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E-mail: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Thursday, August 12,2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Jared Paben
Managing Editor:
Travis Willse
Star p</;iwer
ou cippaieiiuy i\ait: riuuMJiis maruage
is on the rocks, Mary Kate Olsen is out of
rehab and recovering from a crack addic
tion and don't even get me started on Ms.
Martha Stuart. The question here is why do
I even know these bits of information?
Celebrity gossip has become an essential
American pastime, whether you pick up a
National Inquirer while waiting in line at
the grocery store or you buy four or five
tabloids a month, we've all become addict
ed. Don't deny it! How else do you know
what a "Bennifer" is, or who the lucky ado
lescent dating Demi Moore happens to
be? What's worse is you're considered in
"living-under-a-rock" status when you
don't know the latest dish. Why do we put
ou(selves through this? I've got a few ideas.
You're probably going to disagree with me
so go ahead and start gossiping now about
how awful you think I am.
We read gossip magazines because our
lives aren't interesting enough without
them. As we go through our monotonous
routines it's only natural to crave some
thing out-of-the-ordinary and even
though Michael Jackson's alleged history
of pedophilia doesn't concern us at all,
the story provides a brief break from our
dull existence. Sorry Michael, it sucks that
your deprecation serves to make my life
the slightest bit more exciting but what
are you going to do about it? Hold your
infant over a railing three stories above
PORSCHA COLLETTE CAREY
WORLD ON A STRING
pavement to give the paparazzi some
thing new to talk about? Sure, why not.
For those of us who are conversationally
challenged, divulging our knowledge
concerning the details of the lives of
celebrities makes us seem hip and cos
mopolitan. Gossiping about people you
don't know is couth; gossiping about
people you do know is trashy.
We read gossip magazines because it
makes us feel better about ourselves.
Tabloids put the stupidest, sleaziest and
most degrading moments of a supposed
ly perfect celebrity's life in print. Who
wouldn't feel better about little love-han
dles after seeing Britney Spears' air
brushed flabby mess of a mid-section on
page thirteen of Globe Magazine? A
common-person's second divorce seems
minuscule in comparison to the many
love affairs of Elizabeth Taylor. It's easy to
seek the worst in others to make our
worst seem less so. There's no need for
me 10 pomi oui me unneaimmess or mar
previous statement.
We read gossip magazines so we can
feel like the insider. Reading the JFK Jr.
family secrets in the August 2004 issue of
TV Guide can make a person feel like he
or she knows something the world does
n't. Maybe like a close family friend to
whom JFK Jr. himself revealed his most
personal details. This false sense of reality
is also very unhealthy. Tabloids don't let
the dead rest in peace. Why are there still
headlines about Princess Diana (see Au
gust 2004 Examiner)? She has been dead
for more than six years now, what does it
matter if she was slighdy unchaste?
Knowing these "secrets" doesn't avail
anything for us. In fact, by dishing the pri
vate matters of the lives of others, we're do
ing exactly what we'd hate for someone to
do to us. We're the first ones to stand up
and say how much we hate petty hearsay
but we're also the first ones to discuss
whether or not Janet Jackson's breasts are
real. A little hypocritical? I think so.
So those are my theories of why
celebrity gossip is all the rage. Pick them
apart, share them with your friends and
disregard the sentences you don't like,
but don't you dare tell me you have no
idea of who Justin Timberlake is dating
right now.
porschacarey@dailyemerald.com
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Today's issue is the last of the Emerald's regular, twice-weekly sum
mer publications, but the Emerald isn't finished for the summer. On
Wednesday, the Emerald will publish its annual Law School edition
to welcome students (or welcome them back) to the University's
School of Law. On September 20 the Emerald's Back to the Books
edition — a six-section paper welcoming the general student body
back to the University — will hit the newsstands. Game Day supple
ments featuring the Ducks' football games against Indiana and Okla
homa will hit the stands on Sept. 10 and Sept. 17, respectively.
As always, see the Emerald's Web site; www.dailyemerald.com, for
updates and breaking news.
WMD focus
in Iraq invasion
deserves criticism
The scathing Senate Intelligence Committee report issued July
9, which found the CIA had misled and misinformed the Ameri
can public about the 2003 invasion of Iraq, calls to mind several
questions and issues.
For one, how can any nation-state function without having an 'in
telligence' branch that is largely unaccountable? The alternative of
complete transparency is simply unacceptable: If the CIA were to di
vulge everything it learned as it gathered information, our enemy
would be immediately and fully apprised of what 'we' know. Clearly,
we must have an intelligence agency that acts with a large measure of
autonomy, but the kind of stupid
ity and deception displayed in this
latest instance — which is hardly
the first — shows that major re
form is in order.
As a Bush supporter, and one
who supported (and still sup
ports) the invasion of Iraq, I feel compelled to affirm that most of
the responsibility rests with the president and Colin Powell. While I
basically trust Bush's intentions on the issue of terrorism — i.e, he
was not "about the oil" but was and is really trying to defend Ameri
ca — the simple fact is that Bush should have done a far more dili
gent analysis of the CIA's findings before going into Iraq. Perhaps all
the more so for Colin Powell, who arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
as a fully fledged career military man of the highest rank. Simply put
the two of them should have known better, a lot better.
But the root problem here has nothing to do with the CIA's reck
less deceit, nor the invasion itself. The problem is that the White
House spun the rationale for invasion based solely on WMD. A wis
er course would have been to base the invasion on the fact that
America and the world needed to be allowed into Iraq in order to
be able to look for these weapons. The fact is that virtually all Ameri
cans believed the felonious Hussein wasn't letting the world in be
cause he had something to hide, and we all had plenty of good rea
son to believe that based on his abnormally public Fiitlerian past.
Such an invasion was necessary because in not allowing the world
in, we outsiders were left to speculate that Hussein was developing a
lot more than chemical weapons.
Had Hussein had nukes, he would have probably let one fly in
order to assert himself as the new Islamic savior, or so many of us
believed that this was very plausible.
The UN surely wasn't going to do anything to stop this. Nei
ther were the politically ambitious Euros, Germany and France.
In light of all the shameful escapism and politicking, Bush had
all the rationale he needed to go into Iraq, but he resorted to a
CIA-sponsored sound byte to make things simpler for the Ameri
can public to digest, I guess. This spin, not the actual invasion,
was the mistake for which he should be rendered accountable.
GUEST
COMMENTARY
Mark Grant lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Article presents one-sided view of lawsuit
As a journalism major at the University and
a member of the Kappa Tau Alpha journalism
honor society, 1 am appalled at the lack of
journalistic integrity shown by Ben Brown in
his Aug. 3 article, "Man sues University for
denying him appeal."
As a human being who recognizes the impact
that psychological abuse can have, I'm also
appalled at the lack of courtesy he showed.
Firstly, Brown should not have allowed James
House to use our campus newspaper
as a soapbox for his allegations. This article was
very one-sided, allowing House to
perpetuate his perception of events, stamped
with the authority of the Oregon Daily Emerald.
It portrayed House as an underdog
oppressed by a "pathological liar" and a
university system full of mindless employees
who believed her without case. Aside from
a single quotation and some paraphrasing, this
two-page article is written almost entirely from
House's perspective. A basic sense of journalis
tic responsibility to report the whole story could,
and should, have corrected these problems.
Secondly, Marisa Hastie, the supposed
"pathological liar" presented in this article, is
one of the kindest and most trustworthy peo
ple I've ever met. The fact that many intelligent
people in the campus community believe her
account of events makes me wonder why the
article was so slanted against her.
Additionally, as the victim of a documented
case of harassment and stalking, I'm disap
pointed that her identity was so publicly re
vealed. It sickens me that with all the trauma
she's been through on account of House, she
should be continued to be raked through the
mud by a campus community that should be
supporting her.
Shasta Kearns Moore is a junior
studying journalism.
Oregon Dai)y.Emeraldp.aBoxais9. Eugene QR974Q3_
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