4 - Friday, March 6, 2009 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com l e Atic4t'6'gan wily Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@umich.edu ROBERT SOAVE COURTNEY RATKOWIAK EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR GARY GRACA EDITOR IN CHIEF Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. No plastic, no problem City council should ban plastic bags to keep streets cleaner Ann Arbor may soon join a recent green trend that started last year when San Francisco banned the use of plastic bags in its grocery stores. At Monday night's meeting, the Ann Arbor City Council discussed the possibility of adopting a similar ban to prevent the accumulation of plastic in the streets. Though the city's decision to table the ban until the June 1 meeting was justified because it allows the city to discuss the issue with local retailers and residents, the ban should remain an important priority. Considering that better alternatives to plastic exist, the city has a responsibility to enact this ban. NOAL UOTABLE Make no mistake. When Rush says 'jump', congressional Republicans say 'how high?"' - An excerpt from an email sent on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, commenting on Rush Limbaugh's unofficial status as leader of the GOP, as reported yesterday by CNN. BELLA SHAH E-MAIL BELLAAT BELLZ@UMICH.EDU St, n ; }air°~~ 41 0 I A culture of immorality A ban on plastic bags was presented to the City Council last June to put an end to the plastic bags floating around the streets of Ann Arbor. If approved the ban will only affect stores that gross more than $1 million a year, like Meijer and Kroger. Stores that can't afford to prohibit plastic bags will not be affected. And Ann Arbor isn't the only city considering plastic bag bans - cities including Boston, Portland and Pheonix are considering similar laws. Los Angeles voted to ban plastic bags last July. Petroleum-based plastic bags are an envi- ronmental hazard because they contaminate soil and waterways once they break down. According to the environmental research group Worldwatch,100billionbags eachyear are thrown away by Americans. As a result, cities including Ann Arbor spend substantial amounts of money cleaning these bags from the streets. The main reason the city is considering this ban is because of plastic bags litteringthe streets. It's a little ridiculous that this prob- lem even exists - people should at least have the decency to throw their trash in one of the numerous garbage cans scattered along the city streets. Regardless of the city's eventual decision, Ann Arbor'scitizens should dispose of their trash in a more responsible way. But regardless of the motivation, passing such a ban would have many positive effects. Plastic bags are an unnecessary risk to the environment, and the city will be much cleaner without them. What the city needs to do now is select an alternative to plastic bags that will not cause more harm to the environ- ment. While paper bags seem like the most obvious choice, they are actually just as bad because they require more energyto produce and recycle than plastic. One alternative is the use of compostable bags made from corn or potato starch. San Francisco chose this option after implementing its ban. Of course, the least costly and most practi- cal solution is for stores to distribute reusable cloth bags that customers bring with them when they shop. Stores like Meijer already offer shoppers this environmentally friendly option. Some shoppers may look at the use of cloth bags as inconvenient, but the con- servational quality of cloth bags make them well worth it. But whether or not cloth bags become the option of choice, environmental benefits - and cleaner streets - should have Ann Arbor shoppers welcoming the change. y housemates and I have on-demand service with our cable television pack- age. Last week was the selection of free movies available particularly excit- ing. Why? Because I was able to reac- quaint myself with Atticus Finch. Atticus, the main character of Harper Lee's novel NEIL "To Killa Mocking- TAMBE bird" and its 1962 film adaptation, is heroic, though not the web-slinging, caped-crusading type. Atticus is of a rarer breed - a moral hero. He is determined and destined to do what is right. Moral heroes are not people vaulted to notoriety because of their impact on the world or because of their talent, but cherished because they identify right from wrong and act accordingly. They are the ones that take the time to reflect deeply about what is right and then act morally even at their own detriment. While watching the movie, I began thinking of the moral heroes our society celebrates today. One such hero was mentioned in President Barack Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress last month. Obama told the story of Leon- ard Abess, Jr., a Florida banker who divvied up a $60 million windfall to 399 current employees and 72 former employees of his bank as bonuses. The CEO spread the wealth because he always wanted to reward the employees who stuck with him and he was already well-off financially. Essentially, he did it because it was the right thing to do. The second example I remem- bered were the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, who retook their hijacked plane on September 11, 2001 and crashed it in southern Pennsyl- vania instead of taking the risk that it might reach its intended target. Those people are celebrated as moral heroes - and rightfully so - because they sacrificed their own lives to spare many others from harm. My list started running thin there. I could not think of any other widely recognized people who were cel- ebrated for being moral heroes. Yes, it is an expectation to do what's right and therefore, moral heroes' actions may not be necessarily considered newsworthy, but signaling what's right and wrong publicly should not stop at shaming the immoral. We should also celebrate moral heroes so more people can be inspired by their example to do what's right. We need to celebrate moral heroes because moral behavior mat- ters. Think of Enron or other simi- lar scandals in business or politics. Even though there are many factors which contribute to situations like this, if leaders of the organizations had identified right from wrong and acted accordingly, maybe those situ- ations could have been prevented. At the very least, the harmful effects would have been minimized. And the University campus isn't exempt from moral interplay, either. We live in an environment where. moral decision-making has serious consequences, whether it's decid- ing whether or not to slip a pill into another person's Solo cup, cheat on a significant other or steal silver- ware from a dormitory cafeteria. On this campus, doing the right thing isn't always easy. When people balk on morally sound decisions, there are costs for themselves and others affected by their actions, just like in life outside the Ann Arbor bubble. But doing the right thing is also important when it may not hurt other people. Take the example of a student using Adderall - a drug prescribed to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactive Looking for real moral heroes in today's society. I Disorder that provides an unnatural ability to focus when taken by people without the disorder - as a study aid. Even though no physical harm is done to anybody else and there are no side effects to the user, it's still wrong. Adderall is just like steroids in baseball because it taints the integrity of the game. Just like steroids, Adderall con- tributes to a culture of immorality that pressures other students to participate in immoral acts just to keep up. This is where moral heroes come in. Society needs people to break with the culture of immorality on campus and across the country. We need to recognize moral heroes so that their deeds can inspire virtuous 4 deeds instead of vicious ones. Then, the rest of us can follow in their foot- steps with smaller moral acts of our own. Our campus and our society could certainly use more people like Atticus Finch. - Neil Tambe can be reached 4 at ntambegumich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor. Letters should be less than 300 words and must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. Letters are edited for style, length, clarity and accuracy. All submissions become property of the Daily. We do not print anonymous letters. Send letters to tothedaily@umich.edu. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Nina Amilineni, Emad Ansari, Emily Barton, Elise Baun, Harun Buljina, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh, Brian Flaherty, Emmarie Huetteman, Emma Jeszke, Sutha K Kanagasingam, Shannon Kellman, Jeremy Levy, Edward McPhee, Matthew Shutler, Neil Tambe, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder JEREMY LEVY I We're all a little bit racist As the Michigan Student Assembly examines its own future on campus, the Daily would like students to voice their opinions on what should be a part of its agenda. E-MAIL YOUR IDEAS TO ROBERT SOAVE AT RSOAVE@UMICH.EDU Constructing luxury Individuals who post comments on the come- dy blog stuffwhitepeoplelike.com love to express their deepest thoughts on race. On Feb. 14, an Internet user under the alias "screwobama" wrote, "I would've completely been pissed if i got fucked and was born in a non-white country." Although website owners may like these people because controversial comments result in more hits and increased ad revenue, many readers - myself included - can't help thinking that any- one who posts this kind of comment is probably an asshole. Like the elusive bathroom stall graffiti artist, anonymous Internet commentators frequently say things that would be unacceptable in a face- to-face interaction. On stuffwhitepeoplelike. com, a satirical blog that lists the things white people supposedly like, many of these comments deal with race and social issues. These conversa- tions reveal an array of frightening attitudes, but in many ways, they represent the way our society thinks about social issues. Part of the joke of stuffwhitepeoplelike.com is that most of the articles have very little to do with race. The authors' entries are not directed at all white people, as suggested by the title, but rather a growing culture in which Ameri- cans are desperately trying to prove their own uniqueness and sophistication - which the author' like to criticize. Although posts that describe "what white people like" such as "#14 Having Black Friends" are racial, posts like "#9 Making You Feel Bad About Not Going Outside" or "#41 Indie Music" are not. Perhaps the cul- ture this blog criticizes is dominantly white and wealthy, but the majority of criticisms are unre- lated to race. Even though the blog is supposed to be funny (and, in my opinion, succeeds), posts such as "#16 Gifted Children" or "#101 Being Offended" provoke users to post comments about social issues. The biggest problem here is that users' ability to remain anonymous allows them to say socially inappropriate things without worrying about being held responsible. There's no way to stop people from claiming that non-whites are just jealous if they cannot afford to live in an expensive neighborhood or that sexism only applies to ugly people. Some users have begun to create their own lists such as "Stuff Black People Like" or "Stuff Chinese People Hate." The blog itself is not racist, but its edgy material provokes people to say things I would be sur- prised to hear in public. These comments are often idiotic, but some- times, they accurately portray how society thinks about particular issues. For instance, our society is obsessed with assigning stereotypes. Internet users frequently discuss whether the list of stuff white people like accurately represents white people, saying things like, "I must not be a true white person if I don't like coffee" or the opposite, "I'm not white, butI like bumperstickers." Many claim that the blog is absolutely right about the behavior of white people, while others angrily assert that the blog isn't representative. All these comments miss the satire of the website and por- tray a society willingto believe that race depends on generalizations. Maybe we should regard these people as crazy. But comments on stuffwhitepeoplelike.com are just extreme examples of how many individu- als would talk about race in casual conversation. The people visiting stuffwhitepeoplelike.com are likely to be the same people who are search- ing youtube.com and collegehumor.com to divert themselves from work. As a result, the comments more closely resemble casual conversation than on websites like those of The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, where users are more careful to make sure that their comments are not blatantly offensive. Although most would not talk with the same sense of superiority as Mr. "scre- wobama," I don't think it's farfetched to say that the average American would think to himself, "Thank God I was born in America." A line from the musical Avenue Q says that everyone is a little bit racist. On a broader scale, this statement means that, even though it is easy to criticize people who hold unacceptable views, everyone makes overgeneralizations and igno- rant assumptions about race and social issues. The comments on stuffwhitepeoplelike.com may be extreme, butthey do not completely misrepre- sent how we as asociety think aboutsocial issues. Before we shun them as crazies, we have to real- izethattheir mindsets are somewhatreflective of the way we view ourselves. Jeremy Levy is an LSA freshman. 'll be honest with you - I've always been skeptical about North Quad, the new dorm cur- rently being built at the corner of State St. and East Wash- , ington Ave. It's not the destruction of the historic Frieze Building I'm upset about, although a lot of my fellow locals were sad to MEG see it go. After all, YOUNG the place was full of asbestos. It's about what North Quad symbolizes to me. Last fall, construction on campus totaled $1.3 billion dollars. Many of those projects are still in progress, and the Regents recently approved even more. God knows that Michigan needs the construction jobs, but what motivates the boom? North Quad is known on campus as "Mary Sue Coleman's idea." In an Ann Arbor News article (North Quad to get new look, 7/31/2006), she said that she was hoping that North Quad would give the entrance to campus a certain "wow" factor. And we're spending $175 million to get it. Don't misunderstand me - some of the facilities we're getting are astounding. I appreciate state-of-the- art technology and a clean, bright learning space. But I think that many of the University's construction proj- ects are an attempt to enter the aca- demic version of an arms race with private schools. North Quad will be able to house 460 students in suite-style dorm rooms. One style comes with a living room, another with four singles. Each room will have a bathroom. Oh, yeah, and this dorm will not be certified by the Leadership in Energy and Envi- ronmental Design's Green Building Rating System. The dining hall will also try to compete with gourmet campus eater- ies across the country, as noted by a recent Michigan Daily article (Catch- up cuisine, 9/16/2008). It might seem too good to be true, but it may just be too good to afford. Who will be living in these rooms? Affordable campus housing is already difficult to find, and neither private developers nor the University seem to understand. Everything being built is increasingly more luxurious. What's wrong with the idea that students eat ramen and wear shower shoes? Our fixation on image wouldn't be a problem if tuition were not steadily rising each year. Rather than spend- ing money to house high-maintenance students, shouldn't we lower the tuition costs of our public university? In such tough economic times, how we spend our budget speaks especial- ly loudly about our values. It seems to me that as much of our surplus should be directed toward academic excellence as possible, not attempt- ing to improve dormitory or dining hall rankings. Another example of the Universi- ty's ignorance of actual student needs is the change in venue for the Screen Arts and Cultures program. I am in Film Production classes here, and the University's decision to move studios and equipment rooms to the Modern Languages Buildinghas disappointed me greatly. Currently, the program calls the Argus II Building home. And although a few blocks from cam- pus, Argus II has plenty of space for film editing rooms, production stu- dios, and drive-up space for the 500 pounds of camera and lighting equip- ment necessary for each upperclass- man film project. Instead, this film equipment is going to be placed in the second floor of the MLB, where students will have to drag it around hallways, down elevators, through double doors and across the sidewalk to have access to 4 Is North Quad's extravagance ideal for students? it. The Language Resource Center will be moved to North Quad, away from every language class and office. Talkingto Screen Arts and Cultures faculty who are against these deci- sions, it seems like they were made just the way decisions on tuition increases are: over the summer, behind closed doors. Although better facilities are intended to attract top-notch faculty, the process of building them has been deaf to the requests of some teachers we already have. Ultimately, I have enough good sense to know that North Quad will be a beautiful facility with more than a few blessings. But as long as the project is motivated by a craving for the "wow" factor, it will seem to me to be out of step with our real needs: low costs, convenience and academ- ics to help our students (and our state) soar. - Meg Young can be reached at megyoung@umich.edu.