0 4 -The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 2, 2004 OPINION 420 MAYNARD STREET U 0 ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 opinion. michigandaily.com tothedaily@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE 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 Bush and the Republicans have taken March Madness and April foolishness to new levels." - Michael Meehan, a senior campaign advisor to Sen. John Kerry, commenting on a Republican National Committee legal challenge that charges the Kerry campaign with collaborating with interest groups, as reported yesterday by CNN. SAM BUTLER rtHE SOAPBOX 14vy~vvw... Corn Pops M0~o-M onn% cterseQ- . Fro j CORN 5 op POS.0 4 I Be careful HUSSAIN RAHIM NARCOLEPTIC INSOMNIA I've been thinking a lot about rape lately. It's undoubtedly one of the lowest things that a man can do to a woman. I had this project recently in an abnormal psychology class about pornography and its cor- relation to rape, and I've had numerous discussions around campus about recent events. Upon further reflection, I realized I knew more raped women than I should and that's clearly because there are more raped women than anyone realizes. Although rape is not always the most ubiqui- tous or urgent matter on the national agenda, periodically we are reminded of its presence, and I thought I'd act on this moment. If you live in Ann Arbor, then you've seen the story that has been the local focal point for the past week. The situation isn't good, to put it real simple. It would be easy to take the anti-Greek stance the Daily is often accused of and lash out like the nerdy kid who didn't get picked during Pledge Week. But it's pointless. Equally futile is the trite defense in which I say, "Oh, some of my best friends are Greek people" because that's not the case either. I don't know any of them, and as a senior in April, I don't think I am making many new friends before I leave. And on the national scale, there is the Kobe Bryant, case which has been discussed in proba- bly more permutations than anyone wanted to. Millions of de facto trials have been held by water coolers, coffee shops and whatever else people have discussions around. People attest to Kobe's character as if they're his lifelong school- yard pal or to the events as if they were hiding in the room. In reality, no ones knows shit about Kobe or the girl or what happened at SAE. Regardless of the outcomes, the only result that can be safely drawn is that someone regrets being there that night. Rape cases are nasty, and often things sur- pass Rashomon levels of obscurity. Sadly, women lie about rape, which in turn makes it more difficult than it already is for true victims to find justice. Two months ago, a group of St. John's students were accused of raping a prostitute. It was later found that she threatened to file charges if she wasn't paid, and a player taped her saying this on his cellphone. In all of this, what I was trying to figure out was how these types of situations could be avoided in the actual world we inhabit. The dissolution of the line between reality and ideality lies at fault for most of these occurrences. In magical gumdrop land, a woman can go wherever she wants, wearing what she wants, whenever she wants and drink whatever she wants and wake up the next day with nothing but a hangover and wander home. But the very use of something like GHB and roofies shows what kind of people inhabit the world. Pragmatism and cynicism make a strong team. There are plenty of things that should be within my right to do, but awareness of my sur- roundings and the intentions of others should prevail. If something even falls within the prox- imity of my control, I think it would be respon- sible to step up. If I decide I want to use my laptop at around 4 a.m. on the 2 train coming home into Brooklyn, and I catch a sack of quar- ters over the head, yes, I am a victim but there were wiser ways to approach the situation. From what I now read, I understand that the focus is changing. But it's not about curbing underage drinking. While I'm sure there are plenty of great reasons as to why you must be 21 to get hammered, it won't help anyone at all. I guess it's about assessing a situation and saying maybe I don't want to pass out here and maybe I don't want to go to your hotel room. It's not about blaming the vic- tim; it's about preventing the very occur- rence of victimization. Rape is ridiculously underreported and under-prosecuted. It remains one of the most stigmatizing and debilitating crimes. The best understanding to leave with is that people are shady, and because you can only control yourself, the best way to account for your own safety is if you're not there at all. Rahim can be reached at hrahim@umich.edu. The scorpion, the frog and Africa's AIDS epidemic SHABINA S. KHATRI IT's AL GOOD IN THE Hoo like parables. They are °.: usually simple and s interesting enough to appeal to all audiences and flexible enough to be inter- preted by anyone looking to learn a lesson. Here's an oldie but a goodie: There was a scorpion that wanted to cross a river. He asked the frog to carry him on his back. The frog was wary: "You'll sting me," he said. The scorpion replied, "Why in the world would I do that? If I sting you, I won't get to the other side!" The frog was persuaded. In the middle of the river, however, the scorpion stung him. "What have you done!" exclaimed the frog. "Now we'll both drown." "Couldn't help it," said the scorpi- on. "It's my nature." As adaptable as this story is, it has at least one universally applicable message - some creatures just are what they are. Take human beings, for instance. For all we know, that scor- pion could be what prompted old Darwin to come up with his "survival of the fittest" con- cept. I definitely believe that we have a tenden- cy to act in our own best interests. Contrary to popular belief, I also know that this inclination was not borne simply out of "Western" con- cepts like individuality and capitalism. If that were true, we wouldn't see so many "non- Western," so-called community-centered soci- eties being run according to the whims of a few dictators. Of course, just because selfishness is a universally held attribute does not mean we can excuse ourselves from fighting such an impulse. So where I'm headed with.this, final- ly, is to Africa, and to AIDS. On Sunday The New York Times reported that a lack of funds is drowning the World Health Organization's "3 by 5 Initiative" - a plan to treat three million people infected with AIDS by 2005. Last November, a WHO report stated that only 2 percent of the 4.4 million Africans in need of treatment were receiving it, as opposed to the 84 percent of the 250,000 affected people living in the Americas. Almost six months later, the picture looks even bleaker - WHO told the Times that only 5 percent of people in the world's poorest countries are get- ting the drug treatment they need. The delay is due in part to U.S. pharmaceuti- cal companies that are - no surprise here - lobbying the government to act in their own best interests. And these companies seem to have clout. President Bush has pledged $15 billion to the AIDS effort on our behalf, but that money comes with a serious caveat - it's not allowed to be spent on generic drugs. Now, my Business School classes and capi- talistic conscience tell me that it's not fair to expect pharmaceutical companies - which spend millions annually in research and devel- opment - to just give up the patents to their discoveries or to sell their drugs at low prices. But good old economics also dictates that there are profits to be made even if a product is sold cheaply - as long as one makes sure to sells lots and lots of that product. And with 6 million takers, there's certainly a lot of money to be made by going the low-cost route. But that's not good enough for many com- panies. In February, for example, pharmaceu- tical giant Abbott Laboratories was sued after raising the price of its drug Norvir by 400 percent, from about $50 to $250 a month. Critics say the price hike was designed to get cost-conscious buyers to buy another one of Abbott's drugs, Kaletra, which already con- tains a small amount of Norvir and would thus make for a potent combination. Raising prices to make other, competing drug combi- nations unaffordable is certainly hitting a new low. And all in the name of profits. Yet, returning to our symbolic scorpion and the nature of man, I still argue that it's not just money that should be directing our strategy in fighting this global emergency. What happens to human beings that are stricken with AIDS is so horrifying and so very real - but we don't hear about it. Yeah, it's mostly happening way over there, to those people. But remember that those people are ours too. If a human face was painted on AIDS as human faces are painted on breast cancer or other tragic illnesses, maybe we'd feel more inclined to fight that driving impulse to always act in our own best interests. I know that antiviral drugs are not going to solve the world's AIDS crisis, and that at best, the pills will only slow it down. But those drugs count for something, especially for the millions of infected people who will get to live even for just a few more years. And we've got to do something. Some of our lawmakers took an encouraging step forward last week when they urged the Bush adminis- tration to accept the generic drugs already approved by WHO and endorsed by the World Bank. It's a small step, but hopefully it'll stir things up and prompt a much-needed debate in our legislature. If things do change, it's going to cost our government. It's going to cost our pharmaceuti- cal companies. And due to the trickle-down effect, it's probably going to cost us. If only we could beat that symbolic scorpion by forgetting about ourselves for a moment. If only we could think, like United Nations envoy Stephen Lewis does, about those suffering souls in such sore need of our help. If the WHO program fails, Lewis told the Times, "There are no excuses left, no rationali- zations to hide behind, no murky slanders to jus- tify indifference - there will only be the mass graves of the betrayed." Let us refuse to let our response to that betrayal be "couldn't help it; it's my nature." Khatri's senior thesis is due on Monday, so she can't take your comments this weekend. Please direct all polemics to her publicist Yusuf at yusufq@umich.edu. Khatri can be reached at khatris@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Daily is anti-Greek; regard stories as gossip TO THE DAILY: Phil Muirhead's comments (03/31/04) on what he feels would be the right solution regarding the Greek system's problem with haz- ing and social policies are completely irrele- vant, not to mention naive. It is arrogant for someone outside of the Greek system to ries. My problem is with people who feel the need to made public comments based on "sto- ries," which should be easily recognized as gos- sip. JESSICA GUMERSON LSA senior 'Transform' the planet; ensure sustainability States, has a responsibility to ensure that the Earth will be around for future generations of all living beings to enjoy. This might seem to be an overwhelming task. It might seem as if you can't make a differ- ence. But there are actually some very simple things you can do to reduce your ecological impact. For example, Transformers gave out 80 compact fluorescent light bulbs to students on the Diag yesterday. These light bulbs will reduce more than 80 tons of carbon dioxide and two [ . Ir . 4 d z'n*' hi iiii TCII al .: a ne 1 U