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Show · · · '- · · -1 KRISTIN TENNIS . QC. A-'(- 0 ~11-~ - COMMENTARY 0 ¥-t.-'{ .. .. l " tlfLT' ME: TA\!.~ ~ ( ~Hic.."Lf.5 Discriminatory equality Women, here is the challenge: to stop whining about unfairness and go out and do our best. Men and women are not equal. We never will be. Comparing men and womeh is like comparing a tennis ball to a baseball. Both are great in their own situations. _ Men, don't think this saying that some women are not better than you, and women, visa versa. What needs to be said is that in a way everyone is different but equal. Here is an example. Most men drivers are crazy and fearless. Most women drivers are cautious. Which is better ? Depends on the situation, right. Exactly! I've had enough of this gender equality thing. If women are doing the same amount of work, they should be paid equally, but the same goes for anyone! When it comes to the work force, whoever meets the standards for the job should get it. That could mean a woman or a man will get a untraditional job. Hearing people say women were suppressed for so long, brings the thought of all those women who did great things regardless of their gender. For example, Dolly Madison, George Eliot and Eleanor Roosevelt. Injustices are everywhere in this world, people who are great see them, get over them and proceed on their way. 1f a woman wants to run for president of the United States, great. But she needs to realize everything is going to be an obstacle. If a man wants to stay home and take care of the kids, again great! But there in that situation, he too will face challenges. . Let's face it girls, most of us will never be as strong as guys, and some of you'll be stronger. SO WHAT! As a young girl my whole goal in life was to beat those terrible boys at their own game. Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't. I learned to take things in stride· I knew when I was better and when I wasn't, and I dealt with ;hat. Guys, some of you'll never have the nurturing emotions that most girls do and some of you'll be better at it. Women, most of us _are great whiners, it's another talent we have · that men don't. We need to stop, face the music and show up all those who say we can't, whether it be a man or a woman. When women were trying to get the right to vote, there were men and women who supported them and there were men and women who didn't. Nevertheless, those great women got what the Constitution offered to all. That's wonderful, now do we really want equality to go so far as to have a women hired wh~n a man would do a better job, NO! Do you want the opposite, NO! That's not really equality, it's discrimination. Sports is a prime example of discrimination. The college board of athletics ruled there had to be an equal amount of sports for men and women. MAKE ME MAD! Most colleges cut out one of my favorite sports, wrestling. Why? Because we as women wanted to have it equal. Now what about all those great male athletes that will never he seen? Men are more aggressive and that's where sports come into play. If women want to play and are good, great. There are two sides to everything. And it isn't always the men against the women. Kristin Tennis is a freshman communication ma;or from Layton. PROnSSIONAL STAFF ANDl>ESJl PHONE NUMBERS: Editor Lany Balcer 586-7751 Campu• Editor Jim Robinson S86-1997 Consulting SpolU Editon Neil Gardner. 586-7753 Brat Jewkes 586-7751 ST1JDENT STAD AND Dtisx PHONE NUMBUS: Auociate lditon D.W. Andnaon 865,8225, 586-7750 kn W'malow 865-81~, 586-77S0 M Wirt Editor Kami Egan 586-77S9 SpolU Editor Ch,,d Lamb 865-3443 Copy Etlitor Tiana Tew 586-5488 Ans Editor Anna Turpin 586-5488 Photo Editor John Cuenler S86-7759 Adnrtdlng Mauger Maggie Nwen 586,7758 OpiJlion Dim:tor Brandon Rhoda 586-1991 Advertising Designer Gemmie Cole S86-7758 llEPOJITEJIS' DESK 586-7757 The University Touma/ u published every Mondsy, Wednnday .and Friday ol the acad~mic year •• • publication of Southr-rn Utah Unl venily, iu departme.nr of com.m unic~ti~~ and th~ SUU Student As.sociation. The views and opinions exptr:ssed in the /ourmil are t.hoK of U\divadual waters and do not ncc.t•'1ily reflect the ·opinion of the /own41 or any, enllty of tM univenity. Le.n m to the edit°'.' must be typed and include the name and pl;one number. Only the namt will be pnntecl. Names will not be withheld under any c~umstanca and the tditor m1erv.. editing prMlogea. Lcttera m- be 1ubmi11td by noon Fridays for Mopday «tlrlons, Tundaya lor W<dneoday editions and Thunclaya lor fnday edlt100ll. Gdu-.a: Any individual with a giievance ogainlt the /ourtllll should - • IDcb problem lint to the editor. U uDJUOlvcd, that giievance should then be clinctcd tO the foumal Stettin, C<>mmitl<C, which ;. clw~by DI'.. FrainC. Pemon, 586-7971. Voi.._.ity Joun,111: Offi- in SOU T«hoology BuildinJ 000. Mall a t SUU llml 9384, Car City, l.ltah 84720. FAX (435JS86-S487. E-mail addMNcjoumaleouu.tdu OPIW'nED ON llCYCLlO PAl'lll. PUASl llCYCLl llllS COPY. Of~ ... DE.RK Journal 1• 2 1- 98 ·~ 1 SEAN GONSALVES COMMENTARY How much is a Mexican worthl Remember the movie To Kill a Mockingbird, starring Gregory Peck? I wasn't alive when it first came out, but I've seen it more times Ion video) than I've seen The Wizard of Oz. It may be my favorite movie. And one of my favorite essays is William James' "On a Certain Blindness in Human Beings." I like it for the same reason I enjoy Harper Lee's novelmade-movie. Both deal with the mea~ing of empathy. And both are extremely helpful for anyone trying to make som e sense ol the massacre in Mexico a few weeks ago. "So blind and dead does the clamor of our own practical interests make us to all other things, that it seems almost as if it were necessary to become worthless as a practical being, if one is to hope to attain to any breadth of insight into the impersonal world of worths as such, to have any perception of life's meaning on a large objective scale," wrote James. For sure, our "practical interests" make it difficult, if not impossible, to empathize with the massacred in Mexico. To many of us, these poor Mexicans are evil communists or Marxists, at worst; immigrants trying to freeload off America's generous welfare system, at best. Of course, few would publicly admit this. Mexico itself is breathtaking. And in homage to that beautiful place, our leaders dumped the North American Free Trade Agreement on its people, in order to open businesses like Ford motor plants. Sure, NAFTA supporters talk about the benefits of the trade agreement, but who has benefited? Giant multinational corporations and a handful of rich Mexicans. With NAFTA, Mexican government representatives have been persuaded to buy U .S. agribusiness products, among other things. This puts small Mexican farmers out of business. And as Business Week points out, this forces rural farmers to seek manufacturing work in factories owned by multinational corporations. To the economists who boast of the Mexican economic "miracle," these developments are a good thing. It's progress toward greater industrialization. Meanwhile, people are starving and becoming afflicted with easily curable but deadly diseases. When these dispossessed Mexicans organize, trying to form unions or worker associations, they are labeled as communists-if they're lucky. The unlucky ones get gunned down or macbeted to death while attending church, as happened recently. No wonder companies like to move to Mexico. The labor is cheap, and there's· no fear that the workers will organize successfully and there are no ridiculous things such as a living wage, healthcare benefits or respect. Iil 1995, the Zapatista "rebels," as the American press affectionately refers to them, set up their own government in the town of Polho. And as Associated Press reporter Trina Kleist wrote after the massacre, the Zapatistas are in "competition with the officially recognized local government, run by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as PRJ." The PRJ has been tyrannizing supporters of the "rebels" for the past seven months, killing 30 Tzotizil Indian peasants and leaving over 7,000 homeless. It's not clear if the Mexican federal government is directly responsible, but even if it's found that the national PRI bad little to do with the massacre, it is guilty of doing nothing to stop the ongoing "local" violence. The New Yor.k Times reported last week that the Central Intelligence Agency is providing training and equipment to the Mexican government to "help shape a network of anti-drug troops." With the CIA's -record of terror in Latin America, don't be surprised if CIA-prepared gangbangers take up the battle against the poor under the guise of "keeping law and order." Then why is it acceptable to blast away at Baghdad under the p;-etense of "def ending freedom" and only shake our beads when the rulers of Mexico lend their tacit approval to unspeakable atrocities? Are cheap Ford trucks and cars worth more than Mexican Indians? How much is a Mexican worth? Sean Gonsalves is a nationally syndicated columnist. |