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Show opinion/ A4 Apathy reigns at UVSC Laurissa Poll Opinions Writer At the risk of flogging a very dead horse - why are UVSC students not getting involved in campus activities? To give credit where credit is due, it is better now than it was a couple of years ago. Slightly. I understand that the majority of UVSC's students have lives, and work and attend school in two to three different cities, but the level of involvement on our campus is nothing short of ridiculous. The University of Utah is just as much a commuter school as we are. if not more so, but their students show up in droves to get involved in clubs and campus activities. Comparing our student enrollment to theirs is not a valid excuse because the "U" only has a few thousand students more than us. I understand that we don't have a football team, and football does create a lot of school spirit, but football is not the only important college experience outside of the classroom. For example, (this is where the dead horse comes in) earlier this month Steven Greenstreet the director of "This Divided State1" showed his documentary here at UVSC, free of charge. Steve has personally shown his film to students who gather to see it on campuses across the United States. Then he came back to UVSC because he felt it was important to show the documentary on the campus where it actually took place. The purpose of showing it here was to provoke discussion about the issues that surfaced from Michael Moore's visit, and its effects on our campus. It was important. The event barely used a quarter of the space in Centre Stage and half the audience was community members, not students. All that went on to get Moore here - legal threats, attempts to impeach student government, ignorant and heinous statements from community members and students alike - received attention from national media. UVSC and Utah County were really "put on the map"; it was a big deal. The fact of the matter is, UVSC and Utah County still coexist, and will continue to for the foreseeable future. Michael Moore's visit was a catalyst for conflict that was bound to happen sooner or later - UVSC versus Utah County, in essence, the separation of church and state - but the awareness and action it aroused is already on its deathbed. Apathy has taken over. At the time that it happened, students crowded the student center on a daily basis to add their two cents and hear the latest developments on the issue. Now, a year later, apathy once again rules our campus. Why? There must be some myth in circulation that Michael Moore's coming and going was a surreal experience of no significance to our future or our past. Did it not bother anyone else that outraged community members bombarded our campus with their personal propaganda, while the students basically sat back, relaxed and enjoyed the show? I'm not saying it's inappropriate to derive entertainment from other people's stupidity, but this is our school. We are the ones getting an education here - the student body of UVSC needs to wake up and smell the roses. The issue of UVSC's role in the community, and vice versa, is alive and well, and students need to get involved. Some important things are going to take place in the near future that will define See Apathy • A5 MONDAY-DECEMBER 5*2005 Take a piece of the pie Capitalism is not the awful system people think it is Scott Tracy Opinions Writer Capitalism: one of the most misunderstood words in the English language. To some it's the root of all things evil, ranking with murder and gun ownership. But toothers it is a holy religious imperative given, with other assorted sundries, to Moses on the mountain. The reasons for this confusion are many and varied, but basically it boils down to: "people are misinformed" and "people are stupid." To me the definition of capitalism is freedom over eco- nomic destiny. When I work, the fruits of my labor translate to monetary reimbursement that I can then, through negotiation and leveraging my purchasing power, exchange for the fruits of another's labor. Through this method, I don't have to produce all the things I need or desire; I can rely on another's expertise in their production. It's simple, economical, logical, but the fun doesn't stop there. I can in fact save my monetary gains for another day, or I can loan my gains to another in return for a slight charge. I can forgo desires, focus on needs, and then my labor's gains add up and I can waylay them into a substantial financial holding. I can then retire, and let my "saved labor" take care of me in my leisure. In short, capitalism works, and works well when its participants remember that freedom has responsibilities. The problems with capitalism are mainly due to its participants' misconceptions. As my good friend Joe pointed out, corporations have an exorbitant amount of money and political sway. The misconception here is that corporations are separate from the hard-working people of this country. Your "evil corporation" is my 40Kk). A company holds responsibility to its stockholders because they are the owners. As a stockholder. I have given my money to a company in order to gain a profit in the form of dividends or increased stock prices. By this method 1 let my money work for me. This isn't an option only open to the rich either. Anyone can purchase a publicly traded company. The rub is that sometimes companies don't increase in value. This is a risk that no one tries to hide, and knowing that this is a possibility is one responsibility of economic freedom. As for ever increasingly sensationalized news, I would say that Joe was right. It is all about money, but not quite the way he described. Let me explain. News programs have been getting an ever-decreasSee Capitalism *A5 faculty corner The use and abuse of the labels 'Liberal' and 'Conservative' David R. Keller Director for the Center of the Study of Ethics/ Associate Professor of Philopophy While Bryan Horn, chair of UVSC College Republicans, gives an informed and, articulate historical synopsis of the accomplishments of the Democratic Party from Andrew Jackson to Ronald Reagan (College Times, November 6), he commits the category error of unreflectively equating the GOP with "conservatism." In fact, many affiliated with the Republican Party are far from "conservative." The generalizations "liberal" and "conservative" are firmly embedded in American political discourse. Unfortunately, as Horn illustrates, current usage of the terms is so misleading that often, meaningful communication fails to take place. Many of the ideas espoused by "conservatives" are radical, and hence not conservative at all, and many of the ideas espoused by "liberals" are conservative. For this reason, confusion reigns throughout much discourse in contemporary American politics. For example, my students are usually Shocked to learn that embracing the ideals of "liberal democracy" and "liberal education" is in fact very conservative. Liberal democracy, the foundation of American government, upholds individual freedom and the right to pursue lifestyles free of government intrusion as long as those choices do not interfere with the liberty of others. Within the context of American politics, nothing could be more "conservative" than liberal democracy. Liberal education is also conservative. Public education enables each citizen to become freed, or "liberated"-hence the adjective "liberar-from ignorance, dogma, and prejudice. My students often respond to this claim by asking. "You mean, if I am truly 'conservative,' I should endorse the principle of liberal education?" Yes, oddly enough. Thomas Jefferson argued forcefully that public liberal education is absolutely necessary for democracy so that each citizen can make informed decisions on complex public policy issues independently of one's vocation. Generally, "liberals" and "conservatives" alike embrace the ideals of liberal democracy. Confusingly, however, some self-proclaimed "conservatives" are critical of the individuality of liberal democracy and emphasize the importance of community values over individual choice. Historically, then, this political orientation is hardly "conservative." Many alleged "conservatives" are in fact far from conservative in the sense that they argue against the foundational tenets of American civil government. Nor do the accruing gargantuan war expenditures in Afghanistan and Iraq conform to the purported "conservative" value of small government and reduced tax burden on American citizens, so that we may have the liberty to spend our money they way we see fit. And while Jesus berated those who worship money, or mammon, most contemporary "conservatives" cmbrace free-market capitalism and the accumulation of wealth with almost religious fervor, as if Adam Smith's "invisible hand" is God's hand. Further, some self-anointed "conservatives" such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity shut down civil discourse-the underpinning of any open society-through divisive rhetoric. For example, at UVSC. Hannity used the word 'liberal' in a very derogatory way, explicitly equating liberals with dogs, reminiscent of Nazi usage of "Jew" at propaganda rallies. Such "conservatives" are far from being authentically conservative in that they repress, rather than foster, civic dialogue. They are, in reality, overtly un-American. As a partial solution to the myriad equivocations associated with the labels "liberal" and "conservative," I propose to my students that we instead use the terms "progressivism" and "traditionalism." A "progressivist" is a person who casts off the shackles of tradition in hope of improving the human condition, while a "traditionalist" favors preserving the wisdom of the past based on the assumption that what has worked in the past will continue to work well in the future. In this light, it is easy to see that persons who currently are identified as "liberal" or "conservative" often hold both ideals. Since it is unlikely that we will abandon the terms "liberal" and "conservative" any time soon, when we use these problematic generalizations we should at least remind ourselves of their fuzzy nature. There are radical Republicans and conservative Democrats. 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