• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1988-09-15_Vol54_No05_04

Voi ces The Western Carolinian Page 4 Thursday, Septemberl5, 1988 Today's Special: First Come, First Serve by Martha McAfee Editor I'm sure you all have experienced some disappointing results in our popular "fast-food" chains. For example, inserting ketchup in the bags has become a "no-no" unless you request several packs when ordering. Otherwise, you will probably not receive any. Another frustrating incident occurs when you are hungry around 10:15 am. Most fast-food places are out of their breakfast foods; however, they haven't cleared the grill for lunch yet Your only choices are pre-made (cold) cheeseburgers, apple pies, and french fries. Despite the hassle thanks to Burger King's daily specials, McDonald's seasonal coupons and contests, and Hardee's monthly and nightly specials, we can benefit from discounted food services. Although Burger King and McDonald's are on my weekly lunch schedule, Hardee's receives my business quite often due to its location. Last week I went to lunch at Hardee's with a friend. Webotf had planned to get the special: ROAST BEEF 99 cents; however, as soon as she ordered, ourwaitercommented, "I'm sorry m'am;weare out of Roast Beef." So instead she ordered a hot dog with chili. "...Uh we are currently out of chili; would you like a plain hot dog?" She agreed to his offer, and I began to order. "I'll have a chicken sandwich large fries, and..." "Excuse me m'am—we are out of fries." "Do you have any chips or anything to go with sandwiches?" "Not today. Out fryer is broken; it overheated." As disgusted as we were, we knew we would be atleast satisfied with the nice selection of soft drinks. We ordered a Mello Yello and a Cherry Coke, and once again we received a disappointing look, shrugged shoulders, and an apologetic voice "I'm sorry, but we're out of..." Being adjacent to the campus, Hardee's does pretty good business. I would think this would encourage them to keep their freezer stocked. If the specials continue, people will expect to purchase them because they offer a good "meal-deal." However, when the specials run out (which they shouldn't), the signs should be removed. Notonly is Hardee's disappointing theircustomers, butthe# are subjecting themselves to being accused of false advertising: Bush and Dukakis Fight to the Finish Couselor's Corner: Groups Are For Everyone by Danette Sundberg, M.A. Each semester the Counseling and Psychological Services Center offers a number of groups on various topics. Though many students take advantage of our group programs we have room for more participants and would like students to know a little more about what our counseling groups are like. Who can benefit from a group? Almost anyone can gain positive benefits from a counseling group depending on their interests or needs. Most of our groups are aimed at topics that concern issues everyone deals with, so a student does not have to have a problem in a particular area in order to join a group. A good example is our group titled Relationship Issues. We all know something about relationships but are often confused about beginning or ending them, how to get close to someone or deal with conflicts that come up. This group is designed to help individuals improve their relationship skills in both friend and love relationships. Some of our groups are directed at prople who have particular difficulties that are common among students. An example is the Confronting the Alcoholic Sys- tem group which helps individuals learn ways to cope with a friend or family member who has an alcohol problem. Why joinagroup, what do they have to offer? Counseling groups offer particular advantages over individual counseling. They are a good place for a person to learn about how they impact on others and vice- versa. By participating in a group, a person may experience the process of building trust in others, and get support and feedback from peers in a non-competitive, non-threatening environment. Listening to others' experiences is also a valuable source of information and even wisdom. Students can learn a lot from talking to each other about their lives. What are Counseling Center groups like? Our groups are offered Monday through Thursday afternoons beginning September 12th. Most groups are time limited and will run for 8 to 10 weeks. Some are "open ended" which continue indefinitely by taking in new members when someone Students can learn a lot from talking to each other... leaves the group. Many of the groups are structured to some extent with the leader providing information and activities for group participation on a particular theme each week. Some will be less structured with the leader acting as a facilitator of discussions among group participants. Professional staff members serve as group leaders and student interns may be co-leaders. Will my participation be kept confidential? At the beginning of each group, the by Curtis Pate In recent weeks, George Bush has been making much of Michael Dukakis' veto of a bill that would have punished Massachusetts teachers for not leading their students in the pledge of allegiance. Seizing on this as another weapon in a hard-fought campaign, Bush began to question what it was that Dukakis found objectionable about the pledge of allegiance. As usual, Bush did not actually accuse the Democratic candidate of being unpatriotic. He merely implied that something was wrong here and left it to the people to decide (after the deck had been stacked against Dukakis). Dukakis angrily replied that he vetoed the bill because he believed it to be unconstitutional, and said that if Bush would support an unconstitutional law he is not fit to be president. This retort seems to have had little effect, and Dukakis' recent rehiring of John Sasso seems to indicate that in the face of this new attack Dukakis is ready to begin playing hardball with the Bush campaign. But this is more than the latest salvo fired in a campaign that promises to be so dirty it will make the Helms- Hunt senate race of 1984 seem like a cordial exchange of views. Controversies like this have been prominent in conservative appeals to the electorate since Joe McCarthy began his witchhunts in the 1950's, andit works too well for them to give it up. Questioning the patriotism of a man who is taking the time and trouble to run for the presidency is a bit ridiculous, especially in this day and age. The money isn't worth the job, you have to endure the rigors of campaigning, put up with a microscopic examination of every facet of your life by the national media, and should you get the job you have the weight of the world on your shoulders and the fate of the world in your hands. It is a dirty, brutally wearing job, and if you doubt this, take a look at pictures of Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon or nearly any president before and after they held the office, Reagan is an exception to almost everything so he doesn't count. People do not choose to become president to make money, or for the prestige. People are driven to the presidency by a desire for power, and a desire to serve. Bush and Dukakis have almost completely opposite views of what America should be, but both of them sincerely believe that what they will do will be best for the country. However, the Republican party, at least the one in place since 1980, seems not to believe this fact. They tend to think of dissent as betrayal and of criticism as treason. That is what is dangerous, the idea that anyone who disagrees with you must be in league with the enemy is directly opposed to the founding principles of America. The Republican party platform has been called a laundry list for the far right. It calls for an end to legalized abortion, for prayer in schools, everything that Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell stand for has been adopted by the party. It is this type of pandering to the far right that has led to the flap over the pledge of allegiance. It doesn't make any difference that rote memorization and recitation of the pledge will not make anyone more patriotic, the right insists on symbols that everyone is in step with their views. They have their own view of how things should be, if that view conflicts with the Constitution then the Constitution is wrong, not them. The right constantly calls for a return to traditional values, but to them these values include the right to control your neighbor's life and force him to act as you want him to. The traditional values I remember included religious liberty, freedom of speech, and the ideas that minorities should be protected from the majority. But these ideas have no place in the right's values, to them there's a right way and a wrong way and only bad people do things the wrong way (i.e., not their way). Legislative issues are very complicated things, and are hard to understand if you are experienced in dealing with them, much less if you're not. So one of the first things you have to do if you want to sell your message to the people is to put the message into simple terms, preferably one sentence or less. The right, especially the religious right, have developed this almost to a science. If you discuss a complicated issue such as why censorship of offensive material is a dangerous precedent you have to go into the intricacies of how people can find just about anything offensive, how such a precedent can be extended until it undermines freedom of speech, etc.. If your opponent can just stand up and say that you favor giving hardcore pornography to preschoolers, that's a powerful image that will stay with people long after your long, boring explanation is forgotten. Not only that, but you look a lot more sinister than he would have even if you had been able to get your point across. Besides that, the conservatives have the advantage of tradition, if you keep calling for a return to the good old days and Mom's apple pie you'll get a lot further than someone who calls for complicated progressive legislation. This is what Bush is doing right now. He has wrapped himself in the flag, and all he can talk about is how much he loves America and Americans. Great. Nice sentiment, and no doubt an honest one. But you have to ask yourself, who does he mean by American? If it's only people who agree with his views, as it seems to be, he isn't talking about the same America we've all heard about for so long. America is made up of diverse people, all with differing views and differing goals. If you put one of these groups up as the only true Americans, you have violated every principle the country stands for. The Republican party, "at least the conservative wing with its standard bearers on the religious right, has once more sounded the alarm that our freedoms are in danger from foreign enemies. But what is the real threat to freedom, them or us? You cannot defend lib- erty by advocating strict adherence to the party line. If we force everyone to conform to the same mold in order to keep the Soviets from taking away freedom, we have gained nothing and lost what we were fighting for in the first place. Human Rights Now!! by Edward Watson News Editor leader will help the group members decide on "ground rules" for the group's interactions. Usually most participants are concerned about keeping their attendance and information about themselves condfidential and agree not to disclose information shared by others in the group. This is rarely a problem in groups. Like all our other services, we do not disclose any information about a person in a group to anyone without that individual's written permission. Groups can be a challenging and energized setting in which to learn about yourself and others. This fall the following groups are offered: Creative Relaxation, Assertlveness Training, Our Roles and Relationships and Psychotherapy Group. If you are interested and would like to know more, contact the Counseling Center by calling 22 7-7469, or dropping by our office, Room 114, Scott. ■ This year's Amnesty International Human Rights Now! tour, featuring Sting Bruce Springsteen, Ziggy Marley, and Tracy Chapman, is definitely entertaining. But are the concert audiences truly hearing the message these artists are sending? I think not. In M-TV post-concert interviews, fans were extremely apathetic concerning Amnesty's purpose. What is Amnesty's ambition? "Amnesty International is an independent worldwide movement working impartially for the release of all political prisoners of conscience, fair and prompt trials for political prisoners and an end to torture and executions." This definition may need further explanation since many students may not understand "prisoner of conscience." Anyone held due to their race, sex, religion, or political beliefs is a prisoner of conscience. Amnesty works to free these prisoners who have not engaged in violent acts. Amnesty's Human Rights Now! tour, appearing in seven cities around the world and hosting two US dates, is attempting to spread the word that people around the world do not share the freedom we enjoy. Everyday, in more than 80 countries, people are being imprisoned, tortured, and executed for their beliefs. Strangulation, beatings, stabbings, breaking bones, electrocutions and various other methods are used to torture prisoners. In 1948, members of the United Nations met in San Francisco to draft international standards for human rights protection. The Declaration created stands as a standard towards which humanity must struggle, than as a symbol of what our civilization has already achieved. One-third of the world's countries use torture... indeed, most ot the member nations breech the Declaration of Human Rights daily as a matter of state policy. Almost half of the countries routinely imprison their citizens for their beliefs or race. Today, one- third of the world's countries use torture and over 125 deem executions lawful, including the US. Amnesty has opposed state executions because so many countries use "lawful" executions to exterminate "unwanted" citizens. Since no exceptions to the rule can be made, Amnesty has worked against the US's policy of state executions. Studies also show that US executions are racially biased and have sent 23 innocent men to their deaths since 1900. The The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights is composed of 30 articles. The first article states "all human beings are bom free and equal in dignity and rights." Article two supports the first by stating that no one shall be omitted from the rights explained in the first due to their "race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." Everyone has the right to life, recognition before the law and freedom of movement. No one shall be objected to slavery or torture. Freedom of thought, education, religion, expression, and peaceable assembly are granted. Tell this to the blacks of South Africa, Russian dissidents in the Soviet Union, and "the disappeared" of Chile and Argentina. As citizens of the human race, we should not stand idle as these atrocities occur daily. A right to life and the pursuit of happiness should be granted and guaranteed, regardless of race, colour, sex, religion, religious or political thought, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Amnesty is a group that works toward this very natural goal and as the concert name states: Human Rights Now!

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University’s student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1988-09-15
  • Date digitized: 2019-09-05
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.75" x 14.25"
  • Pages: 12 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1988-09-15_Vol54_No05
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library