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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 2000)
Monday Editor in chief: Jack Clifford Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com Sticks and stones... but e-mail won t hurt me! SAINT AND PROFITS ERIC PFEIFFER Sometimes a jellyfish walks with two legs. There are those who kill in the name of God. And if you put your ear closely to the wall, you just might hear the sound of silence bouncing through the echo chamber. Violence has invaded mv life. It started Friday night, getting jumped three blocks from home. Thankfully, I walked away un scathed. Still, Mom, thanks for sending the cookies and pepper spray. When I returned home Saturday morning, I didn’t expect anymore excitement. Washington, D.C., has its share of crime, murder and strange offer ings, but I hoped one act of vio lence was enough for the week end. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I had only been home a few hours when I saw the flashing lights outside my bedroom win dow. I pulled back the curtains to reveal a body lying about five feet from the window, crumpled and soaked in a pool of blood. There were three police officers at the scene. I asked the man in charge what happened. He *0 * made a gesture toward his ^ • * # chest. “Stabbed. Five * , times.” . Giovanni Salimena Emerald My neighbor had discovered the body while checking her mail. She sat with this stranger, nursing his wounds and watching over him until the police arrived. Without her help, he would not have lived. The next morning I dragged myself into work after having gone 48 hours without sleep. It wasn’t where I wanted to be, but I figured the margins of violence were slim. Then, I opened an e-mail message from my editor back in Oregon to find an unexpect ed surprise: my first death threat. What do these three exam ples have in com mon? They are the acts of hooded •* mercenaries, anonymous cow ards. Of course, I don’t expect everyone to agree with my columns. In fact, I welcome intelligent debate. This was something entirely dif ferent. An individual using the painful ly ridiculous moniker “Heaton Seeker” mailed me a death threat in response to my Oct. 1 column regarding the role of the ASUO in activist circles. Apparently, Mr. Seeker does not calculate freedom of speech into his jihad against the evil forces of corporate domi nance. Never mind that with the in creasing consolidation of media ownership, columns of this nature are a dying breed. Never mind that independent newspapers like ours are one of the last venues for democracy. Judging by Seeker’s presentation, I would guess that a K-12 education did not factor heavily into his initiation with the neo-anarchist convention of espresso-chugging, armed reac tionaries. Mr. Heaton Seeker, you are a coward. You blast me for labeling a faction of WRC protesters as fas cists. Hey, that’s your call. Yet, you send a semi-anonymous death threat to make your case. Perhaps you hoped I would recoil in fear from your words, over whelmed by the collage of trite, cliched rhetoric. Too bad for you I don’t run from spineless jellyfish. I see your bible held close to heart; maybe it’s the latest copy of “Mayhem.” Either way, you’re not going to change my mind with threats. Thankfully, you were foolish enough to leave your address on a piece of propaganda, so we should be seeing you soon. Now, on the chance that the police are too preoccupied with crashing student parties to deal with you, allow me to be of assistance. You’re not. going to have much luck cutting my head off, as you so eloquently promised, when I’m all the way out here in Washing ton, D.C. Lucky for us, I’m coming home soon. I’ll probably be exhausted, long flight and all, but I guess that really isn’t important to a modern day Che Guevara like yourself. Don’t worry, I’m not a big guy and I don’t carry any weapons. But in this case, Mr. Heaton Seeker, I’ll stand by my word, when held against the sticks and stones of your vicious threats. Take care of yourself, and keep the rev olution of hate alive. Eric Pfeiffer is a columnist for the Oregon Daily Emerald, currently serving an in ternship at the National Journal Hotline in Washington, D.C. His views do not neces sarily represent those of the Emerald. He can be reached at epfeiffe@gladstone.uoregon.edu. Letters to the editor Driven by fear Our lives are so permeated with psy chological imperatives that it takes a de gree in both psychology and advertising to even begin to properly sift through the minutiae thrown at our subconscious minds. At election time, this tragic battle for our souls seems to take the form of emotional blackmail: Hence, whoever can create the most fear will somehow become the winner because it is our fears, after all, which drive us harder than any joys we may contemplate. The gay agenda with its holocaust and homophobia outbreaks, the police state with its perils of doom, the social service conglomerations and their worst-case scenarios, the crime commissions with perpetrators at every turn of the road, the student lobbies with outcries of empty futures and obsolete minds, the vulnera ble poor and elderly, the disabled and un born who somehow are neglected, the Christian character, which is both ma ligned and sin-pocked in its own efforts to win our votes, and victims of every act of life prey on our fears until we can hard ly discover the difference between truth and fiction anymore. I would like to urge everyone to please look past the constant barrage of media impersonations of reality and struggle to find a balance in our desper ate needs at this moment. If we do not think and act clearly at this time, our country stands to lose more than we re alize. Please, think before you vote! Deborah Martin Eugene Administrative inconsistencies The editorial on University President Dave Frohnmayer’s decision to further the University’s commitment to the Worker Rights Consortium (“'WRC revis ited: Will we stay or will we go?” ODE, Oct. 30) was accurate in many ways. The editorial pointed out the irrespon sibility of the manner in which the deci sion was made, and briefly outlined some of the events since last April. How ever, one crucial piece of information was left out. Last April, the University community was told that the decision to join the WRC needed to be made with the input of the University Senate. However, apparently in order to take the first step in leaving the WRC, no public meeting with the Senate was needed, nor was such a meeting used to join the FLA. Regardless of how the University community-feels about the merits of joining the WRC, we ought to be out raged by the inconsistencies in the ad ministration’s decision making poli cies. Either the students, staff and faculty have input on the University’s policies, or we don’t. It’s that simple. Ben Andrews junior geology Nader supporters not limited to Democrats This is in response to Democrats’ cries that Nader is throwing the election. Democrats need to work for their votes. At this point, rather than accepting that their platform has failed to convert people to their side, they are blaming Nader. It is a lie that Nader is draining the Democratic voting base. On Oct. 26, The New York Times published an arti cle regarding recent national polls — MSNBC/Reuters showed that only 25 percent of Nader votes are coming from traditional Democrats. The rest are coming from independents, non-voters and, yes, Republicans. Nader has been able to inspire some of the 55 percent of Americans who don’t vote. Nader/La Duke are the only candi dates against nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles in space and the WTO/NAFTA; and for universal health care, public fi nancing of campaigns, increasing indige nous rights and upholding the Kyoto Ac cords. Many independents and non-vot ers are inspired by this. Additionally, Republicans make up some of Nader’s base. They are union workers frustrated about Bush’s and Gore’s support of NAFTA. They are from the Reform Party and after the split are voting for Nader. They are small business owners who see Bush and Gore acqui escing to corporate giants. They are right wingers who feel their personal privacy is under attack by both candidates. Democrats are wrong in assuming that Nader supporters would switch their votes if Nader dropped out. We are committed to getting the Greens their 5 percent so that our voices can be heard. Natalie White senior sociology Show me the light What I can’t understand is how we can afford millions of dollars to reno vate Autzen Stadium, but we can’t seem to fix the fluorescent light in the second floor men’s bathroom in Oregon Hall for over a month. Andrews. Justice graduate student viola performance/pedagogy CONTACT US! The Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes and will attempt to print all letters on topics of interest to the University com munity. Letters are limited to 250 words. The Emerald rmay edit any letter for length, clarity, grammar, style and libel. Letters may be mailed, dropped off at EMU Suite 300, or e-mailed to the ad dresses at the top of the page. Also, please feel free to give your feedback to any individual sto ry or column directly at our Web site. Feedback comments may appear in print at our discretion. Keep in touch!
