EDITORIAL
Condom warnings
falling on deaf ears
In the pest 15 years wo have witnessed many life
altorlng events, the fall of communism, the crash of the
Challenger space shuttle, the San Francisco earth
quake. and the Ducks' Rosebowl berth. All those thing
have had an impact on our global consc iousness and in
doing so have in some small way shaped the society
we now live in. But there is one thing that we have
born witness to that has not had as profound an effec t
on our lives as it should have —the AIDS epidemic.
There are more than 1 million people with AIDS in
the* United States Not gay men. people. People who
are married, people who are single, people who are
black, people who are white, people with children and
children themselves are infected This disease does
not discriminate.
liven you. sitting in the there in the FMU drinking
that stale coffee, are at risk
I know you've heard it all before, and ves you
believed that safe sex is important. Hut do you really
use a condom every time you have sox, even with a
‘ faithful" partner? The truth of the matter is you can't
be with that person every minute of every day. and you
can never, ever, be sure that you are safe.
The reality is brutal - a lifetime of latex.
I was talking to a friend yesterday and she and l
decided the situation can be likened to wearing seat
belts. For a long time in this country seat belts were
just not the way to go. They wore bulky and uncom
fortable and you really didn’t get the same sensation
that one dirt when riding without. Now. we are wiser.
Wo put our seat belts on automatically. Wo do it
because we know that that barrier may save our lives.
Sex with a condom should lx* no different You must
wear them, in this day and age there are just no other
alternatives
The difference between AIDS and t ar accidents is
that you w ill see the Mack truck before it hit you You
don't know what AIDS looks like, it comes in every
human shape and si/e. So, while you're enjoying your
self for that 3 seconds or 45 minutes you won't know
that your body has boon invaded. You will pay for that
physical pleasure with your life.
We have to just accept condom usage ns the norm.
Television and movies must reflect this, since they are
where many of us get our romantic ideals. Even with
it. there is risk, but it is substantially less
Tomorrow is World AIDS Day, and there will be
many speeches from community leaders and politi
cians will give lots of flowery speeches about suffering
Go and watch and listen, glean all that you can. We
hope when the day is over you have gotten the mes
sage We are in the throes of a terrible epidemic, one
we have the power to prevent. Empower yourself, if
you are going to have sex. any kind of sex. protect
yourself.
Oregon Daily
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■ OPINION
Journalism vicious, irrational
n November lath's Emerald.
a column of mmc (*‘*Tedness‘
lln to Kennedy win") was
printed where something hap
pened for which I must apolo
gize in contrast to the intelli
gent analysis that I aspire
towards, the pie*« in question
was mean, rear nonary and basi
cal I v against the principles of
journalism in which 1 firmly
believe I am sorrv if my words.
where hurtful, offended the sen
sibilities of any readers.
Since I fell into the trap
myself, 1 would like to discuss
the current state of attack tour
nalism. as well as the attack
politics which have followed
Both will have grave effects
upon Our sin iety if they are not
curbed immediately
lournalism is obviously at its
lowest (mint in modern history
Shovss such .is Hurd ( and
publications such as ( SA today
have brought news to its basest
levels However, this lowest i onv
mmi denominator rejMHiing is not
the most pressing of journalism s
problems.
those which Mthoul basis
That would lie the viciousness
and irrationality which is preva
lent in the current news We
should look at the greatest inno
vator of this medium. Kush l.im
haugh. In the midst of the Bush
presidency, conservatism was at
a troubling crossroads, stuck
between the President's lack of a
platform, a hostile takeover from
the Christian Right and a conflu
ence of other negative factors.
Rather than starting the nec
essary revolution using the
words of one or some of today 's
great conservative thinkers,
such as George 1- Will, Robert
Novak or William Safire. intel
ligence such as theirs was for
saken for audacity
While Will and his counter
parts represent the analytical and
studious side of the rightist pop
ulation. i.imbaugh is their reac
tionary evil side His fiery and
stringent tirades, which are large
ly built upon unfounded “facts,"
fueled the fire which led to the
GOP's usurpation of Congress a
Pkimo A. J. Fo.vtana
few weeks ago
Quite obviously, he has been
extremely effective. Yet he has
raistxl the stakes for all opinion
journalists in a manner which
should not go unnoticed. Its this
new t.untkiugh era. prudent* has
been replat ed by pugnacity, and
even more frighteningly, edifica
tion by vilification. Where in
another time a quick and biting
wit was sufficient alongside the
fat ts, the only current means of
selling an opinion is through
utter demolition of an opinion
journalist’s opponent.
This is not only a problem for
the right (hi the left, the rut ent
debate over the General Agree
ment on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) has been a perfect exam
ple. !.d*eral opponents of GATT
have used l.tmliaugh-hko tactics
in order to fight the agreements,
espet itally in the bending num*
tiers category.
Also, magazines such as Moth
crjon^i use ill-constructed argu
ments and reactionary rhetoric in
the same fashion as their right
wing opponents in order to push
the agenda of the PC left Instead
of allowing the great liberal w rit
ers of our day, such as Michael
Kinsley. David Hroder and Rus
s**l Baker to drive the left into the
future, the radicals are holding
them I wick in the dark and murky
Imgs of socialism in health (are,
isolationism in trade policy, and
worst of all, fascism in the mul
ticultural debate.
The current situation in our
political system is quite similar
We could look at literally hun
dreds of examples, but it would
lie much simpler to simply look
at the new leadership of the
House. The recently retired
Roliert Michel (R Illinois), the for
user House Minority l-wider, has
b»*m rvplm od by Newt Gingrich
(R-Goorgia) This is an immense
de-evolution The bipartisan col
lugiality of Mu hel. which was
suci essful on so many occasions,
has been replaced bv the mali
cious of >st ruction ism of Gingrich
Although the new
Washington throws out num
bers and sound bites which
may sound impressive, we
must look towards what true
substantive policy lies ahead
for America To me, 1 see none
We have heard tons about the
sweeping change which wo are
about to see, but let's look clos
er.
Gutting foreign aid You know,
all of that money we send over
seas'1 How about tile facts: for
eign aid a< ( ounts for one-half of*
one percent of the budget So if
ive totally cut all programs, the
savings would still tie minimal.
How about welfare? Don't we
just dump tons of tax dollars into
the laps of greedy poor people?
The facts again: welfare accounts
for three percent of the budget, a
tiny portion, especially compared
to the monstrous budget of
defense
Term limits? Yeah right, this
was the COP'S big joke on the vot
ers Di< k Array, the new House
Majority leader has backed away
from the idea, and his party will
likely follow. There goes the con
tract.
School Prayer? If you think
that dumping the Constitution
and instituting a civic religion
will solve any of this country's
problems. I've got a bridge to sell
you, it's right on Ferry Street
1'he new Washington sounds
like it is going to lead this coun
try to a different future, but it
really amounts to very little
Its just like the new journalism.
At first read, it seems to make a
point.
Simply take a closer look If
someone must be vicious to push
their point, they probably don't
really have one.
Primo A I Fontana is a colum
rust for the Emerald