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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 2001)
lednesday, October 10, 2001 THE BATTALION Page 7 > (price mustappi iranteed results d e day the adiss cancelled early as a great sell doption! Fee ire. Student >295. I America should tread lightly on war, not fight back with terrorist attacks im s, $50. Cal! Gi 1 MATES d for spring se s. Own bedfow 3-1023. id. 2bdrm/2blli ? ; paid til January ad Spring sen $275+ utilities 895. iSAP, new 2trS (. w/d, $4«-'as needed a d. $454/mo,[m 1 ots. 680-3275 led. Private edroom home, i 0. 979-731-OOS nthe wake of the horrific attacks on America, President George W. Bush itaken a strong stance in comforting the nation and condemning terrorism. With this new strength comes the responsibility of not only protecting the — : . ■'nice. lationbut carefully treacling the between justice and . When waging this war terrorism, Bush should be not to lead the nation into war that causes the United tales to commit terrorist acts itself. In this new war, the admin istration should utilize the strength of the special opera tions forces and shy away from using ground troops. This war is not with an entire country but with the ter rorists and the leaders of the countries that support them. By using special forces, the government can target specific individuals and groups without endangering the lives of inno cent civilians. These forces can be in and out of a country before most people are aware that they have arrived. Col. John Alexander, com mander of Special Forces A Teams in Vietnam and Thailand during the 1960s, said that there are about 50,000 troops in the Special Operations forces. The special forces and the Navy SEALs are highly trained to thrive in hostile territories target only known terrorists. The government should use these types of forces before it sends out ground troops. Bush should address the legality of freezing assets of In this new war, the administration should utilize the str ength of the special operations forces and shy away from using ground troops. and learn foreign languages, high-tech communications and ground combat. With this type of war, these forces would be sent into a specific country and suspected terrorists and still retain a strong stance on end ing the ability of terrorists to operate within the United States. While it is necessary to halt terrorist organizations within the country, the govern ment cannot freeze bank accounts of those only allegedly linked to terrorists. This will open the door to a loss of civil rights and cause a backlash against the government. The government cannot begin fingers pointing unless it proves the person or organization is directly linked to terrorists. The government should balance protecting the, nation with protecting individuals. This includes resisting the urge to jump to conclusions and, instead, investigating every lead. This is a time for careful, thorough and well-planned actions. Bush and the govern ment, so far, have been strong, but there will come a time when nothing seems to be hap pening. That is the time when the government should not overstep the bounds of its power and continue on a clear, defined course of action. By using the special forces and Navy SEALs, the govern ment can wage a war that will minimize the loss of innocent lives in other countries. This is a war like no other, and the government should be confi dent in its power while not overstepping it. Brieamie Porter is a junior political science major. ited, $170/mo.nl :. 693-2340, . Sterling Uiwsi I (830)625-7548. /ICES ve Driving. L® icket dismissal M-Tfepm-Opin), ;Sat.- Fri(6| Sat(8am-2:#' ;a. Walk-ins * west price allowed Ste.217. 846-6H y. (CP-0017). st; Hope Pregw ion 695-9193, Bi) ion Peer Counsel' va Yoga- All LeveS 979)268-3838 i/EL 2002- 4-nights IW B446- 7-nights ItH Join the actio' 3d availability. Cel at 1-800-223-181S FED Texas game. CP willing to | t Where is reality? Advertisements paint a false sense of reality, lie to American consumers w and year- at AR fisit AR R3-8183. ill not be e live in a consumer-driven, capitalist society. This system works well for the majority of our nation. Accompanying buying and selling is the pervasive medium of adver tising and the creation of false need. We are bombarded by advertisements that present a skewed version of truth and defy rational conclusions or logic. Yet, every day, we view such advertise ments as a normal and acceptable part of life. We have laws stating that advertisers cannot make false claims. A trusting person would take this statement and believe everything that is seen or teard within an advertisement. This per son would believe that McDonald's actu ally does “love to see you smile,” that people will lose weight eating Subway sandwiches or that Sears has “the good life at a great price.” People hear these jingles everyday. They barely pay attention to them. But on deeper reflection, does anyone actually believe them? People usually do not go into McDonald’s and get disappointed when the realization hits them that the minimum- wage, slave laborer behind the counter could care less if we smile when we receive a burger. Some might say this inter pretation is far-fetched and absurd, but it simply expects the truth. A half an hour of television has any where from 10 to 15 minutes of pre-pack aged, 30-second commercials. It is diffi cult to determine what is fact or fiction. Instead, we become passive observers of the reality that corporations are attempt ing to sell us something would like us to believe exists. How often do you just zone out during commercial breaks? The com mercial world just washes over us again and again. Eventually, our own percep tion of reality is skewed. “McDonald’s is a happy place.” “The stuff Sears sells will make my life better, and, gosh, it’s sold at a good price.” We are bombarded by advertisements that present a skewed version of truth and defy rational conclusions or logic. Deep down, people know it is not. However, For a split second, maybe longer in some cases, people do believe it. Then people have to wrestle themselves back to reality. We tell ourselves that the commer cial is wrong for some reason. “I don’t actually need that.” This boils down to telling ourselves that the ad is a lie without acknowledging why. If every ad we are exposed to is a lie, then we are lied to hundreds of times each day. Instead of rejecting these lies, we embrace them and we buy the products. This only legitimizes the lie. We should expect truth. How refreshing would it be to see a com mercial portraying business as it truly is? A camera pans across a Wal-Mart show ing long lines waiting to check out, chil dren crying and clerks that could care less about their shopping experience. That is truth. This is what should be expected from corporate America. They are going to get our money anyway. Couldn’t we get a crumb of truth along the way? Todd Macek is a senior history major. No tracking for foreign students In response to George Deutsch’s Oct. 9 column: Deutsch seems to miss the concept of freedom and liberty in America. Mr. Deutsch said, “Americans must not let their patriotism and emotions lead to discrimination and racial profiling.” That is exactly what a system for the tracking of foreign students would be. Such a system would catalogue, index and number all non-American stu dents so that the state could know where they were for any future actions the state wishes to take against them. I think that because only the deep south has started such a program would be an indication of the pro gram's pernicious nature; the deep south being historically known for intolerance. The very idea of such a program for any group of people in the United States is antithetical to the propositions this country was founded on. The govern ment's exertion of power in its knowl edge of its citizens whereabouts is con trary to our ability, as citizens, to keep government out of our private lives. It should not be in a time of crisis, regard less of whether this is one (Terrorism is nothing new here or abroad), Americans decrease their civil liberties. We should strengthen our resolve for freedom. Our greatness as nation comes not from our financial or mili tary power but rather our openness to ideas and individual liberty. We must remember that the rights of the many no more outweigh those of the few, than the rights of the few outweigh the rights of the many. All immigrants, we all are (except of course the Native-American Indians.), to this country whether they are new or old deserve equal rights and liber ties and the presumption of inno cence in their pursuits of happiness. Terrell Rabb Class of 2002 MAIL CALL Do not send the wrong message A pink piece of paper was put into my hand, and the contents gave me a flood of emotions. I take offense to what was printed on it. Homosexual groups have the same rights as any other organization to set up a table, pass out flyers, etc., but I am upset that they chose to state lies in their literature. Religion isn’t something that is talked about much in the U.S., but these organizations need to be reminded that freedom of religion still exists in this country. As a Christian, I believe homosexuality is wrong. The basis for that belief is that God says it is. That is my religious belief, and I have a right to hold it. Christians are not breaking any laws by teaching that all people sin, and must not continue to live in that sin. Everyone makes his or her own choices. If someone feels that the Bible is hateful, then they may choose CARTOON OF THE DAY not to believe in it. However, I cannot tolerate people telling lies about my God and attacking my religion. The Bible states very plainly that homo sexuality is wrong. Read Romans 1:26-27 and explain how that can be twisted to say that God condones homosexuality. I also wondered why only Christianity was called discriminatory on the flier when many other reli gions including Judaism, Mormonism and Islam also state homosexuality is a sin. The flier was irresponsible in its contents and disrespectful to Christians. Since the Christians I know, myself included, have never been hateful to homosexuals I find it appalling to be lumped into the same category as the Arian Nation and the KKK. I hope the organization that dis tributed the flyers will think twice before spreading more lies about God and His Truth. Regina Bush Class of 2002