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Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Ian Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
Thursday, October 30, 2003
EDITORIAL
Hallow's Eve
commemorates
joys, freedoms
of childhood
On All I lallow's Eve's eve, we on the Editorial Board find
ourselves reflecting on the days of our past, to a time when
we were free from the stresses of midterms and other work,
and we thought only of candy.
Halloween used to be the second-most exciting holi
day of the year. It was hard to beat Christmas (or
Ilanukkah or Kwanzaa or Festivus), what with all the
gift-giving (actually, we were young, so it was mostly gift
receiving). But the next-greatest holiday was, without a
doubt, Halloween.
First, Halloween had the neatness of Christmas. In
stead of the guy at the mall being the only one who got
to wear a costume, everyone had the opportunity to be
come someone else. Wardrobes included vampires and
cowboys, ballerinas and fairies. Dressing up as some
thing fictional was fun at the time, but looking back, it's
all too clear that a little loss of reality couldn't hurt from
time to time.
Halloween was also a time to spend with family and
friends. Who doesn't remember their first Halloween and
that long, scary walk up the driveway to the first house on
the journey? Some of us had friends for encouragement,
others turned back to look for a supporting parent, ready to
come to the rescue if needed.
But 1 lalloween was also about achievement. Once that
first house was out of the way, a new sense of power over
took the juvenile you, and you no longer needed your par
ents or your friends. The fine art of "trick or treat" was
yours, as was the world. To have such a feeling now — can
you imagine?
Moreover, Halloween never ended. There was the school
party, a friend's party and finally, cruising the neighbor
hood. Oct. 31 was the sacred night, of course, so all the oth
er events had to be moved to an earlier date. Halloween
was pure fun, and the events seemed to last simply for your
ongoing enjoyment.
Similarly, Halloween had a comforting feeling. If the
porch light of a house was on, you were welcome. When
else in life has there ever been such an elegant rule?
On the other hand, an aura surrounded Halloween
that was just plain scary. Seeing a monster when you
were dressed as Snoopy was traumatic as hell. So were
the movies that were must-watches during the weeks
leading up to Halloween. Nightmares were synonymous
with the season, but it was all OK. It was scary — in a
good way.
And perhaps most importantly, there was candy. Candy
everywhere. Candy from everyone. Candy of all sizes,
shapes and flavors. Enough candy to last a lifetime, or so
we thought but certainly enough to last until we were sick
of it. We knew then how chocolate could brighten our day.
Did we ever imagine it would still have the same effect
some 15 to 20 years later?
Halloween is worth reflecting on because, for most of us,
it was such a fun time. Perhaps it's a bit strange to be so sen
timental about a holiday that represents the evils of the
world, but when you were young it wasn't about that. It
was about mystique and mystery. Halloween was happi
ness.
For some of us, we've reached the time of life where we
miss these days, and for others, these days will soon be
upon us — not as the trick-or-treaters, but as the watchful
parents sharing the experience with our young ones.
Others are just a few years removed from a time where
costumes and candy were not cool, when high school dog
ma dictated what was acceptable and what was not.
Perhaps most unfortunate is that Halloween has become
a time of caution. The world is changing, some will say, and
trick-or-treating just isn't safe.
We accept these changes, too. The purpose of today's ed
itorial isn't to endorse the act, but instead the feeling.
Think back to what Halloween used to mean to you, and
embrace that feeling. So on All Hallow's Eve, it is possible
to celebrate the innocence of youth. And, whether the calo
ries are good for us or not enjoy the candy. It's Halloween
— you deserve it.
FREE(DOM) PRESS
Apparently the feds are just plain fed up
with us media types and our cup-half
empty, if-it-bleeds-it-leads attitude about
the war in Iraq.
With 20 to 30 attacks on U.S. soldiers
daily — and, on average, more than 10 in
juries and one death per day — we don't
have to look far to find a story that will sat
isfy our bloodlust.
Since the security situation shows no sign
of improvement anytime soon, the Bush ad
ministration has decided to launch a pre
emptive strike on bad press and the bad lib
eral media responsible for it.
According to The Washington Post, the
president has banned reporters from cov
ering the arrival of dead soldiers in flag
draped coffins, a staple of wartime photo
journalism. And, according to Newsweek,
reporters are barred from hospitals and
morgues in Baghdad, stymieing any at
tempt to independendy verify the num
bers of dead and injured.
Here at home, several members of Con
gress are doing their patriotic part by starting
http://www.freedom.gov, a new Web site
designed to give fair and balanced coverage
of the Iraqi reconstruction effort. It looks ex
acdy as one might expect: pictures of happy
soldiers, happy Iraqi children and as many
American flags as is technologically possible
to cram on a single screen.
If you click on "Accomplishments" at
the top of the page, you will find eight
links to positive articles about the war.
I know what you're thinking: Have there
really been eight separate accomplish
ments in Iraq? That sounds a little high.
Well, you're right. I discovered, upon clos
er inspection, that two of the eight l inks go
to the same article.
You have to get up pretty early in the
morning...
One link is entided: "Rumsfeld Empha
sizes Positive Coalition Accomplishments in
Iraq." It is a transcript of the Secretary of De
fense's Sept. 5 interview with Dan Rather.
"I'm impressed with the accomplish
ment that's taken place," Rumsfeld said.
"Is it a perfect picture? No. Are there terror
ists active? Yes. Are there criminals active?
Yes. Are there still people being killed?
That's for sure.... It is a mixed picture."
If that's Rumsfeld emphasizing ac
complishments, then I'd hate to hear
him de-emphasizing accomplishments!
What a minute. That is exactly what he
does in a recendy leaked memo obtained
by USA Today, in which he says that Iraq
will be a "long, hard slog" and that
America has put little effort into long
range planning. The memo is oddly
David Jagernauth
Critical mass
missing from www.freedom.gov.
Another article on the site — this one
from that pillar of journalistic objectivity,
the American Forces Press Service —
shows how happy a group of soldiers are
after 15 days of R&R. Said one enthusias
tic soldier: "All I can say to the Army is
'thank you, thank you, thank you.'"
I've seen subtler propaganda on
Al Jazeera!
What is not included in any story on
www.freedom.gov is the almost daily flood
of complaints from soldiers and their fam
ilies, ranging from not having the proper
bulletproof vests to the terrible living con
ditions of wounded soldiers, many of who
wait weeks or even months for medical
care. One officer told United Press Interna
tional, "They're being treated like dogs."
In his effort to minimize political back
lash, Bush is dishonoring the men and
women risking their lives every day in Iraq.
Their struggles and ultimate sacrifices de
serve to be covered by the media, whether or
not it hurts Bush's chances at re-election.
Many of the articles on
www.freedom.gov are written by or about
congressional Republicans and their re
cent trips to Iraq.
For example, the article repeated twice is
by U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich„ writing
to his local paper "Flying over this city of 5.7
million people in a Black Hawk helicopter
... Baghdad appeared to be functioning
close to normal. Cars, buses and trucks were
on the roads. Stores were open. People were
walking along the streets."
U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J.,
confirmed Hoekstra's rosy report: "From
the air, Baghdad looked remarkably pros
perous and totally undamaged."
Hear that liberal media? Both Hoekstra
and Frelinghuysen flew over Iraq and it
looked normal. People were walking.
What more proof do you want?
In the interest of fairness, both of these
men eventually landed in Iraq and spent a
few days walking around Baghdad. I be
lieve they even spent the night in Iraq, un
like Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who slept in
Kuwait during both nights of his trip, ac
cording to Newsweek. Who can blame
him? U S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul
Wolfowitz spent last weekend in Iraq, and
his hotel was attacked with six homemade
rockets. He survived uninjured.
When Commerce Secretary Don Evans
was in Iraq, he saw teenagers selling
Coca-Cola on the street. "The entrepre
neurial spirit is alive and well in Bagh
dad," Evans said in an interview with
The Washington Post.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R
Texas, was also impressed with Iraq's grow
ing economy. "I saw satellite dishes — out
lawed under Saddam's tyranny —
cropping up on top of homes, the early
stages of a free economy."
Satellite dishes and child laborers sell
ing soda: Are you writing this down, liber
al media?
Lastly, U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., said
in an interview: "Based on what we saw
and heard, ninety-nine percent of Iraqis
seek and want a U.S. presence, yet the one
percent that does not receives the majority
of the media coverage."
I don't mean to question the scientific
legitimacy of Davis' "what I heard one
day" methodology, but that number is
closer to 50 percent, according to a new
poll from the Iraq Center for Research and
Strategic Studies in Baghdad.
Their poll also showed that 60 percent
of Iraqis have little or no confidence that
the safety situation will improve, and
only 14.8 percent view the coalition as
liberators, down from 43 percent six
months ago. You won't read that on
www.freedom.gov.
I've been a vocal opponent of the main
stream media's failed coverage of the Iraq
war from the very beginning. They failed
to report on the use of depleted uranium
weapons, failed to discuss our responsibil
ity for a decade of savage economic sanc
tions, failed to scrutinize claims about
WMDs and failed to inform the world
about civilian casualties.
But browsing through www.free
dom.gov has given me a new apprecia
tion for how bad it could be, and how
bad it might get if we don't continue to
fight for true freedom — the free press —
in America, in Iraq and all over
the world.
Contact the columnist
at davidjagemauth@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Christian faith calls for
inclusion, tolerance
After reading David Carr's guest com
mentary ("Tolerate others, don't accept
them," ODE, Oct. 22) last week in which
he asserts that we should tolerate others
but not accept them, we find ourselves
compelled to respond. While we appreci
ate Mr. Carr's attempt to describe a way of
living in this world with its competing and
often conflicting values, we find his solu
tion ultimately to be unsatisfying.
As two other "self-identified" Christians,
we believe that our faith calls us to a love
of neighbor that has more to do with in
clusion than exclusion, characterized by
bridges rather than walls, by hospitality
over mere tolerance. We would agree that
God has given us life and liberty, and
wants us to pursue happiness. However,
that happiness is always compromised
when my neighbor's happiness is compro
mised. My completeness as a child of God
is limited every time I try to limit another
child of God living out who God created
him or her to be
Living in such a diverse and pluralistic
world is always challenging. However, our
Christian faith invites us not only to make
room for those who are different from us,
but to make friends with
them as well, acknowledging that we are
all children of God on this journey
called life.
Rev. Ann Bowersox
Koinonia Presbyterian Campus Ministry
Rev. Jeremy Hajdu-Paulen
Wesley Foundation United Methodist
Campus Ministry
Lobbyfor the
right to choose
Last week was a rough week in the strug
gle to maintain a woman's right to choose.
As reported earlier last week, the ban on so
called "partial-birth" abortions was passed
in both the Senate and the House and is cer
tainly going to be signed into law by Presi
dent Bush ("Senate approves 'partial-birth'
ban," ODE, Oct. 22). The anti-abortion fac
tion has won a major battle in its war to re
verse the 1973 ruling of Roe v. Wade.
What is very troubling to me is the mis
information provided by anti-abortion
groups. For example, contrary to some re
ports, late-term abortions are extremely
rare. Of all abortions, 98.6 percent occur
within the first half of pregnancy, and 88
percent within the first 12 weeks, accord
ing to www.choiceusa.org. Only a handful
of doctors are able and willing to perform
late-term abortions, and it is only utilized
when the fetus or mother has serious
health risks.
In a perfect world, there would be no
need for abortions at any point in preg
nancy. Everyone choosing to have sex
would be educated about the correct uses
of contraception and no woman would
face complications during pregnancy. Un
fortunately, that is not the case, and having
access to safe and legal abortions is being
threatened every day.
Both men and women need to defend
the right to choose through voting for
abortion rights legislators and lobbying
current legislation about the importance
of choice.
Amanda Mabry
junior
international studies
codirector, Students for Choice