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
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