Wednesday, July 23, 1997 - The Michigan Daily - 5
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
"The endowment deserved ... to receive a vote on its
0 merits and did not get one due to party politics."
- National Endowment for the Arts chair Jane Alexander, commenting
on the 217-216 vote in the US. House to discontinue the NEA 'sfederalfunding
ETTERS TO TH EED!TOR
Bible does not
condemn
'ays and
lesbians
TO THE DAILY:
I am greatly disturbed by
the support of the Southern
Baptists' boycott of Disney on
the premise that the Bible con-
demns homosexuality as sin-
ful. It's just not true, and it's
1e someone stood up to this
fidely agreed-upon lie (or is it
merely idiotic misinterpreta-
tion?). As important as the
Bible is, and as widely quoted
(and misquoted) as it is these
days, shouldn't we know the
truth about its passages?
The Bible does not condemn
homosexuality. The original
jreek and Hebrew texts never
'n mention homosexuals, and
they certainly never condemn
monogamous gay relationships
in any way. Yes, there is a pas-
sage that says a man shouldn't
lie with a man as he lies with a
woman - it was considered
culturally wrong for a man to
take on a woman's passive role
in any way because women
were considered property,
.nething less than human, and
certainly not equal to men. But
this passage says nothing about
the state of being homosexual
or about being in loving homo-
sexual relationships, only about
outdated cultural sexism. One
can be homosexual without
"lying" with anyone. Gays and
lesbians who are not sexually
active are still homosexuals.
Aside from this passage, the
Bible only condemns the same
sexual acts for gays and lesbians
as for heterosexuals - prostitu-
tion, pagan rituals and rape.
The original text of the
Bible does not say that God
destroyed Sodom because of
homosexuality - it says the
city was destroyed because of
acts of rape and inhospitability.
The people of Sodom raped the
travelers/angels just as most
conquering armies of that time
raped the soldiers they defeat-
ed. Unless the Bible-thumpers
are going to assert that every
soldier at that time in history
was homosexual, they have to
give up the ridiculous and igno-
rant assertion that the crime of
Sodom was homosexuality.
So much of the original
texts of the Bible never made
into what we read today. What
was included and excluded
was based on political battles
and who was in power at the
time. The King James version
in fact tries to sidestep the gay
issue entirely because King
James was homosexual. Today,
we read mistranslations of mis-
translations, none of them tak-
ing into consideration the cul-
tural and historical context of
what was written, all of them
distant bastard cousins of the
original texts.
But what I really can't
understand is the so-called
"religious folks"' obsession
with homosexuality. They
seem to talk about it more than
gays and lesbians do. It all
makes me wonder - who are
the ones with the problem?
SCOTT MILLER
UNIVERSITY ALUMNUS
Keating's
portrayal was
'one-sided'
TO THE DAILY:
In Jeff Keating's letter about
Diag trees ("Stop cutting down
Diag trees' 6/18/97), he painted
an all-too-rosy and one-sided
viewpoint. Trees are not innocu-
ous, inconspicuous nature
filters. They are nefarious
obelisks which mar an unob-
structed view of campus, and
cause serious accidents during
the late night drag races on the
Diag. The only good trees are
the ones in my notebook. So
chop away, construction crew!
If Keating wants to build a nest
in the forest, he should move to
Canada or some other country.
JED FRIEDMAN
LSA SENIOR
Ann ArborArt Scare '97: It ain't art and it ain'tfair
I always had the deluded notion that I was a nice gotta go. Have some common courtesy, people
Iperson - I smiled at people in the street, held (at this point, I'm not sure I'm one to talk).
doors open for strangers, etc. - yet something Friday: People still need their paychecks
has drastically changed me. Never have I flipped It's 3:55 p.m., as I scamper out of work to get
off so many people or rudely shoved my way my paycheck by 4:00 from the LSA Building
through crowds as I did during the four days of across the street. I walk into the street and realize
pure hell known as the Ann Arbor Art Fair. I'm becoming claustrophobic as I elbow my way
Tuesday, Art Fair's Eve: through the crowd. 3:58: Strollers are
My Evil Side Shines Through rolling over my feet as I spot a break in
Amidst the maze of blocked-off the masses. I make a run for it and reach
streets, I attempt to drive across town to the sidewalk. 3:59 The door is in my
visit a friend. A yuppie couple driving a t. , sight. I get poked in the face by a hum-
monstrous RV swiftly decide to pull mingbird on a stick as I leap onto the
into my lane - disregarding the fact lawn and run toward the door. Never has
that I was in it. Slamming on my brakes getting my paycheck been such a daunt-
and barely avoiding a nasty accident, ing task.
my hand pounds on the horn, my mid- Saturday:
dIe finger flies out the window and pro- If you can't beat 'em, join 'em
fanities spew from my lips: "Welcome KRISTIN My boyfriend and I decide to venture
to Ann Arbor, asshole!" It only got AROLA outside and look around. Wandering
worse. °AN -G IN down Liberty Street I spot a booth with
Wednesday: People still live here i'G FANS beautiful hand-crafted jewelry. Admiring
Trying to get to my 9 o'clock class the craftsmanship put into the work, I
was virtually impossible. Thousands of yuppies, notice the two women behind the counter look at
with leather fanny packs and too much money, do us in disgust. One peers at me through her nose
not watch where they're going. I huff and puff, and snootily says hello as my boyfriend whispers,
whip out my evil glare, look repeatedly at my "Go back to Bloomfield Hills." We swiftly vacate
watch, and mumble loudly to myself that I'll be the premises.
late for class. Nobody budges. Needless to say, I Having had our fill of the Art Fair, we quickly
was 10 minutes late for class. walk home. Sitting on our front porch at 5:30, 1
Thursday: Some people work here realize the fair is finally over. Flocks of subur-
I'm having a busy day at my workplace in banites stroll past my house returning to their
Angell Hall, when I decide to take a quick run to cars. Out of nowhere, a dog waltzes into the mid-
the bathroom. As I make my way down the hall I dle of our yard and proceeds to take a gigantic
notice, "no it can't be," but it is - a line for the dump while his owner praises "good dog!" I stare
bathroom. I walk up to the line in disbelief, in disbelief as he smiles at me - I guess I've
mumble a little too loudly "#%@#ing art fair'" received my little piece of heaven from the 1997
and shuffle off to the elevator to use the fourth- art fair.
floor bathroom. I admit those porta-potties Next year I plan to be out of town.
placed conveniently on every corner are a bit - Kristin Arola can be reached over
nasty, but hey, when you've gotta go, you've e-mail at arolak@umich.edu.
Our generation has different priorities, not apathy
don't like anything. Seriously, bring up any- thought. "People should know you're not a jerk,"
thing right now and I'll find something wrong she told me. I guess she is right. I try to help peo-
with it. Actually, that's not completely accurate ple out, and excuse me while I plagiarize the entire
(see what I mean), what I really mean is I don't PBS morning lineup, but being a friend is the best
like anything. It's not that I am that critical or job in the whole world. Seriously, it beats out sar-
have really high standards - anybody who has castic columnist by a mile (it definitely pays more,
read this column for the past couple of months or too). But, in thinking about why people are impor-
seen the way I dress can vouch for that. tant, I had to think about why "things"
And I don't think I am an angst rid- just aren't material to my life (sorry
den member of the "children of the honey, I think the happy column is right
boomers" generation (ha, you thought I around the corner). I think it's because
was going to say "Gen X"; well wrong, believing in "things" didn't solve the
I don't like "Gen X"), because angst problems of previous generations.
implies that I don't care. I care about I think a lot of my peers agree with
all sorts of things, I just don't like them me, at least that is what I read from our
(ah, yes, you mentioned that). actions. Our generation is improperly
It's amatter of faith, not in a religious categorized, our non-committal attitude
sense, but in a very earthbound, tangi- toward key issues of previous genera-
ble, everyday way. I have a hard time PAUL tions, and our general cynicism isn't
believing in "things" - institutions SERILLA based on the mysterious yin-yang rela-
like governments, universities, compa- ERtLA tionship of angst and flannel - we
nies, interest groups or any products of AfARE care, we just have different priorities.
these "things." I just don't believe that Our parents' generation thought they
any institution has completely good intentions, I could change the big picture in drastic, sweeping
trust people and ideas, not groups that claim to strokes, placing all their faith in one basket, only
represent people or ideals. It's a subtle differ- to have it crumble away leaving jaded success-
ence, like voting a straight Democratic ticket but happy yuppies. Our generation learned the les-
not considering yourself a Democrat. son of our parents' mistakes. We cut out the mid-
I came to this conclusion because my girlfriend dleman and went strait to cynicism and we did it
suggested I write a column where I didn't put without demonstrations that descended into vio-
something down, complain about something, or lence or killing even one Kennedy.
cynically jab at a topic like a 10-year-old whack- Previous generations tried to swallow their
ing a beehive with a stick. I think what she said problems whole, which only leads to the regurgi-
was, "don't be mean." She wanted me to write tation of the problem (from global heartburn, if
something with an approving tone, that covered a you will). Our generation takes smaller, slower
subject more basic than some flash-in-the-pan bites, hence the volunteerism, locally driven sin-
political agenda and with more substance than gle issue groups and methods that place interac-
the top 10 reasons this year's Ann Arbor Art Fair tion with individuals over just plain action. Our
trinket is better than last year's "metal-bug-on-a- methods are slower, but we don't spit the same
stick" problem back in your face.
So I gave the whole nice-guy concept a lot of - E-mail Paul Serilla atpserilla@umich.edu.
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I Wanted: Editorial cartoonist.
Interested? E-mail Erin at eenarsh@umich edu.