4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 7, 2006
OPINION
a1je irhortttip~u
DoNN M. FRESARD
Editor in Chief
EMILY BEAM
CHRISTOPHER ZBROZEK
Editorial Page Editors
ASHLEY DINGES
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
What a great
day for breast-
feeding moms.
- Dr. Lewis Gregory, chief medical officer
of Select Health of South Carolina, speak-
ing about a newly passed state law allowing
women to breastfeed in public, as reported
Wednesday by The Associated Press
M
GEOFF SILVERSTEIN NIT lR MAYP AFI E -,,IItNDS
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All
other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their author.
Wishings and wonderings
JESSE SINGAL STEM THE TIDE
nd just like that,
it's time for the
last column
of my third and final
semester as a Daily opin-
ion columnist. It would
be nice to be able to
summarize all the grand,
meaningful lessons I've
learned, but there haven't
really been any. I'm leav-
ing Ann Arbor for the comfort of my parents'
basement for the next 10 years with far more ques-
tions than answers when it comes to politics and
the way this country discusses them. It's been a
confusing few years, and the tones of the various
debates have been discouraging to many.
With that in mind, here's a brief list of things
I'm wishing for and things I'm wondering about
as I depart my post as a Daily columnist.
I wish that the discourse in this country would
improve. All you have to do is turn on one of
the cable news networks or tune into AM radio,
and it's clear how bad things are. We have truly
devolved into a culture of talking heads, of ad
hominem attacks, of fear-mongering and of genu-
ine hatred and misunderstanding where there
should be mere disagreement. Politics is too iden-
tity-oriented these days; people seem far more
concerned with who they are - that is, to which
political parties or advocate groups they claim
membership - than with what they think and
whether their ideas stand up to critical scrutiny.
I wonder which social issue the GOP is going
to exploit in time for the upcoming elections?
They're going to need one, that's for sure, if
they hope to distance themselves from Presi-
dent Bush, his disastrous war and his utter lack
of accomplishment on the domestic front. The
immigration issue (which has brought with it
GOP infighting) won't bring voters to the polls,
so watch for the Republicans to turn to what they
do best: homophobia. We're going to be hearing
the words "tradition," "sanctity" and "marriage"
more and more as November approaches.
I wish we could figure out a way to get over the
non-issues that often seem to dominate discourse.
The bizarre fixation on "the War on Christmas"
this past winter proved that an idea, no matter how
stupid, can spread like wildfire if granted enough
repetition and obsession. And for every moment
a pundit on Fox News spends hacking away at a
straw man, actual problems - poverty, port secu-
rity, health care - continue to go unsolved.
I wish AM radio and cable news pundits
would stop treating liberalism as some creeping
disorder that must be rooted out of our schools
and our government. Liberalism is constantly
and intentionally misrepresented, and some of
the language used to describe it - and the need to
cleanse the nation of it - borders on the fascistic.
Liberalism, like conservatism, can mean a thou-
sand different things, and any conservative who
makes a blanket statement about liberalism (or,
for that matter, any liberal who makes a blanket
statement about conservatism) is taking the cow-
ardly and intellectually lazy way out.
I wonder if there could possibly be a bettei
Sean Hannity quote to back up my previous point
"(Liberals) encourage tolerance for the teachings
of the Koran but not for the teachings of Jesus
Christ. They oppose the Pledge of Allegiance
tell us that 'God is dead,' that 'Christianity is
for losers' and that evangelical and Catholic
conservatives are more dangerous than radi-
cal Islamic militants." Yes, Sean - thanks foi
telling us what all liberals think and do. That's
from one of his books, "Let Freedom Ring
Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism."
I wish there was a powerful, well-organizec
liberal political party in the United States. Idi-
otic, hysterical assertions from Hannity et al
not withstanding, the Democratic Party has
utterly failed to represent a huge block of vot-
ers that has consistently supported it. Where's
the opposition on gay marriage? On marijuam
laws? There is a huge range of issues for whic-
only one side is truly represented in the hallh
of Congress. And if Hillary Clinton - who lasi
year cosponsored anti-flag burning legisla-
tion, and who has made a minor crusade out of
fighting video-game violence after approving
the very real violence of the Iraq war - ends uf
being the Democratic nominee in 2008, ther
liberalism in America will be in even sorriei
shape than it is now.
A
Singal can be reached a;
jsingal@umich.edL
Skybox deceit
IMRAN SYED DEMAGU;' )t1ES DEBUNKED
JOY
ERIN RIUSSELL
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Send all letters to the editor to tothedaily@michigandaily.com.
Diag has long been a place
of flyering and protest
TO THE DAILY:
I'm writing in response to Mark Giannot-
to's columns (Attention nerds: Don't give me
your flyers, 04/06/2006).
Mark, I wanted to let you know that not
everyone shares your opinion on flyering
in the Diag. In fact, there are students who
occasionally look up from the pavement, stop
listening to their iPod and take a second to
listen to a motivated Diag promoter. If you
are so paranoid of human contact, maybe
you should avoid the Diag altogether. It is a
social place with a long history of political
and social advertising and protest. Handing
someone a flyer is not "forcing" something
on you. It is a very effective means of adver-
tising. You can deride the Men's Glee Club
all you want for promoting their concert,
but the fact is that anyone who has walked
through the Diag this week knows about
the concert - and many of them will be
there. Maybe in your opinion flyering is not
as "cool" as playing beer pong at your frat,
leering at girls and hollering at passersby,
but at least it serves a purpose.
On another note, your libelous article had
all the flair and banality of a high school
newspaper article.
John Rhoades
LSA junior
The letter writer is a member of the Men's Glee
Club.
Handguns make streets
safer, deter crime
he robs or does physical harm to her. Per-
haps Ray thinks he will have time also, or
maybe be able to reason with a criminal
before he is raped. I think they both are
not basing their lives in reality when they
perceive that hosting talks with the police
will make them safe.
Handguns are but one option to consider in
protecting oneself or one's loved ones. If one
chooses not to be involved with such, then
don't profess to know what's best for me.
An armed and law-abiding citizen does
make the streets safer, and I choose this
course.
Earl Milton
Plant Department
Column like 'vomiting up
undigested Big Ten Burrito'
TO THE DAILY:
Although Mark Giannotto did not use
the phrase "heretofore" incorrectly in this
week's column (see Give me my Coke back,
02/09/2006), reading this week's column
(Attention nerds: Don't give me your flyers,
04/06/2006) was still an experience remi-
niscent of vomiting up undigested Big Ten
Burrito. First, Giannotto's condescending
attitude toward the vast majority of cam-
pus invalidates any semi-legitimate points
he makes in the column. Rule of thumb:
Calling someone a "jackass" is not the
most effective way to initiate a construc-
tive discussion. Another one of Giannotto's
witty euphemisms appears when he refers
to the Men's Glee Club as "choir boys."
Hilarious. Wait, I mean hateful. So basi-
,,ii ..1 - -
f Michigan football
has anything going
for it, it's tradition.
The maize and blue is
legendary, its greatness
and legacy unques-
tioned. But on what
is this tradition built?
I ask you to consider
that question in light of
the recent controversy
surrounding the addition of luxury boxes in
Michigan stadium.
I'm as big a Michigan fan as you'll find on
campus. I had season tickets before I became a
student. I cheered for Tom Brady and Anthony
Thomas from the stands the same as I did Chad
Henne and Jason Avant last year. But in love as I
am with the maize and blue mystique, I can't for
the life of me understand the backlash towards
the skybox idea.
Any fan worthy of his ticket stub will tell you
Michigan has had three Heisman trophy win-
ners: Tom Harmon in 1940, Desmond Howard in
1991 and Charles Woodson in 1997. The wholly
folksy argument put forth by Joe Skybox-hater
goes: "Skyboxes would change the appearance
and 'character' of the stadium. Them Wolverine
legends played over 50 years apart, and yet they
still walked essentially the same stadium. We
can't let that change just to make a few bucks." I
guess I would agree - if that were true.
Ever seen highlights of Michigan games
from the 1980s? One thing that jumps out right
away is the ugly artificial turf, or Astroturf as
it is more commonly known (though, if we're
minding our p's and q's, it was actually Tartan-
turf). Desmond Howard played on that turf. By
the time 2003 rolled around, however, the sta-
dium featured state-of-the-art Fieldturf, made
from - of all things - ground up tennis shoes
and tire rubber. And Tom Harmon? You can be
damn sure he never played on no turf other than
God's green earth.
Why was there no backlash when artificial
turf was installed? Frankly, because times
change, and the stadium must too. The same
argument applies to skyboxes. Almost every
other football stadium in the world has them -
not because their owners are insane, but because
skyboxes are a necessary financial reality of the
time we live in.
The tradition argument blown to bits, Joe I'm-
reaching-even-more-now turns to blatant dema-
goguery. "Skyboxes are a sellout to the corporate
interests and will pollute the Michigan brand,"
he'll slobber at you, with minimal regard for
coherence. Funny - where was this guy when
Domino's signed the contract to monopolize
pizza in the stadium? Where was he when Nike
decided a checkmark was all our hallowed jer-
seys were missing? Where was he when the Uni-
versity, along with the rest of the Big Ten, took
God knows how many millions from ABC to
give that network exclusive rights to its games?
Unfortunately, much of the opposition to sky-
boxes is built up not on true feelings, but by a
bandwagon mentality rivaled only by the fight to
tear down the halo that once encircled the Big
House. How many of you who mock the halo
today actually saw it? Though it may be easy to
whine about how gruesome it was, more people
simply jumped aboard the anti-halo bandwagon
than actually detested it.
And while we're exposing falsely folksy argu-
ments, what's all this nonsense about skyboxes
promoting elitism in the stadium? Face it, folks:
People who can afford tickets to Michigan games
are not the huddled masses anyway. At worst, the
skyboxes will separate the rich from the richer -
what a tragedy that would be. We already have
different levels of seating, and with the steep
price of good seats - not to mention monstrous
seat premiums and taxes - the average fan can-
not afford first row, 50-yard-line seats anyway.
But you know who can? The 84-year-old alum
from the class of '44 who made millions from his
business ventures. Will this guy, care though he'
does for the team, stand and do the cheers and
jeer his lungs out at opposing safeties? I doubt it.
Why do skybox-haters get so much pleasure out
of making this man sit in the pouring rain with
sharp pain creeping up his spine, thanks to the
wonder of aluminum benches? You want rowdy
fans? Move people like this up to their luxury
boxes and the stands will be filled with none but
the most rambunctious.
And the stadium will be louder for it, too.
The skyboxes will hold in more sound - some-
thing the Big House desperately needs (how can
110,000 people be so quiet, Detroit sports talk
radio personalities often wonder). Will the sky-
boxes be ugly? Well, they will certainly change
the look of the stadium, but as they say, beauty's
in the eye of the beholder.
The crusade to ban skyboxes is about as
disingenuous as they get - all this talk about
protecting the sanctity of the stadium. Is the
lack of skyboxes the one thing that makes you
love Michigan stadium? Is it the one thing that
makes it unique? Of course not. The stadium has
changed plenty since it was first built, but it'll
take a lot more than a few luxury boxes to take
away the maize and blue tradition.
Syed can be reached at
galad@umich.edu
0
S
4
VIEWPOINT
Why students don't attend Hash Bash
BY BRIAN DURRANCE
I read with amusement Drew Philp's article
about the lack of University student attendance
at this year's Ann Arbor Hash Bash (Hash Bash
invades Ann Arbor, 04/03/2006). In it, he quotes
organizer Josh Soper, who speculates that stu-
dents don't attend the annual rally because
there are too many "older people" from "out of
town." He says that as a result, the festival now
"kind of has that image," apparently scaring
students away.
As an alum who grew up in Ann Arbor and
declared it an official holiday. Now the campus
is deserted on MLK day. I'm told that last year's
MLK parade drew 50 people, and most of them
were probably "out-of-towners."
In the 1970s, Hash Bash was held on April 1
- April Fools Day (get it?). This guaranteed
that the festival would usually fall on a week-
day, just before Spring Break, and right in the
middle of a typical University lunch hour. There
was always a sizable crowd (young and old), and
the streets were clogged at rush hour with revel-
ers who enjoyed a lively rally, petitioners, street
performers, musicians, group hugs and huge
and teach-ins that occurred in the surrounding
classroom buildings were an important part
of the tradition. Sadly, those voices are miss-
ing from today's rallies partly because festival
organizers choose to hold their event when the
campus is asleep.
By formalizing the holiday and pandering to
the work schedules of the "older hippies" and
the "out-of-towners," the festival has lost much
of its electricity and a good deal of its intellec-
tual grounding.
If Ann Arborites want to preserve this fes-
tival as some kind of museum piece for future
aPenerations to eniov. the~v need to make chanL-e
I