4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 15, 2001
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ANN ARBOR, MI 48109
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Study: Not much going on, man
CHRIS KULA U NSUNG ANN ARBOR(


EDITED AND MANAGED BY
STUDENTS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SINCE 1890

GEOFFREY GAGNON
Editor in Chief
MICHAEL GRASS
NICHOLAS WOOMER
Editorial Page Editors

Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the
Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not
necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily

NSUNG ANN
ARBOR (AP)-
A recent study by
the Department of Leisure
Time revealed not much to
be going on.
The DOLT study,
which was conducted over
the course of two years on
more than 150 college
campuses across the country, asked thou-
sands of young adults the question: "So,
what's up?" The results were startling:
Nearly 95 percent of the young people who
were polled responded by saying, "Not
much, man."
Dr. Maxwell Fischer, a sociology profes-
sor at Dartmouth College and president of
DOLT, claims that the results of the study
were wholly unexpected.
"The results of the study were wholly
unexpected," Fischer said. "We were antici-
pating a certain amount of 'Not much, man,'
but the sheer ubiquity of the response was
overwhelming."
Fischer said that the widespread "Not
much, man" reply was often preceded by a
shrug of the shoulders and, in some cases, a
soft yet disgruntled exhalation of air that
Fischer described as sounding not unlike
"psshht."
"We believe these signs indicate that,
even in this age of unbridled opportunities,
today's youth feel that very little in their
lives is worth mentioning in passing," Fis-
cher said.
When asked the cause of this indiffer-

ence, Fischer replied, "Psshht, I don't
know."
The surprising results of the study -
which has already been nicknamed the
"Reality Bites Project" - were compiled
last month after the 24-month field investi-
gation came to a close. The experiment was
considered by many academics and some
scholars to be one of the most comprehen-
sive inquiries into the mind of the American
youth since the Electric Kool-Aid Acid
Tests of the late '60s.
To account for cultural differences
among the young people being polled,
researchers supplemented the question of,
"So, what's up" with other queries, includ-
ing "What's new?", "Que pasa?" and "What
it is, jive turkey?" Yet each question was
invariably met with the same lethargic
reply.
John Maplethorpe, a psychology profes-
sor at San Diego State University and
DOLT's lead researcher, is puzzled by the
universal response of "Not much, man."
"Many of these individuals lead busy,
eventful lives," Maplethorpe said. "They're
studying any number of interesting academ-
ic pursuits, they're working, they're dating
- and yet when put on the spot, they shrug
off any mention of their current endeavors.
It's positively queer.
"And yet," Maplethorpe continued, "it's
not at all representative of the actual-queer
population, as most gay men instantly
responded to the question of 'So, what's up?'
with, 'Oh, a little some of this, a little some
of that-- girlfriend, please, you know me!"'

Interestingly, past DOLT studies have
returned similarly collective results. A 1998
Internet survey that asked America Online
users between the ages of 18 and 24 the ques-
tion "What kind of music do you listen to?"
produced the near-unanimous answer of, "I like
pretty much everything - except country."
Last year, a DOLT research team con-0
ducted weekly phone interviews with more
than 50,000 college students in order to
determine what movie they wanted to see
that particular weekend. Week in and week
out, the great majority of subjects replied by
saying, "God, there's just nothing out right
now.
According to Fischer, a current study
regarding the banking practices of young
adults is turning up intriguing findings of its
own.
"When asked whether they preferred as
savings or checking account," Fischer said,
"more than 99 percent of the college students
in question responded, 'Yo, len'me fi' dol-
lah."'
While sociologists attempt to derive a
greater implicit meaning from the results of
these latest studies, college students like Indi-
ana University junior Margaret Yang have
reacted enthusiastically to the release of the
findings.
"Oh yeah, I heard it's really good," Yang
said. "I mean, I haven't read it yet, but I
heard it's really good."
Chris Kula's column runs every Thursday Give
him feedback at www michigandaily cornforum
or via email at ckula@umich.edu.


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Tomorrow's rally an
expression of pride
and unity, not hate
TO THE DAILY:
As many of you know, at noon tomorrow,
the University is expecting a visitor. The visitor
plans to protest one of the biggest Lesbian,
Gay, Bi, Transgender events of year, the Queer
Visibility Week rally, (AKA "The Kiss-In").
He spews anti-gay rhetoric. He will try to piss
you off. Don't waste your energy on him.
Those who have been planning the Q-Vis
Week events (myself included) are not simply
saying this to prevent a repeat of the Ann Arbor
KKK rally several years ago, in which hostility
turned quickly into violence. The result was
bloodshed, pepper spray and the emergence of
a dozen new chapters of the KKK, which were
sympathetic to their quasi-martyred klansmen.
One reason we are asking to hold back your
anger is because we are well aware of our visi-
tor's tactics. A large number of his closest rela-
tives are lawyers. This means if you touch him
or throw things at him, he can claim "assault
and battery," or if you say his name or threaten
him, he can press charges. And win.
But the main reason that we are asking you
to be peaceful, is because this is not a hate-fest.
The rally is meant to be an expression of queer
pride and unity. By attending this event, you
are making a strong and powerful statement by
showing that you support and celebrate the
queer community. You are showing that what
the speakers say, and what the performers do
are important to you.
We invite members of the LGBT communi-
ty as well as their allies, to come in high spirits.
Dress in drag, go glam, go butch, be who you
are, be who you want to be, have fun. But don't
let anger spoil the celebration.
NAOMI BAUM
LSA senior
The letter writer is co-director ofAha va, the
Jewish LGBT and Friends Collective and
a Queer Visibility Week Coordinator
Friends and family
should support
queer community
To THE DAILY:
Visibility Week is a time for the Les-
bian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people
of the community to celebrate who we are.
The community at the University has always
been supportive of the many events held
during this time. This year, that support is
going to face opposition.

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This Friday at noon on the diag, the
Westboro Baptist Church is planning to
picket the Kiss-In, the final event of visibili-
ty week. Fred Phelps, the minister of the
Westboro Baptist Church is known for
spreading a teaching of hate through his
church. He has picketed the funerals of
Matthew Shepard, AIDS victims and gay
pride events, holding signs saying, "AIDS
cures Fags" and "Matt in Hell."
Since they have the right to be there, I am
asking that all my friends and family come to
this event and exercise their right to disagree
with them. By having a huge number of people
show up to ignore their message of hate and
intolerance, we can show Phelps and his fol-
lowers that the University community does not
share his extreme views.
I hope that everyone who is offended by
Phelps' presence at the Kiss-In will come
this Friday to show that there is no room for
hate in our community.
PATRICK McNEAL
Engineering senior
Asian-Americans do
not need race-based
affirmative action
To THE DAILY:
After reading the news article, "Intervenors
argue affirmative action helps many races,"
(2/13/01) I am astounded to find that there are
people who believe Asian-Americans actually
benefit from affirmative action, especially
regarding its use in admissions at the University.
The use of race-based admissions does not
in any single way help Asians gain acceptance
into the University. According to the process
and scale used, Asian-Americans are consid-
ered "over-represented." In other words, we
contribute too much to the diversity on campus
and our contribution should be limited.
In California, the abolishment of race based
admissions has not hurt Asians as the article

attempts to convey. In fact, of all things, the
overall Asian population at the Universities of
California at Los Angeles and Berkeley has
either been sustained or has increased. Frank
Wu's attempt to break down Asian culture into
various groups does not make sense - you
could then break down Caucasians into its vari-
ous constituent groups.
I am proud of the fact that Asians do not
need race based admissions in order to gain
acceptance into prestigious universities. It
shows that our success is through simple, hard
work. That is why Asians have succeeded, for
the United States has always rewarded those
who work hard, and therefore, for the continued
greatness of our nation.
CHUCK WANG
LSA first-year student
The letter writer is President of VOICE, a student
group that opposes race-based affirmative action.
Club sports totally
ignored by the Daily'
To THE DAILY:
I am wondering why some club sports get
totally ignored by the Daily. Is basketball more
important than any other teams that work as
hard and are very successful? I happen to know
that the women's hockey team is number one in
the nation and have managed to loose only one
game this season. I think that is worthy of a lit-
tle portion of your paper.
JOHN TROMBLEY
Engineering senior
GUTYTER V. BOLUNGER.
DON'T MISS THE CLOSING
ARGUMENTS IN THE LAW SCHOOL
ADMISSIONS TRIALS. A BUS WILL S
LEAVE TOMORROW AT 7 A.M. FROM
THE MICHIGAN UNION.

Phelps' hateful message not shared by most Christians

VIEWPOINT
The University strives to promote diversity;
while diversity is often exhibited on the cam-
pus, it can bring out the worst in humanity. Pas-
tor Fred Phelps has chosen to target our
university in his campaign against homosexual-
ity. While the Bible does condemn homosexual
practices, the shear hatred of Phelps is in no
way in step with the Christian community on

to justify them through misquoting of the Bible
only further labels them as hatemongers and
self-righteous hypocrites. The Bible clearly and
emphatically demonstrates that when dealing
with those whose actions are abominable to
God, kindness is the methodology to be
employed. Jesus himself "eateth and drinketh
with publicans and sinners" (Mark 2:16 of the
King James Bible). Further the Westboro Bap-
tist Church claims that the sins of homosexuals
ae greanter than others: this of course would

on behalf of all Christians on this campus - I
condemn the actions of the hatemongers who
will descend upon the University. While I do
not support the actions of the LGTB communi-
ty, they deserve to be respected as human
beings created in the image of God. While in
the ideal world such miserable rhetoric and vit-
riol could be ignored, in this world it should be
publically condemned, especially by those who
know best how unfounded and baseless this
blind hatred is In the words of Jeff Nieman on