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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 2004)
ted ^ tO pj: ingitl Of iltl#- 979-4S rt-tiine expeif Uppt, aucefs SriiT^ eded i, Wellbc- dornits lO/rno 7 r mont ages 7613. Mm Apply i ■Thurs., tostm Opinion The Battalion Page 7 • Thursday, August 5, Promiscuous publicitv PETA’s advertising campaigns are inconsistent and harmful to children insopefj aTiJf 13 M sTP" yinpe^l LINDSYE FORSON magine a private scene in volving a man and a woman kissing intimately on a bed. ere bits of fabric separate em from nakedness. Now ; c p ”; Jnagine this scene transplanted nto a busy intersection in the midst of a thriving metropolis. Before, it was a private expres- on of intimacy but now it I nothing more than a cheap lead-turner. I Fortunately for those who are imaginatively ion » J paired, pictures of this scene abound, as do —J Eyewitnesses to it. On July 23, People for the thical Treatment of Animals put on this flesh hibition, which it called a “live make-out tour,” cording to The Associated Press. The purpose fthis exhibition: To demonstrate that vegetar- ,ns make better lovers. Theoretically, those who saw this lurid dis lay are best able to judge the merits of PETA’s ilaim but, unfortunately, the group of people who kneed to walk by it did not elect themselves for etask. There were a hodgepodge of children, dolescents and adults from all walks of life stroll- |igthe streets of Boise that day, many of whom /ere undoubtedly more offended by being unwit- Xfngly exposed to a scene tantamount to soft-core omography on the big screen of life’s stage than y the sight of a fur coat. But any concern PETA nay have had for the people who would see this xhibit was apparently trumped by its insatiable ap- etite for media attention. This is not the first time ETA used crass advertising to get its point across. Many Aggies can remember a similar strat- gy employed by PETA in College Station a few ears ago when the Ringling Bros, and Bamum & m | a ii e y circus came to town. Allegedly to protest ie circus’ cruel treatment of its animals, PETA ponsored a demonstration featuring a completely aked woman, painted like a tiger, sitting in a cage nd holding a sign with some message of protest ipt. to cribbled on it, strategically positioned to cover her leasts. Naturally, she was stationed at the inter- lection of Texas Avenue and University Drive for aximum exposure. A similar incident occurred is summer, but the protester was quickly removed. For all those who can remember this unholy lebacle, can anyone recall what was written on e sign? Probably not. Kyle Wiese, a senior English major at Texas or * A&M, said he can remember the incident, but hat it did little to accomplish PETA’s goals. noreR College rles j -emplof! ICpptr. ace. Hiring' oveto i75-296i is or league or you' 5386. “There is a certain point at which your actions have grown so outrageous that you begin to hurt your cause. For PETA, this was one of those points, unfortunately,” Wiese said. “When you’re trying to be heard on a serious topic that you genuinely feel strongly about, you have to go with tact, not tacky.” On its Web site, PETA claims to be “dedicated to establishing and protect ing the rights of all animals.” Perhaps now would be a good time to remind PETA of the class of animals called Homo sapiens. Unfortunately, examples of PETA’s indifference to the condition of the human animal are plentiful, but two related incidents exemplify the point. In September of 2003, PETA purchased a weeklong billboard advertisement in Po catello, Idaho, featuring a young obese boy eating a hamburger, with the text “feeding kids meat is child abuse” plastered boldly across the bottom, according to the Idaho State Journal. The Journal quoted Ravi Chand, then- PETA campaign coordinator, saying, “If (feeding kids meat) isn’t abuse, then nothing is.” In an ironic twist, in December of the same year PETA came out with another billboard campaign, this time in Spokane, Wash. The billboard showed a crude de piction of a cartoon Santa, eying his nether region despondently. “Santa’s not coming to town this Christmas,” the ad read, supposedly to inform men that milk can cause impotence, according to The Spokesman-Re view. It is outrageous for PETA to allege that it is going to bat for children’s welfare one month, and then publish an arguably pornographic picture of a beloved Christmas figure to countless children a mere three months later. It drives home the point that PETA cares more about publicity than parent ing, that the well being of children is a trifling matter compared to the fate of animals — of the non-human variety, that is. If PETA was con cerned about the welfare of children, it would not mastermind illicit public displays that invariably compromise children’s innocence. Children are obviously not PETA’s primary concern; it cares more about the cow being eaten than the child eating it. And to some extent, this is as it should be. PETA has clearly limited the scope of its battle to non-human animals, and this, in and of itself, is not at all objectionable. But while PETA is in no way bound to advance the civil rights of humans, it should not profess to care about children and then blatantly disregard them simply because it wants to bask in the limelight. Relying on sensationalism and titillation to advance a cause conveys a sense of inherent ideological weakness, as worthy causes need not resort to such base tactics. PETA’s chosen strat egy is regrettable, because it actually has a strong message to which many people are sympathetic. But instead of playing on its ideological strengths, PETA is relying on sordid, attention-seeking gags that ultimately hurt it as well as the class of animals that it ever so frequently seems to forget. , , 1: , Lindsye Forson is a senior journalism major. Graphic by Ivan Flores le, reaf ■oven enispH 764-1? lTpS , dad? black. American can’t tolerate more internment camps 1002 Go 3bdrf renrf' h coink an, rtf asarei 1 -229-# s late i** to# lel 2»' me# +bills> ;48-9<!! ia. M* # 0-846-! doge. 596-61* /d. J E ' 3/21* /3ei- -3564. ied trass is, l^ I P in M 5713. By Kelly Rooney THE DAILY ILLINI (U-WIRE) CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Allow your mind to flash back 60 years to a time when our nation was entrenched in the second World War. Amongst the glorification we have all learned about our country in history class, there remains a story that oft gets overlooked or sometimes briefly mentioned as a foot note to the breadth of skir mishes and heroic victories. I’m talking of course about the still 0 jaundiced black eye our country still has for sending more than 120,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps. It is a part of our nation’s history we’d like to forget, though doing so only fosters ignorance to the fact that it could happen again. In 2000, the Census Bureau released an official apology for their part in assisting the gov ernment to round up thousands of Japanese Americans on the West Coast. During World War II, the bureau released its statis tical data to the FBI so that the FBI could target particular cit ies and neighborhoods for per sons whose only crime was be ing of Japanese descent. While the Census Bureau might feel it has washed its hands of the messy stain of prejudice during wartime hysteria, the bureau is again playing the part of the enabler to a country drunk on racial profiling. Recently the Census Bu reau gave the Department of Homeland Security specially tabulated population statistics on Arab Americans in response to a request from the Customs and Border Protection division. This statistical information includes data on the number of people of Arab descent that live in a par ticular ZIP code, the names of cities with more than 1,000 Arab American residents and ZIP code level breakdowns of Arab American inhabitants sorted by their country of origin. This reeks of severe racial profiling. Homeland Security has enough detailed information to recreate a second nightmarish installment of internment camps. However, the Customs and Border Protec tion division maintains all the data will be used for educational purposes. Christiana Halsey, spokes woman for Customs and Border Protection, claimed the information received from the Census Bureau was needed to find out in what airports the agency needs to post signs and pamphlets in Arabic. She added, “The infonnation is not in any way being used for law enforce ment purposes. It’s being used to educate the traveler. We’re simply using basic demographic information to help us commu nicate U.S. laws and regulations to the traveling public.” If we’re all supposed to buy into the agency’s assertion, what are these signs and pamphlets going to say? My guess is something along the lines of: “Being of Arabic descent in an airport, you have waived all your Constitutional rights. Expect sus picious looks by all airport secu rity and personnel. You will be pulled aside and questioned and have your persons and luggage thoroughly searched. Thank you and enjoy your flight!” The bureau Is again playing the part of the enabler to a country drunk on racial profiling. Whether or not the Depart ment of Homeland Security is being truthful in their “pam phlets and signs” story, the accu mulation of the Arabic Ameri can statistics remains entirely disconcerting. To begin with, these tabulations were produced in August 2002 and December 2003 specifically for Customs and Border Protection, on — their request. The bureau’s guidelines for accumulating special statisti cal requests for agencies requires con sideration on how the data will be used for statistical ap plication or for law enforcement. These rules, however, only apply to tabula tions that the bureau is paid for. In this instance Homeland Security set up neither a pay ment nor a contract, allowing the statistical information to be shared without a full review by census officials. Pretty devi ous actions for merely setting up pamphlets and signs in airports, no? Though the bureau may not be responsible for this suspi cious behavior by the Depart ment of Homeland Security, our nation must leam to do what the Census Bureau cannot: Stand up to this thinly veiled mass racial profiling. We will not live in a time of internment camps as long as we speak out and pres sure the shady dealings of the likes of Homeland Security. Kelly Rooney is a columnist at U. Illinois MAIL CALL A&M admissions policies do consider race as factor In response to a Aug. 4 mail call: Once again, administration officials have gone to the defense of their admissions program by trying to divert criticism from it to The Battalion. Dr. Perry stated in his mail call that “race is, by University pol icy, not used" in admissions. Why should students believe Dr. Perry? Young Conservatives of Texas, like many others, publicly praised the Texas A&M admin istration when it announced it would not use race in deciding admissions. But since that time, a number of disturbing facts have come to light. University memos outlining racial hiring quotas in the college of engineering were uncovered that have not been renounced by the Texas A&M administration. On two separate occasions, once at a March 2004 Board of Regents meeting and once to the Houston Chronicle, A&M regents Bill Jones and Lowry Mays stated that, “Implicit in the new admissions policy is the use of race.” That is the same admissions policy that Dr. Perry claims is devoid of the consideration of race. Seeing how regents Jones and Mays are ul timately in charge of university policy, we trust they know the truth of the matter. And just recently, the Texas A&M medical school decided to institute racial discrimination in its admissions policies. What evi dence does Dr. Perry have they that administrators are not using race as a factor when judging admis sions essays? Especially since Dr. Gates has stated that those essays will be graded on the stories they tell, rather than for scholarly quality. Dr. Perry and others in the Texas A&M administra tion can debate whether or not it is moral to use race to discriminate in admissions. But until they clarify how admissions essays are graded and regents Mays and Jones change their stance, there can be little de bate that race is a factor in getting into A&M. Mark McCaig Class of 2005 All children are wanted In response to a Aug. 3 mail call: Instead of igniting demands for society and families and parents to love and want all children and mothers, this phrase supposedly justifies the murder of defense less children in their mothers’ wombs. Those who kill “in convenient” babies in order to ensure that the survivors are “wanted” dehumanize us as well as the unborn. The joy of parenthood is abused by unloving ostra cism of fornicators, and the natural instinct to protect our unborn is smothered by a society whose ideal woman pursues career over motherhood. We throw our children under a bullet train of personal comfort and advance ment. Take two hypothetical situations: If my girlfriend gets pregnant, we are responsible to protect this new hu man life, even if it is unintended or financially draining. If my girlfriend is raped and conceives, she is un willingly obliged to carry the child to term (and I to comfort and help her), not because there is no pain or she deserved it, but because inside her is a price less human being, with a right to life. The baby is not guilty for her father’s violent crime. David Dunton President, Aggies for Life
