Editorial
Daily Emerald
Chill out dudes,
it’s just a cartoon
It's Bartmania.
Everywhere you look, you see some product in
spired by the Fox network’s television show, The
Simpsons. Shirts, buttons, stuffed Bart dolls; all are
symptoms of yet another American fad.
It started out so innocently. The Simpsons was first
a comedy short seen occasionally on The Tracey l 'li
man Show. It attracted such a following, it soon got
it’s own half-hour slot.
A Hutterfinger commercial later. The Simpsons
have become another version of the American televi
sion family. What the Nelsons, the Bradys and the
Keatons were to their generations, the Simpsons are to
the ’90s.
There have been other cartoons on prime time tele
vision. The fetsons and the The Flintstones are just
two. But none of them have achieved the same sort of
stardom — or garnered the same controversy as The
Simpsons.
Matt Groening, the show's creator, surely didn't
think The Simpsons would become as popular as it
has. Lately, the mania has heightened. Recently, at
Stanford University and UCLA, Bart Simpson actually
got votes in student elections. When the schools' ad
ministrators removed his name from the ballot (he
wasn’t enrolled as a student), a wave of protests result
ed Due out sometime soon is a Nintendo game as well
as other forms of Simoson memorabilia.
Incredible. And causing problems.
The controversy over the show is centered on the
family violence and Hart’s cocky attitude. Child psy
chologists and grade school teachers have criticized
both, saying the show sets a ’ bad example." It has re
ceived a lot of negative publicity, even some through
the Letters section of this newspaper.
The Simpsons is a satirical stab at the modern-day
nuclear family. It is a cartoon: It is not real life, and it
is not meant to be Because it is a cartoon, there are ex
aggerations. We can all relate to the Simpson family ar
guments. They are warped just enough to make them
funny. The heavy-handed satire is part of the show's
humor, as well as its charm
The incorrigible Hart says and does things we've
always wanted to say and try. He is not Heaver Cleaver,
but our society and our families are not composed of
Junes and Wards. We argue, fight and criticize each
other, lushing out at a show with the same characteris
tics as our own families ignores the main problem and
the point The Simpsons is trying to make. We are not
perfect, and we shouldn't expect our children to be.
Hut if parents still feel Hurt Simpson is a bad role
model, they should do the simple thing and turn off
the television set. Parents have that power, and should
know what their kids are watching.
V
OOUIP KXJ
CAU. BACK LATEK?
...we’re Busy
TEYING "ID FIGURE
OUT
TY/fNPEAKS'....
BUDGET
DEFICIT
SAL
BAILOUT
Bush continues to lose face over China
Ceorge Hush wants to commemorate the;
anniversary ol the massac re of Chinese stu
dent protesters in an odd way by extend
ing (Ihina's most-favored nation trade status.
Almost one year after the slaughter at
I iananmen Square, Hush is ready to return
to business as usual with Heijing Extending
tin* most-favored trade status will keep tar
ills low on Chinese goods and products,
keep Chinese markets open for American
goods and servii es. and further one more
continuing disaster of American foreign
policy
Little has changed in China since last
lime Repression and human rights viola
tions are still the order of the day. and dissi
dent scientist Fang I,i/hi remains a virtual
prisoner in the l’.S Embassy. It's sup
posedly official poliov that the I'.S is pro
democracy and doesn't deal with terrorist
governments: China's leadership somehow
gets exempted
This inconsistency of C S. foreign policy
is furthered when one remembers that Hush
dickered over extending most-favored trade
status to the Soviet Union when it dealt a
stiff but mostly non-violent crackdown
to Lithuania What's the thinking here:'
file official reasoning is that Chinese
leaders, with their mysterious Kastern per
sonalities, are unwilling to 'lose fate- over
the massacre. They will not respond to
tough stances like trade sanctions or grant
ing visa extensions to visiting students
Therefore. U.S. policy must he soft and sym
pathetic, not hard and firm. Appeasement,
out ot fashion since 103*), is the new I S.
line.
It's been commented before that Hush,
former U.S. Ambassador to China, has a soft
spot in his heart for the Chinese. Because he
spent 1H enjoyable months riding bit y< les
and playing ping pong with Deng Xiaoping,
he seems to feel it's Oh to take nobod\ s ad
vit e but his ou n on the pressing question ol
what to do with the Chinese Hush has al
ways come off as a patsy to the Chinese lead
ership and a stooge to Americ an business in
terests desiring lucrative Pacific Rim trade
markets; this latest act only furthers that im
age
While the (lhine.se leadership holds fat e,
we wonder if it isn't secretly laughing at our
fawning, obsequious president and how he
caters to China’s every whim, daring not to
( hide them. That would be ironic While
Hush loses face in China, he continues to
display two faces to the American public at
home
Letters
The bad
Tins is in rrsponsf to Toni
Kibe's Mav 17 letter ill it lie
stated lie saw sororits women
darning on their lawns, and
fraternity "men'' i rinsing by in
their little imported hot rods
First of all, the only imported
i ars I know fraterniH men to
own are Toyota* and Nissans
believe it or not we creeks are
(list as poor as you .ire As for
the i moment about creeks not
being around when important
issues are presented, 1 think
you had Iretter chei k your fads
more i arefullv
Where were you for Universi
ty l)av' lhe greek system in
r orporaled it into their annual
(ireek Week festivities Maybe
that doesn't strike you as im
portant Did sou offer to donate
hone marrow to Kathy (mard to
potentially save her life' The
greeks had numerous people
donate They .tlsit presented
over li> Hoard to help
her Im.mi tally Dill you donate
any money to her '
Kvery fraternity and sorority
also tuts their own philanthro
py tli.it thex give money to each
year Philanthropies sui li as
cancer le.seari h and aid to the
blind They also part it ipate in
Other worthy events to help
others
People are always so quick to
notice (tie bad in others that
they fail to notice the good that
also exists In the future Kibe, 1
suggest you look lor the good
before you get so quit k to point
out the bad and stit k your foot
in your mouth
Becky Hixson
Student
Coverage
As a dance major here at the
University. I am extremeh tlis
appoiuted with the story "Stu
dent dance concert opens to
night" {01)1. M.h 1H), cover
ing the Spring Student Dance
( 'oik ert
We in the dance department
fell there was a minimal
amount of care and effort spent
in presenting this story Along
w ith numerous grammatical er
rors. there were several factual
errors as well. Writer Layne
Lakefish displayed a sadly min
imal understanding of the con
cert and of dance in general
We feel that this poor presen
tation not only was a had re
flection on I.akefish, but on the
dancers involved w ith this pro
duction as well We work hard
in this program to educate our
selves and become diverse, ar
ticulate individuals, and this
story presented us quite inade
quately.
Considering the minimal
coverage the dance department
rtn fives .is It is. wo would hope
th.it, in die future, the Enwr.ild
would take tar more care in not
only gathering information hut
also presenting that informa
tion in an acceptable manner
tor a college publication
loan Donnelly
Dance
Backward steps
1 see the University had de
cided to keep up with today's
bureaucratic bull To have one
of the best American Studies
programs in the nation and de
cide to drop it isn't showing
much intelligence
The fact that the University
can build a brand new spec
trum of science buildings and
annually increase the student
fees, while counterbalancing it
by decreasing programs such as
American Studies is not in the
students' best interests
Dropping the American Stud
ies program not only shows
h\ pot nsv on behalf of the .id
ministration, but the founda
tion on which the University
has been established the
University stresses the eduia
tion of liberal arts American
Studies blends psychology, so
ciology. women's studies, and
the study of minorities How
more liberal can you get'
1 feel by dropping this pro
gram we are taking steps back
instead of trying to broaden our
curriculum at the University.
Brett Johnson
Psychology
Never mind
"Hey. just kidding about that
Leviticus jazz " (Proverbs 2:241
John Shenon
Student