LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 16, 2003 - 5
Dangerously simple times
AYMAR JEAN No RHYME, JUST REASON
Canadian drug
legislation a mistake
TO THE DAILY:
Your article Canada Poised to
Ease Drug Possession Laws
(06/09/03) sent tidal waves of disap-
proval through U.S. drug prevention
groups and professional prevention
and treatment experts. In fact, we are
in the midst of planning a peaceful
protest demonstration at the Canadi-
an Embassy. After 27 years of fight-
ing against decriminalization,
closing drug paraphernalia shops,
trying to rescue teens whose lives
are forever broken from drug use,
which usually started with marijua-
na, we are appalled that our Canadi-
an friends have been taken in by the
same pro-pot legalizers who have
damaged our country's children.
The Washington Post said sever-
al years ago, "In theory, it was a
thoughtful idea, in practice, it was a
disaster." Common sense should tell
your legislators that relaxing posses-
sion penalties will encourage more
use. Cracking down on growers and
distributors will have little effect as
demand for the "weed" increases -
since there's little risk involved.
It's the user who has to stop
increasing the demand! During a
recent election, the mantra for the
opposing party repeatedly was a
phrase, "It's the economy, Stupid!"
Well, now the mantra will become,
"It's the user, Stupid!" Canada
should leave her pot laws alone.
Don't let your national anthem, "Oh
Canada" become "Oh Cannabis!"
1 have met with senior staff of
the Canadian ambassador to the
United States. I gave them exhibits,
a film depicting who the legalizers
are and told them of our experience
in the United States. Alaska was'the
failed experiment for decriminaliza-
tion here. After Alaska decriminal-
ized, the state university reported
that their research revealed drug use
among Alaska's young people was
twice that of the remaining states.
Parents organized and, after a long
struggle, they recriminalized pot.
Learn from their experience -
don't repeat it!
A survey by a university in
Georgia revealed that students who
did not use said their main reason
was they "did not want to get arrest-
ed!" Tough laws are a deterrent.
Grandparents need to speak out,
get out and vote and make your
voices heard. Our generation is the
last one that understands "Life can
be wonderful - without being
stoned." Speak out for your grand-
children - and all the children of
the United States and Canada!
JOYCE NALEPKA
The writer served as president of
Nancy Reagan's National Federation of
Parents during the Reagan administration.
Palestinian terrorists
must be stopped
TO THE DAILY:
After the recent suicide bomb-
ings, it has become apparent to
many that the Bush administration's
goal of two states by 2005 will not
be attained. It is impossible for the
principals to negotiate while this
cycle of violence rages on. One
solution may be to "pause" the peace
process every time there is such an
attack. "Play" would begin again
only after a reasonable cooling off
period. This solution would not have
been acceptable by President Clinton
because he was overzealous, but this
may work for President Bush.
In response to those who argue
that Israel provoked this most recent
attack by targeting members of
Hamas, I would argue that Hamas is
a terrorist organization and has been
labeled as such in a speech by Bush.
Bush, in a speech immediately fol-
lowing 9/11, stated that no terrorist
organization is safe and that the
United States will kill any terrorist
and reprimand any country support-
ing or harboring terrorists. There-
fore, if the United States wants to
have a coherent policy on terror,
then it should never condemn the
targeting of terrorists by another
country, especially terrorists labeled
as such by the president of the Unit-
ed States. In order for Bush to con-
demn this attack and at the same
time maintain a uniform stance on
terror, Hamas should not have been
labeled a terrorist group. Of course,
it is a terror group, so there is really
no way of keeping within the spirit
of the post-9/1 1 speech and rebuk-
ing Israel for targeting terrorists.
The United States should repri-
mand Prime Minister Abbas for not
putting more pressure on the mili-
tant groups living in Palestinian-
controlled territories. There is
enough of a paper trail that has
been discovered in the past, which
illustrates the link between the
Palestinian Authority and these mil-
itant groups. It is important to
remember that this link is why
Bush refuses to deal with Yasser
Arafat. If the prime minister wants
to establish credibility as someone
who can truly bring peace to the
region, then he needs to be able to
clamp down on those militants.
Further, the United States should
not allowHamas to be a part ofthe
peace process. As they are a terrorist
group, why should they be consulted
on the peace process? They had
been consulted after the Aqaba sum-
mit, and this recent violence may be
linked with Hamas's refusal to sup-
port peace. Its goal is the destruction
of the Jewish state of Israel, and if it
were to argue in favor of peace, it is
solely because it is seen as a first
step toward that goal. No militant
group should be consulted on the
peace process by Abbas. Suicide
bombers are irrational people, and
those who support them are irra-
tional by extension, so there is no
reason why an irrational opinion
should be brought into the process.
The War on Terror is going to be
a war that never ends. But it is one
that needs to be fought by all
nations.
AARON CUTLER
Law school
NEW YORK --
( ( epublics
exist only
on the
tenure of being con-
stantly agitated," stated
Wendell Phillips, an
associate of William
Lloyd Garrison, on the
issue of abolitionism
and political dissension. The statement,
though verging on extremism, holds an
important message for America today.
At this time, Germany is reconstructing its
economy and labor market. Poland is on the
verge of a new era of international diplomacy.
Iraq will soon frame its constitution. Israel and
Palestine can - with pluck and resolution -
frame a new regional order.
Yet in America, such political and social
complexities are nonexistent. Bills on lower-
ing taxes and restricting abortion pass with
ease. Policies limiting civil liberties for
immigrants and ethnic minorities continue
unabated. These complex issues, displayed
in the government and the media, are given
the veneer of simplicity. Amid these danger-
ously simple times, liberals cringe and voice
their dissension, only to be accused of anti-
Americanism.
It seems the September attacks reinforced
a classic, U.S. state-of-mind, a mentality that
splits the world into "us" and "them," "good"
and "bad," "moral" and "immoral." This men-
tality simplifies issues in the name of national
security, traditionalism and patriotism. It culti-
vates an illiberal worldview, a view fueled by
war, corporate malfeasance, the prospect of
terrorism and above all, fear. Through all this,
the government acts as protector, supposedly
proactive, but merely feeding off public senti-
ment.
In Georgia, several colleges have decided
to grant illegal immigrants in-state tuition,
cushioning their aid package by a few thou-
sand dollars. In response, MSNBC television
personality Joe Scarborough, in an incendi-
ary, propagandizing report, railed against the
inclusion of "these people" and "aliens" into
our country. During his tirade, video footage
of immigrants jumping the gate and a wide
angle shot of the Mexican border appeared
on the screen. Offensiveness notwithstand-
ing, this media coverage represents the over-
simplification of a complex issue.
Scarborough failed to consider the negligible
amount of illegal immigrants who actually
attend college, or the small, monetary price
taxpayers will pay to help a small number of
individuals get an education.
In the name of national security, the
administration has detained and continues to
detain illegal and legal immigrants alike.
Security and defense are important, yet
though I demand protection, I cannot support
the detention of immigrants not even linked
to terrorism. To perform this, as Attorney
General John Ashcroft suggested weeks ago,
is to maintain a simple, parochial view of
"the enemy" and overturn civil rights and lib-
erties that are fundamentally American.
The actions of President Bush on the
international stage are just as indictable.
Recently, he visited Europe in hopes to repair
damaged relationships and strengthen our
trans-Atlantic alliance. Though progress was
certainly made, several sources describe
Bush's attitude as distastefully unilateral. It
seems this administration fails to see the
merit in the European alliance, choosing to
"allow" the continent to "participate" in vari-
ous international endeavors, but tactlessly
reminding them that Americans are the van-
guard participant. Instead of pushing our
own interests, the administration must con-
sider all equally and openly.
In this traditional, insular view of America,
patriotism morphs into a deranged nationalism.
Ina guarded attempt to maintain ourvalues and
national identity, we betray them by limiting
our perspective on key issues. As of now, any
opposition going against our constrained con-
cept of Americanism, our simplified position
on national security and our narrow adherence
to traditionalism is seen as treasonous - when
in fact, it is most truly American.
Press Secretary Ari Fleischer's infamous
slip of the tongue embodies this sentiment
perfectly: Americans, he said, "need to watch
what they say, watch what they do." At the
same time, the administration continuously
questions the patriotism of anyone who criti-
cizes its policies. And so, this statement only
shows that the voice of dissension, the voice
that promotes discussion and complicates
issues, the voice Wendell Phillips intoned,
has been silenced. This, for reasons that
should be obvious, is dangerous.
Jean can be reached at
acjeasn~umich.edu.
Who we are and who we want0to be
JASON PESICK ONE SMALL VOICE
t was just a
coincidence that
the actor Grego-
ry Peck died only a
few days after the
American Film
Institute named his
most famous char-
acter, Atticus Finch,
the greatest Ameri-
can film hero ever. But it is a coinci-
dence worth the next 700 or so words.
Atticus is the Southern lawyer in
Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning
book "To Kill a Mockingbird." He
defends a black man erroneously
accused of raping and beating a white
woman in Depression era Alabama.
It's hard to deny that Atticus deserves
the title that the AFI has bestowed upon
him. He is what most Americans fancy
themselves as being: the optimistic
underdog, doing what is right to fight
injustice even at considerable risk.
While Atticus knows that the other resi-
dents of his town will despise him for
even defending a black man, he takes
the case because he knows that it is the
right thing to do - an aspiration that
has become a clich6, but also an aspira-
tion that is rarely actually fulfilled. Atti-
cus tells his children that he will not be
able to look at himself in the mirror
unless he takes the case.
He is the model of compassion, as he
teaches his children to consider everyone
else's point of view, not by walking in
their shoes, but by spending time in their
skin. He fights the good fight without
ever attacking the bigoted
ignoramuses that populate the county.
It's a refreshing model for the civil rights
movement, which has recently shifted
away from this mode of inclusion and
begun alienating large portions of the
country, dividing people further. The
scene when the black people of the coun-
ty stand as Atticus walks out of the court-
room after losing his case is one of the
most moving in American film history.
That someone is willing to quietly sacri-
fice - without pomp and without bom-
bast - to fight injustice is what America
is about at its best. It is the heroic ideal
that the nation often does not live up to
but still sees in Peck's character.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Far
better it is to dare mighty things, to
win glorious triumphs, even though
checkered by failure ... than to rank
with those poor spirits who neither
enjoy much nor suffer much because
they live in a gray twilight that knows
not victory nor defeat." It's a good way
to describe Atticus Finch.
Recently, however, Book magazine
asked literary experts to rank the Top 100
fictional characters of the 20th century.
They chose Jay Gatsby, the bootlegger
from F Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gats-
by." In a partly cynical and partly idealistic
piece in The New York Times, Adam
Cohen, a member of the paper's editorial
board, defends this selection, describing
with great eloquence how Gatsby embod-
ies what America is all about. He says that
Americans are not perfect, but are idealis-
tic at the same time. Gatsby is a dreamer
in the pursuit of money, power, a place in
high society and love - all symbolized by
a green light in Fitzgerald's book. Cohen
closes by saying, " ... mainly we are Gats-
by, flawed in a flawed world, but unable to
resist the pull of the green light."
And there is a great deal of truth to
these words. Americans are not perfect.
The opinion sections of the country's
papers document these flaws for all to
see every day, and I could tick off such
a list if I wanted.
I'm not sure that anybody could actu-
ally live up to the model of Atticus Finch.
While we may have ideals, we get caught
up making compromises during our lives
just as Gatsby did. It's a little annoying to
be bombarded with images of perfection
at every turn, especially by wealthy Hol-
lywood-types and young college students
who know only a world of ivory towers
and surreal U.S. suburbs.
If Gatsby represents the way that
Americans actually are and America actu-
ally is, then Atticus Finch represents what
we want to become. At one point while
speaking to the jury and asking them to
fairly consider the evidence in the case,
however, Atticus says, "I am no idealist."
And in light of this, it is certainly a much
more attainable goal just to fight the good
fight. While not many people may be per-
fect like Atticus, we can at least try to fight
his fight. If we have one thing going for
us, it's that at least we live in a society that
recognizes that Atticus is indeed a hero.
Pesick can be reached at
jzpesick@umich.edu.