4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 2, 2001 OP/ED 6 4 Gb trbT9I1t ]DilIU 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 Paradoxically, nothing would do more for the peace of mind of Americans than to discover that an American - some unabomber or right-wing lunatic - was responsible for the anthrax attacks." -Jonathan Schell, in the Nov. 12 issue of The Nation. Schell is the magazine's peace and disarmament correspondent. " . /2 _ ' _.__'~A STATE.PAwMTEv THE RCK SPART(YAROUMP 114E. Ci O(Ck! I t o O LAA-1AGw4WA~J~'s W PAVE TIME foR W.I4AN ' OEY tDWIt NLE.d To $OTIRER SOW1K& UPFOKCLASS,. You know my steez REBECCA ISENBERG ONE TURNTABLE AND A M2ICIROPHONE Smagine that you're walking down State Street and you see a *.girl wearing tight black pants. She probably has on high platform black boots manufactured by the likes of a guy named Steve Madden. On top she is wearing a spaghetti strap low cut tank top that most likely is encrusted with glitter or decorated with a picture of a mundane object, like a blender or a bicycle, that has been studded with pastel rhinestones. The makeup that this girl is wearing would probably be able to get a whole sorority house through the weekend. You may think to your- self, "Hey that girl must be headed out to a club," or "That girl must be on her way to a hot date." However, I would say that this assumption, chances are, is wrong. I bet this girl is on her way to class. If you're like me, then these people piss you off. Honestly all I have to say to them is, why? Why, I ask, do you get up three hours before a nine o clock class to straighten your hair? Why do you choose to wear the most uncomfortable clothes possible to sit in a lecture hall with 400 other students who are all wearing sweatpants? And why do you think that anyone is noticing what you look like as they're struggling just to keep their eyes open and pay attention. I know these decked out people will claim that they get dressed up for class because looking nice makes them feel good about themselves. It's not for other people right? Wrong. You're only kidding yourself. As you may have guessed I am not one of these people. This guy I know always com- plains to me that I'm always dressed like I'm going to the gym. This is funny cause you'll never find me at the gym. I haven't worked out a day in my life. I know this is surprising to anyone that knows me -- being that I'm so nat- urally diesel - but it's true. But apparently, anyone that wears sneakers on all occasions - instead of shoes that I probably would wear to a senior prom - is going to the gym. Well, excuse me and all the other people who have coinmon sense not to waste their best attire on a poli sci lecture. This is not to say that I don't care about my appearance. I do. I just don't think that the only way to medsure someone's attractiveness is how tight their pants are or how high their heels are. Actually, I think this whole dressing up thing is a double standard. A guy can go to class, go to the gym, and then go to the bar all in the same outfit. He can get away with it. It doesn't matter if he approaches a bouncer on a Friday night wearing jeans and t-shit that prob- ably haven't been washed in days. Yet, when I come to the bar in my sneakers and jeans with a simple white Hanes tank top I can easily be sin- gled out for my overtly casual attire. This bouncer will most likely assume I'm not as ready to party as the girl next to me looking like she's ready to go to a Hollywood movie pre- miere. Is this justice? I think not. But the real question is if guys can get away with wearing the same casual clothes for any occasion then why do some guys feel the need to wear all black with tight shirts and gold belts? What's with those guys? They're really creating more trouble for themselves than they have to. And another thing: Watch it with those spikes in your hair, guys. I mean, you could poke my eye out with the amount of gel you've greased yourself up with. Obviously people are going to wear what they want. And if you want to wear designer labels and tight fitting clothes when you're tak- ing your biology test and when you're at a frat party that's your prerogative. But, take it from me, this is unnecessary. Don't waste your time getting decked out for class. This takes too much effort. Sleep in, save yourself the trouble. Chances are you're going to go home at the end of the day, when you're in the privacy of your own dorm room or apartment, and put on your Michigan sweatpants anyway. So why create so much laundry for yourself? The point is, even though I may not always be wearing the stereotypical "sorority girl" out- fit of tight black pants and boots, I can still look put together in my sneakers and jeans. The dif- ference between me and those other girls is that I'll be comfortable after a long night of danc- ing, and I probably won't care if some drunken frat guy spills his beer on me. Wait, I'll care 'cause this guy should watch where he's going, but at least I won't have ruined my best clothes on a Thursday night at ZBT. So the next time you get dressed in the morning or scrounge around in your closet for something to wear this weekend, remember that sometimes less is more. And let's be honest, hopefully you won't have your clothes on for long anyway. Rebecca Isenberg can'be reached via e-mail at risen ber@umich.edu. Y LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Y IN PASSING Music fan fulfills duty, critiques Daily's Pledge tour review TO THE DAILY: As a student who is a fan of most of the bands that appeared at Van Andel Arena Sun- day night, I feel it is my duty to write this letter. I don't know what concert was reviewed by the Daily ("Danger and porno enhance Pledge tour," 10/10/01), but it was not the same one I saw. First of all, Rammstein did not even make the ticket for that night! So if they never took the stage, how then could they have "brought flames and fun to the Gand Rapids venue?" In addition, the second opener "Ameri- can Head Charge" was completely omitted and when you try to review a concert, please do everyone a favor and at least get the names of the songs right. Also, try not to stereotypically describe all the fans there as "overly anguished teens" if the concert would have been truly reviewed, you would have seen a crowd as diverse as the Univer- sity's campus. A final thought, instead of headlining "dan- ger and porno" try focusing on the real high- lights of the Slipknots show - an unbelievable pyrotechnic and hydraulic set and a uniting message that we can all learn from. P.S. - Try taking real pictures from the Pledge tour, not Ozzfest. NICHOLAS WARACK LSA freshman When has GEO ever cared about students?' DUCK AND COVER Most public announcements include a spe- cific who, what, where, when and why. Attor- ney General John Ashcroft's recent announcement that there is a credible threat of more terrorism in the next few weeks lacked all of these. Allow me to summarize. Who? Some terrorists. What? Some terrorism. Where? Somewhere in America. When? Sometime in the future. Why? Because they hate our free- doms. Wow, thanks John, I'll be sure to keep my eyes peeled. Ashcroft's real reasons for his public warn- ing have nothing to do with protecting the popu- lace and everything to do with manipulating the public. His announcement accomplishes two things: First, it shields the U.S. intelligence community. Immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks they received a lot of negative press for having been caught with their pants down. If US intelligence agencies continue to come up short, Ashcroft's alert will remove the blame they may incur. There is a second and more disturbing effect: It galvanizes the public for continued and escalated attacks against Afghanistan. If the threat of terrorism constantly looms over the country, then the American people will be more willing to support drastic action against those supposedly responsible. The bombardment of threat alerts from Ashcroft and his ilk is propaganda designed to instill panic and build retaliatory anger. -.Jess Piskor REPUBLICANS AT THEIR WORST Over the years, the Republicans have per- fected the art of exploiting national sentiments a to stir up opposition to the Democratic agenda. In the 1950s and 60s, if a Democrat believed that censoring artists and writers that were criti- cal of Amierican policies was not in the nation's best interests, the American right would be quick to label such criticism as unpatriotic and "soft on communism." Nowadays the Republicans are back at it, blaming congressional Democrats that have spoken out against aspects of the anti-terrorist legislation that violate civil liberties as easy on terrorism and threatening national security. Who do these punks think they are? Dick Armey, Tom DeLay and other conservative congressmen are the biggest advisories on the proposed federal airport security force because they believe that, it represents an ideal that their party stands in firm opposi- tion to, that being "big government." No one will deny that airport security is something that urgently needs to be addressed, but these conservatives will only protect our national security as long as it protects their political goals as well. The Republican Party is guilty of being hypocritical of pointing the finger at the Democrats for stubbornness when it comes to national security issues, but it is also guilty of putting their ultra- zealous beliefs about states' rights and the use of tax dollars before the interest of pro- tecting the lives of Americans. All of this should remindAmericans how disgusting, selfish and repugnant this political force is. - Ari Paul In Passing views are those offindividual members of the Daily 's editorial board, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of The Michigan Daily. TO THE DAILY: I agree with some points of Alyssa Picard's letter regarding English language testing for international GSIs ("GEO: Eng- lish Language tests racist," 11/1/Oi). It is unfair that "white" foreign English speakers aren't tested. All foreign GSIs (and hell, American GSIs as well) should be tested for English. This is a fair requirement that if they want to teach at an American, English- speaking university, they should speak the language! This notion is not racist; it is a matter of learning. I doubt I'm the only one who had a hard time understanding a word of foreign GSIs in their pathetic attempt to speak English when conducting a discussion section. I always thought, how in the hell are these people allowed to teach if they can't even communi- cate. It is not fair to the students, but when has the Graduate Employees Organization ever cared about the students they teach anyway'? Well, if I had a crystal ball, I'd imagine GEO would grow cranky over a number of issues and go on strike again. This time, I hope that the University administration has. enough testicular fortitude to pull a Reagan and fire them all. Students ask yourself this: Are GSIs even necessary anyway? 6 GEO bargaining chair Leland Davis speaks at yesterday's rally. When they went on strike last time, did we really lose out having our discussion sec- tions cancelled? Bottom line: The students deserve to have GSls that communicate in clear English. No exceptions. DAVID TAUB Alumnus YV VIEWPOINT Muslim leaders must show leadership 40 BY JOSHUA BROOK Imagine the following hypothetical situa- tions: A self-identified Christian student at the University contributes a viewpoint to the Daily in which he expresses approval of the murders of Matthew Shepherd and Dr. Barnet Slepian and praises the Ku Klux Klan. No doubt every Christian group on campus and every Christian clergy and lay leader would denounce these sen- timents and disassociate him or herself from the statements made in the viewpoint. A self-identified Jewish student writes an viewpoint for the Daily in which she praises the terrorist murderer Baruch Goldstein, who mas- American or Muslim-American student submits a viewpoint to the Daily in which he praises the terrorist organizations Hamas and Hizbollah -- both of which are responsible for the deliberate murder of innocent civilians, including children. Actually, you don't have to imagine it: On Oct. 22, Wael Hakmeh wrote in the Daily, "We should praise Syria for its allowing Hamas and Hizbollah to fight for their freedom (sic), to rid their land of the illegal Zionist occupation." ("Discussing diplomatic hypocrisy hypocritical- ly," 10/22/01). And what was the response of the various Arab and Muslim organizations on campus to Hakmeh's explicit endorsement of terrorism? Silence. In the days following the publication of fact - as demonstrated by Hakmeh's viewpoint and the reaction to it - that, while not all Arab- and Muslim-Americans support terrorism, not all of them oppose it, either. Of course, every religious and ethnic com- munity has its extremist elements. But it is the responsibility of community leaders to de-legit- imize and condemn those who would twist their faith to justify wanton murder. The appalling public silence that greeted Hakmeh's pro-terror- ist viewpoint is evidence that, sadly, Michigan's Arab and Muslim community leaders are not living up to this responsibility. I hope this will change. Sherman Jackson - who assured us at the Sept. 11 candlelight vigil that Islam, as he interprets it, prohibits the Am