OCR Text |
Show o PAGE 6 NION MONDAY 3/21 Daily Utah Chronicle THE CHRONICLE'S VIEW March Madness: Infecting a brain near U MKETHHT T his is a public service announcement from The Daily Utah Chronicle's editorial board: Should you or anyone you know begin to show signs of lunacy and general craziness this month, do not call the authorities. Repeat: Do not commit your loved ones to mental institution for displaying symptoms such as unusual devotion to the TV, anxiety and/or panic attacks during the final minutes of a college basketball game, or the fanatical, almost religious compulsion regarding "their team"—such symptoms are usual and do not indicate actuaJ insanity. No, it's just that time of year when sports fans nationwide put sanity on hold and immerse themselves in the most exciting, nailbiting and habit-forming collegiate sporting event of the year: The NCAA Tournament, otherwise affectionately referred to as March Madness. The tournament pits top college basketball teams against one another in a winner-takes-all battle-royale between 6$ schools, all with hopes of making it to the "Sweet 16/' the "Elite Eight," or even—heaven allow—to the coveted "Final Four." The U's men's basketball team has something of a legacy in the tournament, having made it to the final game in 1998, under the coaching instruction of Rick Majerus. This year, with the long arms of mega-star center Andrew Bogut and the strong play of late by Marc Jackson and Justin Hawkins, the U has another chance to make an impact on the national college sporting world. With an upset victory over three-seeded Oklahoma last Saturday, the U has already started catching the eyes of fans and commentators fixated on the tournament's proceedings. It is a testament to the unique OF rmse LETTERS Voter apathy does not mean opposition Editor: I have heard the notion once or twice that not voting in the ASUU elections is a vote against ASUU. This is simply not true. John Kerry, during the 2004 elections, was often inundated by critics who said that if he didn't vote for something during his political career that he must be against it. I saw John Kerry become flustered with this question mostly because of its absurdity. I'll even take it a step further—just because someone is apathetic toward something does not mean he or she is against it. , How many of us are apathetic toward our own health? Do all of us exercise for the suggested hour a day and/do we all limit our sugar and fat intake? The answer is probably no, yet jive are all in favor of our own good heath, right? * There are many reasons why, among apathy, '• lhat only 15 percent of the student body votes. But I would be very interested in how many of the non-voting students are flat out against ! Student politics at the U. I There's no way that 85 percent of the student ] body is against ASUU. For those who listen to 7 ihis type of silent voting, perhaps you are tak' tag it way too far. ;., If people are right about a non-vote being a •vote against ASUU, then there's a very suc; ^essful grassroots, underground society that is ', 'compelling students not to vote. ; 1 If I'm right and people are not voting bei 'cause they're just too busy, didn't have access • jo a computer during voting, didn't even know 1 about it, really had no idea what ASUU is or any other benign reason for not voting, then Occam's Razor may be worth another look. Lindsey Butters Senior, Anthropology TOTHE EDITOR Driver's license bill allows discrimination Editor: As a minority student at the U, I'm concerned about the impact of Senate Bill 227. Having suffered a fair amount of racist discrimination for the past 19 years of my life, I am qualified to express doubt in the bill's purpose. By passing SB 227, police now have the right to stop all drivers who appear foreign to ask to see a driver's license or privilege card. Basically, the police no longer need a legitimate reason to stop minority drivers. These actions are a deliberate denial of the basic human rights of the human being. Personally, being a fulltime student as well as a full-time employee, I do not have the time or the patience to be stopped by the police arbitrarily. Gov. Huntsman propagates the murky sprawl of racism toward illegal immigrants, legal immigrants and United States citizens who happen to belong to an ethnic minority when he signed SB 227. He has now legalized the discrimination police noticeably practice toward the ethnically diverse population. Utah steadily moves backward in social issues. Gov. Huntsman failed to represent the growing legal minorities or communities working to embrace diversity in Utah. Wendy Kwan Beliefs shouldn't be imposed upon others Editor: Josh Checketts' letter ("Party endorsement was wrong and party cartoon was raunchy," March n) reminds us once again why this state is in a self-imposed, shortsighted fantasy. Morality police lurk everywhere, seeking to condemn, censor and prohibit anything and everything that falls outside of their constrained moral sphere. In the real world, newspapers do indeed endorse candidates and in the real world, Spring Break is for some students a week- Social morality needs to be considered in family planning orality needs to be conthiopia, Sahel and Bangladesh. sidered in whether or This empirical study concluded not to have children. that a drop in food production was not the main cause of such It is common to base this decifamines. sion upon the mere desire or lack of desire to procreate rather India, for example, is not a than on sound moral reasoning. resource-poor country, yet it Many of us have never considsimply does not have enough reered that having too many chilsources to provide for 1.1 billion dren could be immoral. There people. Overpopulation causes are many moral arguments to famine. Jeff Fullmer consider when starting a family. I think Americans fail to think Columnist Common sense should tell us of family planning as a moral that having more children than decision for two reasons. First, we can care for is wrong. I am not only speaking we do not have to worry about it—yet. The financially, but of "emotional capital." United States is still a relatively young country and is actually one of the most sparsely popuIf I couldn't support four children on my ' lated. There is plenty of room to grow. salary, it would be immoral to have five. It's immoral to cause suffering, and having more However, this does not mean it's OK to crowd children than can be adequately cared for causes a nation with so many people that it would be suffering. impossible to feed them alL There is now great evidence that global famThe other reason is religion. There is the reine is not primarily caused by a lack of food, but ligious view that it is the duty of humankind to by social policy and norms, namely that of the procreate and replenish the Earth. birth rate. Yet there is also a duty to make the world a In Poverty and Famines, Amarta Sen docugood place for everyone, to prevent starvation mented a study of four cases of famine: Bengal, and to give each child a minimum quality of life. Having too many children destroys all three. Population growth should not just be the concern of governments. It should be the concern for everyone beginning to build a family. Proper parenting takes time and lack thereof causes an erosion of values in society, results in wayward teens and an increase in crime and drugs. Surely, no religion desires this. I am not saying morality sets a certain limit on how many children we can have. I am saying that moral reasoning should play a role in our decision of how many children we have. letters@ chronicle, u tah.edu There is now great evidence that global famine is not primarily caused by a lack of food, but by social policy and norms, namely that of the birth rate. and competitive nature of the tournament that the U, along with a handful of other underdog teams, managed to upset higherseeded teams in the initial rounds. Simply put, March Madness plays no favorites, especially this year, and with the ever-changing dynamic of the tournament, literally any team could walk away a winner in any given game. Unlike the NBA, where there is ' little chance for certain teams to beat others (due to salary discrep- ' ancies that lead to inequitable talent distribution), the NCAA tournament is a scrap amongst relative equals—though some teams may be favored, there is no reason to believe that a team like the U can't go all the way to the Final Four...or even further. It's one of the reasons why March Madness is so wildly popular: Once the tip-off goes down, it's pretty much any team's game. The tourney is wide opea There are no teams, with the possible exception of an extremely talented and pedigreed North Carolina, that look to be clear favorites. Which is all the more reason for U students and alumni to get pumped, crazy and feverish over the tournament With buzzer-beating shots a dime-a-dozen and halfcourt hail-mary attempts pretty much standard fare, there is plenty.! of madness to latch onto. For Ute fans, the presence of probable first-round draft pick Bogut is just the icing on the cake—getting the chance to watch a future professional star represent your home team in a tournament that could :• literally go any way is a pretty .'\ sweet deal, if you ask us. So keep those U T-shirts on (lest you jinx the team by washing them), don't move from your ~ perch on the couch (class can wait-.at least until the Utes play) and go crazy. After all, it's that time of year. Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily Utah Chronicle Editorial Board. 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, age, appearance or sexual orientation will be edit^l or will ! not be published. " ' ' "•*$-w Sophomore, Architecture Too many eggs break the nest M y long orgy of debauchery that some consider "obscene." His opinion is fine to have, but asking The Daily Utah Chronicle to not endorse candidates or not to print cartoons lampooning a perspective of a college ritual goes too far. In the real world, and that includes the world outside this state's boundaries, things aren't sanitized, packaged in family-friendly wrappers and restricted the way some want them to be. This should be the case with a student newspaper read primarily by adults over the age of 18 from a variety of backgrounds. Checketts, and others like him, better get used to adapting to the world rather than asking it to meet their myriad expectations. If you don't like it, don't read it, don't drink it, don't smoke it and don't do it, but keep your self-imposed ignorance to yourselves. That, or go into politics so you can really impose your beliefs on the rest of us. Aaron McDaniel Graduate Student, Geography From prison boutique to the feminine mystique Down but not out, Martha Stewart is still defining grace M artha Stewart She is allowed to leave is my hero. You the estate for work and could say that church and will continue Martha Stewart is the to receive her $900,000 a next "come-back kid." year salary. If the courts With books, clothing and had really wanted to punmerchandise deals in the ish Stewart, they would works, there seems like have told her she wasn't there's no stopping this allowed to decorate. domestic queen. She has supposedly Many have said Martha changed her life around Carrie Ferrera is having the last laugh and got a "new perspecColumnist and I agree. tive" on living. She's 20 She was released from pounds lighter and just prison after 5 months at Camp Cupcake signed up to make a modified version of for lying to investigators after being susDonald TVump's "The Apprentice." pected of insider trading. Moments after She may no longer be the CEO of Marleaving the prison, her SUV driver blew tha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc., but through a stop sign (how ironic). her stock has made her a billionaire. Stewart jetted back to her 153-acre estate It's funny how the tables turn. Many just outside Manhattan for five more thought that Stewart was dead hi the wamonths of house arrest. Not being allowed ter when she left for prison in November, to have felons visit her will no doubt cut but they were wrong. her social calls in half. Many now say they like Stewart more because she served her time gracefully. Personally, I think Martha Stewart is a role model for the young women of today. Yes, she made a greedy mistake, but she swallowed her pride and served her time. She went willingly to Camp Cupcake. Now all she has left to do is join forces with Wal-Mart (let's be real, no one shops at Kmart anymore). You can bet that someday when I get married I'll be searching the pages of Martha Stewart Living for savvy ideas. She's my idol and an American icon. letters@ chronicle.utah.edu Many now say they like Stewart more because she served her time gracefully. Personally, I think Martha Stewart is a role model for the young women of today. |