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E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online Edition:
www.dailyemerald.com
Wednesday, October 17,2001
Editor in Chief:
Jessica Blanchard
Managing Editor:
Michael J. Kleckner
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Editorial
Our biggest
fear is the
unknown
News outlets have been bombard
ing viewers in the past few days
with word of anthrax outbreaks in
both Florida and New York City.
One man in Florida has died, two others
tested positive for the bacteria, and now a
7-month-old baby of an ABC News worker
has anthrax. Suspicious letters to Tom
Brokaw of NBC News and the office of Sen
ate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., in
Washington, D.C., have also been laced
with anthrax. All the while, our trusty
American media outlets and government
officials are reporting that these outbreaks
are isolated incidents and that there is
nothing to worry about.
They are partially right. The issue of
bioterrorism has been prevalent for more
than a decade. Biological warfare is very se
rious and real. However, a few isolated inci
dents on the East Coast are not cause for
panic, chaos or any encroachment on our
freedom.
It is fairly unlikely that terrorists are go
ing to use biochemical weapons to attack
Eugeneans, and the recent increase in calls
to the Eugene Police Department to check
out “suspicious white powder” are largely
due to people overreacting. The incidents
are causing more fear than is warranted, es
pecially when one realizes that anthrax is
difficult to create in a transmittable form,
and that it is not contagious.
At the same time, we need to do a better
job of educating the public about biochemi
cal weapons. Our biggest fear is often the
unknown, and until people know the facts
about possible biochemical weapons and
the dangers they pose, we will continue to
have a panicked populace. The government
and the national media need to step up
their efforts to inform the public about
these dangers.
As a country, we are responding to these
anthrax outbreaks in exactly the manner the
attackers intended: with fear. But we
should not let our fear dictate how we go
about our everyday lives — we should not
avoid opening mail or going to the post of
fice, for example. And most importantly,
we should not allow security measures to
compromise our civil liberties. After all,
freedom is what we are supposedly fighting
for in Afghanistan — we shouldn’t sacrifice
it at home.
Editorial Policy
These editorials represent the opinion
of the Emerald editorial board. Responses can
be sent to letters@dailyemerald.com. Letters to
the editor and guest commentaries are
encouraged. Letters are limited to 250 words
and guest commentaries to 550 words. Please
include contact information. The Emerald
reserves the right to edit for space,
grammar and style.
Editorial board members
Jessica Blanchard Julie Lauderbaugti
managing editor assistant editorial editor
editor-in-chief editorial page editor
Michael J«KJeckner Jacquelyn Lewis
Gabe Shaughnessy
community
: representative !
Grant Lelfler
community
representative
Toni Patterson
photo editor
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Steve Sack Star Tribune
Solution to terrorism is industrialization
Guest Commentary
Bret
Jacobson
Anti-war/anti-sweatshop/greens
now face a terrible conundrum.
On the one hand, they want an
end to the violence in
Afghanistan as a result of the terrorist at
tacks originating from that region, while
on the other hand they normally advocate
against the very cure most likely to stabi
lize the region once America ceases its
military action and the Taliban ceases to
rule. They now must choose peace over all
other ideologies.
The best method for insuring long term
stability in the region which breeds terror
ism is improving the economy of
Afghanistan, as well as that of the entire
Arab world. It is quite obvious that an ex
acerbating factor to Islamic fundamental
ism is the abject poverty that has reigned
for years in a region tom by war and lack
ing the natural resources to sustain them
selves without becoming industrialized.
This industrialization, without which
Afghanistan will not know prosperity and
we will not know security, will necessitate
a period of factory production—which
will, in turn, necessitate factory-style
working conditions and increased pollu
tion associated with industrialization.
It is quite clear for the individual in the
mainstream of American opinion—those
that support reasonable strikes against
those responsible for attacking our home
land —that the conditions workers will
face in the new version of Afghanistan
will actually be an improvement over the
current lot in life for many there and that
improving technology will insure that the
increased emissions of greenhouse gasses
will be tempered over time with more
modem technology.
Obviously the tendency by leftist ide
ologically-driven groups — those that
make the loudest noise on America’s
left-leaning academy — will want the
government to stop the strikes, begin
massive handouts and totally alter our
foreign policy. That will not do, so these
groups must come to a difficult resigna
tion. They will have to put their own se
curity in the hands of corporations that
will invest in, and reap the rewards of,
industrializing Afghanistan and any oth
er nation that will have its current
regime toppled if it continues support
ing terrorists.
Leftists, you now must choose between
lasting domestic security versus squab
bling for your normal political favorite tar
gets. For the rest ofus, the decision should
be clear. For our long-term security, after
destroying terrorist networks we must
help industrialize countries that currently
support terrorism.
Bret Jacobson is a senior business major
and publisher of the Oregon Commentator.
Letters to the editor
University does have funds
for parking structure
Although the solution to the parking
problem presented by the editorial on
Wednesday is feasible, it is not practical for
the understated number of people who live
further than two miles away. The majority
of people who live close to campus either
move here every fall, or have moved here at
one point, and it wasn't using a bike.
Reality says that most people won't give
up a car in the dead of winter, even to ride
the bus. I wonder how many times I've rid
den the bus and had to sit next to some per
son who hadn't bathed for weeks and was
also carrying the bug I would suffer from for
the next several weeks.
Additionally, I used to regularly ride my
bike the five miles, often through a torren
tial downpour. Why would I ever want to
drive a warm, dry, germ-free car?
Regarding the placement and funding of
a parking structure: There is a big Universi
ty parking lot right across the street from
PLC that is an ideal spot. And how many
tens of millions of dollars does the Univer
sity spend on athletic facilities that us "reg
ular" students aren't even allowed access
to? There's no shortage of cash. If the Uni
versity was the least bit practical with their
money, the building of a parking structure
would have been implemented years ago.
You've got to fight.... for your right... to
parking.
Tyson Kidder
senior
general science
Don’t condemn what
you haven’t tried
Today's editorial (“There's no hope with
dope,” ODE, 10/15) was an example of
sophomoric reductionism. It’s just not that
simple. There are many highly motivated,
successful people who “Puff the Magic
Dragon”; you might be surprised. From the
tone of the article, it was apparent that the
author herself had not tried marijuana. Cri
tiquing something that you have never per
sonally experienced, especially in a public
forum, can lead down a dangerous road.
Joel Wilts-Morrison
junior
environmental science
Hate causes war
The Taliban is to Islam what the KKK
was (is) to Christianity. This is a pro
found and accurate analogy. For more
than 100 years, the Klan terrorized most
ly black Americans of the South. If
Americans would pick up a book on the
history of the Klansman and their so
called Christian beliefs, one might better
understand what terrorism and bin
Laden are all about — hate.
Readers may question why I bring this
up at a time like this, when we're all striv
ing to be united as one. It seems that Amer
ica is sometimes in a history-free zone,
where history does not matter. But alas,
history has brought us where we are today,
and there is no turning back. We are pos
sibly on the verge of the last war, a Holy
War, World War III. And all because of
hate. Maybe we need to look inside our
selves and see how much hate is in our
own hearts and minds, for our fellow
Americans as well as for people all over
the world.
I hope this letter doesn't provoke any
one out there to send me hate mail. I’m not
full of hate but hope, hope that this coun
try comes out of this united and whole, a
better nation. Peace and love my fellow
Americans; finally and perhaps forever,
we are all in this together.
Pamela A. Hairston
Washington, D.C.