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Show 4 Monday, November 19,2007 OPINION www.daHyutahchronicle.com LAUREN MUELLER WANT ^ TO Killing for the sake of saving? dmittedly, I'm not a vegetarian. I love animals and I'm currently housing . . scores of them, but I'm also a sucker for anything bacon-wrapped. Sure, it's a little hypocritical, but I'm hungry—not bloodthirsty. I don't revel at the top of the food chain, draped in endangered pelts. My carpet is berber, not bear, and you won't find any mounted heads in my home. And I don't live with Fred Morris. This Draper businessman and avid decapitator—er...trophy hunter—has traveled to more than a hundred countries to kill some of the rarest and most beautiful animals to have graced this green Earth. I'm not the only one impressed with Morris' systematic execution of doe-eyed quadrupeds the world over, Brigham Young University has also taken note. Last year, the Y's Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum commissioned Morris to travel deep into South Africa's Mkuze National Park to bag them a big 'un—a 3-ton white rhinoceros. Oh, the thrill of the hunt—just man, the heaving beast and a .375-caliber H&H Magnum rifle with a fixed power scope. Way to level the playing field, Morris. Far be it for me to expose my pro-rhino agenda or anything, but is this really necessary? These holdovers from the Cenozoic Era have been stalked, maimed and killed—mostly in the name of fashion—for decades. Conservation efforts for the southern white rhinoceruses have been a success after their near-eradication in the 1970s at the hands of poachers, but does • this mean it's now open season? To literally add insult to injury, Morris and,' subsequently, the museum, insist the dead animal .skin is meant as a conservation effort. •••. > "I will not hunt it if it can't be imported for public viewing," Morris told The Salt Lake Tribune's Brian Maffly. Supposedly, this carcass is meant to rally public support for the rhinos' plight. The northern white rhinocerus remains one of the most critically endangered species in the world today, and I didn't have to kill one to learn that. I Googled it. Morris and the museum's vertebrates collection manager, Wesley "Skip" Skidmore, feel", that money is best invested in the preservation' • of the savanna's wildlife by way of high-powered ammunition. "The hunted animals of the world are thriv- ing because that's where the money goes," ; Morris said to The Tribune. You know what they say: one is never enough. Skidmore has a whole wish list of animals he's hoping will fill out his burgeoning slaughterhouse, including a hippopotamus and a giraffe. Morris is currently planning a trip to Namibia's Etosha National Park to hunt an extremely rare and endangered black rhinocerus. Sadly, this rhino is done enhancing the natural beauty of the bush, but it will be hung up on a wall in Provo until January if you'd like to see what wildlife conservation looks like up close. letters@chronicleMtah.edu A Pitt. PHIL CANNON/fte Dcily Utah(broakk America needs a revolution It's time for us to reclaim control from the government riginally intended by its creators to be small and obedient to its people, the U.S. government has grown and developed a mind of its own, acting with minimal concern to the needs and desires of its citizens. Like an uncontrolled child, this once well-behaved government has turned into the porky school bully, bossing around the other children on the playground and doing as it pleases, knowing there are no consequences to its actions. At home, the people express concern and upset, but growing apathy keeps many from acting. Like a frustrated parent, many Americans can relate to the feeling, "I just don't know what to do about it." Change is needed The government needs to be reminded who is supposed to be in charge. We need a revolution to re-establish the power of the people. France is a great model for seeing the benefits of a wellbehaved government. It's O people enjoy a high quality of life, shorter work weeks and more vacation time, and the French are happy overall with their government. This country started out similar to our own, but, unlike our rebellious one, it remains compliant to JANICE its people. KOPAUNIK How has France's people kept control? The constant fear of revolution keeps the French government in line with the needs of its people. Whenever the government has acted contrary to the will of the people, they have not hesitated to overthrow it and establish a new one with the old problems fixed (five times so far). France remains submissive to its people, knowing to whom it will have to answer if it acts out of line. France has been unpopular with us recently because of its fear of its own people—they are hard to peer pressure. When France refused to join us in Iraq, we called them names. Now, we remain in a war that few condone. Who is the dumb one again? Apparently, the French learned from Vietnam. We might harbor hard feelings for their lack of support, but the French were able to make their government follow their desires. This is definitely something we should notice. The American Revolution, which inspired the French revolution habit, was sparked because of conditions similar to what we have now: slacking government support and resentment over an unpopular war. (Many of the unfair taxes causing incitement were issued to pay for the Seven Years' War.) How different was that from now? Well, despite problems in the pre-revolution 1760s, the Crown maintained an estimated 25 percent approval rate, with an extraordinarily high number of apathetic citizens generally content with the distant, noncontrolling government. Bush's approval rates hover slightly above this, and an even higher number is outright enraged at the way things are going, but we don't act. We all know that our votes don't matter, and that few government officials are listening. The American people have become lazy and apathetic, succeeding only in losing control of their government. Our country is continually running into the same walls, because the wrong people are at the helm. It's time to re-establish control and remind everyone who is in charge. letters@chronicle.utah.edu Will your children still love you if you pass on the Xbox? The infamous Black Friday is upon us, and it will take all we have to keep from overspending I t's midnight. Children lie in thenKill the pig. Spill its blood. Do beds and dream about their you take Discover? favorite things—not moonbeams According to a 2006 Consumer or kitten whiskers, but Xbox 360s, Reports survey, 23 percent of Americell phones and Hannah Montana cans will not pay off their holiday merchandise. debts until March. This amounts to $14.6 billion thrown away on interTheir mothers don't want to disappoint them. Christmas is a month est alone. away. Making sure their children Recent Visa commercials are aren't blue is worth going in the hilarious and frightening. Buyers red. They put on their helmets move like a machine, spinning in a and shoulder pads. The gatherers debt-riddled dance. One blundering become the hunters. idiot pays with cash. This causes a total breakdown and shameful Nov. 28, the day after Thanksgivlooks. ing, is Black Friday. It sounds like a horror movie—and it could be. Visa is making us feel guilty for Lines of hopeful, desperate mothnot going into debt. ers wait outside shopping malls and No one likes feeling guilty, so we Wai-Marts for the deals of the day. oblige. During the holidays, $63.6 When the doors open, the feeding billion will be charged on credit frenzy begins. It's a modern-day cards. Some might have the money. Lord of the Flies. . Most don't. Instead of saving be- " NICHOLAS PAPPAS forehand to wish the family a Merry Christmas, society works in four easy steps: see, want, borrow and buy. Is this what we've been reduced to? Is love measured in dollar signs? Parents continue to focus on temporary happiness'—a toy that is thrown aside' in a month or a video game that is conquered in a week. Girls grow out of their Bratz-doll phase faster than overpriced jewelry and clothing. Now more than ever, it's time for society to switch its focus. Gas prices will continue to skyrocket and with them the national debt, as old habits die hard. A recent Gallup poll shows that for the first time in recent history, Americans are more worried about the econ6my than the war in Iraq. Politicians aren't doing anything to help the trend. The Republican candidates, in their usual way, are touting the benefit of tax cuts as a solution to all of life's problems. It's the Bush brand of economic policy—less regulation and trade molded and manipulated by business interests. . The Democrats are no better. With the upcoming election, one of the most important in history, they've stopped talking about war, The Daily Utah Chronicle is now hiring opinion Contact^ at Isim^^ •x debt, death and taxes. Debate has amounted to bickering and a frontrunner fistfight. Barack Obama and John Edwards have digressed into a lord of the Flies of their own—kill . Hillary. Spill her blood. Policy and intelligent conversation be damned. Do your children a favor. After you eat your Thanksgiving turkey, lie back and let the dopamine take effect. Relax. Don't get caught up in Black Fridays. Set a budget, stick to it and put the rest aside in a college fund. The kids might hate you now, but they'll thank you later. The only power we have left is our checkbook. Put it away and watch corporate America scramble. Sucks to their "asmar"—and profit margin. v letters@ chronicle.utah.edu |
