4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 9, 2003 OP/ED UII~~e SicWguag 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 LOUIE MEIZLISH Editor in Chief AUBREY HENRETTY ZAC PESKOWITZ 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 We have something to celebrate tonight." - California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, in his concession speech Tuesday, on the defeat of California Prop. 54, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. Bul-es With all the chalkings for"coming out Week" and shows like "Will and Grace" and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," there seems to be "gayness" everywhere. Isn't there a place I can go where people forget about homosexuals? 4(C L Th /5/ SAM BUTLER TfHE SOAPBOX i Yeah, it's called Congress. \;: 4 Recall Columbus LAUREN STRAYER IN IHE ACTIVE VOICE alking home Sunday night, I came across a series of flyers equating Christopher Columbus with Ted Bundy and Charles Manson. Divert- ed, I wondered how one could responsibly com- pare a 15th-century explorer to 20th-century serial killers. A few feet further, I found the less incendiary "Columbus was a murderer." Near the Cube, I passed the axiom "Columbus = Genocide" and, writ large in incongruously pink chalk, the point of the raucous sidewalk cam- paign: "Murderers don't deserve holidays." Until that moment, I hadn't even realized that Columbus Day is nearly upon us. Well aware that I had fallen victim to the chalkings' rousing tactics, I dug out my cell phone and left a message with my usual political sounding board - my brother. I wondered aloud: is it reasonable to demonize Columbus for the destructive consequences of the collective European arrival in the Americas? Can we responsibly reduce this historical period to a sim- plistic causality between Columbus' landing and the eventual destruction of several Native Amer- ican societies? Aren't we conveniently dismiss- ing other major factors? Moreover, wasn't a similar series of events somehow inescapable? In an online exhibition entitled "1492: An Ongoing Voyage," the Library Of Congress writes that the indigenous peoples of the Americas had "experienced virtually no recorded, sustained contact with other parts of the world - Europe, Africa, or Asia" prior to Columbus' landing. As much of world history is built on the human desire to keep searching and exploring, contact between the two hemi- spheres was inevitable. I'm not arguing for the existence of some sort of Renaissance Mani- fest Destiny, but for the reality of human inge- nuity and spirit. While this certainty does not excuse the deplorable actions of many of Columbus' followers, it does obscure the clari- ty with which the campus chalking campaign condemns Columbus. Despite these musings, I did and do agree that there is something fundamentally offensive about celebrating Columbus Day. Sunday night, I was anxious to hear back from my brother and hoped he would categorically deny the legitima- cy of the questions I posed in that long, convo- luted voicemail. I expected him to point out that the very premise of Columbus Day - to honor the explorer's "discovery" of the Americas - was Eurocentric and racist. As millions of peo- ple lived on the American continents for thou- sands of years prior to the sailing of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, calling Colum- bus' achievement a "discovery" is grossly inac- curate. I thought my brother would argue that Columbus' landing had tremendous conse- quences - both constructive and destructive - that made it a watershed event in world history and, as such, it would more judiciously served through study than celebration. When we finally spoke, we did cover such standard arguments for the abolition of Colum- bus Day, but my brother raised a more interest- ing point: There isn't a case for celebrating the disputed holiday. Columbus Day has become a second-rate Independence Day. Despite being designated a federal holiday less than 35years ago, the archaic Columbus Day serves little pur- pose other than to slow the mail and inspire school pageants on American history - which can easily attach themselves to other sentimental anniversaries. Compared to other federal holi- days, Columbus Day has little salience in today's world beyond offending our American Indian populations. Unlike Memorial or Presi- dents' Day, this annual October celebration does not honor those who played key roles in the shaping and preservation of our democracy. Instead, it seems a poorly executed attempt to honor our European roots - a part of American history we're not likely to forget any time soon. Before federal employees and students grow nervous that I'm going to suggest abolishing one of their few days of freedom, let me suggest we move Columbus Day from the second Monday in October to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and rename it Election Day. Instead of honoring a historical turning point of dubious merit, let's honor the incredible right we have to democratic elections. The severe voter apathy that plagues this nation is reason enough to underscore the importance of voting through the establishment of a federal holiday. Besides, the government has a responsi- bility to improve the accessibility of the polls to Americans with demanding and inflexible jobs. In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue, In 2003, he should ease the vote for you. and me. I 4 Strayer can be reached at lstrayer@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR LOUIE MEIZLISH / IN PRINT Fairness isn't enough In his own Wall Street Journal, columnist Robert Bartley made an interesting case that the days of objective journalism are numbered. "It's simply not true," he wrote July 28, "that journalists conspire to slant the news in favor of their friends and causes. Yet it's also true that in claiming 'objectivity' the press often sees itself as a perfect arbiter of ultimate truth. This is a pretension beyond human capacity." I've often thought of journalism as trying to look into a frosted glass and trying to figure out what's going on. We know what we see will be skewed in some way, because of the structure of the glass and the refractive nature of the substance inside. But good journalists report what they can see and do their best to get a better picture of what's going on inside, clearing away some of the frost in the process. Of course one can never be perfectly objec- tive, but it is something to strive for. Bartley distinguishes between "objectivity" - extensive reporting uninfluenced by person- al passions and biases - and "fairness" -giv- ing all sides and viewpoints a fair shake when putting together the story. He argues that since perfect objectivity is impossible, journalists should forget it and just focus on being "fair." But there are problems with fairness. Here's fairness taken to an extreme: Instead of sending reporters into Iraq for the second Persian Gulf war, the major media simply attend U.S. mili- tary briefings in Qatar and get response quotes from the Iraqi information minister. The Ameri- cans get their say, then the Iraqis (or vice versa), and thus the coverage is "fair." That's the oversimplified problem with "fair- ness." A real example is the media's treatment of the red scare of the 1950s: Report Sen. Joe McCarthy's accusations, then ask the accused if they're Soviet spies. McCarthy says "yes," they say "we're not." It's "fair," but is it fair? The beginning of the end, in fact, was when Edward R. Murrow on CBS's "See it Now" rather "unfairly" showed McCarthy for the evil man he was. The problem is that fairness, or "both sides," is too often an excuse for poor reporting. The networks seem to have taken Bartley's advice to an extreme. Rather than striving to present a story completely, their practice quite often is to do a brief intro story and then have talking heads sound off. It's fair, I guess, but its Here's part of a transcript from a Jan. 24,2003, CNN show, "Showdown: Iraq" with Wolf Blitzer. One of the talking heads Blitzer interviewed was a conservative radio talk-show host, Armstrong Williams, who was qualified to discuss the matter because of his extensive knowl- edge of foreign affairs and defense issues (I'm kidding). Asked whether he thought the expected war in Iraq was a war for oil, as some peaceniks had charged, Williams said: "Wolf, I go back to the last 12 years and this cat and mouse game with Saddam Hussein. I mean listen, the United States is not the only country that believes that Saddam Hussein is trying to develop weapons of mass destruction, even the Soviets and the Chinese believe this, and I eventually believe they will come around to our position." One can only hope that CNN was fair and gave equal time to the Soviets. The death last week of former Arkansas Gov. Sidney McMath brings back the issue of the Southern power structure. As reported by The New York Times, McMath was in a pretty exclusive club of progressive Southern Democrats during his two terms from 1949 to 1953. He worked to abolish the whites- only Democratic primary and fought to make sure the first black applicant to the state med- ical school was admitted. He fought Strom Thurmond when the latter started the segrega- tionist Dixiecrat movement in 1948. McMath was defeated for reelection after a scandal broke alleging corruption in the award- ing of state road contracts. Three aides were indicted for crimes, all acquitted. From the Times: "For years, he (McMath) had worked for public electric power in rural areas and had alienated the private power company that had dominated Arkansas politics for years. The investigative commission included a number of men with ties to that company." This kind of stuff still continues, the most recent example being Republican Saxby Cham- bliss' campaign last year to unseat Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.), who the Southern establish- ment charged with a lack of patriotism (though he lost two legs and an arm in Vietnam). The charges stuck and Cleland went down. Meizlish can be reached at Cultural and ethnic differences affect medical treatment TO THE DAILY: A recent article, Ethnicities differ in treat- ment for pain (10/07/03), denotes a huge step in acknowledging cultural differences as they relate to medical treatment. This is an especially timely issue because we are living in an era of "cookbook" recipes for treating medical ailments. Many clinicians seem to take a standard approach for addressing the needs of all of their patients, despite ethnic and cultural differences; such practices cannot continue to be toler- ated. As the research by Carmen Green, et. al asserted, not all persons report, respond or react to a particular medical condition in the same manner. As human beings, we all ascribe to a particular set of values, tradi- tions and beliefs that affect our health and healthcare decisions. In addition to making various health choices based on our cul- tures, there are innate and learned charac- teristics that influence our perception of pain and illness. These personal attributes and beliefs also serve to shape our perspec- tives on medical treatment. As health pro- fessionals, it is imperative that we recognize the existence of differences from one race to another and employ culturally relevant interventions to address the needs of our patients. I encourage all clinicians to do the research and become more informed about the population they serve. Prescribed treat- ments will be more effective if medical professionals have an understanding of their patients' beliefs and cultural para- digms. Incorporating culturally relevant interventions into professional practice will lead to higher patient satisfaction and more optimal illness recovery outcomes. SHERIE GRAHAM School of Public Health Article on medical effects of cultural differences contains valuable informat TO THE DAILY: I want to commend the Daily for pub- lishing Ethnicities differ in treatment for pain (10/07/03). As the article states, it is a myth that "we are all alike on the inside." values or communication barriers. Anne Fadiman's book "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" (The Noonday Press, 1997) demonstrates a striking difference in the way two cultures may perceive and treat a particular illness. The book also points out that not everyone understands, agrees with or utilizes the Western medical system. While a person of one culture may believe a girl's epilepsy was caused by metabolic abnormalities or abnormal electrical excitation in the brain, a person of a different culture may believe the epilepsy started when a door was slammed too loudly and the girl's soul was frightened out of her body. In fact, Ann Fadiman's book shows that a doctor's lack of respect for or ignorance of these striking cultural differences could be detrimental, dangerous and even deadly to his patients. Again, thanks to the Daily for acknowl- edging and reporting that people of differ- ent ethnicities and cultures "experience, express and get treated for pain" in various ways. Now that we know these differences exist, I call on medical practioners, health- care providers, social workers and public health professionals to be aware of, knowl- edgeable about and sensitive to these dif- ferences. In the multicultural world in which we now live, we can no longer assume that one size fits all - particularly when it comes to medical problems and treatment. COURTNEY LONG School of Social Work 50 Cent for president! Political decisions make no sense, based on celebrity, not substance TO THE DAILY: I must say that I am only partially informed about California politics. Yet, I have educated myself enough to see that there are many reasons why Californians think Gray Davis has failed as governor. Thus, I am not trying to suggest that Cali- fornians made the wrong decision in choosing to recall Davis. However, what I want to point out to all my counterparts is a phenomenon emerg- ing in America. It seems that images become more influential on people's politi- cal decisions than do ideas. One of the major points brought up across news chan- nels Wednesday morning was how Arnold plans about how to deal with important issues facing California? I feel pretty comfortable answering that question with a "hell no." Hence, what becomes evident is that more and more Americans are voting with their fantastical emotions, rather than with their carefully reasoned political opinions. I say "Ameri- cans" for good reason. The political rise of George W. Bush seemed to have followed a similar path: He did not have any political experience before being elected governor in the other "biggest" state in America, and he did so by lining up his political image (that of a cowboy-like politician) with the Holly- woodized spirit of Texas. Then he achieved greater political success, as his "cowboy" image appealed to Americans much more than the "sissy-b*@ch" image of Al Gore. These observations have really nothing to with me not liking Republicans (or, should I say, not despising Democrats as much as I do Republicans). This has to do with me seeing my fellow Americans hav- ing too much alpha waves zapped into their brains so that they no longer base their political decisions on reasoned opin- ions, but on their desires to have John Wayne as the United States's president and the Terminator as governor of one of the most influential states in America. What really needs to be pointed out is that the Democratic strategists are failing to jump on this opportunity. Therefore, I think they should be fired, and I should be hired. My first decision: 50 Cent as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004! STEPHEN SINAS LSA senior 'Partial-birth abortion'is a politically charged term that Daily reporters should avoid To THE DAILY: There is no such thing as "partial-birth abortion." Since 1995, when attempts to ban the method of abortion known medically as intact dilation and evacuation first began, jour- nalists have been careful to note - often by using quotations and preceding it with the phrase "so-called" - that "partial-birth abor- tion" is an inflammatory term invented by anti- abortion forces. The Daily, in Abortion foes try to keep issue in spotlight (10/06/03), was not so 4 4 6 AW