The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 11, 1994 Page: 4 of 16
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4 FRIDAY. NOVEMBER 11. 1994 THE RICE THRESHER
OPINION
Peace
FROM PAGE 2
I, a truce was called on Christmas
Day. Allied and German soldiers were
able to actually see each other's faces
that day. They heard each other sing-
ing "Silent Night" The next day, new
reinforcements had to be sent to the
site because Allied forces refused to
fight. They refused to kill objects they
now recognized as human beings.
In the U.S., military training
depersonalizes fighters and teaches
soldiers to ignore the humanity of
their enemies. Heads are shaved and
uniforms are worn to transform a
group of individuals into a mass of
killing machines.
Personnel are required to obey all
orders without question, even the com-
mand to kill. Sergeants yell, "Send
your enemy back home to his momma
in a coffin," and soldiers cheer.
When leaders and servicepeople
fail to realize the humanity of every
living person, violence is a viable and
effective solution to problems.
If the enemy is seen as a vicious
barrier, something tocut through and
destroy, violence solves crises.
However, enemies are no less hu-
man than ourselves. Enemies have
mothers who wait by the phone to
hear the latest news. Enemies get
scribbly dinosaur drawings from their
kids. Enemies probably love M&M's.
Enemies cry themselves to sleep no
less often than American
servicepeople do. By recognizing this,
one is challenged to employ nonvio-
lent means of conflict resolution. Few
people are eager to kill friends.
Even when the wars are over and
the soldiers are home, the violence
they have been taught does not al-
ways leave. A significant and dispro-
portionate number of domestic vio-
lence cases involve veterans. Violence
often begets violence.
On this campus we pride ourselves
in our ROTC program. It provides
many students the opportunity to pay
for college and learn valuable leader-
ship skills. I invite us to consider the
implications of this — are we devalu-
ing human life by training ROTC stu-
dents to obey orders, dress alike and
by teaching them how to kill? Does
ROTC serve as a symbol of the mili-
tary — a system tainted by sexism?
Perhaps. Perhaps not.
Veterans' Day should be a day to
rightfully honor and thank those who
have served this nation in the armed
forces. It should also, however, be a
day to pay respect to all those who
have shown us that nonviolent con-
flict resolution is viable and desirable.
We must search for creative alter-
natives to the inhumanity of war.
One of the most powerful images
associated with Veterans' Day is the
acres of cemeteries dotted with Ameri-
can flags. Today we must honor their
bravery and selflessness, but we must
look forward to the Veterans' Days we
will celebrate by embracing our living
friends who were once enemies.
Kathleen Friel
WRC'95
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This weekend at
Space Center Houston
John DeLancie, Star Trek's "Q," will appear Nov. 12 and 13 at Space Center
Houston as part of Salute to Star Trek Month.
Also appearing will be Mark Lenard, "Sarek," Nov. 19-20; and
Walter Koenig, "Chekov," Nov. 26-27.
Don't miss the Star Trek Movie Marathon Friday, Nov. 11 from 7 p.m. to
|p| 7 a.m. Tickets are $10. RSVPto (713) 244-2140. Only 550 seats avdilable.
pr This weekend, take a trek to Space Center Houston.
HOUSTON
All events sub/ecf
to chonqe without
Take I 45 to the NASA Road I-Exit * (713) 244-2105 notice
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Cable
FROM PAGE 3
not to the individual who may not feel
such a need.
And if such a sacrifice is too great
for F&H, as I assume it will be (it's
funny how the Cable Committee never
seriously considered that $30 may be
too much a sacrifice for some stu-
dents).
1 propose that the universal $30
increase be implemented but with the
option of crediting it to other func-
tions instead, such as meal plans or
Fondren renovation or infrastructure
improvements or even charity.
Cable is an amenity, and as such it
should be fiscally accounted for on an
individual purchase and itemized ba-
sis. Just think how much more effi-
cient and democratic such a line item
veto process would be.
Earlier this semester, I had the
option of choosing whether my social
fees would go to alcohol. That process
involved a sum of money much less
than the $30 need for cable. If some-
thing as particular as beer warrants
independent choice, certainly the
more costly cable issue may be re-
solved in a similar manner.
While it is true that the F&H bill
already involves a myriad of other
unnecessary, and for many practical
purposes, useless bureaucratic ser-
vices which we must pay. for each
year, such waste does not justify fur-
ther waste. In fact, it's all the more
reason to cut back and perhaps recon-
sider appropriation of valuable funds.
Besides, not everybody has the
material wealth or flexibility to afford
cable. Heck, I don't even have the
luxury of a television, which is an
obvious, expensive prerequisite.
And even if I did, I know I wouldn't
have the time or desire to return to the
addictive tube from which I struggled
so long to wean myself since coming
to Rice. I'd rather get something more
useful to college life anyway, say a
refrigerator or even course books
which I can at least trade back at the
end of the semester.
That 57% of the student population
expects the other significant 43% of
Rice to practically hand over money to
it so it can buy something it wants for
itself is shocking.
In summary, the cable contract in
its present state represents a victory
of greed over prudence, a triumph of
extravagance over frugality.
I've been at Rice for a while now,
and I know that people here know
better than to let self-interest obscure
their vision of community. I say this
with sincerity, though I realize many
will snicker.
Sadly, such snickering is the habit
of those very same people who had
recently pursued their own selfish
motives in berating the lockout and
committing such shameful public acts
as stealing the goal posts.
Now some of them are trying to
make you pay for their cable.
The issue is an urgent one. By next
week, the issue is expected to be re-
solved based upon the slim majority.
It is important that we in the minor-
ity protest vocally and forcefully in
favor of an immediate revision of the
terms of the contract with Phonoscope,
Inc.
Otherwise, we may soon regret
the consequences of such a danger-
ous precedent.
Liberals
FROM PAGE 3
The speaker was, of course, Bill Clin-
ton. The topic was the 1980's;
Unfortunately for Clinton — and
the host of Democratic congressional
candidates who connected their fates
to his by voting for his unpopular
economic plan and budget — it is an
incontrovertible fact that the middle
class prospered in the 1980's. Indeed,
between 1982and 1989, median house-
hold income increased 10.5 percent
All of Clinton's bragging at press con-
ferences and attempts to feel their
pain aside, the voters know^hat their
pocketbooks were far better off dur-
ing the '80's than they are now.
Thus, voters answered Clinton's
referendum by bringing into power
the party they hope can restore some
of thfeir '80 s prosperity. In the process
of ushering the Republicans into
power, voters chased many old liberal
cronies from the scene that I never
thought I'd see depart from office.
Farewell Congressmen Rostenkowski
and Brooks. So long, Senator Sasser.
Hit the road, Governors Cuomo and
Richards.
Of course, to say that the voters
destroyed the Democratic majorities
in the House and Senate purely be-
cause of the economy or their anger at
Democrats would be oversimplifying
their motivation and underestimating
their intelligence. There is, I think, a
growing sense among voters — and
even some Democratic politicians —
that the battle of ideas between the
liberals of the Democratic Party and
the conservatives of the Republican
Party is over, and the conservatives
have won.
If this were not so, why did liberal
candidates in this election do their
damned best to appear conservative
to the voters? Why did California Sena-
tor Diane Feinsten start talking tough
on illegal immigration? Why did Sena-
tor Kennedy start talking tough on
crime and start disparaging unfunded
mandates? (Senator Kennedy had pre-
viously never met an unfunded man-
date he didn't like.)
Unfortunatelyfor most Democrats,
their "conversion" to conservatism was
too little, too late. Voters chose the
Republican party, deciding that Demo-
cratic attempts toqrnitate conservative
ideas resembled grand larceny more
than the sincerest type of flattery. The
reins of power in Congress now lie in
the hands of Majority Leader Bob
Dole and Speaker of the House Newt
Gingrich, who seem ready to fulfill
their pledges to cut taxes and downsize
government.
The voters have given them this
opportunity by glaring at the Demo-
crats and saying, "Class dismissed.
We might be able to give you lower
grades next time."
O
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Hale, David. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 11, 1994, newspaper, November 11, 1994; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth246461/m1/4/: accessed June 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.