4A - October 4, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4A - October 4, 2012 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom C 14C idiian ary Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com TIMOTHY RABB JOSEPH LICHTERMAN and ADRIENNE ROBERTS ANDREW WEINER EDITOR IN CHIEF EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR 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. F R OM T HE DA ILY on ray the gay away States should ban harmful 'conversion camps' Last weekend, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill ban- ning therapeutic programs aimed at converting the sexual orientation of homosexual children. Many of these conver- sion therapies are often sought by parents who suspect gay tenden- cies in their children. The new law now prohibits any treatment that asks minors to "change behaviors or gender expressions, or to elim- inate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex." Such therapies have been found to have negative effects on children while promoting a culture of intol- erance. Other states, including Michigan, should follow California's lead in banning these prejudicial actions. Major disrespect OEasy, LS&plAy, B-School pre-school. We've all heard jokes and stereotypes about various majors before, and maybe we've even coined some of our own. But as stu- dents at one of the world's bestJ universities, why is it OK for HEMA us to routinely KARUNA- put down each K AM other's concen- trations? It's no exaggeration that nearly every major at the University is highly ranked, and, as a result, no student truly gets out easy. At one point or another, everyone pulls all-nighters in the library, spent weeks obsessing over every detail of a paper or been on the verge of a breakdown while struggling through a set of problems. And yet, we hear our own voices rising, mocking each other almost every day. Program in the Environment majors are tree-hugging hippies who get to go camping for credit. Screen Arts & Cultures majors just watch movies for homework. Com- puter Science majors have no social skills because they spend all day locked up coding in their rooms. Pre-meds are neurotically com- petitive, doing whatever it takes to destroy the curve on organic chem- istry exams. I'm an Environmental Engineer- ing major, and one might think that stereotypes haven't developed against us yet because the program is so new. But in the one month since we've been around, I've heard that we're the engineering misfits - the former civil engineers who found building bridges too difficult. In fact, we're all just trying to make it through college and hope- fully add value to society one day. It doesn't seem acceptable to say that one person's degree is worth more than another's just because of their major. At such a diverse school, the focus should be on celebrating the diversity of not just the students, but also of their areas of study. Take the case of Industrial and Operations Engineering. There certainly may be students who elect this major because they think - because of stereotypes like "IOEasy" - it must require less effort than most other engineering majors. But, there are far more IOEs who do it because they're genuinely interested in the subject matter. And it's no secret that students who graduate from the University with IOE degrees have starting salaries that are much higher than many of their peers. So it doesn't seem right to stereotype students of a cer- tain major simply because of their shared passion or ambition. Furthermore, what are we really trying to prove by making jokes about each other's majors? Almost every student at the University is here because they stood out in high school. They were "special," and that's why they ended up at a school so prestigious. In an attempt to say that perhaps we're still special, we're still better, we still stand out, we cling to the one thing that inher- ently sets us apart from most of our fellow students - our major. On top of that, students pick up double majors, multiple minors - whatever it takes to distinguish themselves in a sea of more than 40,000 students. The University has asked us all to "expect respect" through our actions and words. While it may initially seem harmless, bashing someone's major is, ultimately, a form of disrespect. We're not achieving anything by telling busi- ness students that their classes are unnecessarily easy or engineering students that theirs are unneces- sarily hard. By stereotyping, we're stereotyping ourselves as a bevy of students with superiority complex- es. The hallmark Michigan arro- gance that other schools accuse us of rears its ugly head each time we put down someone else's major and, by extension, flaunt our own. S Stereotypes aside, no one gets out of the 'U' easy. In the next few years, most of us will leave Ann Arbor with a degree in hand. And not just any degree, but a University of Michigan degree that's respected around the world. The work it took to get this degree was byno means "easy,"byno means "playing," byno means "pre-school." Regardless of what we studied, we'll become a part of the largest alumni network in the world. No matter where in the world we end up, we'll proudly bleed maize and blue for the rest of our lives. What we stud- ied here will probably matter as far as what we end up doing - what we thought of other people's majors, or what they thought of ours, will mean nothing. So next time you're inclined to poke fun at someone's major, think first. - Hema Karunakaram can be reached at khema@umich.edu. Follow her on Twitter at @Hemakarunakaram. A leading advocate of reparative thera- pies is activist David Pickup, who credits such practices with curing his own youth- ful homosexual leanings. Pickup and others often refer to a UCLA study conducted in the 1970s by doctoral student George Rekers. The subject was Kirk Murphy, a slightly effemi- nate 5-year-old boy. After subjecting Mur- phy to experiments involving emotional and physical punishments, Rekers concluded that he was "cured" and published his findings in a scientific journal. Rekers became regarded as an expert in reparative therapies and even today his research is cited in academic writ- ings. Following the reparative treatment, Murphy's mother recalled that, "it left Kirk just totally stricken with the belief that he was broken." In 2003, after years of living "under a pall," Murphy committed suicide. Concerned by his affection for dolls, Mur- phy's parents forced him to attend the conver- sion therapy program. At 5 years old, Murphy was understandably compliant and unable to voice his own thoughts. Similarly, most minors are more or less subject to the whims of their parents. California's ban provides protection for underage children unable to defend them- selves, while still allowing adults the freedom to attend such therapy sessions voluntarily. Pickup argues that the ban denies treat- ment to children who may desire it. Regard- less of his concern, there are questions about the efficacy of the therapies themselves. Reparative therapists have admitted that while many "patients have succeeded in reducing their homosexual attraction and in enhancing heterosexual desire ... total 'cures' are rare." Furthermore, a large portion of the medical field agrees with the American Psy- chological Association that "there has been no scientifically adequate research to show that therapy aimed at changing sexual orien- tation is safe or effective." In addition to their inefficacy, the APA says conversion therapies may even "increase the likelihood or severity of depression, anxi- ety and self-destructive behavior." Unlike other religious institutions such as private schools, the sole purpose of a conversion cen- ter is to cleanse the patient of homosexual- ity. This not only causes direct harm to those involved, but also spreads a visible message of prejudice. Exodus International, for example, is a religious organization with ministries scattered across the country - including one in Traverse City,-Mich. - dedicated to pro- viding treatments to eradicate "homosexual impulses and desires." The presence of these clinics is a shameful indication of ignorance and intolerance. Michigan, along with all other states, should emulate the precedent set by California. SJ EODITOR IA IN 40 HAREA CT I S G R L ESS @Obamney Just because your Celebrity you can agree on anything. " " #relationship fail -@michdailyoped JESSE KLEIN I Not presidential material 0 EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Eli Cahan, Nirbhay Jain, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis, Patrick Maillet, Harsha Nahata, Timothy Rabb, Adrienne Roberts, Vanessa Rychlinski, Sarah Skaluba, Michael Spaeth, Gus Turner SHARIK BASHIR I A nation lost Last week I was in a terrible mood. I was following the reaction in Pakistan to the provocative video, "Innocence of Muslims" that ridicules the last prophet of Islam and I was utterly dejected, buried beneath the news stories depicting the chaos in my home- town of Karachi. To make matters worse, my father sent me a troubling e-mail. Our e-mail exchanges typically consist of him asking me about life in college, and me asking about the situation at home and with the family. But for the first time since I've been in college, the tone was one of gloom. The first sentence per- fectly set the tone - "yesterday was a bad day for Pakistan's prestige, if there is any left." As if my father's words weren't enough, I went through the website of Pakistan's most popular English newspaper and found that my favorite writer, Nadeem F. Paracha, had writ- ten a new piece titled "... And the abyss stared back." Reading this sent me plummeting into a temporary depression. He started his article with, "it's official: We are not a nation.We are a mob," and ended with, "We as a nation have for long been staring into the abyss. But what many ofus believe is avisionofsome kind ofa Muslim reawakening is in actuality just the abyss star- ing right back." The country went into a frenzy bordering lunacy. The government completely lost control of law and order in its main cities and let mobs run amok. A holiday was announced on Friday, Sept. 21 named Youm-i-Ishq-i-Rasool (Love for the Prophet Day). Personally, I feel it's a ridicu- lous public holiday to have. However, what was supposed to be a day of expressing love for the Prophet turned predictably violent. Extremist outfits in the country used this as an opportunity to flex their political muscle and let indoctrinated sheep loose onto the streets to set Karachi and other major cit- ies ablaze. Cinemas were burned, protesters fought with the police, many lives were lost and many more people were injured. Prop- erty was destroyed and set on fire. According to The Express Tribune, a local newspaper, the cost due to property damage and frozen economic activity is estimated at Rs 76 billion ($0.8 billion). I don't under- stand the purpose of all this madness. Reli- gious extremists promote their anti-West propaganda, blaming the United States for a video we clearly had nothing to do with. But extremists tend to be immune to logic. In his article, Paracha points out the dis- turbing reality in Pakistan with a little his- tory lesson. He points out how, for decades since the birth of the nation, the writing has been on the wall. Pakistan has been slipping into the "abyss" of religious extremism, noth- ing has been done to prevent it and each suc- cessive government, democratic and military alike, is a catalyst to the growing problem. To me, the worst part about this disaster is that it wasn't a turning point where Paki- stanis at large realize that we strayed terri- bly off the path. The crisis was not a wake-up call (as if Pakistan really needs any more of those). Friday, Sept. 21 was a day in Pakistan's history that marks a point of no return. That dreaded day that nobody wanted to admit we've reached, where there is truly no hope. Extremism has prevailed over mindfulness and rationality. The country is lost. Sharik Bashir is an LSA sophomore. In a Freakonomics podcast from November 2010, Steven Levitt, along with other highly respected economists, asserted that the U.S. president has no control over the economy. The president exercises limited control over social issues - he can't technically propose laws, and he can't even vote on them. The U.S. Constitution was written to keep the executive branch from being too powerful. This, in combi- nation with the checks and balanc- es system, was intended to prevent tyranny. By extension, it gives the president very little control, which is a problem that's amplified by a divided Congress. According to an article from USA Today, this term's Congress has been the least productive since 1947. They've passed onlyf61laws, whereas every Congress before - with the exception of Congress in 1995 - has passed at least 125 laws. In the face of this much opposition, there's little the president can do. Based on this evidence, the most important role for the president is to be the face of the country or of an issue. When the president makes a statement, it's immediately deemed the most important statement made about the issue in question. When President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden came out (pun intended) in favor of gay marriage, it was seen as a huge victory for mar- riage equality, even though Obama cannot and has not proposed legisla- tion supporting gay rights. In other words, when the White House really gets behind an issue, it immediately gets pushed to the top of the public's to-do list. The president's role is one of marketing and negotiating. Both skills require the ability to speak eloquently and diplomatically on sensitive issues. When the president says something, how he says it car- ries significant weight. The presi- dent must think before he speaks and represent the country well when he does, which simply isn't the case with Mitt Romney in light of numerous media gaffes. This was underscored most recently with his now-infamous quote, "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the presi- dent no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon govern- ment, who believe that they are vic- tims ... And they will vote for this president no matter what...These are people who pay no income tax." And that's only the tip of the iceberg. In this speech, Romney alien- ated hard working Americans in the lower-middle class while trying to appeal to his peers in the whit- est, richest sector of society. How this statement is viewed by other countries and organizations would be more important if Romney were president. With Romney as the face of our nation, this statement could be taken to mean that America as a whole only cares about the opinions of the super-rich. In London, Romney asserted that with the 2012 Olympics, "It's hard to know just how well it will turn out. There are a few things that were dis- concerting." He accused London of being unequipped to host the games a day before they were to start. Brit- ain is one of the U.S.'s biggest allies and it's tactless of Romney to have angered its capital's residents in the public forum. The would-be presi- dent has to be more cognizant of the force his words carry. Romney also has had issues with jumping the gun. He tends to speak publicly on issues before he's aware of all the facts. After the attacks on U.S. ambassadors in Libya, Rom- ney made a statement before Presi- dent Obama had announced the deaths. He criticized the Obama administration for "stand[ing] by a statement sympathizing with those who breached our embassy in Egypt, instead of condemning their actions" and equated the move with "an apology for America's values." This was a matter of national secu- rity in which only those close to the administration knew all the facts. It's irresponsible to make such a statement without knowing all the details. Romney has a rash, reac- tive personality and responds too quickly, without thought. The Libya attacks are an example of the high- ly sensitive issues he'll be dealing with on a daily basis if he's elected president. As President Obama said, "Governor Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later. And as president, one of the things I've learned is you can't do that." I'm not saying everything Rom- ney says is stupid, nor am I saying a Democrat has never said something stupid. After all, it was Joe Biden who once said, "'Jobs is a three- letter word." Obama explained that as small-town Americans "get bit- ter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." But these examples are fewer and farther between - Obama's statement comes from last election. It also has less global impact. Mitt Romney has been in the public eye less than a year and has already said things that are both offensive and incorrect, or phrased in the most terrible way possible. Romney is a smart, extremely successful man with degrees from Harvard University, but this doesn't mean he's able to express himself eloquently. He's rash with his words and thus makes speeches filled with falsehoods, insults and tactlessness. The president is the face of our country. That's his or her most pow- erful role. It took Mitt Romney one trip to get the entire nation of Britain to dislike him, and he didn't start a war - he simply opened his mouth. At this point in American history we can't make enemies of any nation militarily, economically or socially. We need countries to work with us to get through though these hard economic times. The president needs to be able to inspire not only their own people, but also the citizens and leaders of other countries. The presi- dent's constitutional power is limit- ed. The wayhe can get things done is by convincing others through words and influence. Regardless of his platform, Mitt Romney's continual media gaffes prove he can't be that type of president. Jesse Klein is an assistant editorial page editor. 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.