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Editor in Chief:
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Managing Editor:
Jeremy Lang
Editorial Editor:
Julie Lauderbaugh
Assistant Editorial Editor:
Jacquelyn Lewis
Tuesday, May 7,2002
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Letters to the editor
David Kelly deserves support
David Kelly is a well-respected Eu
gene City Councilor and he deserves the
University community’s support. He
has always been the voice of reason
tempered with compassion.
His insights into difficult situations
have always helped me to understand
all sides of the issues before the coun
cil. I applaud David Kelly’s efforts and
the long hours he has given to public
service. We should very thankful that he
is still willing to serve the community.
Bonnie Ullmann
Institute of Neuroscience
Fraternities offer framework
for obesity, depression
University-sanctioned organizations
should model healthy life-affirming
habits. Despite Chris Alexander’s com
pelling commentary (“Don’t single out
greek system to make point about
alcohol,” ODE May 1), I am not sure that
fraternity binge drinking meets the cri
teria of healthy life-affirming habit.
Certainly, many students choose to
“go a little nuts” during their college
years, and fraternity keg parties do
present a model for friendship, brother
hood and an opportunity to get laid
with little use of social skills.
However, binge drinking is not
healthy. Alcohol, when used irrespon
sibly, is a life-destroying drug. When
fraternities have alcohol parties, are
they then encouraging a framework for
obesity and depression later in life?
Maybe Mr. Alexander’s proposed
Alcohol Awareness 101 should take a
field trip to a local dive bar to drive this
point home. Provided, or course, that
the students are over 21.
John Muir O’Brien
junior
pre-journalism
Bit of FYI
In the May 2 edition, the Emerald
reported that one of the complaints the
employees of The Register-Guard have
with their employer is the rule again
st using company e-mail for union
business, even though it can be used for
just about anything else (“Union rally
marks third year of labor dispute,” May 2).
It might interest the Emerald’s
readership to know that the Oregon
University, System applies the same
stipulations to campus e-mail; thus is
the SEIU, which represents university
classified employees, apparently
equated in the minds of OUS adminis
trators with pornography, threats of
violence, plagiarism and libel.
BillSmee
University staff
Letters to the Editor and
Guest Commentaries Policy
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.
■
Reality TV no substitute for life
Guest Commentary
Chris
Chase
(U-WIRE) CORVALLIS, Ore. —
Along with 7 million other people in the
United States, I have become addicted
to the newest “reality” TV show “The
Osbornes.” Every Tuesday evening revolves
around getting to a quiet place to watch Ozzy
and his family hack out family issues. But
what is it that makes this sort of television
show so appealing?
We all know that by the time the producers
and censors have gotten around to editing the
material, the only thing that is left is the amusing
material. The “reality” television material that is
presented to us is mind-numbing and unrealis
tic, but it does provide a way for people to waste
an hour or so of true reality.
Why is it that we choose to sit and watch
an episode of “Change of Heart” or “The Jenny
Jones Show” rather than go to class, or even
shower for that matter? It’s all about
human weakness.
Weakness is a personal defect or failing. Obvi
ously someone has a defect if they decide to stay
at home just to find out what Rude Jude has to
say about the overweight women who want to
become models on Jenny Jones. Culture has de
veloped into a mode where it is perfectly accept
able to label watching these shows as personal or
family time.
No matter what kind of task is at hand, people
are always looking for an easier way to get things
done. This is how our culture runs. Sitting in
front of the television has become such a cultural
norm that productive family discussions have
been replaced with watching people eat buffalo
testicles on “Fear Factor.”
Free speech did exist back in the ’50s, even
though it was taboo for a woman to wear a dress
that fell above her ankles. For some reason,
family programs stayed mild and there was a
large emphasis on developing a quality family.
This is a revolutionary era when we are just now
starting to question everything that was taught to
us. Baby boomers are out seeking therapy for the
traumatic childhoods they experienced back
when values were stressed. The suppression of
that speech is what led to what I see as wide
spread cultural frustration.
Now that the people who grew up under those
circumstances are controlling the media, we are
seeing a shift to a more liberal view about what
makes it on the air. Because all the controversial
issues were never shown on television, let alone
spoken about openly with the family, society is
starting to see the shifting trend toward bringing
all of these issues to the surface.
The real issue here is how we want our na
tion’s youth to be raised. Media has become an
invaluable asset and will play a serious role in
how almost everyone grows up.
Sensitivity in addressing real issues has be
come vital to our society. However pointless it
is to watch someone devour the reproductive
parts of a buffalo for $50,000, it still represents
the way our media are not afraid to address
taboo subjects.
We have already gone too far to ever go back.
We will have to live with the material that is pre
sented to us on television, but it remains up to
the parents when it comes to the raising of youth.
There are pros and cons to what the First
Amendment protected media have become.
We’ll always have some complaints about
what is on television, but families are just go
ing to have to deal with the fact that it takes a
little more policing of the television. On a per
sonal note, cable is out altogether; I’m pretty
sure my child will only be watching OPB and
Barney videos.
This column is courtesy of Chris Chase
of Oregon State University’s newspaper, The Daily Barometer.