4A -The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 9, 2004
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OPINION
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SINCE 1890
JORDAN SCHRADER
Editor in Chief
JASON Z. PESICK
Editorial Page Editor
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
The policy of this
administration
is to be clear and
straightforward and to
be realistic about the
different threats that
we face."
- President Bush, in his interview on NBC's
"Meet the Press" that aired yesterday.
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The creative destruction of youth
ZAC PESKOWITZ TiE LOWER FREQUENCIES
orty years ago United States, it's the millions of Iranians The kids exist to change culture. They
today, the Beatles who are under 25. When more than 70 per- are the only ones who can. They are the
made the first of cent of a country's population is younger ones who create new ways of solving prob-
four historic perfor- than 25, politicians have to maintain a lems, new values and new systems of con-
mances on "The Ed Sul- wary eye on the whims of youth at all duct. Forty years after the Beatles were
livan Show." This, the times. This is a particular concern in a beamed into the living rooms of 73 million
arbiters of culture, nation where many young people have Americans, these lessons have been
would say after clearing sought out space for creativity in the form eclipsed by the Baby Boomers' celebration
their collective throats, of novel genres of music, blogs and, in of themselves. It wasn't always this way.
was a moment when "to many cases, a revolutionary posture toward There was recently a time when Wired
be young was very heaven." We, on the other the state. While Iran's Guardian Council magazine, the dot.coms and the citizens of
hand, have not been so fortunate, according bans reform candidates from running in Generation X were going to take over the
to those lucky Baby Boomers. We are soft parliamentary elections and the govern- world, or, at the very least, the networks of
and fat, occupied by fleeting concerns or no ment arrests student leaders, this burgeon- information which would eventually con-
concerns at all. We are weak and malleable; ing youth movement ensures that the quest trol it. Angry Boomers sneered at their suc-
they were strong and pioneering. for "personal space" will continue. cesses. Of course, these brash young
Despite the best efforts of the Boomers to The age of youth isn't just limited to upstarts were hubristic, decadent and arro-
infect us with viral marketing, make us "tip" regions with exploding population growth. gant, but they had some great ideas.
toward the latest trend, fashion or fad and Japan stands out as an example of youth seiz- In his memoir "A Heartbreaking Work
use assorted schemes to make our lives utter- ing control of a nation's culture and injecting of Staggering Genius," Dave Eggers, one
ly miserable, twentysomethings once again it with a sense of urgency and relevance. of the iconic symbols of this brief era,
deserve a positive mention on those obligato- While most of Japan has experienced a recounts how his fledgling magazine ran a
ry New Year's "In" and "Out" lists. decade of ennui and drift, the "gross national glowing profile of the founder of Teach
Look at our accomplishments: One of us cool" associated with the nation's youth has For America. Wendy Kopp, the Princeton
is the star witness in the Martha Stewart made Japan a superpower once more. Cultur- graduate who turned her senior thesis into
trial and titillates the financial press with al might has replaced the dreams of econom- one of the most successful volunteer orga-
tales of designer drug use. In Michigan, if ic hegemony in a country where the youth nizations in the United States, was the
you're a plucky member of the creative have pioneered new approaches to the chal- model for a new type of activism. But
class, you can be the centerpiece of Gov. lenges of post-historical boredom. Eggers et al. soon grew bored with Kopp
Jennifer Granholm's set-piece strategy for Examples of youth wielding political and decided to trash her as a self-indulgent
economic vibrancy. We even get to subsi- power abound as well. In South Korea, the prig, motivated by a sense of haughty
dize $534 billion worth of Medicare pre- vaunted 3-8-6 generation, after its successful noblesse oblige. Maybe the best part about
scription drug benefits over the course of a battles against military dictatorship, effec- being young is the opportunity to destroy
decade. Actually, maybe things aren't that tively controls the national agenda. Its power everyone's heroes and not have to think
great in the United States. and influence has achieved diverse goals about the consequences.
But outside of this country, the from altering the state's foreign policy to
prospects are more promising. In Iran, the installing public libraries on the trains of Peskowitz can be reached
real bete noir of the ayatollahs isn't the Seoul's subway system. atzpeskowi@umich.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
0
01
Speech was misunderstood,
but remained true to Bible
To THE DAILY:
I feel as though the message from "The
Light" presentation was interpreted incor-
rectly by some people (Gospel presentation
good, but anti-homosexual speech inappropri-
ate for event, 02/05/04). If they had stayed
long enough to hear the rest of it, they
would'vegreater understood the calling
that Gayle Brannon was making. It wasn't
to exclude any person on the basis of any-
thing, but it was an overall call to adjust
the things in our lives that pull us further
from Jesus Christ. After those people left,
he spoke about fornication, lust and a
whole array of various topics that they
didn't hear. The only statement made
directed at homosexuals was the fact that
according to The Bible, homosexuality is
an abomination unto God. You can't argue
that, it's in The Bible. I think people need
to stop wearing their hearts on their
sleeves and taking everything so personal-
ly. Because honestly, the only reason why
it would've offended you is if it convicted
you. People need to realize that they have
no right to be upset. When you attend an
event that believes a certain doctrine you
can't be mad when something is said that
you don't agree with if you don't agree
with that certain doctrine. It's freedom of
speech and religion, and I feel a lot of
what was said needed to be said. Jesus
loves everyone and that is undeniable, but
Jesus doesn't like everything everyone
does. That's where our change as followers
of the Most High God must occur. If we
want to draw closer to Christ, we need to
adjust the things in our lives that are not
like him. And if we choose not to do that,
you can only blame yourself for not having
the relationship with God that you so
desire.
DEBORAH WIGGINS
LSA sophomore
Christianity based on 'love;'
comments meant to educate
To THE DAILY:
As one of the members of the Universi-
ty's Gospel chorale, I was truly blessed
instructed through His word. Christians
do not hate homosexuals, we don't agree
with that lifestyle because it is contrary to
God's word, but we do not hate those who
practice it. We all have things wrong with
us that we are battling with, and we need
to make a decision to turn away from these
things. Homosexuality is a stronghold, it's
a lifestyle that is against God's instruction
and it is a large issue today, which is why
it needs to be addressed. Brannon and
other ministers who say similar things
don't hate people who are homosexual,
they just want everyone to know the truth
of God's will so that they aren't misled.
One thing I distinctly remember Minister
Brannon saying is that God instructed us to
"be fruitful and multiply." And the truth is,
two men or two women bring no kind of
production, no multiplication (Genesis
1:28). And God does want us to accept
who we are, but that means who we are in
His eyes, and according to His will, not
our own.
Besides this, I wish those of you who
left could have stayed to see the move of
God following the sermon. Many people
were set free from the strongholds that
were holding them back, and many learned
more about what God's will for their lives
is. It was a night full of praise, worship
and the Glory of God. Signs and wonders
of God's presence did follow the sermon,
which tells us all that what was said was
what God wanted to be said through one of
His servants in the ministry.C VAUGHN
LSA freshman
Time for 'U' community to
rethink hockey cheer
To THE DAILY:
After Maryland fans chanted an obscenity
at a Duke basketball player last month, they
were criticized by university officials and
local and national media alike. Simply, it was
a classless display that reflected negatively
upon their university.
Here at the University we use not one, but
a host of expletives to help send off opposing
hockey players to the penalty box. Largely
because college hockey lacks the popularity
of basketball, this has drawn no national
attention. Until now.
This past week, Sports Illustrated present-
and true fan when you disrespect our coach
night in and night out? Is vulgarity that
humorous in its own right?
Have we become that stale that we can't
replace this cheer with one that is both clean-
er and wittier? I hope the hockey student fan
base can prove otherwise:
MIKE HITSKY
Alum
Editorial falwed: national
primary the only solution
TO THE DAILY:
While your recent editorial (Democratic
candidates abandon Michigan, 02/06/04)
brought up many flaws of our primary sys-
tem, it made a few crucial errors. It is true
that Michigan has moved its caucuses up
recently, but saying "it will also set a dan-
gerous precedent" cannot be further from
the truth. States have been constantly mov-
ing their primaries earlier and earlier for
years now, all wishing to be more influen-
tial in the process. Michigan is just the
most recent to do so, and without any
repercussions, states will continue to
"frontload" for years to come. Your idea of
"an evenly distributed, rotating primary
schedule" is a good one, but will still have
the same problems - money, media cover-
age, etc. - as the present one. The best
solution would be to have a national prima-
ry day, so everyone votes at the same time,
without knowledge of who the frontrunner
is. All things considered, our primary sys-
tem has become much more democratic
than it used to be, when decisions were left
to only the party elites, and the public had
no say.
MIKE FORSTER
LSA sophomore
Vice-chair, Students for PIRGIM
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LETTERS POLICY
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from all of its readers. Letters from Universi-
ty students, faculty, staff and administrators
will be given priority over others. Letters
should include the writer's name, college and
school year or other University affiliation.
The Daily will not print any letter contain-
in, statements that cannot be verified.
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