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Show OPINION Thursday, October 12,2006 Page 6 EDITORIAL Bush is not Big Brother ust as Nikita Khrushchev thought the prosperity he witnessed in Iowa on a visit with Richard Nixon was an elaborate ploy to deceive him during the Cold War, George Orwell would've suspected the Ministry of Truth's MATTHEW influPIPER ence if he read a copy of today's Chronicle. This weekend's performance of "1984" at Kingsbury Hall, as well as the ancillary events held on campus throughout the . week, provides Orwell's cautionary tale of government control gone awry. The central message of his familiar story, we've all been told, is to take everything the government says with a grain of salt. Well, that's the mes- ' sage from the standpoint of pretentious well-to-do Americans like "1984" director Tim Robbins, who believes the book's themes are relevant to the Bush administration's failures and the current conflict in Iraq. In reality, Orwell's dystopia has almost nothing to do with our free nation today. To relate aspects of "Oceania" to America is to miss his point entirely. For starters, we have an 1 '6pen government and a free economy, making us ^the exact oppositeof the totalitarian social model Orwell examines. While some of our freedoms are limited, we still HAVE freedoms. The PATRIOT Act might allow government agents to be slightly invasive in attempting to foil upcoming terrorist attacks, but the National Security Agency doesn't • take you away for electroshock therapy when you try to read a book. And though you can probably identify myriad J examples of "Newspeak" in our current political culture, Orwell did not invent the concept of deceptive language. This is hardly Nazi Germany or Saddam's Iraq—there are no guns to our heads. We aren't forced to buy into manipu- . lative fallacies. And we shouldn't blame others when we do. Robbins, for one, has made a habit of slandering Bush on the late-night talk-show circuit, despite supporting politicians who once agreed that there were probably weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In America, Orwell's impotent proletariat doesn't exist. America still responds to the wishes of the masses, not to one man in Washington, D.C. When we screw up, it's our collective fault. Tim Robbins included. Orwell was more than a paranoid fool with a penchant for amusing allegory, however. He may not have foreseen that our thriving commercial empire would overcome the influence of political alliances, but he didn't miscalculate things completely. In some parts of the world, such as North Korea and Iran, his dark vision proves as premonitory as lules Verne's Nau• tilus' sinking ships in the English Channel 40 years before the U-Boats of the First World War. The real lesson we should take from 1984 is that we ought to "be ever thankful for our vast freedoms and ever vigilant of any regime that follows the lead of a malevolent Big Brother. In a world where we're lucky enough to have responsibility, we should take it. Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of The Daily Utah 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. Material1 defamatory lo 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 published online at www.dailyutahchronicle.coin. Letters that the editor deems best represent those received will be printed in the newspaper as well as online. .. . •/• • ..., ' KURT FRANCOM/ Thr Daily Utah Chronicle IMoral heart Starbucks high ground aside, independent coffee shops just aren't better W hen you drive down 400 S.outh in search of caffeinated beverages, you have a choice to make—and that choice is between good and evil. On the right, you have that ultimate symbol of corrupt consumerism: the Starbucks franchise. On the left, you have local coffee houses such as Coffee Break and Salt Lake Roasting Company. Everyone knows what's wrong with Starbucks. It crushes the life out of local coffee shops. It homogenizes culture. It treats employees badly. It makes up imaginary words to describe its products. Mom-and-pop coffee shops embody the spirit of American, smalltown industry. Their customers are salt-of-the-earth folk in skinny jeans and black eyeliner, rebelling against the homogenization of culture as they speak with the same irony-infused inflections and listen to the same cutting-edge music. Who doesn't want to support that sort of independence? Well, I don't. Partly because those people tend to eschew proper hygiene, but mostly because I couldn't care less whether the chai I'm drinking has evil origins. People claim that the beverages produced by local companies taste better, but it's just in their heads. Honestly, is Coffee Break growing its own beans out back? Is Salt Lake Roasting Company milking its own cows in the basement? RUTHANNE FROST Nope, they aren't. And that's why it's so easy to hate Starbucks. Starbucks generates animosity because there are non-Starbucks options out there. It really isn't the evil empire some would have you believe it is—which makes it much more convenient to dislike. Would all those who disavow corporate evil and consumerism be willing to give up their cell phones in support of mom-andpop wireless services? What about their jeans in order to support local tailors and seamstresses? No. Because that would be really, really hard. So people hate Starbucks because it offers them the convenience of being able to have the exact same beverages at Coffee Break or Roasting Company while feeling morally superior to all those across the street. Let's be honest—Starbucks is a successful business, and like any successful business, it has its flaws. But at the same time, big companies can offer their employees and customers benefits that local entrepreneurs often just can't match. So what if Starbucks is evil and homogenized? It offers health care to all employees who work 20 hours a week. In fact, company Chairman Howard Schultz said in a "60 Minutes" interview that Starbucks now spends more on health care than coffee. And remember when Starbucks franchises were trashed during the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle a few years ago? Some would argue that Starbucks embodies all the negative aspects of globalization, but Starbucks is currently the largest buyer of certified fair-trade coffee. Do these little facts prove that Starbucks is morally superior to other coffee shops? Of course not. When it comes to companies, no one is morally superior. Be they big chains like Starbucks or little chains like Salt Lake Roasting Co., their main objective is to turn a profit. And when it comes to which coffee place is more successful at making a profit, I think we all know which place comes out on top. So when you're choosing where to get your late-night study buzz, forget about morality and independence. Choose a winner. Go to Starbucks. letters@ chronicle.utah.edu Dictators can be great, but so can you T here comes a moment in everyone's life when he or she feels the need to take a step forward to a place of productivity and self-value. That moment has just arrived for me, so I can't wait any longer to make a difference in this world. Yes, that's right, as of today, I hereby resign as the unofficial Director of the Initiative Commission That Acts Toward Obvious Responsibilities, or, in short, DICTATOR. Clearly, it would be a conflict of interest for me to continue in such a valued and respected authoritative position when I have the opportunity to run for student body president. The fact-of the matter is this campus is in dire need of a totalitarian leader to provide students with a government of progress and stability. I'm sure many of you, who will likely vote for me (I mean, some people have said I look kind of like Urban Meyer) would like to know my platform. So let's get straight to business. My unofficial official run for SBO has begun! Recognizing the fact that North Korea has just declared its success with nuclear testing, I plan to utilize the nuclear reactor in the Engineering Building to keep our campus safe by turning it into a bargaining chip. Let's see the Utah State Legislature not fund our programs now! Together we reach! Here at the U, we've basically developed the cure for cancer, so we obviously have more experienced people in the nuclear field, and we shouldn't let their valuable intelligence go to waste. North Korea has nothing on us. Furthermore, we will build tunnels/bomb shelters all across campus. Originally, I thought it would be great to have tunnels for use in the winter months, but why not go a little over the budget and MATT PATTON build them all the way to Mexico? It'll be OK because we'll charge students $1,000 dollars at next year's Redfest. Next on the platform is the change in parking. Students will have to surrender their E passes to the employees of the U, and the employees will hand over their useless A passes to the general student body. Think about it—almost every place of business has its employees park farther away to allow the customers the best parking. Anyway, enough about the platform, let's discuss how I will campaign. I think I'll surprise everyone by making pancakes...no wait, waffles...or, even better, stale bagels on the first day of my campaign! It should work, but if it doesn't, I'll also break cookies and doughnuts into itty-bitty pieces and entice people with that! Then I'll walk around and tell people to vote for me, and if they ask why, I'll hand them a slip of paper telling them that I'll do a bunch of stuff that'll really help them, and in small print I'll put that I'm only doing it so I can put Dictator of Underground TYmnels and Sweet Nuclear Warfare on my resume (I am always honest). After that, I'll spend thousands of dollars on parties with hot girls and more stale bagels, complete with bands that sing songs such as, "Matt the dictator is so great!" and, "Tunnels are safe and cool, right?" Actually, this all seems like a lot of work, so I guess I'll just be an opinion writer who writes once a week. But, for anybody who is interested in all that stuff, now's your chance. Numerous parties are forming right now as current student government officials are resigning in preparation to run for office for next year. They will have to deal with issues such as rising tuition, health care, childcare, the possibility of a new recreation center and several other important issues facing our university. Like it or not, these people running will have a direct impact on all of us, so it will be important to get involved now while the parties are beginning to form. • You have just as much of a right to have your choices impact this school as anyone else, and now is the time to act. Or else the infidels will take the reactor! letters@ chronicle.utah.edu |