4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 29, 2006 DONN M. FRESARD EMILY BEAM JEFFREY BLOOMER d M r ESARDf CHRISTOPHER ZBROZEK Editor in Chief Editorial Page Editors Managing Editor EDITED AND MANAG ED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 413 E. HURON ANN ARBOR, MI 48104 tothedaily@michigandaily.com OPINION NOTABLE QUOTABLE The party of FDR, the party of Harry Truman has become the party of cut and run." - President Bush, responding to Democratic criticisms of his strategy in the war against terrorism, as reported yesterday by The Associated Press. The mindless student THERESA KENNELLY I 4 A media divided Differing accounts drive country's polarization The New York Times broke a story earlier this week about a classified intelligence report that links the war in Iraq to the rise in Islamic radicalism in the Middle East. For liberals, this was a monumental piece of journalism - maybe three years too late, but still, statistical proof of what many had been saying all along. Yet outside the liberal sphere, the sto caused hardly a ripple. The same situation occurred earlier this month, although with the roles reversed, when the Bush Administration released its report, "9/11 Five Years Later: Success and Challenges,"linking the war to adeclinein terrorism.Although assessments of the America's progress on the so-called "War on Terror" are likely to vary, polar- opposite stories like these are symptomatic of the growing fragmentation of our society. Media outlets, particularly on the Internet, are increasingly catering to an ideologically homogeneous audience, and we are seeing not just diverging interpretations of what is happening, but glaring discrepancies in the facts themselves. No story is exactly the same. Events can be interpreted a million ways and statistics can be manipulated to fit a purpose - but the basic facts should at least consistent. Discrepancies foster dialogue that inher- ently leads to a freer and more open society. But it seems that much current reporting is based on different facts altogether, not just minor discrepancies. The war in Iraq provides a stark example of the widening gulf between coverage. In the months leading up to the U.S. inva- sion, Fox News showed extensive footage of aluminum tubing that left many viewers convinced that Saddam Hussein possessed a nuclear arsenal capable of destroying the world fifteen times over. After all, Vice President Dick Cheney said that these tubes were "irrefutable evidence" that Iraq was pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Meanwhile, those skeptical of war didn't take their second-in-command at his word. War reporting became distinctly separate in the facts conveyed, forcing Americans to line up behind the reporters who reinforced their respective ideologies. Consequently, reporting produced stories to reflect a spe- cific ideology, even more so than in the past. The blame shouldn't fall completely on the media. Journalists compete with an administration and a new body of poli- ticians who increasingly rely on spin to serve their political purposes - the Bush Administration being the main culprit. By using rhetoric that often contradicts facts, the Bush Administration has made the pur- suit of reliable information an uphill battle. Even if journalists make compelling, factu- al arguments, the president's spin discounts them. Whether or not it is entirely the media's fault, these fragmented portrayals by the media have left Americans confused and polarized. In a 2004 Gallup poll,journalists ranked as the second least-trusted people in American society - right behind car sales- men. There's something very disturbing about this. Journalists are supposed to be an extension of the people and an avenue for people to stay informed, a role made impos- sible without trust. So long as Americans obtain their news from ideologically slanted media or blogs, the country will remain divided as its frag- mented media. The American people need to feel that the journalists are protecting the common good and not just their jobs. One way to start is by pointing out contradictions between political rhetoric and hard facts. Hopefully, consistent reporting can foster a more unified democracy with a majority of informed - not confused - citizens. Michael Venyah -also known as the crazy bigot in the Diag who yells about homo- sexuality - and the impending "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day" have, in an ironic twist of fate, brought a lot of good to campus. The two separate but equally dis- turbing demonstrations have out- raged students in large numbers, creating political fervor on the Diag - a phenomenon that has largely been absent at the Univer- sity in recent years. The plague of apathy the University has wit- nessed lately can be blamed on everything from the disingenuous nature of politics these days to the overall lackadaisical behavior of most 20-year-olds. But what truly accounts for University stu- dents becoming reluctant in their political activity could be recent education reforms. Public Law 107-110 - mislead- ingly named the No Child Left Behind Act - passed the House in Nov. 2001. President Bush signed it into law, and it has since altered the state of education in our country. Looking back five years and seeing the amount of support it received, it's clear that NCLB fooled many people into thinking it was a good direction to go with our nation's schools. Its intent was to create more account- ability and raise standards in ele- mentary and secondary schools, reduce illiteracy and hire better- qualified teachers. As it turns out, few of those targets were actually met. NCLB has only managed to limit federal funding for schools that are succeeding, eliminate programs such as the fine arts and special education classes and force schools to focus on achiev- ing the bare minimum. And it gets worse. Standard- ized testing and grade-level achievement tests mandated by NCLB, which largely determine the amount of federal funding a school receives, have led to an era of stressed-out teachers who "teach to the test." Teach- ers have literally forgotten their role, which once was educat- ing students and inspiring them to continue learning outside of the classroom. Students are sup- posed to be motivated to inquire, to enjoy reading and, most importantly, to think about the world around them and not take everything "as is." But thanks to NCLB, they miss out on this type of learning and are restrict- ed to passing tests and fulfilling requirements. The reduction of thinking inside K-12 classrooms has now begun to trickle onto college campuses. With taxing pre-med curricu- lums, $1,500 LSAT classes and four-semester language require- ments, it's obvious that standard- ized education methods don't stop once you get to college. Because school is viewed as merely a place for passing tests, students are largely unaware of their potential to think inquisitively about soci- ety and see how they can make a difference in the world. This is what causes such high levels of political apathy on cam- pus. Students don't care to think about peripheral issues because they're wrapped up in doing what they have to do and what's already been mapped out for them. And because getting involved in politi- cal issues isn't going to boost anyone's MCAT score, political apathy is the unfortunate result for many University students. While the swarms of people retaliating against Venyah or the Young Americans for Freedom's upcoming "Catch and Illegal Immigrant Day" don't exactly mirror the campus's Vietnam War protests of 40 years ago, they do show one thing about University students: We can care if we really want to. Getting students to real- ize that they can do more than just follow stringent academic tracks is what is necessary on campus. But more importantly, the govern- ment needs to reform the educa- tion system so that school is once again a place encouraging stu- dents to think. Chances are you will continue to do your daily routine and not think once all day about the war in Iraq or the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. But even if for one min- ute, you sat down and thought about what you are capable of doing to affect the various issues of our time - and not just how to boost your law school application - then you will be making a big leap toward getting our generation out of the rut of indifference we have been led into. Apathetic is a box you can check as your political inclination on the Facebook; it's a word that defines our generation. Only if we fight against it will we be able to save ourselves from a lifetime of mindless thought. Kennelly can be reached at thenelly@umich.edu. 4 I d LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send all letters to the editor to tothedaily@michigandaily.com. VIEWPOINT Progress in Iraq BY REGGIE BROWN Pundits and politicians on the left, along with some Republicans, have been describing Iraq as a quagmire. At the same time, they criticize our president for losing sight of the mission in Afghanistan. One such criticism ran on the edi- torial page of The Wall Street Journal on Mon- day. In the article, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), claims that "less than five years after Ameri- can troops masterfully toppled the Taliban, the disastrous diversion in Iraq has allowed (al-Qaida and the Taliban) the chance to rise again." Such statements miss the geopolitical goal in Afghanistan and downplay the fact that we could, within our lifetimes, see a prosper- ous, democratic Iraq. In Afghanistan, our goal never was to pacify the entire nation. Afghanistan had been fight- ing a civil war before the Soviets invaded, and fighting had continued right up until the invasion by the United States. While the Tal- iban was the official government of the coun- try after the end of the Soviet occupation, at no point was it able to gain control over the entire nation. The goal in invading Afghanistan - which has been successful - was to disrupt al-Qaida and take away its safe haven, not to end a long-standing civil war. Hoping for a wider democratization in the Middle East, the administration turned to Iraq. While the chance of ending the fighting in Afghanistan is slim, it is much greater in Iraq today. The fledgling nation has a central gov- ernment, though it holds little sway over many of its provinces. Still, this is not unprecedented for young nations where you often see strong localized governments with little centralized control. However, the nation's prime minis- ter, Nouri al-Maliki, has been working hard to begin coordinating these disparate municipali- ties, and his efforts have been fairly successful thus far, with the national bureaucracy begin- ning to show growth. Iraq's economy is also on the rise. In an April article from the Wall Street Journal's online Opinion Journal, Robert T. McLean points to JOHN OQUIST LIVE I YouN UR'EET I AESAID EFORE.0D0NOTI i ESEECHYou. rwN6REssMm. many promising indicators. While GDP growth was just 2.6 percent in 2005, itsis expected to be closer to 10 percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The nation's per capita income has tripled since the invasion. The nation has also recently seen the training of 36,000 new teachers, who have been furnished with close to nine million textbooks to go along with the many new schools built in the nation. All of these investments bode well for the future of Iraq. But perhaps most worrisome to the war's critics is the widespread violence in the nation. However, one promising sign for the govern- ment is that most of the violence is not aimed at bringing it down. According to the Pentagon, most of the violence there today occurs between Sunni and Shiite militias. This is evidenced by the order Moqtada al-Sadr, the leader of one of the largest Shiite militias in Iraq, recently gave to end attacks against coalition forces. All of this is coupled with the fact that a poll of Iraqis reported in the Los Angeles Times last year shows that two-thirds of the country's citi- zens believe that the nation is headed in the right direction. The poll, taken in April, also shows that 40 percent of Sunnis feel this way, up from just 15 percent in a January poll taken by the same organization. Another recent poll taken in Kurd- ish regions of the country showed that 86 percent of respondents stated that they believe the gov- ernment will improve the situation in Iraq. So, two of the three main factions in Iraq seem to support the current government, while the third has shown a dramatic rise in support in recent months. Meanwhile, there is very little violence being enacted against the nation's gov- ernment. The fighting, as Mario Loyola pointed out in the September 25 issue of the National Review, is beginning to look like that in Algeria in the early 1990s, where a civil war was waged throughout that nation without ever threaten- ing the government there. As Loyola points out, "violence for the sake of violence" can never maintain widespread popular support. Brown is an LSA senior. HEY, YOU KNOW WHAT, FR ANKLIN? GET ON THE BOX YOU'RE STARTING TO SOU|ND LIKE TRAITOR! SELL NOT LIBERTY TO ANJ..SLAMO-FASCISTI PURCHASE POWER. AND PLEASE REMOVE THE ELECTRODES University Towers blows off recycling To THE DAILY: I was shocked when I read that University Towers management claimed it was unaware that its building did not participate in a recycling program (Reduce, reuse, recycle [just not at University Tow- ers], 09/28/2006). I was a resident of University Towers during the last academic year, and while there, I had inquired about pos- sible methods of recycling. I was informed that the building did not have the bins to allow residents to recycle. During the year, management provided recommendation forms to residents, and I specifically requested that the building provide a method of recycling. As far as I know, my recommendation was never pursued. As one of the larg- est off-campus housing facilities, University Towers should be set- ting an example for other landlords in the area, but instead it chooses to fall far behind - and is violat- ing city ordinances in doing so. Protecting the environment is increasingly important, and as a student, I am upset that many landlords are unwilling to provide the necessary means to recycle. My new landlord, CMB Prop- erty Management, does provide recycling options. It is refreshing, however, that political leaders are starting to realize the importance of good environmental policy. Recently, Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) successfully limited the influx of Canadian trash into Michigan. Gov. Jennifer Granholm RYAN JABER JUST MAKES NUD has been actively fighting to keep the Great Lakes from being sold, polluted and drilled in, and she has been a leader for alternative and renewable energy. Ann Arbor has become a statewide example for environmental policy thanks to leaders like Mayor John Hieftje and Councilmembers Leigh Gre- den (D-Ward 3) and Margie Teall (D-Ward 4). With politicians lead- ing the way toward more respon- sible environmental policy, I hope to see more pressure on landlords and businesses in the future. I also hope that the Daily follows up on the University Towers story to make sure that the apartment com- plex follows through on the prom- ise to start a recycling program. Travis Radina LSA junior Bible's take on homo- sexuality misstated TO THE DAILY: In response to Jose Mainardi's letter (Diag preacher is just relat- ing Bible content, 09/28/2006): Yes, the Bible has a few pas- sages that have been interpret- ed to condemn homosexuality - but it also condemns cutting hair on the sides of your head and trimming beards (Leviticus 19:27) and other actions that many Christians consider inap- propriate to denounce today. Furthermore, the Bible includes stories of very intimate, loving relationships between pairs of women and men (see Ruth 1:14 or 2 Samuel 1:26) that are analo- gous to loving gay and lesbian relationships. Most importantly, Jesus preached a message of love and respect for fellow human beings. Being queer, it is the lack of respect toward the LGBT com- munity that most offended me about the preachers that came to the Diag, not to mention the lack of respect for other Christians. I would encourage civil discus- sions on campus about religion and homosexuality, but I hope that they are conducted respect- fully with an honest effort for mutual understanding. St. Mary's Student Parish and the Ann Arbor Zen Buddhist temple are a few places where such dis- cussions are taking place. Katie Kerfoot Engineering senior is love, mean Diag preacher is not TO THE DAILY: The "preacher" on the Diag may be relating Bible content, but in the wrong way (Diag preach- er is just relating Bible content, 09/28/2006). The main message of the Bible is that God is love. He also blatantly violates another biblical teaching in Matthew 7:1: "Don't judge, so that you won't be judged." Telling everyone on the Diag that they are going to hell, and saying all Jews are going to hell, is not a biblical teaching. That's the reason why people are getting upset. This man is putting a bad name on my religion. Joshua Tishhouse Art and Design junior I 4 I I 4 GIVE UP YOUR ESSENTIAL LIBERTIES TO PURCHASE TEMPORARY SAFETY! r i~ /,r * I LZ ~ SIV, ~t1LUV., TO WAKE UP TO THE REALITY OF THE SWEEPING POWERS YOU HAVE GRANTED THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF THIS GOVERMENT, WHICH IS ALMOST A MONARCHYI l1 T51F -- . _.__ R A J.H 1Lfli 2i I L 1 -F/,YV ft %9 n wrw ri