4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 13, 2002 + f + aiI t { OP/ED 0 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com NOTABLE QUOTABLE CHIP CULLEN GRINDING TiE Nm TOM ORROW, ON VALIXNV MY,'~ You WIL . gl~To .,. EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JON SCHWARTZ Editor in Chief JOHANNA HANINK Editorial Page Editor "Grade inflation? Are they kidding? Dude, my grades are not inflated." '1 r A r 1 i / ,'f,>" k r1 \ i/ 4 1 (4> > K) Vll~, Q' j l f t P' .M. r 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. - Harvard Crimson columnist Arianne Cohen, on the sentiment "strung out students" exchange over breakfast in Harvard dining halls. The column, titled "Where are my inflated grades?," appeared in yesterday's Crimson. SPEND $15 SPM 910 SPLTNo S404- (X-SPEXV TIK~ ON F QW4SRS IWAT ON CNOcoL..AT 'F~OR Dt1 R AT IT OMNC YOO fbV.WEAL LoU~I~t(asP(~IL~NiOF CHWS &. _____________________________ ft_ -~t. LO -- U1 61P C? I LA - rn2.C&,rpanhsfi:L t. Misrepresentation: A sign of The Times NICK WOOMER BACK TO THE WOOM 46 A 11 the News necessarily much of a stretch to infer that when we see on page Al where the Times is putting That's Fit to Iran's president says his country wants "peace- words into the Iranian president's mouth. This Print" - this ful relations with all nations of the world," he again doesn't second-guess "Senior military pompous assertion appears doesn't mean Israel as well. officials"' motives, much less stick words into every day at the top of the Still, there are serious problems with the their mouths. Rather, it questions the credibili- front page of the most over- way MacFarquhar wrote his story. First, the ty of the "Afghans" by stating that said mili- rated newspaper in the "except Israel" part is tacked onto the end of tary officials "sharply question(ed)" the world. Reading The New Khatami's quote so that if someone reads the Afghans' "assertions." When we say that York Times regularly (or, sentence quickly (as people tend to do when someone makes an "assertion" it usually perhaps, The Wall Street they're reading stories in newspapers) he or she implies that there's less-than-adequate reason Journal) is part of what it is to be an informed might think that Khatami actually said "we for them to be saying whatever they're saying member of America's elite class - to be one of intend to have ties and peaceful relations with (see how I use the word in the first sentence of the people whose sentiments shape the form all nations in the world except Israel." This is a this column). and boundaries of debate on every U.S. policy serious difference, especially when there are These are not carefully-picked examples - matter. war hawks in Washington who want to build such discrepancies appear every day in the But The Times, the "paper of record," the up support for a massive military effort against Times and thus permeate all major American paper that sets the entire tone of American jour- all of the countries in the "axis of evil." newspapers and television news outlets. nalism, is more about preserving popular com- This clearly wasn't an isolated case of bad A common retort to these observations placency and U.S. hegemony than doing the editing at the Times; even if Khatami had might be "who cares?" American officials cer- job we rightly expect it to be doing, that is, explicitly clarified himself later is his speech, tainly have more credibility than Iranian offi- reporting the news. Every day, the Times stating that Israel is an exception to "all nations cials ..." I would refer these doubters to what applies a double standard when it covers news of the world," the way in which the Times the United States has done in the past. about American policy and news about "ene- reports that statement is disingenuous and mis- How much should we trust a government mies" of the United States. leading to readers. The Times could have that continues to thwart efforts to establish an Let's examine yesterday's Times. Appear- informed its readers just as well by saying international criminal court for fear that some ing on the front page, accompanied by a photo something to the effect of "Mr. Khatami later of its own officials (or ex-officials) will be of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami stated that Iran would not seek a peaceful rela- charged like Slobodan Milosevic for war addressing a massive crowd, is a story head- tionship with Israel." crimes. Or blocks a United Nations probe into lined "Millions in Iran Rally Against U.S." by The second problem here is that the Ameri- Bill Clinton's cruise missile attack against a Neil MacFarquhar. In his article, Macfarquhar can newspaper of record is engaged in putting Sudanese pharmaceutical factory, causing discusses about how Iranians came out in words into the mouths of world leaders in ways untold numbers of Africans to die. Or helped droves on Monday to protest the United States, that clearly misrepresent what they actually install a brutal military dictatorship in Chile and specifically George W. Bush's inclusion of said. over the democratically elected Salvadore Iran in his "axis of evil." Now take a look at the article by James Dao Allende, on Sept. 11 1973. Or gave the green Early in the story, before it breaks, we're headlined "U.S. Defends Missile Strike, Saying light (and weapons) to Indonesian dictator treated to the following: "'Our policy is a poli- Attack Was Justified," buried on page A12. Suharto to terrorize and slaughter thousands of cy of detente,' Mr. Khatami told the throng The lead says: "Senior military officials today civilians in East Timor... Obviously the list clogging all avenues of Freedom Square in defended a missile attack by a Central Intelli- goes on, but you get the point. Tehran. 'We intend to have ties and peaceful gence Agency drone over eastern Afghanistan American officials do not need, much less relations with all nations in the world,' except last week, calling the strike 'appropriate' and deserve, the special treatment they receive Israel." sharply questioning assertions by Afghans that every day "from the paper of record" but the Now initially, this might seem fine. Iran has the missile killed as many as three peasants American people need better reporting. long provided aid to organizations that are who were merely scrounging for scrap metal." working actively to destroy the Israeli state Here we observe a much different treat- Nick Woomer can be reached at totally or at least as it now operates. So it isn't ment of American government officials than nwoomer@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR BAMN should learn from mistakes of past militants To THE DAILY: I have spent the beginning of the winter semester engrossed in the history of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, through my participation in the Lloyd Hall Scholars Program's Civil Rights class (and upcoming trip). After witnessing last weekend's rally and then reading further about the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and Integration and Fight for Equality By Any Means Nec- essary in Monday's Daily (BAMN defends purpose, 2/11/02) I feel compelled to respond to what I see as a gross misrepre- sentation of the legacy of the struggle for civil rights. Reading first-hand accounts of partici- pants in the original movement, most notably John Lewis (now a Congressman, but former leader of the Student Nonvio- lent Coordinating Committee) and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, it is clear that the strength and success of the American Civil Rights Movement were due to its leaders' unshakable belief in nonviolence. From the Birmingham bus boycotts of 1955, to the March on Washington for Jobs and Free- dom in 1963, and through to the Selma, Alabama protests of 1965, Civil Rights workers, and especially college students, stayed true to the precepts of non-violent "direct action" as the most effective way to fight segregation and bigotry. They were not afraid to face firehoses, dogs, bullets or bombs, because they knew that in the long run, their lack of violent response would provide powerful evidence of racial injustice to both the country and the world. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s achieved huge gains for the fight for equality - specifically, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. When it began to fall apart, however, was when it turned towards violence and militance. The peaceful marches and protests of the early implications. In a rally to motivate the crowd last Friday, which consisted of a majority of non-University students, Uni- versity of Tennessee student Dumaka Shabazz was quoted as saying, "If we have to destroy some things, we will destroy some things." I fail to understand how this mentality can come from the same group that rallied in honor of Dr. King last month, without it being seen as a direct affront to every belief for which Dr. King lived and died. In the last speech that he ever delivered, one day before he was assassinated, Dr. King said, "It is no longer a choice between vio- lence and nonviolence in this world: It's nonviolence or nonexistence." These words comprise the incredible impact of the Civil Rights Movement of the '50s and '60s, but I find them every bit as relevant (if not more so) today as they were 35 years ago. BAMN may have labeled its struggle the "New Civil Rights Movement," but their militant ideology is lightyears away from the one that came before. Socioeconomic and racial inequality are among the most significant issues that face America today and BAMN deserves respect for trying to address them. It is a shame, though, that they are so short-sight- ed as to ignore theway that the first Amer- ican Civil Rights movement lost all relevance when it turned from nonviolence to militant radicalism. JENNIFER NATHAN LSA freshman Daily picture did more to advertise for Nike than SOLE's golf balls To THE DAILY: I have been asked numerous times "what was up with the golf balls" - in reference to the Daily's Editorial yesterday, SOLE Sport- ing Nike? which commented on the fact that Students Organizing for Labor and Econom- ic Equality used Nike golf balls Monday on the Diag. The answer to that question is both supporting a brutal global economy, not even SOLE. We can only work daily to change the system that currently dominates. The Daily stated that we are not anti-Nike; this is true, we do not oppose any one corporation. I and SOLE collectively do stand in opposition to a global economic system that allows large multinational corporations to encourage and campaign for a race to the bottom that exploits people in the United States and internationally. What was lost on the Daily's editorial page yesterday were the workers in sweat- shops around the world. Specifically, yester- day, it was the 215 women and men currently walking the picket-line in Derby, New York; people who can tell you the intri- cacies of stitching the Michigan 'M' while they explain to you that they simply cannot feed their children on the salaries being offered them. They will laugh about stories of rush orders after we win large sporting events while chronicling grotesque numbers of needle punctures - not pricks, but punc- tures -that go straight through to their bones. Itis the global reality that sweatshops are so pervasive it will be years before we can all truly be sweatshop-free. The fact that the Daily chose to run a photo that so promi- nently displayed the Nike logo on the front page of its newspaper represents an editorial decision that did much more to advertise for Nike than a few golf balls scuttling across the Diag. This University has an opportunity and responsibility to be apart of the change that is to come, as does this editorial page. JACKIE BRAY, LSA sophomore The letter writer is a member of Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality and the United Students Against Sweatshops Coordinating Committee. LETTERS POLICY The Michigan Daly welcomes letters from all of its readers. Letters from University students, faculty, staff and administrators will be given priority over others. Letters should include the writer's name, college and school year or other Uni- versity affiliation. The Daily will not print any letter ...«.........ra -~va~t +k t n rrt Y "frip