4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 27, 2001 OP/ED I eJ £ibiJaU iai 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu 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. NOTABLE QUOTABLE It's totally inconsistent with the kind of behavior we would have expected from our people, so it has been very upsetting to learn of this." - Orin Smith, president of the Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee chain as quoted in yesterday's Guardian newspaper of London after learning that a New York City franchise had charged rescue workers $1 3Ofor three cases of water used to treat victims of shock after the World Trade Center attacks. 01 AMERICAN4S TO RESUME. TIW1R~ _... = -, 1AQL tLIVES. MA4'I IL , \4X.L.L C4OM4E TO BWbAICAS1 AS i T95RE ~ ACE 90OOTHER NEWS AMO i NEB CAm'tio -N -..o I CovCi& 4 4 Dictating the pace of our recovery DAVID HORN HORNOGRAPHY I portsC enter defines routine. There is some- thing wonderfully assur- ing about the show's guaranteed appearance along your channel-surf- ing route at certain h.early-morning hours. Late at night, whether studying, partying, you keep seeing bits and piece of the ESPN's "flagship" pro- gram, which it plays ad infinitum. "Oh, yeah ... I saw the Knicks high- lights when I stopped at home before... Yeah, I heard the end of the Giants' game was ridiculous. I want to see that at some point tonight." For sports fans, the constant stream of the boys from Bristol is like a warm bed - it'll be there waiting for you at the end of a long day. But Osama bin Laden screwed it all up. We were left with what my friends and I referred to as "bizarro-SportsCenter." If we watched other television shows as reli- giously as SportsCenter, we would have coined "bizarro-Letterman" or "bizarro- Total Request Live." This bizarro phenomenon was the result of a decision by the powers that be, which suggests that everyone in the coun- try ought to mourn together, simultaneous- ly. Are they right? On one level, there is something vulgar about a broadcast that deals exclusively with a topic as relatively trivial as sports to air so soon after an attack like on Sept. 11. On the other hand, some people want to see sports highlights - if for no other reason than as an escape. Granted, there were no sports being played that Tuesday, or during the following week. What resulted was a SportsCenter that had become an alternate reality of itself. Fewer flashy graphics, catchy intros and segues, no witty bantering between anchors. It was a SportsCenter devoid of humor and fun. And that's a problem. I've felt for the past few weeks that I need to laugh. There's nothing funny about what hap- pened in New York, but there's nothing really funny about TRL, either. There are some who say that bin Laden, or whoever perpetrated the attack on the 11th wanted to disrupt our "American way of life." Whoa. Big words. What does that mean? It seems to mean bizarro-SportsCenter. It seems to mean an America that has lost its "swingin' '90s" sensibilities and needs to sit Shiva for a while. A few nights ago, I watched Craig Kil- born's late-night talk show where he revealed his (or his network's) plan for gradually reintroducing humor back into his show. It was all so calculated. CBS and Kilbourn seem to know when it's time to start laughing again - when producing a show based on sarcasm and satire will be profitable again. CBS, ESPN, CNN, NBC, et al. are try- ing to dictate the pace of our recovery. They are in an advantageous position, as 24-hour broadcasting has become the ironi- cally unidirectional town meeting of the 21st Century. If NBC never let Leno tell jokes again, that would greatly influence the emotional and psychological state of this nation. I don't want NBC to have any influence in that. I don't want CNN to do a segment on "returning to normalcy." Those net- works are there for a reason, whether it be 24-hour news, 24-hour sports, 24-hour "Friends"... They are not there to tell America how to feel, and when to feel. I'll laugh when I'm ready to laugh. Ted Turner can do the same. America has revealed itself to be too self-aware. We have progressed through the stages of denial, anger, grievance, etc. at an accelerated pace. It has been acceler- ated due to the rapidity of news cycles and our acc.ess to information. It has been accelerated because MSNBC found that airing the footage of the crash can only be profitable for so long, even if people are not yet done grieving, or coming to terms with what happened. It has been accelerat- ed because ESPN found that bizarro- SportsCenter ought not to last too long, because most people want the comfort of hours upon hours of Trey Wingo and Co. to return. America is made up of individuals - it is not a market, or a target audience. Don't allow Brian Williams or Bernard Shaw or Peter Jennings to tell you when to cry, or when to laugh. Time will heal your wounds - your wounds, on your own time - bizarro-SportsCenter will not. David Horn can be reached via e-mail at hornd@umich.edu. V VIEWPOINTS 4 Students of color should question this war BY PANTHER McALLISTER AND MONIQUE LUSE V LETTERS TO THE EDITOR YAF: For the record, we're not part of anti-war movement To THE DAILY: I would like to set the record straight concerning Young Americans for Free- dom's position on the impending war and our protest last Thursday. We were in no way, by no stretch of the imagination, "anti-war" as Jason Roover stated in his Wednesday letter to the Daily. ("Bush responsible for the protection of the United States," 9/26/01). In fact, we find the current anti-war sen- timent to be closely allied with anti-Ameri- can sentiment and the anti-war rally Thursday motivated us to create a strong patriotic presence. We understand fully that it was the sacrifices of our predecessors that gives us the freedom to protest. We came to the Diag Thursday with the intent to bolster patriotism on campus and show our support for the U.S., its soldiers overseas and to respect the lives of those who have died because of, or for, our free- dom. This includes those victims of the World Trade Center attack and the brave soldiers who have already given their lives so that we may live in comfort. Our love of the United States runs very deep and we have the utmost respect for those who volunteer to protect our free- doms. We have a somber understanding of the price of security and freedom. We real- ize that -men will give their lives so that we can have liberty and security. That deserves the utmost respect. We know that freedom is neither free nor cheap. We are supportive of the means to secure these freedoms and preserve our lib- erties. PETER APEL LSA senior The letter writer is chairman ofthe University's chapter of the Vnima A.- 4,;..4,,6 In. Prorlnm LETTERS POLICY J~fhe AuMic}i. an 1J14ii% rcf.T i i t Fdts,. e i.Ulr l'staf and ad iniStramtrs t' be givn p} ority over others Lette}i must inltude the writers th afniluon T her Da1ly will nrbIt, a, 3ter not be olerated word'T}. .1 lTh M ~ich ' 1i ft -re~vthe igh t dit for .kngth clarty arid accur'icy Loge iewuint nay be 4rr ndth a edr ..- et ; be ru according to order eceved and he etters shudb eu vI a7mai tto dltien@umijiei or m n to rd Day at 420 Maynard St Edator can he reached e a eimejj in persoii or ate ota ev Wednesday's Daily hours of good reading TO THE DAILY: September 26's issue was hands down the strangest Daily ever. I recently had a friend my age get mar- ried, and I'll tell you, its not something to be celebrated ("Married couples a rarity at 'U'). Domesticating one's self in one's college years is a terrible, terrible tragedy. At least be honest and say the real reason they did it, which is to have an excuse to have sex. But, kudos on the BAMN article ("BAMN blasted for dominating racial issues"). The Adventures of BAMN and/or The Mas- sive Power Trip of Jackie Bray makes for hours and hours of interesting reading. Also, Waj Syed ("Under the Flak: The Second Coming") is the best columnist you have there by a mile, simply because he is the only one who doesn't constantly talk about his personal life. Keep up the above-average work. CHRIS FICI LSA iuninr We are not pacifists. We are not peace nuts. But we do think that you should question this war. We are black activists and we do support our men and women in the armed services. This is not a piece about being anti-war; it's a piece about how this war adversely effects black people in the United States. This country has a history of being either violently racist, painfully exclusive, or generally uninterested in the plight of black people in American. This is a country supposedly based on the concepts of free- dom, basic human rights and equal opportu- nity. However the United States has been nei- ther free, just, nor fair to its black residents. Accepting these facts, it seems to us that people should then sort out the facts of what, according to George W., is going to be a "long war" that will not be only fought with bombs and air strikes but also with ground warfare. The most compelling problem that we have with this war is who is going to die. A disproportionate number of the American men and women who will fight and die on the frontlines will be black and Latino/a. It is no accident, no sudden upsurge of patrio- tism among America's poorest and most poverty stricken citizens, that draws them into the nation's military recruitment offices. Many blacks choose to join the armed services because they see the military as the only way to better their lives. There is noth- ing wrong with choosing to join the armed services - it is an honorable choice. How- ever, when black and Latino/a people are disproportionately represented in the mili- tary, one must wonder why that is. It is economics and opportunity correlat- ed with racism and the historically dispro- portionate allocation of resources that has resulted in the ethnic makeup of our armed services. There are other factors influencing this situation. This is directly related to the dis- proportionate amount of recruitment that is done in the inner city schools that blacks and latinos attend. The armed services pro- vide a career for the poorly educated and unskilled young black and Latino/a men and women that this society produces and the most efficient way to pay for higher educa- tion. Blacks are playing catch up for more than 400 years of oppression, disenfran- chisement, violence and lack of economic opportunities. Many black youth are receiving sub-par education and live in poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Coming out of such a dis- empowering situation, it is no wonder that so many young black people see the mili- tary as the ideal path to a life of structure, stability and economic power - not to mention the opportunity to go to college. This is a sweet deal - except for now, when we as Americans bury our heads in the sand. So as we begin this long cam- paign, let us not fall into the trap of dehu- manizing any who human-being who will die. Many of the casualties of this "war" will be innocent foreign civilians as well as American citizens who die as victims of racism. As we all fall in rank behind the Presi-4 dent and seek deserved justice, will we also allow our nation's black sons and daughters die as casualties of fundamentally racist practices? We hope not. Question the war along with us and others, starting tomorrow on the Diag at 3 p.m. McAllister and Luse are speaker and vice-speaker of the Black Student Union, respectively. Luse is an organizer of tomorrow's rally on the Diag. Guilt by association BY FADI KIBLAWI On May 12, 1828, Nat Turner reported that there was a "great noise" in the heavens and "the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was approaching when the first should be the last and the last should be the first." A few months later, Turner, who was the most popular black preacher for miles around, led a slave rebellion killing all the white people that he and his followers encountered. Men, women, and children alike were brutally massacred. It is documented that slaves from miles around knew of the rebellion beforehand. more, "Jihad" is not a holy war in which all Muslims take up arms and kill as many non- Muslims as possible. Rather, Jihad literally translates to "striving," and most of the time encompasses internal personal efforts towards the way of God. Many might say, for instance, that a good example of Jihad in America is Muslim women's wearing of the hijab, or headscarf, in a society where any- thing seen as different or strange is looked down upon and even targeted. While it is true that some rulers have been overzealous in their application of "jihad," one cannot deny that countless times in history, many leaders from all across the religious and ethnic spectrums have also been overzealous as well. A good example of this is the Zionist movement. While a Jewish state is something that most people do not contest, and some- agenda. To relate the struggle of the Palestini- ans for independence, freedom, and natural rights with the immoral and un-Islamic actions of Osama bin Laden is not only misleading, but dangerous as well. While I can say that any act of terrorism is wrong, whoever com- mits it, be it an individual or a state, it would be wrong of me to implicate an entire people 4 or cause. While Nat Turner was wrong in slaughtering numerous civilians, including women and children, the struggle against slav- ery was in no way wrong. One cannot deny that for decades now the Israeli government has irrationally imposed countless racist and oppressive measures on the Palestinians with- in Israel, as well as those within illegally occu- pied territories. Therefore, the struggle as a whole against this is in fact justified, despite certain uniustifinhle ac tcommitted hv asmall -