North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 88, No. 89, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 10, 2004 Page: 3 of 14
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Wednesday - March 10, 2004 - Page 3
'A closer look at the issues that define who we are
and what we believe in."
James Draper
Editor in Chief
Emily Brinkmeyer
Commentary Editor
James O'Brien thinks that instead of
COLUMN torturing ourselves to stay fit, we should
have fun indulging in unhealthy ways.
Long live bad health habits
I have seen
enough truth.
com ads and col-
umns decrying
the tragedy that
is child obesity
to fill a lifetime.
I'm sick and tired
of hearing about
how diseased and
hopeless we all are
if we have the oc-
casional vice.
People forget that there are
things in life that inevitable:
death, taxes and Cher comebacks.
There is nothing more horrifying
than the idea of the conclusion of
one's inner monologue, but I still
don't understand why people
can't come to grips with living an
enjoyable life.
Unless you are like me and
you're planning to develop a ro-
bot exoskeleton for the moment
when your body is going to fail,
you're going to have to come
to grips with the fact that some
day you will slow-dance with
Lady Death.
With that in mind, I must ask:
why aren't we living like hedo-
nists? I see news reports that talk
about obesity rates as if getting
hammy were the worst thing in
life. I've seen enough depressing
accounts of Third World countries
to appreciate the fact that I can eat
like an undisciplined pig. In fact, I
feel like in a way some malnour-
ished child is eating vicariously
through me.
People treat smoking like it's
manslaughter. There's no doubt
that it has horrible implications
on your health, but it's not ex-
actly a picnic for those who quit.
I've heard countless complaints
about how they wish that they
could have a cigarette with
their morning coffee, or with a
James O'Brien
Journalism Sophomore
drink, or every
fifth breath. I
say, light 'em up
like you're Den-
nis Leary.
You know
whafs the lead-
ing worldwide
killer? Life. Cur-
rently, life has
accounted for
100 percent of the
world's casualties. Instead of wor-
rying about carcinogens, chloro-
fluorocarbons or carbohydrates,
lef s just go ahead and be d eathly
afraid of experience itself.
I hate to break it to you, but you
can meet ever}7 serving of fruit
and breads needed, but you can
still get hit by a bus. If you find that
your physique is more important
than the little things in life, then
thaf s fine. But I die a little inside
every time I see my brother ask
meekly for a "low-carb" beer.
Health psychologists weigh
the amount of quality years
(those spent in good health) vs.
life expectancy. But I say that
we all must strive for "qual-
ity enjoyment" years. We live
in a country where you can eat
generic rip-offs of food all over
the world, a cornucopia in your
mouth. Yet instead of seizing the
day, we are choking down Pow-
er Bars and Diet Coke in joyless
displays of anti-fun.
This is a declaration of code-
pendence. People with bad hab-
its need to unite, stand tall and
resist pressure to live on other
people's terms. Either that, or we
need to look into making that ro-
bot exoskeleton.
James O'Brien is a journal-
ism sophomore from Ruther-
ford, NJ. He can be contacted at
j amestobrien@hotmail.com.
rn. i iiuiki Travis Hagan notes the current state of the
V/ULUIvMl Democratic nomination process.
Kerry vs. Bush ticket imminent
With John Ker-
ry's near-sweep
on Super Tuesday,
it looks as though
he has the Demo-
cratic nomination
in the bag. Appar-
ently, the media
finds this to be
true as more and
more headlines
foreshadow a
Kerry vs. Bush ticket in Novem-
ber. Even before the results were
in, we saw back-to-back footage
contrasting the two candidates
and non-stop input from pun-
dits.
Certainly, John Edwards leav-
ing the race has a lot to do with
Kerry's assumed victory, since he
presented the only potential threat
to Kerry according to the polls the
past few weeks. The departure
of Edwards carries a sad irony
along with it, in that his speech
on Tuesday voiced a much more
positive and uplifting outlook
than either of our likely choices in
November. While Edwards went
out with a bang, sounding hope-
ful about the future and the prog-
ress we've made confronting the
issues, both Bush and Kerry went
after one another wi th the typical
character and policy assassina-
tions.
Bush fell back on a speech
we've heard several times already,
something along the lines of:
"The candidates are an interest-
ing group with diverse opinions.
Travis Hagan
Journalism Freshman
They're for tax
cuts and against
them. They're
for NAFTA and
against NAFTA.
They're for the
PATRIOT Act
and against the
PATRIOT Act
(condescending
smirks.) They're
in favor of lib-
erating Iraq, and opposed to it.
And thaf s just one senator from
Massachusetts."
This is oversimplification of
the issues at best, and Bush will
have to do a lot better than this
to sway voters. Furthermore, the
speech reinforces the opposition's
argument that Bush is, in fact, a
divider and not a uniter.
Unfortunately, we didn't hear
much better from Kerry in the
way of healthy debate. Instead
of echoing Edward's positive
outlook, he instead took to the
popular method of Bush-basiling
we've heard all along (which I ac-
tually find kind of funny, though
it is a negative tactic.)
The following months will be
very interesting, as both Bush and
Kerry attempt to paint a positive
vision of America in the minds of
voters, and at the same time con-
tinue their ideological cockfight.
Travis Hagan is a journal-
ism freshman, from Pia-
no. He can be contacted at
lucidmusic@hotmail.com.
F
i
D ANA DUF NETZ/ NT DA LY
Plan ahead, prevent disasters
Saturday, NT's illusion of
safety went up in smoke.
At about 1:30 a.m. Satur-
day morning, Clark Grill
caught fire. The fire was
the result of an electrical
short circuit and dam-
aged the hall's main elec-
trical panel. As a result,
students were not alerted
by any smoke alarms, but
rather by RAs pounding
on the doors. Thankfully,
no one was hurt, and the
fire stayed in the cafete-
ria building and did not
spread into the dorms.
The only damage the
dorm rooms suffered was
a coating of smoke. To deal
with the possible danger of
toxic smoke being absorbed
into clothing, bed linens
and other absorbent mate-
rials including pillows and
cloth purses, the university
hired a company to take
these items to be cleaned.
Clark Hall representa-
tives went into each
of the rooms and took
the items, whether
the residents were
home or not. Many
rooms only had loose
articles of clothing re-
moved, but some stu-
dents noticed things
missing from their
drawers as well. Resi-
dents were told to
take a week's worth of
clothing with them.
These clothes,
like all the others
in the room, had
been touched by the
smoke, but appar-
ently were still safe
enough to wear for a
week without harm-
ing the students.
Despite their good in-
tentions, housing officials
should have waited until
Monday when everyone
was back home and collect-
ed whatever clothing the
students voluntarily
gave up for cleaning.
This way, they could
have dealt with the
disaster responsibly
while still respecting
residents' privacy.
Any disaster will
cause chaos and pan-
ic, and the university
employees handling
this situation did what
they thought was best.
However, even though
nobody was hurt, the
Clark Hall fire could
have been handled bet-
ter. The hasty decision
to invade rooms and
shocking lack of alarms
indicate that Clark was
completely unprepared
to deal with a situation
like this.
The fire had the potential
to be much more tragic, as
students were not alert-
ed by the deadened fire
alarms. This disturbing lack
of safely7 precautions could
have resulted in a hall full
of suffocated students. In-
stead of electrically-pow-
ered fire al arms, it would be
a much better idea to have
battery-powered alarms.
That way, in a situation like
this where there is fire but
no power, students can still
be warned.
Clark residents have
moved back into a dorm
with a faulty fire safety
system still in place. Insuf-
ficient action was taken
ahead of time to prevent a
mishap like Saturday's fire,
but future disasters can be
averted. The university
should implement an ad-
equate fire alarm system,
both in Clark Hall and in
every residence hall that
suffers from the same prob-
lem. Students campus-wide
should feel secure both in
their right to dorm privacy
and in their safety.
Letters
TO THE EDITOR
Re: "Stern rules limit rights,"
March 3,2004
The editorial claimed that
Clear Channel's decision was a
threat to the First Amendment
right of free speech and qualified
as a form of censorship. I heard
similar arguments during the
Dixie Chicks' ordeal in response
to people demolishing their al-
bums and radio stations refus-
ing to play their music. Many
went so far as to make a literal
connection between private
citizens voluntarily destroying
their Dixie Chicks parapherna-
lia and the infamous book burn-
ings of Nazi Germany. Radio
stations are choosing not to play
the Dixie Chicks! Censorship!
Censorship!
There is only one problem
with all such cries of censorship:
it is, by definition, not censor-
ship. Censorship is a govern-
mental action. Private citizens
and businesses cannot engage
in censorship, only discernment.
Think of every album you have
not bought whether due to lack
of funds, ideological differences
or conflict of musical style vs.
listener's tastes. You have com-
mitted an act of discernment.
Concordantly, this principle
applies equally to private busi-
ness (i.e. radio stations) as well.
No radio station plays every
piece of music written, and
given the quality of many of the
opening acts I have witnessed
in both Deep Ell urn and here in
Denton, I am grateful. Yet refus-
ing to play any piece of music
- as a result of lack of talent, ob-
scenity, racism or philosophical
differences - cannot qualify as
censorship.
Using the specific example of
Howard Stern, Clear Channel's
decision has not in any way
diminished Stern's freedom
of speech. Howard Stern may
continue to say and do exactly
what he has been doing or say-
ing the past 20 years and there is
not a thing Clear Channel can or
would do to stop or even amend
it. All Clear Channel has done
is repeal their assets to aid in
broadcasting his message. You,
I and Howard Stern may write
any speech we wish and are
equally free to give that speech
and neither freedom is impeded
by another party's refusal to
provide a forum of delivery or
audience for reception.
Please note the difference be-
tween every previous example
and a governmental action of
censorship. With governmental
action - the government bans
a book for example - the taste,
choice and freedom of both the
author and the potential reader
have been violated. Not only is
this not the same as actions of
discernment of individuals, it is
its antithesis.
Jonathan M. S. Smith
Political science senior
Re: "No clear winner in
struggle for rights," March 2,
2004
In a column concerning rights
written by Adam Jensen, a few
issues need to be clarified.
Two of the author's mistakes,
one logical and one factual, lead
to confusion of the issues at
hand.
First of all, Jensen interchang-
es legal rights and responsibili-
ties and criminal law with hu-
man rights (HR) throughout
the article, which in turn prob-
ably relates to his view of HR
as problematic. Criminal law is
primarily national or commu-
nal in nature, whereas HR are
universal. HR may be protected
in the criminal law of a given
community or country depend-
ing on a number of cultural
and socio-political factors. This,
however, does not undermine
the universality and legitimacy
of HR, rather it is a question of
bringing the law7 into line with
the agreed-upon rights norm.
As far as an agreed-upon set
of basic universal HR are con-
cerned, there is indeed such
a set, namely the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR.) This document has
been signed and ratified by
nearly every nation-state in the
world; in fact, there are less than
10 countries in the world that
have not yet signed on.
There are very few people
who would disagree that there
are such things as universal hu-
man rights, and that it certainly
includes those outlined in the
UDHR. You can mainly find
these people in a few margin-
alized academic circles and at
the top of dictatorial regimes
whose existence is based upon
the subjugation of the rights of
the population.
In other words, you are very
unlikely to find people whose
HR are threatened or violated
who denies the existence of
these rights. The source of HR,
as Jensen hints at, may not be
clear, but there is absolutely
nothing problematic about tak-
ing a pragmatic position on
rights along the lines of Kanf s
categorical imperative. In fact,
this approach must be largely
credited with the fact that HR
enjoy the unprecedented status
they do throughout the world.
This holds true even though
HR are violated every day all
over the globe, as this provides
a springboard from which to
attempt to address these griev-
ances.
Finally, it may be noted that
privileges may be granted or re-
voked; rights are taken and con-
tinually fought for to preserve
their integrity and observation.
Karl Boyd-Nafstad
International studies/
psychology senior
To our readers:
The Aforth Texas Daily does not neces-
sarily endorse, back or believe the philoso-
phy of the writers on this page. The content
of the editorial is decided by the Editorial
Board and written by the Commentary
Editor. The content of the columns is
strictly the opinion of the writers and in no
way reflects the beliefs of the newspaper.
Letters & Columns Policy:
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between 600 and 800 words, typed with
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com or mail to P.O. Box 311460, Denton,
TX 76203.
Editorial Board:
James Draper, Cindy Brown, Rachel
Hamm, Emily Brinkmeyer, Jeff Andrews,
Jaclyn Barrientes, Brian Stimson, Tyler Utt,
J.D. Vega, Michael Walter
Daily Quote
"Early and provident fear is
the mother of safety."
- Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
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North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 88, No. 89, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 10, 2004, newspaper, March 10, 2004; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145117/m1/3/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.