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Show OPINION Friday, October.27;2006 Page 6 EDITORIAL Stop there School Your money stealing days are over. Darfur genocide needs to stop now B vention, but the real reason is so much more depressing: Nobody cares. Instead of rape victims, CNN shows endless footage of John Mark Carr and Mark Foley. Instead of oth the United Nations and the United States have once again demonstrated their complete impotence when it comes to world af, —'. —-— fairs. - . • AsofFeb- ~~ ruaxy 2003, _ AARON 400,000 ZUNDEL How come you never published the $300,000 budget cuts to the Computer Science Program? I only publish important stuff That's who stole my money Super Chrony! 400,000 Sudanese , t citizens v;have been ^.systematically ^slaughtered, and more than \z million displaced from their homes. Yet, over the course of three years^of bloody violence, all the United Nations has been able to accomplish is the passing of a joke resolution that, since the beginning of October, has become just as ineffective as the body that passed it. The resolution called for 20,000 peacekeepers to deploy to Sudan, but no effort has been made to enforce it. And why not? Who cares about Sudan? Who even if knows what Sudan is? Just ask the person sitting next to you where Darfur is and they'll probably give you . a blank stare. For those who are geographically handicapped, Sudan is a small country in Africa, and Darfur is its capitol. The country also happens to be the epicenter of the world's latest genocide. When the Rwandan mas! sacre ended in 1994, after almost a million people had been butchered, the world hung its collective head in shame and muttered the motto "never again.".Since then, however, despite the /phrase being repeated by politicians and leaders across the globe, nothing of substance has been done to stop the violence in Darfur. Sure, there have been a few sanctions put in place, but economic pressure is not enough to stop a country of • "people bent on genocide. There are a million reasons given for the complete lack of international inter- civilians, protesters get their panties in a twist over 2,000 dead U.S. soldiers. It's time for that to stop. The people of Darfur deserve better than halfmeasures of political action. Instead of sanctions, the United Nations should be rushing to put troops on the ground to stop the killing. Instead of campaigning for his political party, President Bush ought to be mobilizing NATO and any political allies that will listen. However, as citizens of the world, we also have a responsibility to speak out against such reprehensible injustice and violence. U students especially, as a group of educated, free-thinking individuals, have no excuse for remaining quiet about such atrocities. Stopping the genocide cold should be at the top of everyone's political priority list. The genocide in Darfur is only getting started, and without intervention soon, it's likely to get much, much worse. As of Tuesday, Oct. . 24, the United States has passed a resolution con- ^ ^ r demning the violence and • imposed a few economic sanctions, but it's just not enough. History has shown us time and time again that the only time things get done in this country is when the citizens get so upset that their representatives must listen or face losing the next election. Luckily for the people of Darfur, elections in this country are right around the corner. Write your representatives and make your voice count. Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily Ulan Chronicle Editorial Board. Signed editorials, editorial columns and letters to the editor are strictly the opinions of the author. The forum created on the Opinion Page is one based on vigorous debate, while at the same time demanding tolerance and respect. Material defamatory to an individual or group because of race, ethnic background, religion, creed, gender, appearance or sexual orientation will be edited or will not be published. All letters to the editor will now be published1 online at www.dailyutahchTonkle.com. Letters that the editor deems best represent those received will be printed in the newspaper as well as online. THOMAS MA.YFIELD/ 7V Daily Utah Chronicle KUTE should benefit the masses, not the few K UTE does not deserve the money it receives. I know that not supporting KUTE is blasphemous to my colleagues in student journalism and fellow mass communication scholars, but just because something transmits a signal does not mean it communicates. I have never listened to KUTE, but I wouldn't mind if other people did. But to my understanding, nobody does. Whenever I've seen statistics predicting the population of the student body that does listen, the number is always a fraction of a percent. Does a 10th of a percent of the student body need 2 percent of the funding? Like ASUU administrators, whom I rarely see eyeto-eye with, I think not. KUTE is basically an educational toy. It is not a radio station because no one listens to it. I'm not just basing that on statistics. I've spoken with Chronicle alumni who wander the Union on Alumni Night and joke, "Look, KUTE is still here and they're still just talking to themselves in there." So for at least the last 35 years, it has been a toy. I don't have a problem with a couple of students having a cool toy to practice DJ-ing with. But I don't understand the kerfuffle (yes, you Presenter's Office people, I did look it up and still think it's a ridiculous name for a music ANDREW KIRK festival) over ASUU rethinking the use of those funds. If KUTE continues to exist, I have some ideas of my own about how it should be used. Since no one is listening, there's no use in pretending that people are listening by playing music. That should stop. And there's no use talking about sports because two people can do that without $15,000 a year. If KUTE continues broadcasting, it should function in such a way that it serves the most students possible. Instead of allowing a small handful of people to practice playing disc jockey or talk-show host, it should be used to help students practice presentations. Talking into a microphone is a great way to practice public speaking. Why not encourage, or even require, everyone on campus who is supposed to perform public speaking to practice by doing it at KUTE first? For example, I went to an academic conference last week and I had to give a 15-minute presentation on my 30-page paper. Giving an interesting summary of 30 pages of text in 15 minutes is a difficult task. I was encouraged to practice. What if I were required to give the presentation over KUTE before travel funding was granted? If every student attending a conference were required to do the same, the presentation skills of U students would improve. What if the U's debate team had to practice giving orations over KUTE? How about ASUU officials giving daily addresses on their goals and progress? Theater students could perform monologues over the air. Art students could explain their projects and their relevancy. Philosophy majors could practice doing job interviews (because everybody knows they're going to need it). ; Musicians could perform and dance majors could explain one more time why they want a degree that will only be useful, for aboutfiveyears. There's just something about presenting, performing or ' explaining something into a'. microphone that is beneficial. Instead of pretending KUTE is a real radio station, let's use it for practicing real communication. If someone actually tuned in and listened, at least the content would be well-prepared, educational and possibly even interesting. I don't know if any of that can be said of the station now. letters@chronicleMtafuedu More is riding on Election Day than you might think F ewer than two weeks until the big day. Judgment Day— twice the hype of the Super Bowl and World Cup combined. It is the first Tuesday (unless it's the day after Halloween) in every other November, and has five times the pundits and pollsters than the BCS. Election Day (yes, voter turnout indicates that I must spell it out). The event's real-life drama rivals "American Idol," Brad, Jennifer, Angelina and Britney. Washington has as much plotting, maneuvering and deception as a "Sopranos" episode. And the day's implications will determine how we are governed while watching the NFL or going to church during our day of rest. There are the Republicans and there are the Democrats (always those two—I bet Fox wishes that every World Series pitted the Yankees against the Cubs). The entire world watches • with heightened anxiety—the vote could determine whether bombs are dropped in their city. The United States' influence is so pervasive that its legislation and foreign relations affect every single country on the planet. If that type of risk/reward sceANDY nario can't get you going, maybe THOMPSON ease off the cocktail of Ambien and Percocet. There's a lot of cash riding on this one. On the right, you have the Remarket) has responded! Cheney publicans. A philosophy of "selfis the ex-chief of Halliburton, so government." This means privati- he's gotta throw 'em a bone. And zation, which means corporations', Bush, ever since he bankrupted which run on stockholders and that oil company in the '80s, can't share price, which are driven help but feel he owes the industry by earnings-growth and market something. In fact, every member capitalization. In layman's terms: of Bush's cabinet has ties with whoever makes the most money multinational corporations. W wins—good old-fashioned greed. even considered Enron's Kenny And, there are a lot of corporaLay for Secretary of Energy before tions winning these days thanks the sound of whistle-blowers to six years of Republican policy. changed his mind. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Corporate interests do not closed at an all-time high Tuesday. stop at the White House door, Stocks, such as Halliburton, have but spread throughout the entire been fueled by a fairly major piece Republican Party. The Republican of Republican policy—that little Congress' push for privatization in skirmish with Saddam. the military (no longer termed deI know they said the thing in fense, since we're on the attack), Iraq would be brief, but look utilities, social security and health how well the economy (code for insurance diverts funds from gov- ernment to corporations. This sphere of influence corporations have within government is wonderful news if you're part of the investor class. Instead of lawmakers serving the public, they serve the publicly traded. They answer to shareholders, not to trie people. Shareholders' say in a company is disproportionate to America's heritage of one person, one vote. My 20 shares of Halliburton is a grain of sand to the beach of stock options Cheney has waitingfor him. At the company's boardroom in Houston—as well as in every other publicly traded company1— the amount of money vested determines how loudly one is heard. While this is a good idea for a corporation and capitalism, it is not a good thing for this country and democracy. Of course, it is naive to think that the Democrats on the other side are free from the lucrative reach- of big business and that the power of money only afflicts Republicans. Corporate interests will lobby no matter which party controls Congress and the White. House. The thing about Democrats is that they offer a bit more balance between business anel the people. This balance is essential to-our nation, as compromise is at the heart of its foundation. The country needs industry to put foo£ on the table. It also needs government services, like Medicare^to care for its people. We cannot sell our government, and its agencies and entities, to corporations that are legally tommitted to making more money. Besides, the government could use some of these record profits to shrink the nation's deficit, and to pay for that thing in Iraq. * Nov. 7 does matter. Every Election Day is important, and the high stakes of today's politics makes this especially true. So" set the VCR, concoct the special punch, put up the streamers and balloons and get ready for the biggest day since Ohio botched the presidential election two years ago. ; letters@chronicle.utdh.edu |