w. 4A - Thursday, February 9, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom JbeItidiigan :al Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com 0 JOSEPH LICHTERMAN EDITOR IN CHIEF ASHLEY GRIESSHAMMER and ANDREW WEINER EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS JOSH HEALY MANAGING EDITOR Right now the best way that I can impact the world is through entertainment. One day, and that day will come, I can impact the world through politics. - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson saidin an interview with The Huffington Post about his interest in potentially getting involved in politics. A comprehensive platform 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. Imran Syed is the public editor. He can be reached at publiceditor@michigandaily.com. A tCS tSe arm Aracista dvertisement Negative political ads subtract from campaigns uper Bowl advertisements are expected to be funny and eye- opening, but ads that are openly racist are something new. Last Sunday, football fans around the state of Michigan looked on with amazement as a political advertisement degraded a specific group of individuals. Former U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra's campaign to be the Republican nominee to face Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) in the November election turned brutal after a clearly racist advertisement was aired during the Super Bowl. Hoekstra's campaign team cre- ated a commercial targeting Stabenow's spending, calling her "Deb- bie Spend-It-Now," and turned the focus on China and Asian peoples. Political candidates should focus on promoting themselves through campaign ads and not try to offensively defame another candidate or culture. No political advertisement should offend a culture. For most undergraduates on campus, the upcoming elec- tion will be our first as eli- gible voters. And while many of us haven't yet formally had our political say, we have undoubt- edly constructed our own set of political ideas. I myself have SARAH developed a ROHAN political atti- tude which most would define as liberal. However, like all things politics, it's never quite so simple. I have at the forefront of my mind aproblem entirelyseparate from, and yet utterly pertinent to, my political concerns for America: the Middle East. Such a concern makes politics far more than a simple issue of bi- partisanship. So, while I tend to be left-leaning in my social values, my attitude toward Israel more closely resembles a conservative outlook.. This concern, however, is just a personal example of a univer- sal issue which young voters will grapple with for the first time this November. There will rarely ever be any one candidate who embodies the entirety of one's political ethos. We must consider what issues mat- ter to us most and how we deal with them when they seem to conflict. To make an educated decision, one must be an educated voter. It's all too easy to define a candidate by only one of his many political positions. For example, students often see Ron Paul as the candidate who supports the legalization of marijuana. Oftentimes, however, the same voters will know little to nothing about his job-stimulus proposals. To vote for a candidate without knowing his positions on all but a few issues is to inadequate- ly exercise your right to vote. As young people, we tend to be more shortsighted, concerned mainly with issues dealing with the here and now. Young voters are more likely to pay attention to policies concerning social liber- ties, such as gay marriage, military action, job. availability and drug policies. It's easy to ignore issues like social security and Medicare, which will only affect our genera- tion in the distant future. But, as voters, we must remember that whomever we elect will have a say in these important issues which affect not only our fellow citizens, but will likely one day affect us too. Finally, as inexperienced voters, we stand in a unique position. Too often we hear more weathered vot- ers restrictively define themselves as either Democratic, Republican or Independent. Having not yet offi- cially committed to any party, first- time voters should take the time to consider candidates independent of their party affiliation. In other words, vote for policies and posi- tions rather than parties. Few of us yet possess the burdens and responsibilities of a mortgage, paying taxes and facing the costs of raising children. And though the issue of healthcare is extremely important in this election, most of us do not yet have to worry about funding our own healthcare cover- age. As voters acquire these respon- sibilities with time and age, their interests tend to shift from "what is.best for the country" to "what is best for me." Before it's too late, let's reflect on and decide what we believe is best for our country. We should cultivate a habit of voting for the well-being of society at large instead of the well-being of our own special interests. Voters should consider all of a candidate's ideas. This upcoming election, I will have to decide whether to re-elect a president whose social values closely reflect my own, but whose attitudes toward Israel might be less aligned with mine than those of other. can- didates. Another student on cam- pus who identifies with Ron Paul's stance on marijuana legalization, but who believes in aggressive foreign policy, will have to make a choice as well. I can't tell students which of their often-conflicting opinions should take precedence and which should be swept to the side. What I can suggest is that students become versed in the many complex and varied policies of each candidate. In this way, first time voters can best do justice to their own opinions and to those of their fellow citizens. - Sarah Rohan can be reached at shrohan@umich.edu. Political campaigns have recently become more negative and demeaningtoward oppos- ing parties and candidates. The ads have started a dangerous trend that offends both parties and individuals involved. Accord- ing to a National Public Radio report, nega- tive political advertising in campaigns has become bigger than ever and continues to increase. In the 2000 presidential election, neither George W. Bush nor Al Gore ran neg- ative advertisements. But today, these nega- tive ads flood our televisions and computers, demeaning opposing candidates and their parties. Campaigns are no longer aimed at promoting an individual candidate, but rath- er at putting down the opposition. Hoekstra's commercial against Staben- ow's spending record is blatantly racist and offensive. It shows a young Asian woman riding her bicycle through a rice paddy field, while speaking broken English. Surprisingly, she has no accent whatsoever, yet still speaks poor English in choppy sentences. These racist tactics are unacceptable as a means of political propaganda. In no way should candidates be running racist advertisements that are demeaning to an entire culture and ethnic group. Commercials can change the way thousands of individuals view certain groups or think about a different culture. Political advertisements are aired publically for thousands of viewers to see, and employ- ing racist ideas is not acceptable. Political campaigns need to refocus their advertising on promoting the candidates and sharing information with the public. Not only are negative advertisements like Hoekstra's offensive, but they are not a pro- ductive means of campaigning. By degrading certain individuals and offending a group's culture, political advertisements don't gain the positive support they are hoping for. If candidates began creating informative advertisements, they would be backed by hope and encouragement, rather than by fear and hatred. Unfortunately, negative adver- tisements have a stronger effect on people than positive advertisements, but this isn't a reason to insult another culture. Political campaigning in the United States has gotten out of control. Huge sums of money are spent creating negative advertise- ments to poke fun at opposing parties and candidates. Candidates waste thousands of dollars to hurt the opposition rather than inform the general public about their own goals and ambitions. Political candidates need to focus on creat- ing informative advertisements that promote a specific candidate, rather than offending a certain party or culture. It is unacceptable to use racist tactics and ideas in advertise- ments that can prove to be tremendously degrading to individuals from different cul- tures. Political advertising campaigns in the United States are more negative than ever and in return, we're not learning anything new about a candidate's objectives and ideas. Campaigns need to start focusing on inform- ing the general public, rather than bashing their opponents and offending individual cultures in the process. FOLLOW DAILY OPINION ON TWITTER Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials, view cartoons and join in the debate. Check out @michdailyoped to get updates on Daily opinion content throughout the day. A real woman 01 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS: Aida Ali, Laura Argintar, Kaan Avdan, Ashley Griesshammer, Nirbhay Jain, Jesse Klein, Patrick Maillet, Erika Mayer, Harsha Nahata, Harsha Panduranga, Timothy Rabb, Adrienne Roberts, Vanessa Rychlinski, Sarah Skaluba, Seth Soderborg, Caroline Syms, Andrew Weiner JESSE KLEIN| Grade us consistently On the first day of my creative writing class, I couldn't find a seat. The class was full. I was forced to steal a desk from another classroom. After the usual introductions and icebreakers, my teacher said, "It will be very difficult to get an A in this clags. You will have to really wow me." I could feel the classroom emptying. Creative writing is a class that most people, including niyself, take because they want to. It only fills a creative expression requirement for LSA students. When people were asked why they wanted to take this class, the answers were some form of "I like writing and I had time in my schedule." But when he said that it would be hard to get an A, all the students started regretting their decision to take this- 'fun' class. At the next class, I had no problem finding a seat. The phrase "it will be hard to get an A" guaranteed that at least one third of the class would drop by our next meeting. Students work hard to find teachers that will boost their GPAs. They look on ratemy- professor.com or maizeandbluereview.com, The Michigan Daily's own teacher review website. Students look for teachers who give out lots of As or they ask friends who they think are the easiest teachers. If things aren't what they expected when they enter the class, they drop. And those who stick with it get punished with low grades for not taking the easy way out. I took the class because I had always want- ed to take a creative writing class, and I'm not going to lie, I thought it would be a little bit of a GPA booster. Once my GSI told me it would be basically impossible to get an A, the GPA I was aiming for was thrown out the window. But I didn't want to switch out. It was probably impossible and waytoo much of a hassle for me with my schedule, and I actually liked my GS. Besides the fact that he decided to make a fun, non-required, non-core class extremely dif- ficult to succeed in, he was interesting, funny and seemed to have a good grasp on how to teach creative writing. I wanted this class tobe a fun distraction from my other intense classes, but instead it just became one more thing for me to stress over. I can't enjoy the class as fully as I would have because I know this class will be another dent in my GPA. Worse than knowing that my GPA will suffer is knowing that the other people who switched out moved to an easier section. They will get a higher grade in the course and will look like better students than me. I am getting punished for sticking with my assigned teacher and not-working the system to get the highest GPA possible. I am not advocating grade inflation. Instead, I am just advocating for a change in the system. A change that would make grading scales more universal for each specific course. The Univer- sity should look at the grades all G5Is or profes- sors give out in a specific class. If there is a huge discrepancy between different sections year after year, something needs to be done. Some- thing needs to change so students in every sec- tion have the same chance at getting an A, B or C. It should be fair. Jesse Klein is an LSA freshman. ne of the most disappoint- ing revelations of growing up, at least for me, is that my life really isn't, and won't be, straight out of a chick flick. No, my biggest prob- lem in life is not having to bribe my way into law school " to get back together ADRIENNE with my ex-boy- ROBERTS friend, or break- ing up with an attractive and successful man in ten days so that I can finish a.story for a world-famous magazine, all while maintaining a lady-like demeanor and wearing gorgeous clothes. No, like many other college stu- dents, my life is much less glam- orous. My days are filled with awkward encounters, frequent cups of cheap coffee, saying the wrong things at the wrongtimes and gener- ally being broke. So when I saw Kris- ten Wiig portray Annie Walker in "Bridesmaids" as a single, struggling and swearing 30-something woman, I could see myself in her more than in any other character portrayed in those predictable romantic com- edies. While Wiig was praised for her role, a growing concern arose because of the portrayal of women as ridiculous, loudmouth losers. In a Jan. 29 Detroit Free Press article by Georgea Kovanis, women are criti- cized for losing themselves when they are crass because it "is very male in tone" and "we are following in the footsteps of men." This senti- ment has been expressed by many: Women with strong personalities are viewed as intimidating and manly. Kovanis is correct in the fact that this new-found freedom of language is a step toward territory previously claimed by men. But I think it's totally wrong to think that women just want to emulate men and not form their own iden- tity. Of course, we all need to know when and where not to use this lan- guage, but honestly, it can be liber- ating. Off-color jokes made by women demonstrate a certain power that women are gaining. Think Tina Fey, Chelsea Handler and Amy Poehler. These women use dirty humor fre- quently and they speak their minds. They are also respected by men and women alike. Yet, there seems to be a disconnect between comedic and strong women in Hollywood and the attitudes toward women in everyday life. The problem does not lie in how funny or how lame women's jokes are. Instead, there seems to be a deeply rooted fear of women with bold personalities. When Jodi Kantor's book, "The Obamas," hit shelves last monththere was a mass outcry over the fact that this book described Michelle Obama as an angry black woman who was overly protective and harsh. In reality, the book provides examples of Obama not wanting to move her children to the White House before the end of their school year and having some difficulty adjusting to her new life. This sounds like an honest depic- tion of many women today, not a crazed and vicious first lady. Many women have always been strong, sometimes angry and a little bit vulgar. Representing women like this in movies and television, and now in biographies, is new. The atti- tudes and personalities of women are not. Women are not trying to act like men. They are just becoming more comfortable showingwhothey There is a fear of females with big personalities. are and what they think. It's one thing to think comedic and strong women are funny from a distance, but it's another to respect women who aren't actresses and celebrities. Women can't continue to live vicariously through the people on our TVs. We should be proud of the people we are with our closest friends and family, not the inhibited persona that we share with the rest of the world. Yes, women are generally poised, collected and put-together. But it would be inaccurate and unfair to only portray that image. Sometimes, we have loser tendencies, and that's okay. There are many Annie Walk- ers in the world, and the more that this is accepted, the easier it will be for women to express themselves publicly like we do with our best friends behind closed doors. When it's appropriate, of course. After all, we do have standards. - Adrienne Roberts can be reached at adrirobeumich.edu. 01 CONTRIBUTE TO THE COVERSATION Readers are encouraged to submit letters to the editor and viewpoints. Letters should be fewer than 300 words while viewpoints should be 550-850 words. Both must include the writer's full name and University affiliation. Send submissions to tothedaily@michigandaily.com A A £ 4 4A 4 4 .