Page 15 -The Michigan Daily-- Wednesday, April 22,1992
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Ashe treated unfairly
1To the Daily:
I'd like to share some of my
own thoughts about Jeff Sheran 's
article "Smith was right to print
Ashe's condition" (4/13/92).
What right did Smith have to
Tint the story about Ashe's
ondition? Arthur Ashe is not a
crooked politician, he didn't break
any laws and he hasn't slept with
hundreds of women. He did not
want his condition to go public
and Professor Smith should have
respected Ashe's right to privacy.
There is more to journalism
than printing everything a
journalist can get his hands on.
Journalists must be responsible
with their information and most
inportant, journalists must use
good judgement. How has the
public benefited from the story?
You criticized the person who
"ratted" on Ashe, don't you think
Professor Smith was just as guilty
r as the ratter for using the informa-
tion? Do you get pleasure out of
seeing a man suffer in public?
Arthur Ashe's privacy and his
family have been violated by a
snooping, greedy journalist.
Jennie W. Choi
LSA junior
What month is it?
To the Daily:
I recently read in the Daily
that April is national rape
prevention month. I thought it
was "UH-HUH" month. I believe
Diet Pepsi over your cheezy trash
anyday.
Dave Corbett
Engineering first-year student
Brad, I love you! (sigh)
To the Daily:
I am seriously in love with
Brad Meltzer. He was amazing as
Mr. Greek Week and now he is
taking over'Nuts and Bolts. His
humor and inginuity are second to
none, and 1 want him to know:
Brad, if you ever need a date -
call me - I'll show you the night
of your life.
Barbara Gordon
University graduate
Since January, the Daily has received hundreds of letters from readers
concerned about campus and national issues. Although the editors
have tried to print all letters, the limited space has made this impos-
sible. The Daily would like to apologize to those people whose letters
have not appeared, and hopes its readers will continue to write
vigorously during the summer and through the coming year.
Thrilling rides in Angell Hal
To the Daily:
As I'm sitting in the Angell
Hall computing center, I noticed
that not too many people were
around. I thought that was really
strange, because when I checked
out the computer, I had to wait a
long time because the place was
so full. Then I realized that when
I first came, it was 9 in the
evening. But now, it is 6 a.m., and
I have been typing my paper the
whole night.
My day had brightened. I had
just experienced a thrilling
experience. This must be Cedar
Point. Sandusky, Ohio, and Ann
Arbor, Michigan are two distant,
but not so-geographically
opposite cities; in any case,
neither is aesthetically pleasing.
Nonetheless, I have noticed one
similarity: the free rides.
Everytime I come to Angell Hall
to type a paper, I end up spending
the whole night there. I don't get
any sleep, and by the next
morning, Iam so tired that I start
feeling both sleepy and giddy. I
have spent time laughing at
nothing. I have spent time
wandering around. I have spent
time falling over, like a
rollercoaster.
I have not gone to great
lengths or gone out of my way to
experience these thrilling rides,
like in Cedar Point. I have gone
about my daily routine and have
found these thrills accessible.
When I go to computing centers
on campus, I view them as normal
rides, like in Cedar Point and I
receive a big thrill. These may be
called computing centers, but they
are also rollercoaster rides, not
just in Ann Arbor, but in Cedar
Point.
Bruce Fox
Business School junior
A few comments from a reader
To the Daily:
Bravo to the Daily for once
again enlightening us with its
authority. I do, however, have a
few comments:
1. Daily mistakes. The Daily
has continued its tradition of
ignoring its own weaknesses.
Nowhere in that "Best Daily
Blunders" column did I see any
mention of the misguided article
about the DEA surveillance of
East Quad, or the CODOH ad by
Bradley Smith. I guess the Daily
can't stand a little humor at its
own expense, especially when
there's no humor to be had.
2. TV shows. I agree about
Hammerman, but Rescue 911
does not belong in the cops
category. Although Rescue 911
does play upon the human
eagerness to watch other people
suffer (why else would we sit for
a whole hour just to watch
William Shatner sweat in a
Bernini of Beverly Hills suit?),
there is a definite message of hope
and faith in humankind that has
been lost nowadays. Perhaps I'm
being Mao Zedong-ish, but the
people on this show make the fat
rich cats look pathetic (Donald
Trump in particular.)
3. Best Dorm. No offense to
West Quad, but I still champion
East Quad, my beloved dorm,
despite the food. I do, however,
agree with the opinion that we are
here at the U of M because of its
U of M-ness. Despite the South
University sulkers who seized
upon the chance to prove their
anti-deputization cause (I agree
tear gas was a bit much), U of M
is the best.
Kristin Johnson
LSA first-year student
Kinison treated
with disrespect
To the Daily:
Who in the hell wrote the
Monday, April 13 obituary on
Sam Kinison? I think its ridicu-
lous the way that you stuck a tiny
piece in the "Arts" section and
critiqued him, as if his death was
his final act (what the hell do
Married with Children and
Andrew Dice Clay have to do
with it?).
The fact that Sam Kinison
(along with George Bush) is
among your list of white men
whom you consider the anti-
Christ is not what bothers me.
What really bothers me about this
article, and about the Daily in
general, is that you always
assume that everyone on this
campus is as liberal as you are.
Because of this, you think that no
one is going to notice you belittle
the death of someone because he
made sexist or homophobic jokes
that happened to be entertaining.
Well, I'm sorry to say, you were
wrong. Not everyone agrees with
your views on Sam Kinison. I, as
a fan, do not. The thousands upon
thousands who saw his comedy
live or televised do not, and his
newly wedded (and now wid-
owed) wife most likely does not. I
doubt that she would think of him
as the "King of Crudeness and
Insensitivity." The Daily seems to
be the king here.
John Kasiborski
Engineering first-year student
Ann Arbor's finest
To the Daily:
Respect for police officers is
at all time low here at the Univer-
sity. Many students feel that the
police have been abusing their
powers and forgetting the
principle phrase " to serve and
protect." Until recently, I have
been reluctant to criticize the
police and jump in the band-
wagon. Every police officer I
have met conducted themselves as
professionals and have given me
little reason to think otherwise.
However, I have discovered
that there is a war between the
students and the police, especially
the Ann Arbor police. The police
expect students to act like dogs.
To roll over whenever they
command.
Well, I have news for Ann
Arbor's finest. The longer you
behave like spoiled children who
must have their way with every-
thing, the longer you are going to
be at war with students.
Cherng Lee
Engineering first-year student
Open the JFK files
To the Daily:
David Berlin, assistant counsel
to the Warren Commission on the
assassination of John F. Kennedy,
was correct in asserting that
Oliver Stone's film JFK muddles
the truth about the assassination.
However, he failed to ac-
knowledge that the Warren
Commission has muddled the
truth as well, adamantly defend-
ing the lone-gunman theory, a
theory since rejected by the 1979
House Committee on Assassina-
tions.
Frankly, in the age of
Watergate, the Iran-Contra
scandal, the October Surprise, etc
... and the fact that the files on the
Support engineered disposal
To the Daily: are cleaned using electrostatic
I appreciate your environmen- precipitators or more advanced
tal concerns as they are needed; fabric filtration. In both cases,
however, I would also like to landfilling and incineration, the
encourage you to become performance of the technology is
educated before touting the pros monitored to insure environmen-
and cons of environmental issues. tal safety.
It is true that the dumps of the If one such as Kimberly
past have produced disastrous Dunbar opposes both the
environmental effects and that landfilling AND the incineration
open burning (as well as leaded of waste products, there is NO
gas emissions) has polluted the air place to put our trash. Refuse is a
we all breathe. The statistics fact of life and ignoring the fifty
associated with these operations tons of trash that Ann Arbor
are horrifying. However, open produces daily or the hazardous
dumps were abolished in 1976 by waste produced by hospitals,
the Resource Conservation and laboratories, and industry will not
Recovery Act. Open burning was cure the problem. Rather,
outlawed even earlier by the ignoring the waste is the most
Clean Air Act of 1965. detrimental option.
Current sanitary landfills are The engineered disposal of
isolated from the environment and waste, both by landfilling and
the groundwater using two incineration, is proving to be
leachate collection systems, two reliable, necessary, and environ-
impermeable liners, and over six mentally safe. Please reevaluate
feet of compacted clay. Hazard- the "Not in MY backyard" mind-
ous waste landfills meet even set and support the engineered
more stringent requirements. disposal of all of our waste
Current incinerators effectively material.
reduce the volume of waste
needing to be landfilled while Phil Weeber
recovering some energy. All Engineering senior
emissions from these incinerators
Sheran's column musguided
To the Daily:
Jeff Sheran's column on the
disclosure of Arthur Ashe's HIV
status ("mith was right to print
Ashe's AIDS condition," (4/13/
92) offends one's mind with its
outright stupidity, one's emotions
with the haste in which it
dimisses the plight of its victim,
and one's sensibilities with its
barbaric abuse of the English
syntax and style.
As for my last complaint,
perhaps I should not be so hasty
to slight Mr. Sheran; after all,
between his pen and the eyes of
his readers lies an editorial board
whose responsibility it is (and
was) to make sure, among other
things, that he uses prepositions
properly, writes complete
sentences, and does not burden
his column with inane neolo-
gisms. I will say nothing of his
dangling modifiers and improper
usage of regular English vocabu-
lary.
As for the content of the
column, one has to be sympthetic
with Mr. Sheran; the ethical
complexities involved in report-
ing on "public" figures have been
debated with little success by
better men than him. If he had
simply stated his opinion and
confessed his inability to justify
it, perhaps this letter would not
have been written. Once again,
perhaps the blame should be
directed not at he author, but at
the editorial board which printed
an inane article on a complex
subject by an author inadequate
to the task.
Mr. Sheran did not confess and
shut up, however. He bandies
about the language of fairness and
necessity without giving any
consideration to the rules of
journalism which he implicitly
constructs.
The issue of fairness rears its
ugly head again later. It is the task
of journalists, writes Mr. Sheran,
to "report the news fairly and
accurately." A noble sentiment,
perhaps, but its proponent neglects
to reconcile the "fairness"
required of a journalist with the
decision to publish articles about
"unfair" events in the lives of
others.
Neither the USA Today nor the
Daily feels obligated to report on
every new victim of the AIDS
virus; we must therefore inquire
after the reasons for targetting
Arthur Ashe. There is but one: he
is a "public" figure. When
reporters brandish the phrase, "the
public's right to know," they are
not simply positing a positive
right on their part to invade the
privacy of "public individuals.
If the editorial board wants to
do itself and its readers a favor, it
will buy Mr. Sheran a manual of
style (and one for themselves? and
a dictionary, and perhaps encour-
age him to enroll in a basic level
composition class. As for his
thought processes, maybe he
would read a book or two.
Clifford Ando
Rackham graduate student
Chase yourdreams;fmd your own Road Runner
To the Daily:
I was raised on cartoons.
Every Saturday morning was
spent enthralled in the adventures
of Underdog, Hong Kong Phooey
T and Bugs Bunny. Countless hours
were spent wondering about the
true meaning of life - how come
Fred Flintstone didn't wear any
pants? Why was Tweety Bird's
head so big? And what were
Scooby-snacks really made of?
Cartoons consumed my Satur-
days, while weekdays were spent
with real people - the Brady
Bunch, Happy Days and
Gilligan's Island. To this day, my
friends and I are still puzzled - if
Wonder Woman's jet really was
invisible, how did she find it?
Yet, as we hurdle toward the "real
.world," the questions we ask
ourselves grow more serious. We
are no longer individuals that can
sit home and watch television. We
are today a generation of people
who are about to make an impact
on this world.
The media loves to speculate
about what our generation will
accomplish. They call us the
"Television Generation" or "The
Baby-busters." Above all else, the
media loves to report that our
generation, aged 18- 25, will be
the first generation in history to
have less than our parents. I
cannot express how much this
annoying little factoid bothers me.
I do not question the economic
principles on which this predic-
tion is based, rather, I am
concerned about the conse-
quences of the statement. It is
both silly and bothersome to hear
anyone "tell" us what we will be.
The logical flaws alone are
staggering. How can they know
what our generation will accom-
plish when so many of our future
leaders are still sitting here,
awaiting graduation? It is as if
they are trying to write that
widely read year-in-review article
before the year takes place.
They don't know our capabili-
ties or the extent of our ingenuity.
They simply base their "predic-
tion" on the assumption that our
limits are equal to the limits of
their generation. They are wrong.
This is a new generation. Gradu-
ates, it is "our" generation and we
differ from all others. Granted,
we may have lower national Math
scores, and lower geographical
knowledge. Certainly, there is
some truth to the notion that we
will not have the same economic
advantages that our parents had.
Yet, that does not mean that we
will necessarily have less than
our parents. Let the world know
- we will not be counted out. I
am confident we will surprise
them. We have a different type of
knowledge; more street-smart and
clever, that David Letterman
quickness. We are imaginative
and more ingenious.
Creativity is an elemental
force of nature. Use that force in
whatever you decide to do.
Whether you choose law, medi-
cine, business, teaching, or any of
the other limitless doors that are
open to you, show the world -
our time has come - we have
arrived and we will not be easily
defeated.
As we face graduation, do not
be scared of the future. Embrace
it. Do not weather the storm.
Control it. Make the most of your
time and we will all make the best
of our generation.
For the past two decades, we
have seen Wile E. Coyote chase
the ever-elusive Road Runner.
For twenty years, we have known
that he will never be able to catch
him, yet, we still continue to
watch. No matter how impossible
our dreams might be, we must all
practice the childhood lessons of
Wile E. Coyote. Be persistent as
you chase your own dreams, so
that you may one day find your
Road Runner.
Thank you and good luck to
you all. Go blue.
investigation are closed, it isn't hoods is JFK, what has come to
too hard to believe his film. The light since the release of the film
best way to deal with this has been something we've known
uncertainty would be to open the for a long time. When people
files and let the evidence speak aren't told the truth, they tend to
for itself. Ideally, all this con- believe the worst.
spiracy business will be proved Jesse Snyder
false. LSA senior
Regardless of all the false-
Brad Meltzer
LSA senior
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