| The Behrend Beacon The Behrend Beacon /'/(/>// s/;i (/ u ( i U\ b\ ilie \iiulenl s til I’eim Sliih / lie, I lie lieliieihl ( nlle^e li Opinion Page Editor Calendar Page Editor Andy McNeil Rob Frank ■%THE BEHREND Beacon ‘ ‘Professionalism with a personality” Penn State Erie, the Behrend College; First Floor, The J. Elmer Reed Union Building, Station Road, Erie, PA 16563. Contact The Beacon at: Telephone: (814) 898-6488 Fax: (814) 898-6019 ISSN 1071-9288. Daniel J. Stasiewski, Editor in Chief Amy Frizzell, Managing Editor Courtney Kaplin, Advertising Manager Alyssa Peconi, Public Relations Manager News Editor Brad Stewart Sports Editors Sam Cibula Sara Kamber Beacon Assistant Carolyn M. Tellers Student Life Editor Lori DeFabio Copy Editor Lacy Buzard -TOT.. <m k- Vnt-< <H' OPINION Terrorists are people too George W. Bush says we must fight terrorism. And who wouldn’t want to go to war with terrorists? Who wouldn’t want to hunt down Bin Ladin and give him what he deserves? After all, they did attack us. A 1 Qaeda is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people. Has anyone taken the time to stop and ask why we were attacked? Bush would tell you that Bin Ladin hates progress, laughter, smiling babies and butterflies—he would rather murder a man than hug your cherished cookie baking grandmother. It’s a little more complicated than that. Terrorists don’t have tree-house club meetings and discuss how they can make other’s lives miserable (they have cave meetings and a beard is required). All terrorists want something. Sometimes they want prisoners re leased or vast sums of money. In Rus sia, for example, Chechnyans want in dependence. Is that too much to ask? Didn’t our nation’s founders fight for in dependence when they were unsatisfied Debates and Bush: irrelevance or cowardice? By Chris Hvizdak editorial columnist In the coming days George Bush will decide whether or not he will be partici pating in the “town-hall” format presi dential debate scheduled for Oct. 5 at Washington University in St. Louis. Al though the Bush campaign has report edly expressed interest in the two debates (Sept. 30 and Oct. 13) which will take the traditional candidate-moderator for mat it has apparently communicated res ervations about the Oct. 5 debate. The reason behind this concern is that such a debate would likely require Mr. Bush to answer questions from college students and the general public. Is this a cheap tactic to avoid directly address ing the concerns of individuals who Mr. Bush is supposedly representing? I cer tainly believe so. Although presidential debates are con sidered by some political scientists to serve little purpose outside of galvaniz ing voters who have already made their choice, I believe we deserve to have these candidates rigorously challenged in a national, high profile forum. If these individuals are to manage our nation to the best of their abilities and represent us in the world forum, they should sim ply not have the option to decline. Mr. Bush, if he’s a decent American, Subliminal propaganda posing as textbooks College is a great experience, a won derful opportunity to open your mind and explore new ideas, but are we open ing our minds or just being indoctrinated into liberal ideology? Don’t get me wrong, considering new things is great; it helps you decide what you are and where your values lie. However, some thing in one of my textbooks made me wonder what having an “open mind” re ally means, especially during an elec tion year. In “Gender, Race and Class in Me dia” by Gail Dines and Jean M. Humez, deregulation of media is portrayed as a major issue. “Deregulation of the me dia” is really just a wordy way of say ing that people can own more media outlets than before. Some people worry that this limits the opinions that are available for consideration. Here is what the book said about deregulation on page 30: “The anti-regulatory sentiment in government that had escalated with the Republican Reagan and Bush adminis trations continued into Democrat Bill Clinton’s administration. Nowhere was this more clear than in the passage of the wide-ranging 1996 Telecommunica tions Act.” For those of you who haven’t taken Mass Media and Society, the 1996 Tele communications Act was the latest act that allowed media corporations to merge into gigantic media lords; some r — — —— j disagree? disagree? send year eMMeate The Beacon I e-mail The Beacon at beaconletters@aol.com Jand make sure you include your name, major, and semester standing Brad Stewart with the form of government. Of course, taking an entire school hostage, lining it with explosives, and pressing the button while all the students are still inside may not be the best way towards achieving a solution. Violence begets violence. What does Bin Ladin want? No one knows for sure. Part of his anger stems from American soldiers inhabiting land in the Middle East that he considers holy—the equivalent to him coming to should recognize this. Most consumers would not purchase a car without taking it for a test drive, yet we as citizens vote for presidential candidates despite the absence of a rigorous verbal test of their argumentative might. In this era of election turmoil and evo lution, I advocate legislation that would not only require candidates participation in all sanctioned debates but also the addition of a debate format wherein the candidates would question each other directly, not simply field questions from an impartial panel. We deserve a legiti mate discussion regarding the affairs of our nation conducted by the individuals who may be looking after them. Are these requirements likely to come about? No. Most candidates don’t want to make the act of campaigning any more difficult than it already is. There is, how ever, one man who has lead what is likely the most criticized administration in his tory that could bite the bullet and make presidential debates a meaningfully pro cess ... but he’s afraid to talk to his own people. Mr. Bush champions himself as a de fender of the free world committed to the elimination of terrorism and “evil doers,” but he is unwilling to directly interact with his fellow Americans on national television. If Mr. Bush does not care to or is sim- Lacy Buzard < op if editor people may call these monopolies-in progress. Monopolies are not good things whatsoever; competition among busi nesses is what makes the United States economy one of the best in the world, even during recessions. That’s not what scares me though. The part that concerns me is that a bill passed dur ing the Clinton administration is attrib uted to leftover influence from Reagan and Bush. The bill was passed in Clinton’s fifth year as president! How can these people possibly say that Reagan and Bush are to blame for a bill that passed in the beginning of Clinton’s second term? If this situa tion is possible, then can’t we also say that Clinton is responsible for the disagree? MsapMP dlMgreePrti-Jauree? i Friday, September 17, 2004 churches, synagogues, places of worship in America and defecating on the altar. Wouldn’t you be upset? Bin Ladin also disagrees with America’s capitalist way of life and our obsession with material goods, but that’s something that won’t be changing any time soon. I’m not saying that terrorist’s demands should always be met —if we all got what we wanted when we wanted it the world would be a much different place. I’m also not saying that terrorism or terrorist acts are justified in any way. There is no excuse for killing innocent people. I’m just saying maybe some steps could be taken, baby steps, in a direc tion where those who feel infringed upon could feel some relief. Like any rela tionship, you need compromise. Be cause lets face it, terrorists will always find a way to kill people. You can’t stop them all—especially those willing to die for what they believe. Brad Stewart’s column appers every three weeks. ply incapable of unmediated interaction with the public, is he legitimately quali fied to serve as commander-in-chief? Is he afraid of a tough question ? Is he afraid some smarmy college liberal will come up to bat with a whopper he can’t an swer that will make him look like an idiot and deliver the election to John Kerry? Yes, I believe Bush is afraid of just that. Very afraid. I doubt George Bush could finesse his way out of a wet paper bag let alone an swer a tough question, but you know what? He should prove me wrong. If Mr. Bush is in any way qualified to serve as President of the United States, he will not only agree to the town hall format debate but he will encourage tough ques tions. In my book, a legitimate leader will be willing to address all the concerns of all his or her constituents, no matter how controversial or unpleasant those con cerns may be. not simply spew pre-fab ricated answers to bland, “Miss America”-style questions. With that in mind it is no surprise that John Kerry has already agreed to all three debates including the town hall debate and lobbied for more. So what’ll it be George? Are you capable of figuring out your final answer? Mr. Hvizdak’s col umn appears ever two weeks. downward spiral of the economy dur ing George W’s term? I remember people complaining about the economy at least six months before George W was elected, but no textbook I’ve seen says anything about that. What does all this mean? It means we have to be aware of what we’re reading in our classes. We need to re alize that not all textbooks are objec tive. Our professors want all of us to have open minds and they also want us to know the material in our books. This doesn’t mean that we have to adopt the views that the authors of our texts present in their writing. Having an open mind is just that, having an OPEN mind. We have to be open to thinking about viewpoints that may disagree with our own; we don’t have to change ourselves to fit our books. We have to read critically. We have to decide what is fact and what is the authors’ opinion. We have to take into consideration what we have read and evaluate it on our own terms. Being in college can change you, I know I’ve changed, but we don’t have to become the people the authors of our books tell us we should be. Our pro fessors know that; they encourage us daily to voice our own opinions, not the authors’ opinions. In the end you’ll be better off being yourself than a textbook copy. Lacy Buzard’s column appears every three weeks.
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