| The Behrend Beacon
The Behrend Beacon
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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
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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.