4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 8, 2003
OP/ED
GJbe irbihgan:flailIg
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NOTABLE
QUOTABLE
" The team of
scientists has had
no access to the
alleged family."
- Former ABC science editor Michael
Gullen, on the Raelians' refusal to agree to
DNA-testing of the child they claim to have
cloned, as quoted in yesterday's Washington
Post. Gullen had offered to organize testing
to see if the child is, in fact, a clone.
SAM BUTLER THE S(:)_3PB)X
v eCON5UG .Q5 .
Sticks and stones won't break your bones
JESS PISKOR THis SPACE NOT FOR SALE
I 'm not a Raelian. I pretend you're an evil dictator hell-bent on eccentricity causes us to scoff at the seri-
don't think cloning conquering the world. Would you rather ous good that can come from cloning.
is the key to eternal invest your money in nuclear weapons, Cloning can allow for infertile or
life. I don't particularly advanced jet fighters, Inter-Continental , homosexual couples to reproduce from
want a clone. I'd rather Ballistic Missiles, nerve gas and smallpox, their own genes. While in vitro fertilization
have a child the old or waste your money on cloned foot sol- and fertility drugs often are all that is
fashioned way. But I diers? You actually think the clones are a needed, most people would agree that it
don't have any problem better investment? How are you going to would be nice if we could ensure couples
if someone else wants a feed these troops? Do you really want to (and single mothers) have children if they
clone. The hysteria wait 18 years for them to mature into want them. Of course, plenty of people dis-
over cloning is out of control. Society has grown fighters? What if they rebel like all agree with that statement, but then again, a
nothing to fear from a couple of clones. good teenagers and overthrow your gov- . lot of them disagree because they don't
With all the hoopla over the negative conse- ernment? Should you clone them each girl- think homosexuals or single mothers
quences of cloning, you would think scientists friends and boyfriends? should have kids at all.
had developed a bomb of such magnitude it Well, okay but what about the trial and I oppose banning human cloning for the
could destroy the world - oh wait, we already error aspect. All these cloned animals seem same reason I am wary of any law that
have that. Our concerns oyer science run amok, to have a lot of genetic deformities. Isn't it restricts abortion -.it opens the door for
while valid, are often entirely misplaced. Peo- wrong to clone humans knowing that a further restrictions. If we ban human
ple want to ban clones, yet far more sinister large portion of them will be somehow cloning, therapeutic cloning and stem-cell
things are embraced. handicapped or unhealthy. This is a legiti- research could also be hurt. The Bush
There are no good reasons to really mate reason to be wary of cloning now. administration would like to see a ban on
oppose cloning. Very few people actually People shouldn't rush out to get clones all cloning and is very wary of stem-cell
want clones. This is important since many of until the science is proven. But these prob- research. These medical advances could
the doomsday scenarios circulating about lems can theoretically be corrected. It hold the key to curing many chronic ill-
cloning stem from fears of watering down doesn't make sense to permanently ban nesses and other health problems.
the gene pool and destroying genetic diversi- human cloning because it is a new and Children are affected as much by their
ty. But really, would a few rich, identical therefore imperfect science. environment than their genes. Cloned kids
twins really make any difference? We will It's unfortunate that a fringe group was aren't going to be the same as their par-
never live in a society where even a sizable the first to claim a cloned human, since it ents. Their fingerprints won't be the same.
minority of people see cloning as the pre- tends to cast a negative light on all They'll be a different age and will have
ferred method of reproduction. Sex is too cloning. It's easy to say, "Look at these different hairstyles. They will always be
much fun and cloning is too expensive. crazy people. Do we really want them rare. What's the big deal? Besides, who
Another totally improbable fear is cloning anything?" But we would be ask- wouldn't want a personal army of cloned,
worry about an army of cloned, brain- ing the same questions if the Raelians had brainwashed, killer ninjas?
washed, killer ninjas. That might work in been the first to invent guns or to live in
Star Wars, but in the real world there are Ohio. Ask yourself "Do we really want Jess Piskor can be reached
easier paths to world domination. Let's them armed with machine guns?" Their atpiskor@umich.edu.
VIEWPOINT
Conservative Carr 'officially on the clock'
BY JOSEPH LITMAN by way of the Michigan secondary. ing in that gray cloud seemed, if nothing else,
In fact, by the age of 15, I had already decid- poetically appropriate having watched the Scar-
Born and bred in New York, I never had a ed that I'd like to attend the University because let and Silver euphorically run around Sun
natural allegiance to any local college football of its athletic program. (I was also persuaded, of Devil Stadium.
team because most of them were marginal at course, by Rumeal Robinson and a bizarre, two- Quickly, though, I returned from the illusion
best against mid-level teams. Neither my NYU- year, recurring dream in which five guys came and realized that all the Buckeye victory proved
graduate mother nor my Brooklyn College- to Michigan and ushered in a new era of hoops. was how far our team is from where it should
alum father had any reason to indoctrinate me Imagine if the latter had actually occurred.) It be - a distance akin to the one between Tampa
with a preference for either of their alma maters. was, therefore, serendipitous when a college and Tempe. Michigan was not in the title game
Thus, my attachment to college football was counselor mentioned that Ann Arbor was also a matching Miami's speed; Michigan was not
forged by what was on television - lots of great place to learn. showing championship resolve by finding ways
Notre Dame and Michigan games. During all those years that I sat in front of to win each week; most importantly, Michigan
The Fighting Irish quickly became my least my New York television watching Michigan was not galvanized by its coach's confidence
favorite team. I detested that the media loved with adoration and Notre Dame with contempt, and discipline. Instead, we were left to the
them and I had no patience for the deification of there was another team with frequently-tele- mercy of Ron Zook's idiocy; we were left with
Ron Pawluses. (And, while this is non-football vised games that also raised my ire: the gentle- yet another disappointing season.
related, I need to get this off my chest while men representing The (dramatic pause) Ohio Something, therefore, has to change. Out
lambasting Notre Dame: No coach was less State University. (Vomiting. Lots of vomiting.) with Schembechler and in with Spurrier; run it
deserving to end UCLA's basketball winning Due to my passion for the Maize and Blue, I up, don't grind it out; speed beats speed, brawn
streak than the English-language-butchering, quickly came to resent every Ohio State victory, does not. Augusts should hear players and
totally-moronic, worst-college-basketball-ana- viewing them as personal insults. Who was I coaches talking about winning the national title,
lyst-alive Richard "Digger" Phelps. Now back rooting for each week? Michigan, and whichev- not, like ostriches, only about going to the Rose
to your regularly scheduled "Why-Notre- er teams were playing Notre Dame and OSU. Bowl. No one in Ann Arbor should feel good
Dame's-the-Worst" broadcast.) Thus, I was Last Friday night, I sat at home sickened about 10-3 because no one in Lincoln or
killed when they would beat "cool" teams like because Ohio State defeated Miami to claim the Columbus or Norman does.
Michigan and hurt even more when a program I National Championship. Forget a punch; I felt The responsibility for this change falls on
so thoroughly abhorred was so widely adored as though-someone had smacked m in the Lloyd Carr, whose grace period following the
by seemingly everyone else. stomach with a lead pipe. I quickly called some national title he won with another coach's play-
This deeply felt discontent with the Irish led friends to try and commiserate, but one of them ers should be over. Conservative Carr has lost
me to embrace Michigan. The school's beauti- completely punked me. Instead of lamenting the too many winnable games and settled for too
ful colors, ubiquity on the boob tube and amaz- Buckeyes' victory, he waxed about Big Ten many mediocre efforts.
ing fortunes, both good and bad, made it easy, supremacy - evidenced by the conference's 5- To borrow a term from the NFL: Lloyd Carr
anyway. I danced around my living room when 2 bowl record and title-winning champion - is officially on the clock.
Desmond Howard struck the Heisman pose in and the solace Michigan could find for having
the end zone; I cried when Kordell Stewart all but beaten OSU in the Horseshoe. Litman is an LSA senior and a member
threw that ball 70 yards to Michael Westbrook Initially, I supposed that finding a silver lin- of the Daily's editorial board.
Britney Spears is not fat
MIKE HANSEN iRoM TE )UNIVEITy XWIRE
You can't write a dissertation
without cracking a few
books. Neither can you take a
stand on an issue of global importance
without taking your eyes off the
Playstation for a few hours and engag-
ing in dialogue on the issue in ques-
tion. This weekend's Stop the War
conference will provide just such an
opportunity. The program's primary
goal is to educate activists and,
according to its website, to "increase
the effectiveness of the antiwar move-
ment." The program will include a
wide range of activities, including
panels, workshops and lectures featur-
ing prominent intellectuals and expe-
rienced activists who seek to garner
support for this movement.
Since the United States has yet to
declare war on Iraq or any other nation,
some may argue that this conference's
timing is premature. But President
Bush's deployment of troops from Fort
Hood and the Navy hospital ship
USNS Comfort clearly signals the pos-
sibility of military conflict. In many of
his addresses, Bush has mentionedthe
necessity of force in this situation with
Iraq. The president's political rhetoric
has implied that he is considering war
against Iraq and so far dissenters have
been fairly meek. Given the United
States' propensity toward war, this
anti-war conference seems logical and
necessary. Yet its importance lies not in
its ideological position on the subject
per se, but in its methods and motives
for affirming this position.
For the University, the conference
serves two key functions. First, the
event serves to educate, and arguably
this is its main goal. By bringing pro-
fessors from around the country to
speak on campus, it proclaims its
devotion to the most important asset
to a war-bound nation, and more
specifically a college student: knowl-
edge. As future intellectuals and the
future citizens and historians who will
criticize and shape public opinion of
this period, our complete understand-
ing of these current events is manda-
tory. Whether you are conservative or
liberal, dove or hawk, informed analy-
sis of this historic situation is the only
way to justify any position.
There is a loftier, less tangible rea-
son to attend this conference: to con-
tinue the tradition of student activism
here at the University and among
most American college students. As
the intellectual youth of the nation,
our activism in political acts as a rep-
utable symbol of public opinion. A
demonstration at a college, whether
pro-war or anti-war, shows the gov-
ernment that concerned and informed
individuals feel adamantly about the
issue. Involvement in current events is
the mark of college students who
understand and care about the world
around them.
The Stop the War conference pre-
sents an array of informative sessions
designed to educate students about this
war, war in general and the nature of
activism, while motivating students to
develop an opinion and stand by their
convictions. It is an asset to the Univer-
sity student who desires to be educated
and active.
For information and registration
visit http://www.iraqconference.com.
A
ritney Spears is fat. She has a
huge stomach that sticks out
and it's really disgusting."
These very words were uttered by a 10-
year-old girl I tutored. Absurd sociocultural
standards of thinness and beauty like this
are causing severe eating disorders in 10
percent of college students._
A s my pup il DAL RI
and I flipped THE DAILY BRUIN
through People U. CALIFORNIA-LOS.
magazine, she
stopped at the page with a photo of the
plastic princess of pop. Then she promptly
informed me that our beloved beauty Brit-
ney is overweight and unattractive.
How could this be? Is not Britney
Snear the female s v mohAl of onr time?
what must she think about her own appear-
ance? Even more saddening is that my
pupil is not the thinnest girl on the block.
So, given her assessment of Britney Spears,
she must feel tremendous shame and guilt
about her own body weight.
Remarkably, popular culture and media
have generated these disturbing miscon-
ceptions of weight among
the youth. By fourth
ANGELES grade, 80 percent of Cali-
fornia girls have gone on
a diet. This is no surprise considering that
young girls are taught Barbie is the stan-
dard for beauty. If Barbie were life-sized,
she would stand 5-foot-9 and weigh 110
pounds, with measurements of 39-18-33.
According tn the Rrhie hbnehmark . rit-
We all have problems in our lives and feel
the need to control events which affect us.
Eating disorders are just one method of
coping with these anxieties. People with
eating disorders feel they are unable to
control their lives and problems, so they
turn to eating habits as a means of assert-
ing control and distracting themselves
from their pain.
The quest for thinness is an obsession.
The culture of disordered eating is so perva-
sive in our society that we unintentionally
encourage eating disorders. A popular myth
that encourages anorexia is the story that the
University of California at Los Angeles Din-
ing Services adds starch to the lettuce so that
anorexics can get more calories and vitamins
from etini z diet nfsalad onlv. (This myth
40
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