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Thursday, July 29, 2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Jared Paben
Managing Editor:
Travis Willse
Aaron Sullivan Illustrator
Messiah .
Chic
Jesus: Fad or Instant Classic?
Ihe August issue of Cosmopolitan maga
zine displayed a "Hot List" to sum up the
year 2004 so far. Among the list's categories
were celebrity couples, best places for a date
and coolest religion. Next to each category is
an item that falls under "Cold," meaning it
is no longer in style, and to the right of that is
the item that falls under "Hot" meaning it's
what you should be focusing on to stay up
dated. I wasn't too surprised to find what
was "hot" in the Film Genre category; it
seems as if music-based movies have gone
out of style and have been shown up by the
stream of Biblical box-office hits. Ihe names
under the Cultural Icon category did give me
a little shock: J. Lo has gone cold and Jesus
is now hot. Yes, it is now cool to be Jesus.
He's made it through the hippie '70s,
the neon '80s, the grungy '90s, to the tech
nology-ruled millennium— not to men
tion the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, the
Renaissance and that whole resurrection
thing after dying the horrific death we all
witnessed in Mel Gibson's flick— finally
he's number one and he deserves it. Jesus
isn't only chic to Cosmo,either. Urban
Outfitters and other stores feel Jesus is cool
enough to sell T-shirts with his face on
PORSCHA COLLETTE CAREY
WORLD ON A STRING
them with the phrase "Jesus is my home
boy" written underneath. For the Catholic
feminist in all of us, there are even pink
versions of this shirt with a picture of the
Madonna; underneath her face is the
phrase "Mary is my homegirl". Apparent
ly, Jesus is the latest shocking fashion trend
we American style mavens thrive on. Leave
that designer Prada bag in the closet and
dust off the Good Book — yes, a Bible will
soon be the Chanel of accessories.
Christian music artists like Stacie Orrico,
P.O.D., and Switchfoot have been topping
the secular charts. Recendy, Switchfoot's lat
est album, "The Beautiful Letdown,"
reached number 16 on Billboard's Top
Twenty Albums chart (June 26 issue). The
band's single "Meant to Live" is now
number eighteen on Billboard's Top One
Hundred Singles chart (July 31 issue). Even
secular artists are softening their lyrics for a
more religiously aware audience. Kanye
West's latest hit, now number eleven on Bill
board's singles chart, is named "Jesus Walks"
and the chorus lyrics are: "(Jesus walks) /
God show me the way because the devil's
tryin' to break me down / (Jesus walks with
me) / The only thing that I pray is that my
feet don't fail me now / (Jesus walks) / And I
don't think there is nothing I can do now to
right my wrongs / (Jesus walks with me) / I
wanna talk to God but I'm afraid because we
ain't spoke in so long" So how long is this
fad going to last? I'd like an estimate; is it like
bell-bottom pants and disco or the Atkin's
diet and low-carb burgers? Perhaps this will
be something ongoing, seeing that Jesus "is
the same yesterday, today and tomorrow"
(Hebrews 13:8)or maybe J. Lo will make a
comeback. Who knows? But for now, I'd like
to give a big congratulations to Jesus
Christ for being the coolest and most chic
icon since Michael Jackson (pre-nose job
era of course!). Sorry J. Lo, better luck next
year. Amen.
porschacarey@dailyemerald.com
Gender equality
is relevant to
sexual expression,
personal identity
In response to "Women should rethink displays
of overt sexuality" (ODE, July 1): This essay is interesting,
but suspect, in the following respect. Shouldn't men
also be required to wear 'modest' clothing? Or, alternatively,
shouldn't both men and women wear clothes that
reflect how they feel? If they feel like showing their
skin, why shouldn't they, of
GUEST
COMMENTARY
either sex? If they don't
feel like dressing in a
sexy way, that should
be their free choice as
well, for both men and
women.
It is a problem, and reflects some rather weird presuppo
sitions to only ask that women be 'modest' — doesn't
that assume that only men are interested in the other sex for
their sexuality? Of course, everyone should know by
now that women are equally interested in men's sexuality
and attracted by it — and this attraction of either sex for the
other is part of the magic that makes our lives interesting
and delightful — gives us the impulse to do great things
and makes us feel kind to each other — which seems defi
nitely a good thing.
On the other hand, equality in sexual display is linked
to equality in financial and power resources. Thus, if
women are forced to please men in order to survive, they
will, of course, spend a lot of time and energy in
attempting to appear as attractive as possible — that is logi
cal. This probably is the reason why women have spent as
much energy as they have in the past on making sure that
their appearance is pleasing, as well as adopting a manipu
lative and insincere attitude toward men. Fortunately, at
least in the United States and Europe, women have the
opportunity to be financially and sociologically independ
ent of men, so don't have to play an insincere role,
and can be honestly loving when they feel like it, or
honestly able to leave an oppressive relationship if they feel
that is in their best interests.
In this society, it makes as much sense for men to feel 'liberat
ed' by wearing non-revealing clothing as for women to, but this
isn't asked for in Susan Goodwin's essay.
It seems to me that an attitude that considers
sexual attraction a negative is fearful and anti-life — and is
not an attitude that will make our lives happier.
Perhaps these attitudes made sense in some previous cen
tury, but it is a shame to have them intrude on our
present reality.
Amy Hendrickson lives in Brookline, Mass.
Democratic 'tricksters' alienate Nader voters
I was an independent. When what I under
stood to be a genuine Democrat candidate en
tered in the race for president, 1 registered De
mocrat to vote for Kucinich.
Because Ralph Nader is the only candidate
One would think that the Democrat part
would want me to remain in the Party and re
tain my vote for the other Democrat candidates.
GUEST
COMMENTARY
who upholds,
what 1 believe
to be Democra
tic ideals, I am
Nader
Democrat.
While Nader voters chose the independent can
didate for president, we usually vote Democrat
in the other races.
Astonishingly, the Democrat Party had been
doing everything in its power to alienate me.
Their attempts to disenfranchise my right to
have my candidate for president listed on the
ballot is comparable to attempts to prevent
Americans of African heritage from voting.
The latest dirty trick by members of the
Democrat Party is to clog the Portland convention
for Nader to deny Nader voters for exercising their
right to vote. This is no a surprising act for support
ers of John Kerry, a candidate who is described by
both liberals and conservatives as being to the
right ofTricky Dick Nixon.
This dirty trick by Kerry "Demothugs" infu
riated me. Therefore, today I unregistered as a
Democrat. I expected to vote for the other
Democrat candidates running in November.
However, anger ignited by the unethical chi
canery perpetuated by the Kerry Dirty Trick
sters triggered an epiphany.
I knew that since I did not vote for Tricky
Dick, it would be illogical and wrong to vote for
Kerry, who is to the right of Nixon. I did not con
sider that both the Republican and Democrat
Parties are corrupt, and that it would be illogical
and wrong to vote for candidates affiliated with
either corrupt organization.
Therefore, I decided that if Ralph Nader is
placed on the ballot, I wall not be voting for the
Democrats or Republicans in the future.
Also, If the Democrat dirty tricksters have
been successful in trashing my right to vote for
the candidate of my choice, will I be MAD
enough to vote Republican? This would not
only deny the Demothugs my votes that they
would have received, but cancel out another
Nader vote for a Democrat.
A. Max Opus lives in Cottage Grove.
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