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Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Ian Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
Tuesday, December 2,2003
EDITORIAL,
Major events
around globe
do not stop
for holidays
Ah, Thanksgiving weekend.
Every fall, the University grants students four days off at
the time in the term when a break is needed most. Students
temporarily slough off the yoke of academic obligations,
visit with friends and family, and revel in the giving of
thanks and feasting upon holiday treats. But, away from
the bustle of academic life, it's easy to lose track of the go
ings-on in the world at large.
So, for your convenience, the Editorial Board has com
piled a list of events — some uplifting and some tragic
— from Nov. 27-30 (All dates and times are Pacific Stan
dard Time).
Nov. 27, 6:31 a.m.: Air Force One landed at Baghdad In
ternational Airport and President Bush became the first
U S. president to visit the embattled nation. While the
event was largely a well-orchestrated publicity stunt, the
surprise holiday trip was only worth the effort if Bush gen
uinely wanted to show soldiers his appreciation (as we sus
pect he did).
Nov. 28, early in the day: In Casar, N.C., two teenagers
and an 11-year-old drove up and down an area road, up
setting their friend's father, Ricky Van Mellon, an evidently
angry man. Van Mellon produced a 9 mm pistol and fired
three shots in a senseless act of violence, killing Jonathan
Beck, 16.
Nov. 28, 6 a.m.: In an absurd act of moral failure, a bar
gain-crazed crowd at an Orange City, Fla. Wal-Mart tram
pled Patricia VanLester who was waiting outside the store
to grab a $29 DVD player.
"She got pushed down," VanLester's sister said, "and they
walked over her like a herd of elephants."
Clearly the holiday spirit hasn't yet found its way into
every American's soul.
Nov. 30,2 a.m.: Massachusetts firefighter Martin McNa
mara died while fighting a fire in the basement of a burn
ing wood frame. While soldiers are hard at work in Iraq,
McNamara's sacrifice bids us not to forget that there are civ
il servants fighting for the public's safety on the home front.
Nov. 30, early morning: A 17-year-old boy was shot at a
San Jose, Calif, party, capping a weekend that saw five
homicides in what a 2002 FBI report called the safest city in
America with a population over 250,000.
Nov. 30, evening: Israeli and Palestinian diplomats
landed in Geneva, Switzerland for Monday's signing of the
so-called "Geneva Accord." The unofficial agreement
marks an important step in the peace process, and is a wel
come counterpoint to recent years of dramatic violence in
flicted by both sides of the conflict.
Onlookers should remain skeptical, though. Not only
have past similar agreements been largely impotent, but
some politicians are distancing themselves from the ac
cord, which calls for major concessions on both sides.
In less time-specific news, Lynn Wagner of Reedsville,
Pa., finished his months-long project of cashing in more
than 1 million pennies (more than $10,000) he'd saved
in 37 4 1/2-gallon buckets. With the help of family,
friends, and even strangers, Wagner's feat reminds us in a
stressful time that even the smallest differences can add
up in a big way.
EDITORIAL POLICY
This editorial represents 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.
Authors are limited to one submission per calendar
month. Submission must include phone number and
address for verification. The Emerald reserves the right
to edit for space, grammar and style.
SPORTS FAN ON STRIKE
Legally, I'm not allowed to in
cite people into illegal action in
a newspaper article But legal is
sues have never stopped me in
the past so to heck with it! I'm
doing it anyway.
Sports fans of the world,
unite! It's time we took to the
streets, started riots! Or, at the
very least, we need to go on
strike. I'm completely serious
about this. When they ask me
why 1 started the revolution, I'll
just blame my mother.
See, after stuffing myself with
stuffing this past weekend in
Seattle, my father and 1 decided
to indulge in a SuperSonics
game. I wanted to catch up with
my boy Luke Ridnour (I like to
pretend we're best friends as I
yell at him from seats so high
the/re actually above the score
board), and my father wanted to
see this year's Sonics dancers.
(Just kidding, Mom! I love you
guys! Buy me lots of Christmas
presents!)
So anyway, when we got
home, we had the inevitable
"How was the game?" talk with
my mother. We told her about
the $25 tickets that were up in
the rafters and how the players
looked like green-and-yellow
bees buzzing around their cen
ter-court hive. And we told her
that anything closer would have
cost us the mortgage on our
house and three healthy chil
dren to do manual labor
around Key Arena. And we told
her that a single beer at the game
cost as much as a case of Safe
way-bought Heineken.
We told her these thing;, and
she asked a curious follow-up
question. She asked how much
Luke Ridnour, an NBA rookie,
gets paid per year. We told her
somewhere in the neighbor
hood of $2 million. She went
off on the typical motherly tan
gent of "Whatever happened to
the good ol' days when players
played for love of the game and
got paid pennies?" Just imagine
if we'd told her how much Alex
Rodriguez makes.
Anyway, we gave the sports
fan response, explaining that the
high contracts are a product of
the system, that if fans didn't go
to games and buy merchandise,
players wouldn't have money
coming out the trunks of their
Land Rovers. I think my dad
big
Game
T6DAV
SPORTS FAVjL
STRIKE^
1 DAY jjfe
# * *
8^v ***>
Steve Baggs Illustrator
even tried to explain
free agency at one
point.
So my Mom, be
ing the rational being
she is, asked a very ra
tional question.
"So why don't all
the fans go on
strike?" My Dad and I
sat there, dumb
rounded. She contin
ued: "I mean, if the only way to
stop the salaries going higher is
to stop the flow of money, just
don't spend any, right?"
I couldn't believe my ears. My
mother was actually right about
something to do with sports.
We, the sports fans, should
protest.
Blazers fans, I'm talking to
you. No more players who be
long behind bars instead of in
them. No more parking that
costs as much as a bottle of wine
and tickets worth the whole
vineyard. No more hot dogs so
expensive you expert them to
come on a gold-plated bun.
Sports, as entertainment, is a
product. The only real way to re
move a defective product from a
capitalist marketplace is to stop
consuming it.
Right here; right now, I'm call
ing a National Sports Fan Strike
Day. Let's say ... Dec. 25. Oh
wait, there're no sports that day.
OK, how about today? Dec. 2
shall heretofore be known as
National Sports Fan Strike Day.
Yes, I did just use the word
"heretofore," and yes, I do have
the power to decide these things.
In my mind.
Can't you just imagine a
Sports Fan Strike Day? No traf
fic by the Rose Garden, stadi
ums emptier than Damon
Stoudamire's head. Would
Rasheed Wallace still argue
with the refs? Would Terrell
Owens still pull pens out of his
socks? Would Mark Messier
smile? Would George Stein
brenner laugh?
Of course, National Sports
Fan Strike Day wouldn't apply
to college sports. I mean, cer
tainly, college sports remain un
tainted. A college football arena
wouldn't have luxury suites or
gourmet food stands. A college
athletics program wouldn't
spend millions of dollars on
seemingly frivolous endeavors
like erecting a building-sized
billboard in a far-away metropo
lis ...
Wait a minute...
Nope, I don't want to go
there. Oregon is in a severely
flawed arms race, and that's a
different column entirely, but an
Oregon game is nowhere near
as fan-unfriendly as pro sports
are these days. While the Ducks
want more fans, the Sonics are
practically discouraging fans
with high ticket prices. The only
"fans" who can afford to sit near
the Key Arena court are either re
ally rich or got the seats through
a corporate license. These "fans"
would rather talk on their cell
phones than clap for Luke Rid
nour. Professional teams are
pricing the average fan right out
of fanaticism.
So, students, enjoy your
free tickets while you still
have them. Remember that,
starting next year, Dec. 2 is
National Sports Fan Strike
Day. Tell your friends. Aaid if
it's just me out there at the
Rose Garden, carrying my
sign and yelling "Scabs!" at all
the incoming fans, that's OK.
If that's $25 that doesn't go
toward 'Sheed's contract, I'll
be a happy man.
Oh, and one last thing.
Go 49ers.
Contact the columnist
at peterhockaday
@dailyemerald.com. His
opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
warn.—s
Peter Hockaday
Today is Hockaday
PETA has respectable motives
This letter is in response to the article "Pre
posterous PETA" (ODE, Nov. 14). Early in
the article, Travis Willse provides insight into
the tragic workings of a culture that has pro
duced countless atrocities, of which animal
research is only one
It is easy (and convenient) to assume —
when one is in a position of cultural power
— that medical research does in fact increase
human welfare. Of course, the opposite is
true (as is evidenced by the ever-increasing
levels of disease, violence, famine, psycho
logical trauma and emotional isolation that
have become the modem human experi
ence, as well as the abusive and manipula
tive use of medical technologies in the glob
al South, despite the dedicated science of the
monolithic medical research industry), and
animal research epitomizes the sorrowful re
sults of such assumptions.
But that is not what worries me most.
Travis' inability to enter into a meaningful
and equally rewarding relationship with a
subjective and alive nonhuman other
(Friskie) is more than symbolic of the fun
damental basis of hierarchical and oppres
sive power dynamics that have shaped our
cultural history. The tendency to degrade the
value of others' lives by those who commit,
participate in or approve of atrocities has fa
cilitated the pervasive expansion of an ide
ology of domination and control that has
had as its victims nearly every indigenous
culture, landbase and nonhuman species.
Friskie's life is only Travis' to use when he
reduces her to something less than alive and
sentient. The same holds true for the victims
of slavery, genocide, rape, dear-cutting and
factory farming. The truth is, Travis, that you
are not more worthy of life than Friskie, you
just have power.
Sdence and industry have thus far only
managed to increase rates of cancer, depres
sion, and other illnesses to unfathomable
levels. Further research, further control of
life, can only worsen this situation — how
ever unlikely that may seem to those of us
who, in some ways, benefit. If we wish to in
crease human happiness, and simultane
ously address the atrocities of our culture, we
must abandon our attempts to control and
dominate, and begin to acknowledge the
beauty of meaningful, respectful relation
ships; we must return to a life of engaged di
rect experience with the natural world.
While PETA's actions may seem indefen
sible at times, at least they are trying to for
mulate a response to one type of atrocity.
They are making a first step to recognizing
life where so much of our culture only sees
tools for human utility.
Sean Prive lives in Eugene. . . . .