4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 3, 2003
OP/ED
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LOUIE MEIZLISH
Editor in Chief
AUBREY HENRETTY
ZAC PESKOWITZ
Editorial Page Editors
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of
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necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
NOTABLE
QUOTABLE
"The president believes
very strongly, the
bigger the tax cut, the
more jobs that will be
created for the
American people."
- White House Press Secretary Ari
Fleischer, explaining yesterday why
President George W. Bush continues
to push for his $726 billion tax cut.
JOEL HOARD & SCOTT SERILLA STICK FiT REs AR AwEsoMt
4
.
w
kl..4 -
I -
0
Joel couldn't think of anything funny, so Scott drew this kick-ass monster fight scene.
While it's awesome as a stand alone, pretend it's about Iraq or affirmative action or
something if it makes you feel better. It's pretty sweet.
Attack of the squares
JOHN HONKALA Too EARLY IN THE SUN
stole some rabbit one grinned stupidly and I changed the because everybody knows smoking is bad, a
ears from the channel. few smokers dress up in funny cigar cos-
Daily the other At first, I was pleased - we can make tumes to protest outside city hall, shrill anti-
day so I could actual- drug references (or whatever) in our songs smoking groups cackle about the dangers of
ly tease a few chan- nowadays without some network hack ham- second-hand smoke and the bill passes with
nels out of my mering down on the bleep-out button. Per- little resistance from anyone who doesn't
television. Little did I haps most Americans realize now that own a bar; everyone's happy. Except, of
know that when I cutting out the cursing and drug references course, those of us who smoke.
r9, turned the on televi- in popular songs is a bigger waste of time I could go on and on about how interest
sion, Carson Daly than actually listening to most of them. But groups greatly exaggerate the effects of sec-
would appear on my screen. Oh, the hor- then I got to thinking about how rarely I ond hand smoke in bars and restaurants. And
ror, the shock and awe. hear people get riled about these sorts of about how people are usually not in contact
Daly was interviewing someone named things anymore. People don't really seem at long enough with second-hand smoke to
Connie Nielson, who was following a still each other's throats about culture. actually suffer the effects. Or that many bars
couched Ringo Starr. Who despite the fact Bipartisanship is a nice word and all, but are already non-smoking and restaurants'
that he was in a television studio, on perhaps I'd rather have Pat Buchanan rail against smoking sections are usually tucked away in
the lamest talk show I have ever seen, was drug references in popular songs than plod a corner and/or ventilated. The point,
still wearing those damned Ringo Starr sun- along in a culture that emphasizes consen- though, is that by instinctively accepting
glasses. And performing songs from his lat- sus over vigorously preserving a nuanced lame Americanisms like "smoking is for
est album, Ringorama. culture. At least at the height of the culture losers," Americans are gradually purging
It was not worth it, the thievery. Except wars we picked sides. Today, much of the their culture of everything that isn't rated
for Roseanne, everything I watched that stuff of censorship and lifestyle legislation PG, flag-related or shaped like a crayon.
night made me nostalgic for four days ago is ignored by nearly everyone except those Americans like to talk about freedom. So
when I stared wistfully at the television's with a direct stake in it or those who seek to much so that it's beginning to get really aggra-
blue screen for more than 15 minutes. bronze their morality in the law. All too vating, actually. Freedom allows us our culture;
Starr closed Daly's show with a smug often, Democrats and Republicans alike nod it shouldn't be it's foundation. We should con-
version of the Beatles hit "A Little Help in agreement, Yes, that Eminem fellow is struct our culture around the very human inter-
From My Friends," which contains the just too damn noisy. Increasingly, it seems actions we have with one another. And like it
now innocuous lyric "I get high with a lit- Americans envision one big happy sterilized on not, tobacco (which is, by the way, native to
tle help from my friends." Granted Daly's culture for themselves. this continent) has been an integral part of
show is on late at night and presumably not Case in point: the slew of municipalities American interaction for hundreds of years.
a whole lot of people watch it, but it still across the country that are beginning to uni- Get people to quit smoking. if you're con-
struck me that the weed reference elicited laterally ban smoking in bars, restaurants cerned about their health, but those of us
very little response from those present, and bowling alleys. There's very little that's who smoke have chosen to do so and ban-
save for the mostly polo-T-shirted crowd's partisan about this issue. The way I under- ning smoking in bars, bowling alleys and
Pinocchian swaying and clapping. This stand it, some overzealous legislator who's restaurants won't make us quit. It'll only
wasn't the Doors on the Ed Sullivan Show. quit smoking and found his new crusade or make those places more boring.
It wasn't even Drew Barrymore flashing who thinks smoking makes her jacket stinky
David Letterman. Instead, Ringo safely simply introduces a bill to ban smoking Honkala can be reached at
warbled right through the reference, every- throughout a city, everybody gets on board jhonkala@umich.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Purpose of campustruth ads
is to vilify and incite hatred
TO THE DAILY:
I am deeply disappointed in your decision to
publish more of these campustruth.org ads. They
are very offensive and hurtful to members of the
community including myself. They perpetuate a
stereotype that Arabs and Muslims condone ter-
rorism and this is not only false but also racist.
These ads were made with the intention of vili-
fying Arabs and Muslims on campus.
Their purpose is not to open a dialog or to
work to analyze the problems in the Middle
East so that we can find solutions to them as
many students and faculty members here at the
University work to do everyday. Their purpose
is to create an environment of hate and fear here
at the University.
If you go to campustruth's website they
have links to other websites such ascampus-
watch.org which openly takes part in the spying
on and blacklisting of professors and students.
These organizations not only have no place here
at the University, they are not even associated
with students at this University in any way.
They are national organizations with the sole
purpose of spreading hate-filled propaganda and
rhetoric in an attempt to create more hate and
more division on this topic which does not need
more division but needs more understanding
and work together.
Through their actions, these organizations
have made it clear that they do not intend to
work in a productive manner to find solutions
to the problems in the Middle East. Instead,
they are attempting to make the debate one-
sided thorough propaganda and the threat of
having your life and livelihood ruined by end-
ing up on a blacklist. By publishing these ads
you are actively aiding these organizations in
their low-handed and unethical tactics. I hope
that in the future, the Daily will reconsider its
decision to publish these ads.
ASHRAF ZAHR
Engineering senior
Return of campustruth
ads to Daily brings with it
risk of renewed protest
TO THE DAILY:
I _ x _n.m.m 4-.. _, m . +..._ .m
Even many members of the pro-Israel
movement have spoken out against the bigotry
expressed in the campustruth.org ad campaign,
ostracizing those in their own community who,
like Rick Dorfman, claim the ads "tell it like it
is." There is no excuse for your decision to
publish these extremely offensive, racist ads
once again. I call on the Daily to permanently
stop the printing of this disgusting ad campaign
and to promptly print a public apology for
knowingly propagating messages of anti-Arab
bigotry. Failure to do so will result in a
renewed wave of protest against The Michigan
Daily and its editors as racists.
TED MCTAGGART
RCjunior
Vice chair, Students Allied for
Freedom and Equality
Shiekh wrongly sees only
two sides of the media
To THE DAILY:
In his column, Choking on the fog of war,
(04/02/03) Kashif Sheikh criticizes the media
for narrowing "the spectrum of acceptable
opinion." He then attacks the media for hav-
ing "failed miserably to help avert an unjusti-
fied war." So Sheikh lambastes the media
first for taking a political stance, and then for
not taking a left-wing political stance. This is
hypocrisy. It seems Sheikh sees only two
sides of the story: the conservative view, and
the truth. Even my incredibly nice friend
Luke Williams says he's writing like a fool.
JOSH MANDLEBAUM
LSA junior
University admissions policies
accomplish goals; beneft soci-
ety by creating skilled citizens
TO THE DAILY:
The staff of the Edward Ginsberg Center
for Community Service and Learning supports
the University's affirmative action admissions
policy. This policy creates a win-win situation
for students, faculty and staff at the university
and ultimately the communities in which Uni-
versity graduates will live and work. By mind-
-F1nn;" nio. -;on- rr ir~ b-
Current world challenges demand a skillful
and engaged citizenry that is equipped to think
critically. The world needs citizens who can
imagine a better world, citizens who are
equipped to work for a better world. We at the
center perceive that the University's affirmative
action is one important dimension in the educa-
tion for such a citizenry.
LAURA L. STAUDACHER
Administrative Assistant
Writing on behalf of the Staff of the Edward
Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning
RadiCal SAFE shoulddfollow
lead of Michigan Student
Zionists and re-evaluate itself
To THE DAILY:
I applaud Rick Dorfnan's resignation from
the radical Zionist group Michigan Student
Zionists. Not only did this group falsely repre-
sent the ideals of most Jews on this campus, but
also to the nation as he appeared on CNN as a
"representative" of Jews on this campus. How-
ever, I propose a challenge to the leader of what
can only be described as the radically pro-
Palestinian group Students Allied for Freedom
and Equality. Either step down as Dorfman did,
or begin encouraging debate with both sides.
Instead of holding one sided events like last
fall's Divestment Conference whose featured
speaker is now being charged by the govern-
ment as a known terrorist, have more publi-
cized two sided conferences. Fadi Kiblawi and
the leaders of his group have only allowed hate
and propaganda to filter through his organiza-
tion as Dorfman did. Straying away from intel-
ligent debate only furthers the hate and
tolerance surrounding this issue.
BENJAMIN GERBER
LSA sophomore
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