The Lion’s Eye Opinion April 7, 2003 An editorial A connection you can’t deny Living in America these days one cannot help but be bombarded by news coverage of the war in Iraq. From the front page of the newspapers to the tick- ers running along the bottom of most of the basic cable channels, we live in a world that consists of 24- hour live "breaking news" feeds from the front line. But you can't help but still feel a certain amount of detachment from the war since it is being fought on foreign soil. When you watch the live news coverage the reporters are in a time zone eight hours ahead of us, when it's daylight here it's nighttime there, so you can't help but feel a twinge of separation since they aren't even in our relative time zone. If you find yourself feeling that way, when you get the urge to say "enough already" when Tom Brokaw breaks into your favorite show at night with breaking news of what's going on over there, just remember that you have more of a connection with the war than you realize. That connection is with the men and women fighting in the U.S. military. The people over there fighting this battle for Iraq's free- dom are your generation. The average age of the men and women fighting in the "sandbox" is 19. They are the people that grew up in small-town America. Perhaps they went to your high scheol. When they are back in the states they watch MTV, go out on weekends (when they don't have duty), and they go to see the movies that we are free to watch since we live in this great country. But their job is to fight for the freedom that we take for granted every day. Ironically they even fight for people's freedom to protest the American govern- ment. Although they most likely were not planning on having the likes of George Clooney, Michael Douglas, Sean Penn, Sheryl Crow, Natalie Maines and most recently, director Michael Moore, voicing their uninformed opinions about the war on national television. Moore was heard on the Oscars accusing President Bush of getting us into "a fictitious war for fictitious reasons" and being a "fictitious president." From the crowd he received both cheers and boos. Then there is Sean Penn, who took a road trip to Iraq and when he returnrd, claimed that there was no sign of the oppression that President Bush speaks about. What does Penn expect? For Sadaam Hussein to walk up to him on the streets of Baghdad and say, "Hey come on over to my torture chambers and I'll show you around. Better yet, why don't you come down to the factory where I'm producing a nerve gas that is potent enough to wipe out the entire state of New York." Of course, Penn is only go to see the sparkly surface of Iraq; he's a pampered celebrity. People go to Iraq and become human shields for the Iraqi people, but they don't seem to realize that the U.S. is going to (if they haven’t already) run into the same situation that happened in Vietnam, where you aren't able to recognize the enemy anymore. The Iraqi forces are pretending to surrender only to attack the forces that approach them, taking them hostage. For all these reasons and more we need to feel the connection with this war. You cannot just turn the channel because you are getting sick of the amount of time being jeopardized by the war for Iraq's freedom. The men and women that are over there are Americans. They live in the same world that you do, only they are out there fighting to maintain it. Yion's Eye Mission Statement We are the newspaper of the Penn State Delaware County campus, serving the students, faculty, administration, staff of, and visitors. to, our campus. We vow to entertain and inform all of our audiences, and we will strive to make each edition better, so that we remain a vital part of the Penn State Delco experience. We also strive to be professional, and follow the highest standards of good journalism, “No, I think they should get the cov- People Poll Staff Writer Renee Blisard asked: Do you think the media coverage of the war is good? “No, I think the media gives away more info than it ought to. It's a detriment to military planners for carrying out missions in a safe man- ner.” Bob Heise Junior, IST erage off TV and keep it within the military.” “No, it's too much.” “No, we should limit it. They're giv- ing away too much information. People have a right to know but not “Yes, they are doing pretty good cov- erage.” Dory Shae Sophomore, DUS * Rebeeca Demosthes Freshman, HDFS “I think they are one sided. I don't support the war. They should be neu- tral, not taking sides.” at the expense of American and coalition lives.” Tom Wurm Junior, IST Shen Wu Freshman, IST Simon Burns Junior, IST New SGA begins right here Hey, I have an inside scoop on something that could be of interest to all of us on campus: There is a secret society on campus that calls itself the SGA. OK, so it’s not a secret society but you would think the SGA was a secret society. It does not make itself known to the student body, I never see the members around or know who any of them are, and, quite frankly, I do not remember them doing anything that involves the students on campus. The only thing that we have seen from our SGA is a whole lot of nothing: But instead of sitting here and stating the obvious, let’s get a behind the scene look, shall we? We live in a democratic society, and when we vote for officials we generally hold an event called an election. This is when we the people (citizens of this great nation) vote for a candidate that we deem best fit to hold a position. [ Was there even an election held for the SGA | offices last semester? I don't remember there § being one, and if there was, I have to say it was [ a really bad campaign job. I'll let you in on a lit- § tle secret about how the SGA officers and sena- | tors got to hold their positions: They were fi appointed. What happened to the good old days of students campaigning to get votes, so they could earn their positions? Those students actually did care about SGA, the student body, and most importantly their duty to make a difference on campus. The lack of enthusiasm displayed by the SGA stems from the fact that the members did not truly earn their posi- tions by being elected. In essence, they develop a noncha- lant attitude about their position because they feel as though the fact that they were not voted in means they do not have to be accountable. Competition is obsolete because these officers are appointed and their sense of urgency to get things accomplished is low. They don’t have to worry about being defeated in the upcoming election because there won’t be one. That is how our SGA representatives come into office, and that is not very democratic. Since President Bush is trying to spread democracy throughout the Middle East , maybe he needs to add Penn State Delaware County SGA to his hit list. Just a thought. The first problem: Lack of enthusiasm. I had a chance to talk with some of members from SGA (who shall remain anonymous) and a popular com- plaint was the lack of unity. There seems to be trouble in the ranks; this was evident when a former SGA | president was a no-show for an entire semester. One member said that it eventually came to a point that there was no agenda during their meet- - ings. That’s like building a house on a weak foun- 1 dation; something is going to give. Even some of | the student-run clubs on campus think the SGA is a joke. Problem number two: Lack of unity. I will close with a statement that is appropri- ate. I will run for SGA senator for the next aca- demic school year. The organization needs to be restruc- tured and I want to be a part of it when it happens. I am not the kind of person to just sit back and do nothing when there is a problem. I get out and do something about it, and this is me doing something about it. Maybe, just maybe, those of you who are in the SGA will actually figure out the meaning of dedication. E-mail Shawn Manderson at shadm81@hotmail.com. PENNSIATE EI Delaware ri County "ho Cpe Editor-in-chief: Anteia Consorto Copy Editor: Meredith Becker ‘Staff writers: Renee Blisard, Gerry Dungan, Sarah Gallati Shawn Manderson, Jennifer Amanda Trombetti Contact the Lion’s Eye: By phone: 610-892- 1258 , Karen Karaszkiewicz, ufo, Jared Szymursi, Bye email: ANCIZoTRI edu EL a a RZ CE a a A a ET ER i El A ia al EL EL hl is CE ll i Ga CM EE TAB i EE LL
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