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Perspectives
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Carl Yeh
Oregon Daily [your name here]
Is the
growing
trend of
corporate
names for
real places
finny or
frightening?
Roh
Moseley
B
eing a sports guy, I
thought the disturb
ing trend of attaching
corporate sponsor
ship to basically theoretical
products was confined to the
world of professional athletics.
Flipping through Sports Il
lustrated, one reads references
to games played at Cynergy
Field, Qualcomm Stadium and
3Com Park. A post-New Year’s
edition of The Sporting News
referred to college football con
tests sponsored by lnsight.com,
Federal Express and Tostitos.
Christ, watch a ballgame on TV
and you’ll see pitching changes
and instant replays with spon
sors attached.
So it was with no small bit of
sadness and, I’ll admit, a bit of
laughter, that I read in PC Com
puting’s April issue of the latest
craze in the race for big busi
nesses to attach their names to
every imaginable entity.
The city of San Francisco,
not a half-hour drive from my
hometown and, in my opinion,
the greatest city in the world,
was negotiating with a comput
ing industry powerhouse to
change its name to San Fran
Cisco for a period of eight years.
The compensation: $1 bil
lion.
Frightening, yes. An isolated
incident, no.
Similar means of achieving a
financial windfall are being
considered in towns such as
Dallas, Houston, Detroit and
Seattle, and at least one town
has already completed a deal.
As of April 1,1999, Sioux City,
Iowa, will be no more. On that
date, the city of Gateway will
be born.
Which begs the question:
Can I work on my IBM in Gate
way?
It sounds ridiculous, but con
sidering the cutthroat tactics
adopted by all corporations,
and especially those in the
computing industry, it proba
bly isn’t that absurd a question.
And it’s a type of question
that’s probably been raised in
the past.
An Iowa city has prostituted
itself before, when Dubuque
was named after a meat-pack
ing company in town. San
Francisco would be continuing
the trend set by its neighbor
Hercules, which was named af
ter a gunpowder manufacturer.
And I think we can all guess the
impetus for the naming of
Goodyear, Ariz.
I guess in the days when
those names were chosen, the
city and company were basical
ly the same. There probably
wasn’t much else going on.
But if Bill Gates is allowed to
change the name of Redmond
to Microsoft, Wash., a severe
conflict of interest could arise
as to which computer products
I could use in town.
Would Gates permit opera
tion of Macs in Microsoft?
Could I drink a Coke in Pepsi,
Texas? Could 1 be arrested for
flying United into Delta, Ga.?
Would 1 be shot for wearing
Reeboks in Nike, Ore.? And just
how severely would I be
flogged for driving a Chevy in
Ford, Mich.?
Gotcha. The last one was a
trick question. Detroit is negoti
ating to change its name to
Hyundai. Imagine the uproar.
The one true bastion of Ameri
can blue-collar labor renamed
by a foreign interest.
What this signals is the com
plete disintegration of our so
cial forums. No longer do we
have a business forum separate
from the political forum. No
longer is there an entertain
ment forum separate from the
athletic forum. The powers of
all the rest combined have
proven no match for the
almighty dollar, and the busi
ness forum has drawn every
other social realm under its
umbrella.
But I guess there is one posi
tive we residents of Eugene can
take from all of this. If Hyundai
does indeed become the new
moniker of Detroit, there’s no
way the company could own
the rights to two separate city
names, is there?
Or are we all future residents
of Hyundai n?
All of this has led me to one
conclusion: From now on, I’m
sticking to the sports page.
Rob Moseley is a sports reporter
for the Emerald. His views do
not necessarily represent those
of the newspaper.
Drawing Board
hms CAMPAIGN Flh
[UFO R M
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I FEEL
YOUR
PAIN...
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Miiifat’liili-lili
OSPIRG reality
This really has gone on long
enough. Doesn’t the ASUO Execu
tive get it? I wish I could attribute
Geneva Wortman’s and Bill Miner’s
statements to poor journalism, but it
seems that they really are ignorant
of the student body’s desires.
Wortman seemed shocked to hear
that students wanted a detailed bud
get from OSPIRG. I’m glad to find
out that she paid equal attention to
both sides of the issues, seeing how
fiscal accountability was the entire
point of the “Honesty” campaign.
Then, she incriminates herself fur
ther by making reference to OSPIRG
as “we” and to “our message.”
Whoa! Can anyone else see the con
flict of interests here?
Then our good buddy Miner lays
down a fat one: “People didn't un
derstand the implications of their
votes.” For crying out loud, of
course we understood the implica
tions of our votes! Why else would
we have voted how we did? To ask
students to “reconsider” their vote
is bad enough, but to suggest com
plete ignorance on the part of the
student body is downright offen
sive and insulting.
If this campus is to maintain its
level of activism, then our student
leaders need to open their eyes to
reality and stop second guessing
their constituents. If they refuse to
do even this much, then I ween for
the future of democracy.
Sean Williams
Music Education
SETA overlooked
It was no surprise to see the article
on the zebrafish grant (ODE, May 13)
talking about how great the funding
for the facility is with no discussion
why it might be wrong. The Emerald
has completely ignored all events
and education Students for the Ethi
cal Treatment of Animals have con
ducted in protest of animal research
on this campus. I guess the suffering
of innocent animals doesn’t matter to
them, no matter what the arguments
are. Last year, over 2,000 students
signed a petition saying they are
against the animal research on cam
pus. I guess they don’t matter either.
And the more than 500 signatures
from students asking for a neutral
public forum discussing the moral
and scientific implications of animal
research is in vain as well. But then
again, millions of dollars will always
speak louder than the truth, no mat
ter how horrific it is. This is just an
other example of big business at our
school that drowns out the sincere
concerns of students.
m the article it discusses how the
administration has been supportive
of the funding. Why shouldn’t they
be? They are profiting. Steadman Up
ham, the vice provost of research, has
stated that there is no way that there
will be a public forum on the issue of
animal research. What about student
voices? Animal research receives
millions of dollars for a variety of rea
sons — and where are all the cures?
Animals differ anatomically, psycho
logically, physiologically, genetical
ly and socially. Many drugs have
been put onto the market that tested
“safe” on nonhuman animals but
had severe side effects on humans,
even death. There are many alterna
tives to animal research as well.
Most importantly, these animals
are not humans’ to manipulate,
own and murder. These animals
are their own beings, and by decid
ing their life, researchers are creat
ing oppression and death for hu
man and nonhuman animals. You
would hope they would at least try
to justify what they are doing
through a public forum, but none
of the animal reseachers responded
to the request to do so. They can get
away with this, as well as the mur
der of innocent beings, because
people continue to be ignorant of
the innocent beings, because peo
ple continue to be ignorant of the
issues surrounding animal research
and because part of that ignorance
is perpetrated by this paper.
Chelsea Lincoln
Director, SETA
Quoted
'This horse is
not a bad-boy type
of horse. He's just
a bad boy some
times."
Trainer Shug
McGaughey dis
cussing Corona
do's Quest in an
Associated Press
story from The
Oregonian on Fri
day. Does a “bad
boy" horse throw
horseshoes at
photographers
when they enter
the barn?
"Their whole
team outplayed us,
but we still feel
they’re not a better
team than we are,"
New York
Knicks center
Patrick Ewing, af
ter his team lost its
playoff series with
the Indiana Pacers
4-1, as quoted in
an AP story from
Thursday’s Regis
ter-Guard. They
won, but we still
feel we won.
"Boomer is the
farthest thing from
a Beanie Baby."
New York Yan
kees manager Joe
Torre quoted in an
AP story about
pitcher David
Wells’ perfect
game in Monday’s
Register-Guard.
Just because it
was “Beanie Baby”
day at the stadium
doesn’t mean the
analogy makes
sense.
“Couldn't hap
pen to a crazier
guy, huh?"
Wells, talking
about his achieve
ment in the same
story. Well, it could
have happened to
Torre.
“He has great
width in his stance
and his grip and
the plane of his
swing are good.
He's just faster and
stronger with his
rotation than any
one I’ve seen."
Oregon golf pro
Jerry Mowlds,
commenting on
Tiger Woods’
swing in an Ore
gonian article on
Wednesday. Now I
understand why la
bor and the envi
ronment receive so
little coverage in
the print media—
there’s just so
much vital infor
mation you can
pack into a news
paper, after all.