Opinion No love for Leßron Kanye West passes the entertainment test BRANDON BOYD opinion editor I Once thought of Leßron James in a positive light. When I say "positive light", I am really understating just how positive that light was. During the summer of 2009, I shelled out $175 for a piece of aesthetically-pleasing card board with a sticker of Leßron James' autograph attached to it. In my eyes, Leßron James could do no wrong. When he didn't shake hands after losing to the Orlando Magic in the 2009 NBA Play offs, I understood. He's a competitive person, I told my self. When he played miser ably during various aspects of the past NBA Playoffs, specif ically the Boston Celtics se ries, I understood. His wrist was bothering him, I con cluded. My understanding concern ing Leßron changed July 9, 2010, as "The Decision" de stroyed the image of "The King." I questioned his sportsman ship and his heart. I questioned whether he ever really wanted to be in Cleveland. I questioned why he had to go on ESPN for an awkward interview that sent a message to fans of the Cleveland Cava liers. That message was two mid dle fingers. After that moment, Ino longer respected Leßron James. Apparently, I was not the only one. the Q Score Company re cently surveyed people on their most hated athletes. The results were released a few days ago, and Leßron James came in sixth. Before him came a cheater (Tiger Woods), an accused but not convicted rapist (Kobe Bryant), two loudmouths that N AL/ ot Mounds of jun ED MISETA '( ((net ut t.( r)11()1111( Suppose you go out on your front porch one morning and find approximately five to eight bags of the smelliest, foulest, most horrifying garbage you've ever had the unfortunate chance of en countering. There is actually a stench cloud rising from it. Flies have begun to construct a small village. It looks like the contents of the bathroom of one of those folks from Hoarders. You hear the screech of tires, and look up to see a "friend" pulling away from your curb at a high rate of speed. You suddenly realize, as you look down at the trail of banana peels and moldy cheese, that she is the one who dumped this stuff on your porch! You're sure she meant well ... she's a good person, and probably just as sumed you would want to pick through the remains of God-knows-whose old garbage (which, incidentally, was dropped on HER porch by yet another well-meaning friend). She, apparently, found a pearl or a diamond as she waded through the muck, and thought you'd find some thing of value in it, yourself. You, however, are busy. You have a job, you go to school, and you study. For you, time is a very scarce resource. You have no need or desire for other people's garbage. You have plenty of your own. You also do not have the time to look for something valuable in this pile of crap. Additionally, you're pretty sure there's re ally nothing in here but rotten apples, stinky cat litter, and the remnants of a spooge soaked Kleenex from the pre- 4701 College Drive, Erie PA 16563 Reed 3 Executive Board Editor-in-Chief: Business Manager Connor Sattely Dan Whiteford editor@psu.edu djws236@psu.edu Managing Editor: Faculty Advisor: Adam Fracassi Inkyu Kang iukl4@psu.edu Marketing Manager alsssB9@psu.edu Web Editor: Stephen Fyfitch klcs293@psu edu stlso26@psu.edu fans either love or hate (Ter rell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, respectively), and a dog fighter (Michael Vick). Basically, by going on ESPN, Leßron James took a huge dump on his reputation. I'll get to the point of all of this in a second, but I'd first like to employ the words of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban concerning the whole situation. "Leßron has every right to go wherever and do whatever, whatever team he wants to," Cuban told the Dallas Morn ing News. "Going to the Heat was his choice..." "Where I think Leßron made a mistake was in how he did it. I don't even have a problem that he had the TV show," he said. "But it turned out to be the largest public hu miliation in the history of sports. He humiliated the or ganization, he humiliated the state of Ohio, the city of Cleve land. All of a sudden he be came a bad guy, he lost a billion dollars in brand equity, give or take a couple bucks here or there...the way he did it I thought was just a huge mistake." It's not often that I'm on the same wavelengths as a billion aire, but now is one of those times. Because this is a situation I could talk about for hours, I'm going to put it like this: when an athlete does something like Leßron did, he's going to take a lot of heat for it, as the Q Score Company proved. Athletes don't have to be kind to each and every fan, but their image depends on us. We buy their jerseys, their merchandise, and tickets to see them. Because of Leßron's ac tions, I no longer have an ath lete to look up to. According to The Q Score Company, nei ther do a lot of other people. That's nothing short of a LeShame. vious weekend. What makes the situation even worse is that you know you're ex pected to pass this mess onto another person after you've gleaned anything of value from it. Unfortunately, you just don't have the heart. So, being the conscientious person that you are, you take those five to eight bags of trash to the dumpster, lug them over your shoulder, squirt some hand sanitizer on your hands, and continue on your way. You whistle a Lady Gaga song as you leave the dumpster, happy and secure in the knowledge that you have done YOUR part to elim inate excess garbage from the world. By now you're thinking, "Ed, I'm more confused than when I had to do that compar- THE BEHREND BEACON News Editors: Jenna Abate jaas34s@psu.edu Katie Duffy keds2ll @psu edu Sports Editors: Elese Merkovsky eams2l7@psu edu Alec Italiano ajiso37@psu.edu Katie Cook k e-ma ••tvl,A' , ; 1 4A WIA. 544 Opinion Editor: Brandon Boyd bmbs29o@psu.edu Culture Editor: Shannon Ehnn sbesol7@psu edu Senior Layout Editor Evan Koser emksllo@psu.edu MAR ISSA LANICH "Let's have a toast for the douchebags; let's have a toast for the assholes. Let's have a toast for the scumbags - every one of them that I know." - Kanye West, "Runway" Certainly then, we should all have a toast for Kanye him- BRANDON BOYD What would a week without Facebook be like? Students at Harrisburg Uni versity of Science and Tech nology found out, as they could not access Facebook Twitter, and other social media websites while on cam pus. At the end of the week, some students will be writing essays about their experience Comedian Jimmy Fallon joked during his late-night Monday monologue that he knew the title of those essays: "We All Have Smart Phones. Dumbass." it cause trashy mood ative advantage problem in Econ 2. What the hell is this all about? I have never had this happen to me." But you have, and so have 1. When you forward all of your email to other people, you perpetuate the Internet garbage flow. This wastes bandwidth and storage space, which may mean nothing to you. But it also wastes time, which means a lot to me (high op portunity cost, ya know). Not everything you get is going to be as valuable to me, espe cially when I have to scroll down past 50 or 60 very strange screen names in order to get to the main text of the email. Maybe I'm a bit of a snob, but I feel just a LITTLE unclean knowing that I'm reading something that was recently perused by "Lick- i-1 B• -r Showcase Editor: Nathan Carter nrcso69@psu edu Copy Editors: Julie Morrissey jmm6l64@psu.edu Lindsey McCoy Igmso4o@psu edu Videographer: Mike Fultz self, who happens to be all of the above. rites West has shown throughout his years of fame that he is an egotistical jerk, proven most recently by his display at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. The now infamous incident began with West storming the stage during an acceptance speech by Taylor Don't take away my Facebook For the part of the 800 stu dents at Harrisburg Univer sity of Science and Technology who actually fol lowed through with their week-long abstinence from social media, I have only one thing to say: You brave, brave souls You can take away my food. You can take away my free dom. But taking away my Facebook? Now that's going too far. As a society, we have be- come addicted to Facebook, Twitter, and the like. The Internet has become our drug dealer, and Facebook our cocaine. My name is Brandon Boyd, You 69" and "Hot 88W4U." Don't get me wrong...it's not that I don't enjoy receiving informative emails. But when I waste a lot of time to look at a lovely Flower of Friendship that someone felt compelled to send me, I get a tad an noyed. Then, I have to pass it on to ten people in the next five minutes, or someone will die. You really have to recon sider who you call a "friend" if they send you thinly-veiled threats against your life or happiness. I have enough suc cess jeopardizing my OWN health and happiness. I really don't need this kind of help. So do your part. Be a friend. Stop the perpetuation of email trash. Hit DELETE more often and FORWARD a lot less fre quently. Your real "friends" will thank you. Telephone: (814) 898-6488 Fax: (814) 898-6019 mil.s2o4(psu edu Photo Editor: Stephen Fyfitch stfso26@psu.edu Ast. Photo Editor: Amanda Snyder ams6l22@psu.edu Engineering Editor Ryan Frankowski r 515054 @psu edu C.4 6 1.E. ;Nigt„..c,owt Additional copies can he purchased with permission of the editor-in-chief for $1 50 each Any letters intended for publication must he addressed to briths29o ,, psu edu. he no more than 350 words, and include the writer's name and phone number. Letters may he edited for content or length at the editor in chief's discretion. Business Editor: Arica Cristman axc9Bl @psu edu Humanities Editor Alli Heitzenrater alhs369@psu edu Science Editor: Ryan Gula rggso29@. psu edu The Behrend Beacon does not publish anonymous letters to the editor. If students want their let ters to he published, they must include their name. The Behrend Beacon is editorially independent from the Penn State system the Behrend Bea con operates partially on Student Activity Ice. and partially on advertising revenue. It is published every Friday during the school year except for before and during scheduled vacations, with excep tions for special issues. The editor-in-chief has the final authority on editorial decision,. including. but not limited to. all columns. editorials. and letters to the editor. Complaint, rega rding Beacon coverage of school events should be directed to the editor at editor psu edu BEHREND BEACON September 17, 2010 www.thebehrendbeacon.com Swift. After ripping her mi crophone from hand and telling the audience that she did not deserve her award, it was clear that West had ru ined 19-year-old Swift's VMA moment. Last Sunday at this year's Video Music Awards, one year after the WestiSvvift contro versy, both separately took the stage to perform. It seemed as if Swift took the stage with her song "Innocent," with the intent to show that she has forgiven West. However, as West closed the show with "Runway," which encourages the toasts to those undesirable individuals that we all know, it remains un clear what the singer's mes sage really was. Sure. this could have been his apology - a self-deprecat ing apology, admitting to him self that we have "put up with his shit for far too long." However, this could have also been a celebration of his ego mania, encouraging us to toast to his bad behavior. Personally, I am still unde cided as to what West's inten tions were with "Runway." or if I even like the singer after his many displays of excessive and I'm a Facebook-holic. While the students at Har risburg University of Science and Technology seem to have mostly been supportive of the decision made, I can't help but think that here at Behrend we would be a hit more hesitant to give up our social media for the week. We would likely fret over the lack of Facehook in our lives. Fret might he a mild word. A riot might be a more ac curate depiction of the results of such an action. To quote one of my favorite movies, Step Brothers, "there would be blood everywhere!" All joking aside, Facebook Poor study EVAN KOSER A recent study released by the US Census Bureau sug gests that one in seven Amer icans are now living in poverty. The US government defines "poverty" as any household of four living with a yearly income of $22,000 or less. I feel that not only the num bers being reported, but the information as well are noth ing but media exacerbation of the problem. I mean: one in seven Americans? Really? This suggests that I could walk down the street and nearly any person I brush shoulders with should some how be a poverty-stricken, "less fortunate" citizen. This implies that approximately 14 percent of the people I see at Walmart are essentially poor. Let's get a few things straight: every person at Wal mart has a car or a friend with one. I can also say with sin cerity that it has been a long time since I haven't seen a person with a cell phone. I'm starting to even see children with the handheld devices. In fact, during my time in New York City and Austin, Texas, I even saw true poverty stricken, homeless gentlemen. In one hand they held a crudely designed cardboard sign. And in the other? A cell phone to their ear. Who does a homeless man have to call, anyway? Nielson Media Research re ports that nearly every house hold in America is wired with television. In conjunction with our television sets, many Americans have access to the Internet. Let's see, that's cell phone service, television, and arrogance throughout his ca reer. Let's be honest, though. If people like West were not around to accuse our presi dent of racism on national tel evision or inappropriately rant during a young pop star's big moment, who would cause the controversy that we all se cretly (or not so secretly) enjoy? Who would we laugh at? More importantly though, there is no denying that West is talented. With four plat inum albums and numerous hit singles from each, it is clear that his music is ex tremely popular, and he con tinues to consistently entertain us throughout the years. We can say that we would prefer a world without Kanye, specifically his big mouth and his huge ego, but honestly, I think we would miss hirp...at least I know I would. That being said, I agree that a toast is in order. Let's have a toast for Kanye West, douchehag or not, for being candid, for having a sense of humor, and for always enter taining us. has become a major part of many college students' lives at this point. We use Facebook to keep in touch with friends we no longer see, to schedule events, to connect with new people, and to find out information about others we never knew (that's for the Facebook stalk ers). If Penn State Behrend were to ban Facebook for a week like Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, I can't say I would click the "like" button on their deci sion. I can't imagine too many others doing so, either. on poverty the Internet. The report filed by the Census Bureau didn't express that one in seven Americans were going to bed hungry, so what is the prob lem? We've been in an economic downturn for a few years now, so how is it news to anyone that the "poverty" rate has risen? No one is going to bed hungry, reportedly, and they're living with the Inter net, television, and their pre cious cell phones. When I think poverty, I imagine stomach-swollen children in far-off countries living every day assuming it could be the last. Poverty is choosing whether your kids eat or sleep in a bed that night in the motel. Forgoing a meal so your child could eat - now that's true poverty. Believe me, I know - I've been there because it's how I spent my early childhood growing up. Congress now wants to extend unemploy ment benefits for yet a longer period of time. I realize that we're in an economic recession, but there are jobs out there. People are hiring. Luckily, we live in a day and age where relocation, if necessary, isn't a large ob stacle any more. Americans aren't in poverty any more than Bill Gates is in poverty. Hell, go back nearly a century ago during the Great Depression. That's what true poverty was and every person who lived through it struggled with what it meant to be poor. They had no cell phone, no television, no Internet, no car. They had nothing but the clothes on their backs. Nowa days, it's hard to see anyone with less than one of the aforementioned commodities. I Policie
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers