4 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 15, 1993 A& 41V ixte art.c Y FUt + ttd 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan JOSH DUBOW Editor in Chief ANDREWLEVY Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Daily editorial board. All other cartoons, articles and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. £,AR&QYL 3 A WONCH, 01---V60S SPANKINGJ( THEIR, a ~MON KEy 1 1 -P- Bad medicine To the Daily: I was on psychiatric medications for over 12 years. The medicines put me in a lot of pain. Prolyxin was the main one they kept me on. It was very painful, and no one seemed to care. I would lay on a sofa most of the time, and the doctors wouldn't help. They started me on Haldol, and 15 minutes later I was in pain. The medicines hurt alot. There was no reason for me to go through that for 12 years. Now I am on a new medicine called Closaril. It is much better. I intend to sue Washtenaw Community Mental Health for leaving me "that way." I suffered through the prime years of my life, from the late 70s through the early 90s The doctors had better medicines, but not for me. I had to go through hell. It was preventable. Maybe this letter can help someone else. How many others are suffering for the same reason? JOHN RICE Ann Arbor resident Is Deane Baker for real? To the Daily: First of all, I have nothing against Western civilization- and I consider myself a liberal. So I'd like to explain why I think Deane Baker's argument is so flawed: "Western civilization and gays don't mix?" What is it that Mr. Baker considers to be Western civilization? Quite a bit of what I learned to be our culture seems to exist because of people who happened to be homosexuals. Are The Odyssey and The Iliad not part of Western civilization? Is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel not part of our civilization? Do I have to make a list of the artists and authors in the past few centuries who fall into Mr. Baker's unacceptable-lifestyle category? Maybe I'll admit things about our culture that Regent Baker will not. I'm not a homosexual and cannot speak from experience, nor do I claim to possess an above average knowledge of the Western hemisphere. But I have to argue against a moral crusade in which the terms are undefined. Well, just to show that we shouldn't take our declining society too seriously, I'll leave you a quotation from one of my favorite dead-white-male authors. "Wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the curious attractiveness of others." - Oscar Wilde "Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young" AMELIA NATOLI Art junior What's in a name? To the Daily: The Keg Party did not win five seats in last year's assembly elections based on our "catchy moniker" alone. Our greater success came from working our butts off, camnixnine hard within our dorm happiness and a better campus. It hurts to be slandered because we happen to have a appealing name. We are damn fine reps, and we take offense at anyone stating otherwise. THE KEG PARTY Inappropriate moral considerations To the Daily: I've been quietly observing this recent controversy raging: AIDS activists versus college Republicans. It is troubling to read of the self-righteous invoking morality as an AIDS cure. The only appropriate moral considerations involved here should be strong compassion, and an ability to empathize with those who suffer. People having accompanied a dying family member or friend no doubt understand this. For an individual to choose certain personal behaviors is well within his/her ethical rights, but to attempt arrogantly impose upon others to follow on grounds of morality is simply narrow-minded and ultimately inappropriate. It does not belong in the dialogue. People's moral convictions are subjective and based on differing assumptions; in this culture, the language of two different ethical structures ay be mutually unintelligible. Both world views are valid and demand respect. Some adherents of Westen religious tradition may find the above difficult. I can think of no major religious doctrine, Judeo- Christian included, that denies compassion as a fundamental precept to its moral fabric. If one feels compelled to invoke morality, compassion may constitute a rare common thread, an ubiquitous word despite moral language barriers. JOSEPH BOGAARD SNRE graduate student Reverse racism in Los Angeles To the Daily: As the acquittal was read in the Los Angeles police brutality case, the country was sent into an uproar. Cities were burned and looted, and millions of people protested. Needless to say, these people let the government know that they were displeased with the result of this case. Recently, we have seen another case come to the forefront, the case of the trucker Reginald Denny. He was dragged from his truck, and dealt one of the cruelest beatings in American history. As in the Rodney King beating, this action was caught on camera, and the men accused with the beating were clearly identified. The case against these men was heard, and the jury was sent to decide on what seemed to be an obvious verdict of guilty of some extreme charges. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on almost all major charges, but there was no uproar. This case was truly an injustice and was clearly on the same level as caught in the wrong place, and there was absolutely no reason for these men to attempt to kill him other than Denny's skin color. This was the most blatant act of racism in recent history, yet these men still were merely given a slap on the wrist. MATTHEW OUTLAW LSA sophomor The Daily, not MSA, is a joke To the Daily: If MSA is a joke, then your worthless piece of newsprint is the laughing stock of the entire campus. With all of your emphasis on students getting screwed by the administration and not having enough power on the campus, abolishing the student government would be the best thing students could do to help the administration achieve all of its goals. It would take years to re-establish a new student government. During this time, the administration would have a free pass to screw students. Also, MSA is the organization 4 that does the difficult and time- consuming work that you only bitch about. You call for reforms on this campus, but all you do is whine through nameless editorials. MSA members work their asses off combing through long documents and sitting through hours of meetings working to change University policies. There are still some improvements MSA must make. If you really want a better student government, you should work to help MSA make the changes it wants to make, rather than continuing to spew such ridiculous rhetoric. I I 4 * DOUGLAS HORLICK LSA junior Mocking tragedy To the Daily: I wonder, Jim Lasser, what the hell you were thinking in creating your absurd cartoon in the November 9 edition of this paper ("California Dreamin', 11/9/93)? Did you actually think about it at all? It is neither humorous nor thought-provoking, but rather it is a disgrace to you, and can perhaps be seen as analogous to your burnt wit. I think maybe you thought you could get away with such a tasteless and altogether insensitive cheap shot just because we're so far from California. But, you buffoon, do you not realize that there are hundreds of Californians here, not to mention the scores of other students whom I'm sure have some compassion for the victims of the fires? Why don't you make some more really funny cartoons. , . how about mock the hurricane that destroyed Miami; or, better yet, how about you hit closer to home and ridicule the victims of the floods here in the Midwest? I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate your feeble attempt at witty humor then. CRAIG POLIN LSA junior College Roundup a MSU Trustee Joel Ferguson is a :cused of backroom maneuverings in the now-infamous presidential sc arch. These revelations should stand a-. a stellar example of a closed search gi "ne awry. The Lansing State Journal reported A ednesday that depositions from a civil case involving the presidential search reveal Ferguson's wheelings and dealings. The Journal reported Ferguson called on Gov. John Engler and former MSU interim President Gordon Guyer to try to sway fellow allegedly "non-partisan" Board, this sounds a little strange. Granted, Engler did appoint Mawby, but he had no business supporting Ferguson's interests in a University presidential search. All this alleged back-scratching and politicking con- firms assumptions made from the beginning regarding the nature of the search. Ferguson claims the quotes in the Journal were taken out of context and are inaccurate. Whatever the justifi- cation for the politics, it is just an- already is in office and trying to run the University, is when these facts are revealed. Yet more damage has been done to the image of McPherson and the trustees - not to mention the University as a whole. It encourages the assump- tion that the whole process was veiled in suspicion and fraught with cloak-and-dagger politics. What other revelations will be made during this lawsuit and other investigations into one of the messi- est searches this state has known?