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Show Editorial WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1,2010 THE SIGNPOST The Signpost Viewpoint Sports matter. Really, they do. Rivalry weekend in college football just reared its ugly head, provoking questions across the nation, like, "Why haven't we made it legal to hunt mascots?" and "How much beer does it take to completely soak Max Hall's family?", but most importantly, "Why do sports matter?" Now, this is not a question that's asked by one specific gender (except for most of the time}, but it's safe to say that the majority of disgusting, belly-itching, Cheetodust-covered sports enthusiasts are men. Lots of wives have trouble understanding why five normally rational adult males will travel 30 hours straight in a van, over Thanksgiving weekend, just for the chance to sit on the 863rd row of an open football stadium in the middle of a Chicago blizzard with their shirts off, rubbing scaldinghot nacho cheese (purchased for $7) all over their bodies to keep from gettingfrostbite,all just on the off chance that some brave Alpine cameraman will capture the word 'DITKA' painted in bright red across their chests. You know why they do it? Because sports make the best stories. Some of us rely on juicy gossip from our friends. Some of us have Twilight novels. Some of us watch Grey's Anatomy. The point is, everybody out there is in search of a good escape, thrilling protagonists, dastardly villains and the triumph of character, and some of us just happen to fulfill these requirements by watching Chad Ochocinco do the Macarena in the end zone. "But sports don't matter!" some people cry. "So what if Utah beat BYU by a blocked field goal? So what if the Reds' Joey Votto, this year's National League MVR makes less in an entire season than Alex Rodriguez does just in spring training? So what if Mike Vick could win football's MVP award in hisfirstseason back after reaching the lowest point a human can? So what if Manny Pacqiauo's dominance in boxing is only matched by Jimmie Johnson's dominance in NASCAR, both of which are happening right now? At the end of the day, how do these things make the world any better?" There are lots of practical reasons why sports improve our your average male will still be lives. They get us off our couches. laughing about the part where They stay pertinent in down Leo teaches Kate how to hawk a economies. They keep Charles loogie. But as soon as Seabiscuit Barkley busy and out of or Hoosiers comes on, this other occupations same, unfeeling male is where he could instantly on the floor, actually do some wailing into a tissue real damage. and applauding Sports are the little guy from ore than just a the more than just fetal position. s distraction... / a distraction, Do sports matter as much though. Many wives as solving world can testily to the hunger? Obviously, awesome, inspirational they don't. Do they power that sports have matter as much as Supreme Court over men. For instance, a man proceedings? Of course not As might never cry during movies. much as going to work every day? Even really, really sad ones like Titanic. When Leonardo DiCaprio Probably not. As much as family? Noway. is sinking into the murky, frigid waters of the Atlantic as Kate But they can matter to you if Winslet watches him tearfully you want them to. from above, some people (OK, women) will be sobbing so hard Comment on this column at that they affect radio waves, but wsusignpost.com. Common Sense Wikileaks isn't all bad Gina Barker Signpost columnist mmm Editor in Chief Managing Editor News Editor Sports Editor v; Photo Editor Business Editor Gina Barker Eric Jensen- SpencerGarn Craig Halbasch Bryan Butterfield ShayLynne Clark Over the last month, Wikileaks has posted nearly 400,000 government documents from the Iraq invasion in 2003 to now. The recent press attention and government outrage makes a lot of sense, but the bigger question Wikileaks has people asking is whether or not posting all these documents is a good idea. Should we know about what Wikileaks is publishing? Wikileaks has been in the news for a few years now, first appearing in December 2006 posting secret documents from governments, corporations, public individuals and religious organizations. Basically, Wikileaks leaks documents that would never usually be available to the public. Since 2006, the site has published offshore account information from Swiss banking companies, screenshots of Sarah Palin's e-mail inbox and official interrogation techniques of the United States Army. Those are just a handful of more than 1 million documents released on Wikileaks. The site manages to do this legally through a bit of technological smoke and mirrors, though it is under constant legal fire to close the site down. Wikileaks is hosted through Swedish ISP PeRiQuito, the same site that became well known for hosting Pirate Bay. Because the 626-7121 626-7614 626-7655 656-7983 626-8071 626-7621 The Signpost is a student publication, written, edited and drafted by Weber State I University students. Student fees fund the printing of this publication. Options or j positions voiced are not necessarily endorsed by the university. \ J: actual site is legal in Sweden, Wikileaks has managed to stay alive through the release of thousands of government documents. Julian Assange, the Wikileaks director, said the site moves both its people and its telecommunications to several places around the world to keep up operations. Everything is encrypted and coded to protect any source that submits a document. The site posts nothing that could be considered rumor, opinion or already available content. And any document posted on the site goes through a review process made up of volunteers from mainstream press organizations, journalists and the Wikileaks staff. Some things come forward that we don't want to face. There are truths we don't always want to know about ourselves; Wikileaks forces us to confront that truth. In 2007, a video was leaked to the site showing an Apache helicopter firing on unarmed Iraqi civilians and two Reuters reporters. Here's some of the banter between the soldiers: U.S. Soldier 1: Oh, yeah, look at those dead bastards. U.S. Soldier 2: Nice. Good shoo tin'. U.S. Soldier 1: Thank you. Later in the footage, as one of the wounded journalists tries to crawl to safety, another soldier said, "Come on, buddy. All you gotta do is pick up a weapon." That soldier was looking for a reason to kill him. And in the end, the supposed AK-47 the soldiers claimed to have seen turned out to be a camera belonging to one of the reporters. They suspected one Features Editor KoryWood A&EEditor , ^^Andrew Choffel Copy Editor J RV; Stephanie Presley Adviser j | Shane Farver Ads Manager Shelley Hart,; Office Manager Georgia Edwards person had a weapon, and that allowed them to open fire on a crowd of people, resulting in 12 deaths. After the attacks, one soldier came forward to speak on the actions taken by U.S. Forces that day. Josh Stieber, a former member of Bravo Company 2-16, the unit involved in the killing of the two Reuters journalists, spoke with Democracy Now. "The natural thing to do would be to instantly judge or criticize* the soldiers in this video," Stieber said. "Not to justify what they did, but militarily speaking, they did exactly what they were trained to do... . If we're shocked by this video, we need to be asking questions of the larger system, because this is how these soldiers were trained to act." These are the issues we face, but also the issues we now know about because of Wikileaks. Some have called it terrorism. Others, the future of investigative journalism. But it does make us pulL out the magnifying glass to take a closer look at ourselves. America is not indiscriminately good. No country is. Whether you agree or disagree with what Wikileaks is doing, there is no denying the fact that the site has brought forward a litany of issues, one after the other, on whether or not our government is actually behaving ethically. And that is something Americans, and the world, deserve to know. Comment on this column at wsusignpost. com. 626-7624 626-7105 ' 626-7659 626-7526 626-6359 626-7974 The Signpost reserves the right to edit for reasons of space and libel and also reserves the right to refuse.to pript any letter. Letters should not exceed 350 words. Letters should be submitted online to thesignpost@weber.edu and read Letter to the Editor in the subject box. |