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E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Thursday, July 8, 2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Jared Paben
Managing Editor:
Travis Willse
FROM
MICHAEL MOORE*
Aaron Sullivan Illustrator
All in the
In a bout of narcissism that only the
free time of summer seems to afford, I've
developed the poor habit of auto
Googleing. Searching for "willse," 1 stum
bled on a few sites pieced together by
mid-Atlantic local history wonks. Willse
is an uncommon name (Yahoo! People
Search returns only 62 results nation
wide), but at least a few people have
poured hours into excavating the stories
and genealogies of Willses that came be
fore. As it turns out, a Willse Hill Ceme
tery (populated, in part, by the epony
mous bodies) sits in Stark, 1 lerkimer
County, N.Y., and in the closing decade of
the 1700s, a farmhand named John
Willse began building vessels in Poquott
on Long Island, N.Y., launching a ship
building dynasty.
John Willse's nautical handiwork has
little bearing on my life (Travis Willse's
only recent carpentry accomplishment —
fixing a bookshelf — was a less ambitious
venture), and most Last Coast local his
tories don't interest me. But, because of
the name alone, reading about the 18th
century entrepreneur invoked a sense of
a nostalgia that 1 can't shake, even though
1 don't know whether there's a meaning
ful blood link.
This appeal is a powerful one: The
burgeoning popularity of secularism and
TRAVIS WILLSE
RIVALLESS WIT
individualism has left family ties less
socially influential than they were two
centuries ago, but an interest in ancestral
"family" — even very distant ancestors —
lives on.
A case in point: During its 70-year rule,
Mongolia's former communist govern
ment banned surnames (to weaken the in
fluence of clans, in fact). During the 1990s,
the nation's newly democratic government
policy repealed the policy, and created a
registry for surnames. Eventually, more
than half of the population had chosen
the name Borjigin (Master of the Blue
Wolf), die name of 12th and 13th century
Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan. Mon
golians might not be far off: DNA evidence
suggests, in fact, that 16 to 17 million men
in Central Asia are likely descendants of
the leader, whose empire once stretched
across much of Eurasia.
Genghis Khan's legacy has seen a
renaissance in recent years, too. Most re
cently, in a bizarre fusion of "Brave New
World" and "Cheers," the kebab restau
rant and bar Shish is offering DNA tests
at its London outlets to diners to learn
whether they're descendants of the evi
dently prolific Mongol leader; those who
are "win" a meal on the house. (The
probably overlooked and ethically thorny
issue of deciding whether to charge cus
tomers based on features like genetic her
itage is interesting, but outside the scope
of this column, because for scientific rea
sons, only men can be tested for Genghis
Khan heritage.)
Still, for all of Genghis Khan's impres
sive accomplishments, he's a strange figure
for nostalgia. When we can meaningfully
criticize people from other historical con
texts is a question that's been debated ex
tensively elsewhere. But, it's likely that
Genghis Khan hurt others in ways that any
sane person in our culture would find rep
rehensible: rape, murder, theft and maybe
horse thievery (the 13th century answer to
grand theft auto, maybe).
So it is with ancestral reverence: The
fact-sparse world of distant family histo
ries and local tales is necessarily a romanti
cized one. We ought, however, to be care
ful of which facts we're romantic about.
traviswillse@dailyemerald.com
An unknown vet
inspiring voters,
Kerry first visited
campus in 1972
May 11 marked a 32-year anniversary in Eugene which like
ly has been long forgotten. It was 1972 Democratic presiden
tial primary campaign. The burning issue was the war in Viet
nam. The enemy was President Nixon. The "Peace Candidate"
was Senator George McGovern.
I was chairman of the University Students for McGovern.
Eugene was charged with opposition to the war voiced by Sen
ator Wayne Morse and Congressman Charlie Porter.
Our campus committee sponsored many surrogate speak
ers for McGovern. Some were famous, like John Kennedy's
Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. Others were not well
known, like a young Vietnam Veteran named John Kerry
who spoke May 11 in an EMU meeting room. We billed Ker
passion about the tragedy of the Vietnam War and in
support of McGovern's campaign. Like most of the celebrity
speakers he didn't require "special handling" for their egos.
He was a regular guy. At our McGovern event Kerry
had a full-house over-flow audience. The tall, thin young
man with long dark hair gave an impassioned speech from a
veteran's standpoint about the raging conflict and the
paramount need to end that war. 1 remember him literally
bringing those there to tears, reflecting on the great foreign
policy debacle. Honestly you could see this was a great
leader of humanity.
GUEST
ry as an anti-war spokesman
with Vietnam Veterans
Against the War.
Kerry arrived in his blue
jeans and Vietnam war
jacket. He was a warm,
friendly guy- burning with
On our way leaving the EMU Kerry saw a large anti-war rally
and wanted to know what this was about. The 'radicals' we
told him — those so frustrated that they had abandoned hope
in the 'system." Kerry wanted to address the rally — to deliver
our message and explain to them why it was worth voting and
not to abandon hope.
We explained to Kerry this was very unlikely since the Mc
Govern campaign was certainly not 'radical' enough for them.
Kerry would not take 'no' for an answer.
So, lain Moore, who was student body president, and 1
pleaded to let Kerry speak. Eventually the 'powers-that-be' gave
way and consented to let Kerry speak, but only because he was
a Vietnam veteran and providing he did
not mention voting or McGovern. 1 guess we didn't convey
the 'conditions' to John very well.
As soon as Kerry took the stage he electrified the
crowd moving them over and over to applause and ovation.
All eyes were on the young war veteran whose name was
unknown to the audience. Kerry exceeded the time allotted
by the rally organizers and broke their terms as well.
However, no one rose to take the mike away. Looking
at them, the organizers were enraptured as well. The
young man was telling the truth. He was someone that
had been there.
If it was asked of those there that night if John Kerry
"would" ever be President of the United States, 1 doubt if any
one would believe that was remotely possible. But, if it was
asked if lohn Kerry "should" be President 1 know that idea
would have electrified all of us.
1 remember distinctly, Kerry wore his "Purple Heart."
John Stewart, who graduated from the University in 1976,
lives in Antelope, Ore.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Jones's logic is unsound
on First Amendment issue
The column "Check your hat at the
door" (ODE, April 5) represented an
astonishing new low for the com
mentary section of Emerald. In it,
Marissa Jones states that she does not
believe banning headscarves from
public-schools constitutes religious
i
discrimination. While she is certainly
entitled to her opinion, Jones only
manages to support her viewpoint by
ignoring both the context surrounding
this issue, as well as the rules oflogic.
To begin with, Jones states that
bandanas and hats "are often linked
to current problems of gang activity in
schools. " However, many people who
wear hats are not in gangs, and many
people who are in gangs do not wear
hats. And in a strange twist oflogic,
Jones also manages to equate all reli
gious groups to gangs, simply because
some people kill other people based
on religious differences. This is simi
lar to saying that all shoes should be
banned because criminals can run
faster from the police when they have
shoes on, which is obviously ridicu
lous. Therefore, her logic is complete
ly unsound on both of these points.
The column also argues that reli
gious headdresses and baseball gaps
are the same. In reality, however, reli
gious apparel carries a much greater
significance than a baseball cap. For
instance, to many Muslim women,
wearing a hijab is a sign of modesty
and faith; therefore, forcing those
women to keep their heads uncovered
essentially makes them dress in a way
that could be too revealing for their
emotional comfort.
Lastly, lones states that banning re
ligious headdresses. is only fail: when,
v
she writes, "The rule either applies to
all or none." While 1 would agree
with this, 1 would argue that a rule al
ready exists that fulfills this idea: the
First Amendment. 1 suggest that next
time, she should consult both the
Bill of Rights and Supreme Court
cases such as Tinker v. Des Moines
before she writes another column.
Kyle Maliti
freshman
i, English