• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1997-02-06_Vol62_No17_08

8 Thursday, February 6,1997 Op-Ed oFIje Uestem (ftarnliman I Could be Wrong A VISITING EDITOR I could be wrong, but I think it's time to set aside stereotypes and do away with the lazy, little boxes we use to categorize people we don't know very well. We need to begin trying to learn about individuals without assigning them qualities exhibited by others who may share some common demographic characteristic. Just because some newspaper editors write elegant editorials, we should not conclude that all editors write well. The skills of my predecessors and colleagues are simply not relevant to evaluations of my abilities, however much I might want to bathe in their auras or halo effects. Likewise, I should not be held accountable for their prejudices, shortcomings, crimes, or misdemeanors. In that "best of all possible worlds" that Candide hunted, I would earn my own reputation, fame, adulation, notoriety, accusations, and condemnations. College campuses reek of such indiscriminate and injurious conclusion-jumping. Like lemmings, we hurtle off figurative cliffs into seas of stupidity as we dump each other into convenient coffins lined with snap judgments instead of purple plush. At the risk of running afoul of Political Correctness Police, it seems to me that college athletes must rank among the most maligned individuals of this kind of thinking or lack thereof. Some student athletes drink too much and become rowdy. Not exactly a behavior peculiar to those who try to stop fast breaks, tackle ball carriers, or anchor relays. Sure, some bruising ball players are boorish, belching bad-mannered babe beaters. So are some music majors, perhaps an accounting major or two, and maybe even a stray education major. Why, then, do we label athletes as "dumb jocks" or game-playing jerks who lack sense and sensitivity? Elsewhere in this issue, you'll find a profile of a "jock" who defies stereotyping and whose motivations demand that we value him for himself and his actions. We need to remember that athletes participate in sports for at least as many reasons as other students do whatever it is they do. Try this. Get to know people before judging them. Give individuals opportunities to earn your respect, admiration, or hatred on their own merits. Wouldn't you want others to do the same for you? Reader Upset Over Removal of Trees Dear Editor, In response to Adam Rigsby's "DOT Removes Ornamental Pear Trees," I have to say that I was extremely upset about the removal ofthese beautiful trees. Every spring I have enjoyed driving by the entrance to WCU and seeing the ornamental pears in full bloom. In the fall, fhe changing leaves on these trees lasts longer and is more spectacular than almost any other trees in the area. The DOT says that they removed the trees because they represented a fixed hazard to motorists. I wonder how they could consider trees that are at least 15 feet off the road a hazard to passing motorists? In that case, aren't all trees that are 15 feet off the side of a road "fixed hazards" for passing motorists? Should all trees along the sides of roads be removed? If a motorist were to lose control of his vehicle along that stretch now, wouldn't the oncoming cars on the other side ofthe median present a greater hazard than the trees would have? In fact, having the trees there to stop a vehicle from reaching the other side of the median could conceivably prevent an even worse accident, involving another car. I realize that it may be too late to do anything about the removal of these beautiful trees now. since the DOT has already removed almost all ofthem, but maybe with enough public outcry, they'll consider putting them back. Julia Stephens Student Thanks Professor Dear Editor: I would like to publicly thank Dr. Barbara Cosper, a nutrition professor here at WCU, for the great help she has given me. I am severely allergic to several different foods and found it literally impossible to eat in the school cafeterias without risking my life because at least one of my known allergens is in nearly every dish served there. Marriott and various WCU officials didn't take me very seriously; perhaps they don't understand that we all have the same dietary needs, but some of us cannot fill these needs the same ways as others. Following a friend's advice, I finally emailed Dr. Cosper, and she took action immediately. She sent letters to Marriott and to officials in the Office of Business Affairs, and within a matter of weeks the situation was resolved. Now Marriott works with me to prepare dishes that I can eat safely, even though I know this causes them some extra trouble. I am very grateful to Marriott, to the people in Business Affairs, and especially to Dr. Cosper. It is truly rare to find a professor who cares so very much, and is so interested in others, that s/he is willing to make extra effort to help others. Many thanks to all. Sincerely, Cara Lewis cEtfje Western (Earoltnian Tony J. Taylor EXECUTIVE EDITOR Executive Directors Associate Editors Kyle Shufelt Ads Director Scott Francis Art Director Tracy Hart Copy Editor Stacey Ruiz Editorial Assistant Production Staff Office staff Kevin McPherson News Ann Wright Features Bryan Sharpe Sports Jessica Devaney, Adam Riggsbee Environmental Terry K. Roberts Photography Faculty Advisor Kevin Cassels Distribution Gerald McNeely Technical Service Allassandra Rhody Paste-Up Christine Wilcox Seth Sams John Moore The Western Carolinian is an official publication of Western Carolina University, produced entirely by the students of WCU. Deadline for submissions is Monday at 5 p.m. preceding the Thursday publication date. Student-written copy is appreciated. ^ Staff meetings for The Western Carolinian are held on Mondays at 5:30 on the top flood of the Old Student Union. Contact us by phone at 227-7267. Office hours are 1-5 Monda-Friday ^/ Send letters to the editor,' care of the editor: The Western Carolinian P.O. Box 66 Cullowhee, NC 28723 Keep our campus and our planet clean] Please recycle your Western Carolinian., Extreme Measures JEFFMESSER STAFF COLUMNIST The way I see it, we are never going to see true progress as a race (human, for those racially sensitive people who may be easily offended at the slightest mention of the four- letter "r" word) unless we all stop being hypersensitive and overreacting to everything like some drug-addled Deadhead who has just wandered pacifisticly into the Nine Inch Nails mosh pit at the latest Decadence-palooza tour. We go about every little detail of our highly-prickly lives, prepared to ward off everyone that approaches our little bubble of proximity, like the guy from Kung-Fu. If someone gets that close, they must surely mean only ill will to us. Right? Therefore, every event that we are a part of or see, is then filtered through this prism of narrow, defensive thought network. We've lost touch with how to pay attention to the significant and dismiss the innocuous. For example, from recent events and headlines: A six- year-old kid was up on sexual harassment charges for kissing another six-year-old kid (heterosexual situation, for those sensitively keeping track) in school. The administration was incensed and brought the charges. Now how stupid does that all seem? It's bullshit to the nth degree. The kids are SIX YEARS OLD!!! Pre-pubescent, innocuous children who couldn't define the word "sex" much less spell it and for that matter—they probably haven't a clue what the term political correctness even means. Here's my suggestion—if the perpetrators can't define the charge against them, it was probably innocent. Yet the administration of the school was quite serious about it. (Perhaps it hit too close to home. Maybe we should ask the principal if he can spell and define pedophile?) But it's not just with the kids. On other fronts, you have women who are militantly feminist to the point that they are against being referred to as women (and perhaps human), due to the inclusion of the word "men" in those terms. How pathetically ridiculous. You also have the militant gay rights groups, who are so in-your-face in demanding equality that it pisses people off to the point of being against them. Of course everyone has rights and equality, protected under the right to peaceably assemble. Peaceably. Now, I have nothing against gays, minorities or feminists. What I do object to is having it waved in my face. I might be sympathetic to the case they are trying to plead (and in many cases I am sympathetic and a supporter), but I am much less likely to care about it if it's being sold to me with the same fervent hostility that met Mussolini in the town square at the end of World War Two. Now we have right-to-life radicals bombing abortion clinics. (So what else is new - right?) Right-to-life! Break that term down and then apply it to the concept of trying to blow people up as a rally for the right to life. Can we all collectively say "contradiction"? I mean, what gives? In their attempt to say to the world that unborn babies have a right to live, they kill members of the "We've already got the right to life" club. Isn't that like abortion well after the fact? But we all know the root of all the evil of these problems, don't we? It's the white male thinking and rule over the world that forces these problems on others. Isn't it? Well, between you and me—I kind of doubt the blame-placing is anywhere near to that easy. After all, look at the average population of white males. A pretty sad collection, eh? Now how can all white males of the world be the root of all this trouble? Hell, most white males can't wear matching socks for more than two days in row. Indeed, blaming white males for all the world's problems must be a last-ditch effort to place the blame, since we know most white men can't acknowledge, address or fix their own problems. So how in the hell did they screw everybody else up too? It is too simple and safe to say that no one really seems to care about all that ranting and raving, except those doing the ranting and raving and the other side of extremists who can't dismiss it as a bug that will just eventually fry itself in the zapper and stop buzzing you anyway. Instead, there are those silly few who will swat away at it, like they can actually stop the swarm. In fact, if you would just ignore the bugs, they'll get tired and fly away, or get zapped by their own stupidity and poor flight path planning. Is finger-pointing the blame elsewhere only just a way of not taking charge of your life and taking responsibility for making it better yourself? After all, all these cries for equality and independence do seem to contradict themselves in that what they are rallying for and fighting for seems to be something they're waiting for others to give to them. If you want an equal piece of the world pie— then pull up a chair to the table, treat the waiter or waitress and the other customers in this big pie joint with some equal courtesy and ask for an equal cut. I bet if everyone just took the time to say, "Can we please get along" instead of "You don't know me, but you owe me" we could all eventually work this out. But EVERYONE has to be ready to play fair and equal. The moment of reckoning will eventually come, and we have to accept and realize that it's everywhere. And whose fault is this Herculean-sized opus of a mess we've stumbled soberly into? If we were drunk at least we'd have a flimsy excuse, but we're all stone-cold sober and fully aware of our actions—kind of like when we all hurried out to buy copies of hit records like "Ice Ice Baby" or "Achy-Breaky Heart" or anything by Milli Vanilli or even (God forbid) "The Macarena." I mean, hey—it did seem like a good buy at the time, right? Live and let live. That's the way to do it. And if you're so protective and concerned about others' lives and lifestyles jeopardizing your personal little piece of turf, then build a huge fence around you with razor wire and a herd of pit bull guard dogs, only buy stuff through the Home Shopping Network, get all your news from CNN (like Saddam), have all your food delivered by Domino's Pizza, only communicate with the outside world through the Internet— and leave the rest of us the hell alone. Truly, if the few million ultra-right, tight, paranoid freaks out there would form a Branch Davidian cult and squirrel away in a fort somewhere—and the FBI would ignore them—we'd all be able to live happy lives here in this "One nation under God." But how do we know if we qualify as one of these Darwinian test-tube experiments gone awry? Well, here's an easy, quick test: If this sentence seems to sound like a true statement to you: "Individuality is fine, so long as we all do it together. " Quick! Unbury your head from the sand! Pack your bags! You've just won an all-expenses- paid lifetime vacation at the Jesse and Strom resort and casino! See your hosts amaze the crowds with their awe-inspiring tales of the land before the iron horse or the horseless carriage! Hear them revel in the delight of recalling the first use of that cool new heating source—fire! Yes, it's an all new life here in the modern dark ages. And it can all be yours—just do nothing. Enter as many times as you like. No purchase necessary. Must be at least 18, racist, conservative, paranoid, homophobic, unwilling to change your ways or accept others' points of view. Enter now! Limited time only! While supplies last! That's what makes America great. Get Ready for SPRING BREAK at GLEN DA ?S TANNING SPECIAL $35.OO FEBRUARY ONLY UNLIMITED A.JV1. VISITS (Mon.-Sat. 5:30a.m.-ll:30a.m Sun. 8:OOa.m.-ll:30a.m.) Located on HWY 107 at GLENDA'S PHILLIPS 66 Call for APPOINTMENTS 293-5015 i rl

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: 1997-02-06
  • Date digitized: 2020-01-13
• Extent
  • Dimension: 14" x 11.25"
  • Pages: 10 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
  • Western Carolina University -- Periodicals
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1997-02-06_Vol62_No17
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library