to the issues? How does Al Gore plan to provide jobs for the next genera tion of American workers? Will George W. Bush be willing to cut trade with China if they continue to violate the human rights of their own citizens? Would Steve Forbes support an initiative calling for the legalization of drugs? The average young American would be better informed in casting their vote knowing how the candidates stand on these and other issues. MTV discovered what the major broadcast networks discovered a long time ago — the is sues can sell newspapers and magazines but only scandals and allegations can satisfy the short attention span of the average television viewer. To keep their audiences interested, new s broadcasters increasingly find them selves like the entertainers on which they re port. Why should MTV try to take the high road and refuse to participate in the media frenzy of sensationalism? MTV has found the ultimate blend of entertainment and scandal to satisfy the tastes of its young audience. The only other “Choose or Lose 2000" program to air so far was a rock concert head lined by the band StainD. Done under the guise of empowering youth to vote, the music was loud and the students in the audience danced the night away. In the end however, no one learned anything remotely related to the presidential election. A quick look at the MTV “Choose or Loose 2000“ Website shows that the real focus of the series is not the education of young vot ers. It is just another shameless stab for a chunk of the viewing audience. Although The rings that bind ‘Aggie Network’ needs to examine power it exerts, accept Bonfire tragedy criticism with open mind Gs Airlines MD-83 ra ng all 88 people on rom Puerto Vallaita 1 san Francisco and W voice recorder shoe 1 inutes prior to thecrai ogling to correct a pat Hinted horizontalsw laid had jammed. Tio saw the plane gotf iide down and spirals i ( ounty Medical Eo ch is responsible foil ms, has said that it to mplete ‘bodies. Slis c Nishimoto said its "e any are identified 8, 2000 _LS LIFE O Life is available on ! et this, now, ■[Texas A&M] is spending $1 million to study why | Bon fire] fell. Apparently, Isaac Newton was not an Aggie.” Students at A&M may not be laughing at this joke, but an audience last week on ABC’s “Politically In correct” could not help but let out a chuckle. For host Bill Maher, the 1999 Aggie Bonfire col lapse was among the biggest headlines last year and has discussed the topic during the show on several occasions. Malicr holds a strong stance against the tradi tion of Bonfire mid has had several guests who agree, including Seinfeld’s Jason Alexander, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and Cyndi Mostellar, a cam paign advisor for John Mc Cain. This example is only one of several in which Aggies in general have been publicly slammed and stereotyped as brainless, sheep like hicks. Current and for mer students, as well as family and support- * ers of A&M, need to be open-minded about criti cism and careful about how they respond to it, especially con cerning bonfire. Often Aggies react too quickly and hastily send mass e-mails and letters to newspapers, Websites and online forums. In many cases these rebuttals are not well thought out and driven by emotion. To a non-Aggie reader, the responses sound arrogant, close-minded and support the original premise that Texas A&M students are brainwashed. Regardless of how many statistics show that A&M ranks among the best, the jokes will persist until every thing that students write and say in response is in telligent. Since the 1999 Aggie Bonfire collapse, the ‘Aggie Network’, the link that binds everyone who has walked the halls of A&M, has become the tightest in recent memory. When a negative opinion has surfaced, the network has f lexed its muscles and attained results. However, there is a problem when the network accomplishes its mission by using shady tactics. For example, the Website for the Darwin Awards, which recognizes “stupid deaths,” nominated Texas A&M almost immediately after the tragedy. MTV claims that they will cut “through the spin of conventional media coverage to bring you an unobstructed view of election 2000 mayhem,” the six wide-eyed camera hungry reporters that make up the MTV News Street Team look an awful lot like the new cast for either “The Real World” or “Road Rules.” As always, MTV has found a new way to serve an old dish to the youngsters of America. So now, wedged in between reruns of “To tal Request Live" and yet another scantily clad hip-hop beach party in the middle of winter, college students can sit down and be spoon fed the same hype and sensationalism that their parents are getting from the evening news. Whether they choose to get their dose with a helping of MTV funk or not, students wanting to make an informed choice in No- JEFF SMITH/Tia BATTALION vember will still be left out in the cold. Unless the network makes a new effort toward pro viding actual thought provoking coverage, MTV’s “Choose or Lose 2000” will be as helpful and informative to the average voter as Celebrity Deathmatch. Nicholas Roznovsky is a junior political science major. Any decent person, Aggie or not, knew this was a mistake on the Website’s part —- it was wrong to disregard the lives of 12 students and to laugh at the grief of an entire state. Mass e-mails circulated the Aggie community, urging students to write to the administrator of the site and complain. There was nothing wrong with dial. However, there was something wrong when a list of the site’s advertise ers were posted along with calls to write to the ad vertisers to yank the site. No matter how much it hurt to read the awful things the critics were say ing, it must be remembered that they have the right to their opinions. Forcing the Website to remove opposing opinion by attacking its source of in come reinforces the long-standing reputation that Aggieland is not a tolerant place. Another network move that made little sense occurred after Maher first discussed the tragedy on Nov. 24. Cyndi Mosteller, Sen. John McCain’s campaign national poli- & cy advisor, was a guest and . commented negatively on nWf-’A bonfire. “I think they died for foolishness, unfortu nately,” she said. That comment was enough to make every Aggie’s maroon blocxl boil. However, instead of criticizing Mosteller di rectly, McCain was flooded with mail stating that he had lost the votes of Aggies eveiy where for her unpopular opinion. It is true that Aggies support each oth er, but unfortunate if the ‘Aggie Net work’ becomes tangled in the political arena, based on one person’s thoughts. The best tactic in these tough months is to ac cept the criticism that A&M will receive and to at least make an attempt to understand why many citizens around the country see things dif ferently. True, much of the criticism has no val ue, but one can learn about where and how the A&M society fits in. Finally, refraining from excessive arguing and allowing public forums to mn their course, sup port from non-Aggies will be stronger. Even on “Politically Incorrect,” when Maher was bashing bonfire, model Ali Landry supported tradition and what it stands for. Trie ‘Aggie Network’ is one of the most amaz ingly strong ties that an A&M student benefits from. When the network acts, it sets off change. It is up to Aggies everywhere that the influence it has be used fairly and responsibly. Mariano Castillo is a sophomore international studies major. Clinton haunted by Filegate scandal E veryone in the world knows about Monica the intern. Everyone knows about the draft dodging. Every one should know about “Filegate,” because America’s privacy laws would mean nothing if they do not. The tenn Filegate refers to the 900 confi dential FBI files found in the White House by a House committee in 1996. Many of the files contained personal and sensitive information about prominent Republicans working at the White House during the Reagan and Bush presidencies. The files were obtained for the purpose of clearing the Republicans for White House access, but since most of them had al ready worked there, the likely purpose of the files was to dig up political dirt. Even though Clinton managed to avoid the prosecutors’ whips for almost four years by having his office personnel strategize to stall the Filegate lawsuit, the plaintiffs expect jus tice from Federal District Judge Royce C. Lamberth. They do have a valid reason for ex asperation since their personal tiles were rum maged through by White House officials. It is understandable that federal employees should get checked out before working at the White House, but the Clinton administration looked at former employees’ files, which had already been checked. Clinton said, just days after his inaugura tion in 1993, “I promise the most ethical ad ministration in the history of the Republic.” The general public in America did not hold him to his vow. But the clock is ticking, hope fully, toward a time when justice will be served on a huge silver plate to Clinton, his wife and his assistants. The Wall Street Journal said Clinton, “...is guilty of essentially the same thing over which Mr. Nixon was hounded from office — abus ing his office to cover up criminal activity by himself and his accomplices, and misleading the public with a campaign of lies about it.” The Wall Street Journal is correct. Abusing power to dig up political dirt is wrong. Larry Klayman’s Judicial Watch brought the lawsuit against Filegate offenders because Ken Starr gave up Filegate in late 1998. Simultaneous prosecutions against Clinton — Watergate and Lewinsky — were too much for Starr to han dle. It is a sad fact when a nation elects, and keeps, a man in office that needs more than one prosecutor to manage his misdeeds. The alleged White House perpetrators learned from their boss; When someone asks a question, give them the runaround. Craig Livingstone, fonner head of White House Personnel Security, testified at a con gressional hearing in 1996 that he was un aware an aide he hired requested the files. The aide, Anthony Marceca, submitted the requests and claimed he had not known the list of names was outdated. Maybe someone with more knowledge of White House personnel should be used for the next sensitive job, be cause this man broke the law. Clinton called Filegate “an honest bureau cratic snafu.” If this business was “honest,” it seems odd that the Clinton administration would continue accessing files of employees who resigned because they felt “Filegate” was wrong. The fact that the Clinton administration would continue abusing a law shows total lack of respect for the law. It also shows their confidence — they expected to not be held ac countable. Another former White 1 louse staffer, Sh eryl L. Hall worked for Clinton lawyers deal ing with Filegate plaintiffs. Her duty, accord- MAIL CALL ing to White House Counsel’s office Michelle Peterson, was to delay because there were “only a couple of years to go [before Clinton leaves office].” No one allowed Nixon to fin ish his term before prosecuting his illegal ac tions, and it is a mystery as to why Clinton de serves special treatment. White House employee Martha Scott in structed Hall to “use her imagination” to side step any legal restrictions she came upon in her work, according to the Washington Times. Hall was forced to quit her job because she “challenged the lawfulness” of a White House database used by Hillary Clinton and the De mocratic National Committee. Unfortunately, practically firing employees for executing their jobs with integrity does not fit the promise President Clinton gave at his ’93 inau guration. However, Bill is not the only Clinton who could get in trouble for Filegate. FBI notes, Linda Tripp and the ex-wife of Clin ton’s former law partner in Little Rock testi fied with information implicating Hillary as one director of Filegate, according to the Houston Chronicle. Judge Lamberth has been studying the 14 pieces of evidence offered him by Judicial Watch’s Larry Klayman and is also consider ing requesting sworn testimony by Hillary. As GeoffMetcalf ofWorldNetDaily said, “[Americans] have become desensitized to egregrious misconduct, lies, obfuscation and presidential BS.” Bill Clinton avoided im peachment in the “Zippergate” scandal. For the sake of those whose personal information was used for skeleton hunting, America should hope Larry Klayman makes Clinton and his administration responsible for broken laws. JM Riley is a senior journalism major. RHA responds about new dorm \n response to Melissa Bedsole’s Feb. 2 column. We believe that Bedsole has every right to express her opinion on the issue of the newly proposed residence hall, but we believe that her “facts” are unfounded and untrue. Her opinion piece stated many things about the proposed on- campus dormitory that are only ideas and have not been de termined as being definitive at this point. First of all, the only thing that has been deter mined is the site of the new hall, at the former site of Law and Puryear Halls on the Northside of campus. Mr. Ron Sasse, Director of Residence Life and the Resi dence Hall Association, works hard to provide as many quali ty on-campus options as pos sible and we believe that many ideas should be explored to achieve this end. Regarding the proposed kitchen style rooms, the De partment of Residence Life has constructed a full size “modular apartment” in Mc- Fadden Hall and an efficiency apartment in Hughes Hall as pilot projects for students to live in and evaluate. Residence Life has been collecting infor mation and getting student feedback for several years on apartment-style rooms. The new hall would be a luxury only in the sense that it is new. Room rates would obviously be more than the current on-cam pus rents, but isn’t that to be expected? Little has been decided yet on the entire issue. Room rates will not even be deter mined until right before the hall opens, leaving room for debate and compromise. If you would like to help the committee that will be plan ning the new hall, feel free to call the RHA office. Cameron Cushman Class of '02 Director of Public Relations, RHA The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and include the author’s name, class and phone number. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed McDonald with a valid stu dent 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; battletters@hotmail.com