4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 15, 2005 OPINION J!E £irbi*wu &iilg JASON Z. PESICK Editor in Chief SUHAEL MOMIN SAM SINGER Editorial Page Editors ALISON GO Managing Editor EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com NOTABLE QUOTABLE There is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget." - House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R- Texas), declaring Republicans victorious in their efforts to cut back federal spending, as reported yesterday by The Washington Times. ALEXANDER HONKALA FETI" CHUMBIJCK' When science and opinion collide ERIC JACKSON LET's REVIEW THE FAC-s owe (or is it blame?) were presented in much the same manner are equally valid to begin with. the motivation to as opposing sides in matters of science (e.g. And therein lies the quagmire. How should write a column whether Sctiiavo could feel pain, whether or the media go about providing "balanced" cov- about science issues to to what extent she was conscious, and wheth- erage to issues where the scientific evidence the Terri Schiavo deba- er or not we should even have considered her is strongly in the favor of one position? cle. For weeks I followed "alive" at all). "Experts" were summoned, For starters, news providers, both cable the coverage, in spite views were exchanged, and in the end view- and print, should be reluctant to provide of my great disdain for ers were left to make up their own minds. open discussions of issues that have a dra- the entire situation and Fine. I am the last person who will ever matic imbalance of scientific support. This a deep conviction that question the importance of the open exchange is NOT the same as suggesting that positions it was largely unnews- of ideas. But it is equally important - espe- with strong scientific support should never worthy. The fiasco had all the makings of a cially in matters involving substantial amounts be challenged ... of course they should. But spectacular TV mini-series - drama, poli- of science - to ensure that the existence of if you are going to claim that 2 + 2 no lon- tics, death, cameos by famous people - and an open discussion does not obscure the bal- ger equals 4, or that someone who has been that's probably how it managed to simultane- ance of objective evidence for and against a reliably diagnosed as fundamentally brain ously irritate me and completely hypnotize particular topic or position. Unfortunately, dead is actually somewhat conscious, then the national media. that happens with great regularity. you had better have some strong evidence in For better or worse, I've never been much Picture a standard consumer of cable news, your corner and not simply a gut feeling. of a miniseries man. But beneath all the not particularly versed in medicine or neuro- In the end, however, cable and print news drama of the Schiavo ordeal was a flicker science, watching CNN during a moderated providers are, at least partially, yoked to the that held my interest, though I had to squint discussion of Terri Schiavo's mental condi- desires of the consumer. And in our society, pretty hard to make it out. Caught up in all tion. Schiavo's aunt (or brother, or whoever) this consumer has a very strong desire to the evening news drama, spun around and talks about how Terri seems to perk up, and make up his own damn mind about more or confused like a tourist in a very foreign land, even smile, in the company of her family, and less everything, even matters with strong ties was science. has a short video clip to support her asser- to science. In principle, I have no problem The science was tough to pick out for a tions. A neurologist or clinical neuroscien- with this desire, largely because I share it. fairly simple reason: The Schiavo drama tist counters by discussing how certain brain We should realize, however, that by request- was, at its core, nothing close to a science areas can continue to function and even gen- ing that the media allow us to make our own issue. It was a legal issue drenched in fam- erate behavior, such as that in the video clip, decisions about complex issues, we assume a ily conflict, and as such was destined for the in the absence of any conscious input, and pair of burdens. The first is the responsibility legal and political sections of magazines, makes reference to research data. The mod- for weighing the evidence presented by the newscasts and blogs. But this particular erator asks questions, and appears equally media. The second, and less recognized, is issue, though not overtly scientific, did have critical of both sides. the task of considering whatever evidence the a significant amount of science baggage, par- What is the viewer left to conclude? The media does not mention. ticularly medicine and neuroscience. What's doctor has professional credentials, but the The latter is a greater burden than most more, the way this science was presented had relative has personal experience. And why realize. Media coverage of any issue is nec- a significant impact on how the general pub- would CNN bother with the relative if they essarily limited ("tip of the iceberg" comes lic evaluated the entire issue. were sure that the doctor was right? Plus that to mind), and leaves the chore of evaluat- This is where everything took a tui'n for video clip was pretty convincing. ing the remaining evidence to the consum- the worse. I don't think anyone, including I have set this entire column up to make er. Asking for this burden is easy; bearing myself, was surprised at the surplus of dif- the viewer seem foolish for failing to see the it responsibly, which requires effort and no ferent and often conflicting perspectives imbalance of objective evidence, but I am small amount of analytical savvy, is much that emerged in the media coverage. What not so sure that I can really blame him. The more difficult. struck me, though, was that opposing sides way the information is presented, in an open in matters of opinion (e.g. whether Schiavo discussion, equal-time format, it's easy (and Jackson can be reached at had clearly expressed her end-of-life wishes) usually correct) to assume that both sides edjacks@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Religion on campus is the least of our concerns TO THE DAILY: In his Sept. 13 column (Spreading only part of the word), Chris Zbrozek criticized Christians for not paying attention to the Bible. He then mused that "the sole important factor in deter- mining salvation, in most brands of evangelical Christianity, is personal redemption, not good works." Oddly enough, accepting Jesus Christ as a personal savior is the first and foremost step to the religion. Zbrozek then implied that, had the evangelist not been spewing "fire and brimstone," he (and other students) may have actually paid attention to him. I'm slightly skeptical that more than a 10th of the student population would pay seri- ous attention to someone spreading "The Word," unless to mock. And while Zbrozek criticizes the fact that the evangelist could have been speaking about Katrina relief, let me criticize the fact that Zbrozek could have written about any of the following: Hallibur- ton subsidiaries getting contracts for New Orleans reconstruction, Iran and Russia cooperating over nuclear power or Tony Blair considering scrap- ping Holocaust Memorial Day. Even if it's blood that Zbrozek is after, maybe he could talk about how Vice President Dick Cheney called Katrina relief "very impressive" (insurgency, "last throes! ") or that Kathleen "We were unprepared!" Blanco put into effect several years ago the "State of Louisiana Emergency Operations Plan," a document written specifi- cally for an event like Hurricane Katrina. Zbrozek chose to use the same "clever" rheto- ric that most people on this campus figured out in 11th grade: Most Christians don't live as Christ did (especially those whose families can afford University tuition). Rather than take advantage of his "editorial freedom," he wrote more than 800 words on a subject so trite one could hardly call it an issue. Chris, you have the press and people reading your words. Make them worthwhile. anywhere else for that matter? As the article illustrates, purchasing con- traceptives at an independent pharmacy is both inconvenient and more expensive. Is the goal of the bill to increase the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions? Stu- dents at the University will continue to have sex no doubt, but perhaps the bill will cause even more emotional, physical, educational and financial consequences for a new genera- tion of young mothers and fathers. The lack of emergency contraceptives at the University of Wisconsin, especially for women who have been raped or sexually assaulted, is particularly disturbing. Today's world is a scary and dangerous place to be. To deny women the right to protect them- selves after a horrific sexual attack is despi- cable public policy. Ask yourself who is to be feared more, the attackers or the new liber- ty-crushing policies? As the bumper sticker says, "Keep your laws off my body." Lindsey Seyferth School of Public Health Editor's Note: The original editorial was factually inaccurate. Please read today's correction on page 2. New LSA language proposal misses the boat TO THE DAILY: While the Student Government of the Col- lege of Literature, Science, and the Arts may have good intentions in its decision to support a proposal that would allow students to take one year of two separate languages to fulfill their foreign language requirement, I feel this will not help LSA students and only dilute what seems to be a very good requirement. I think the main problem in looking at the requirement is that people tend to think of it as a four-semester requirement, instead of (at least what I think) its true intention as a give you very basic skills and will not make you a very effective speaker. Personally, I would rath- er get my money's worth and become fluent in one language instead of knowing a few odds and ends of two. How useful is that? It seems to me that if the rest of the world has taken the time out of their busy lives to learn English and often other languages as well, the least we American students can do is pick up another language ourselves. The Uni- versity is a very diverse school representing a great number of countries, ethnicities and points of view. To have only a year of a foreign lan- guage seems to be cheating international students who learned our language to go to our school and threatens our credibility as an international university. I found it unique (and admittedly, sometimes tedious) to have a language requirement as extensive as the University's, but I can say without a shred of doubt that my years spent learning a foreign language have bettered my understanding of the world and improved my study ethic as a whole. If fluency is a goal, more than two semesters are going to be necessary for any foreign language. As a result, I support and urge fellow students and faculty members to preserve the fourth semester proficiency requirement that is currently intact. Adam Supernant LSA junior .HAV SMPi~ INTETIN~G TQ SAY Jo.. 1 TEDMLY .x, ORIAL RA~... Editorial Board Members: Amy Anspach, Amanda Burns, Whitney Dibo, Jesse Forester, Mara Gay, Jared Goldberg, Eric Jackson, Brian Kelly, Theresa Kennelly, Rajiv Prabhakar, Matt Rose, David Russell, Dan Skowronski, Brian Slade, Lauren C1 1 1 I 1 Ca . "_1." 1_ T __.---1C__ J _ _ T _ 1 I