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Oregon Daily Emerald Thesday, August 9, 2005 HOW WE REALLY VJOH THE VAR OF THE W/^PS" Bret Furtwangler | Graphic artist NEWS STAFF (541) 346-5511 SHADRA BEESLEY EDITOR IN CHIEF GABE BRADLEY NEWS EDITOR NICHOLAS WILBUR NEWS REPORTER SHAWN MILLER SPORTS EDITOR RYAN NYBURG PULSE EDITOR AILEE SLATER COMMENTARY EDITOR TIM BOBOSKY PHOTO AND ONLINE EDITOR WENDY KIEFFER DESIGN EDITOR JENNY GERWICK COPY CHIEF BRETFURTWANGLER GRAPHIC ARTIST BUSINESS (541)346-5511 JUDY RIEDL GENERAL MANAGER KATHY CARBONE BUSINESS MANAGER ALEX CORBIN ALAN FULLERTON RYAN JOHNSON DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING (541)346-3712 MELISSA GUST ADVERTISING DIRECTOR MIA LEIDELMEYER SALES MANAGER DIANA ERSWNE KELLEE KAUFTHEIL STEPHEN MILLER EMILY PHILBIN KATIE STRINGER CODY WILSON SALES REPRESENTATIVES CLASSIFIED (541) 346-4343 TRINA SHANAMAN CLASSIFIED MANAGER KORALYNN BASHAM KAIY GAGNON KERI SPANGLER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION (541)3464381 MICHELE ROSS PRODUCTION MANAGER KIRA PARK PRODUCTION COORDINATOR The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Fri day dunng the school year by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Ore gon, Eugene, Ore. The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private property. Unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. ■ In my opinion A look at the Sometimes, it really does seem like it’s the end of the world. Iran just an nounced its plan to ignore nations’ pleas and restart a nuclear program; 48 per cent of the American public thinks that President Bush is an honest man; New York Governor George Pataki (who may seek a presidential nomination in 2008) vetoed a bill to dispense Emergency Contraception without a prescription; and if London can be hit by terrorists, anyone can be hit by terrorists. Luckily bad news is what regularly hits the headlines of morning papers, and readers are lucky because the world is hardly ever as bad as it seems. Most importantly, forgetting about the pain and sorrow in the world is proba bly the key element in coming into a future that is happier for all. To begin with, although countries are steadily mounting weapons of mass destruction against one another, not everyone is resorting to violence in order to be heard. For two days, Cindy Sheehan has stood near the entrance to President Bush’s ranch, and says that she will not leave until she can speak one-on-one with George W. Bush about the war in Iraq, where Sheehan’s son was killed. From a mother to the president of the United States, Sheehan just wants to sit down and have a con versation, explain her position to Bush and try to deduce his reasons for con tinuing combat in Iraq and persuade him to please reconsider. Mothers are the talkers; politicians are the fighters, and the world slowly goes to war with itself. Still, the re silience of women such as Cindy Shee han certainly shines. By all accounts AILEE SLATER FURTHER FROM PERFECTION Sheehan would be justified in becom ing deeply depressed and living an an gry and bitter life. Instead, she is recov ering from the death of her son by improving the future for everyone else in a manner that is peaceful and safe for all. Even if governments nation wide haven’t yet taken such mature steps, it is promising to remember that if everyday people can change the world for the better, we don’t have any thing to worry about. I can think of at least 10 people in my immediate life who could certainly run Earth (I’m sure you can too), and I like the thought that they just might have the chance. Also promising about the future is that many citizens are taking individ ual steps to make the world a better place. As reported by Newsweek, Cal ifornia has begun creating small com munities that are so energy efficient, power bills are reduced the less than half. Houses within these ZEH com munities use solar panels to regulate temperature, and host low-energy ap pliances. Best of all, any excess solar power flows into a grid, which is then tapped into by everyone else in the neighborhood. Projects such as ZEH communities should be receiving major news head lines, captions that proclaim every thing is going to be OK as long as we all just take simple steps to make it so. New York may be readying itself for a chemical weapons attack, but isn’t it just as important that Shell gas stations are working with General Motors to provide hydrogen fuel pumps? I would venture to say that your personal world, like society in gener al, is a lot better off than you think. In fact, humans have this awesome, evolutionary ability to get over stuff. Your body and mind must be able to recover from fear, loss, disappoint ment and all sorts of physical harm. Resilience is key to adaptation and therefore successful evolution. Expressing heartbreak is important, but forgetting about the past and look ing toward a happier future seems the golden ticket to a better world. Just imagine an earth wherein all murder because of revenge suddenly ended, and countries eradicated all weapons for the sake of deterrence (so, really, all weapons). Without a strong focus on past violence, no one would want to take such dangerous steps as building nuclear bombs in order to “stop” the possibility of future violence. Like Cindy Sheehan, maybe we could all move on. There is much that needs to be fixed about our planet and our society, but that change cannot come until we change ourselves. And what better place to start than optimism? After all, the world is not as bad as it seems. aileeslater® dailyemerald. com OREGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLICY Letters to the editor arid guest commentaries are encouraged, and should be sent to tetters@daifyemeraid.com or submitted at the Oregon Daily Emerald office, EMU Suite 300. Electronic submissions are preferred. Letters are limited to 250 words, and guest commentaries to 550 words. Authors are limited to one submission per calendar month. Submissions should include phone number and address for verification. The Emerald reserves the right to edit for spats, grammar and style. Guest submissions are published at the discretion of the Emerald. ■ Editorial Unfiltered journalism necessary for society With the death of Peter Jennings on Aug. 7, ABC seems to be continuing in its streak of unfortunate luck. Last week, it was reported that ABC jour nalists will no longer be allowed to work in Russia. The reason for such an extreme ban? Russian officials were upset when ABC broadcast an interview with Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev: a man wanted by the government for his role in the 10-year Chechen war. A release by the Russian Foreign Ministry states that “ABC is now unwelcome to con tact any Russian state organizations or bod ies.” The statement went on to claim that by interviewing Basayev, ABC was “helping to propagandize terrorism.” The Russian government has put a $10 million bounty on Basayev’s head and failed to capture the man, yet it continues to act as though ABC is responsible for terrorism. The United States should certainly con sider itself lucky to have a little something called the first amendment, and with it the right to free press. Unlike Russia, our gov ernment could never (and hopefully would never) censor a television interview with a well-known terrorist suspect. In a world in creasingly fearful of rogue terrorists rather than well known dictators, it is important that news agencies are free to find and in terview those terrorists without the fear of government backlash. Freedom of press is necessary to creating freedom uf a nation, because the world can not afford tainted journalism. As soon as anyone, especially anyone from the govern ment interferes with reporters and colum nists, the general public will not be receiving an unbiased report about what is happening in the world. If ABC journalists were able to track down and interview Basayev (before the Russian government could even find the terrorism suspect), then more power to ABC. Journal ists should not filter their information, sources, or interviewees through the govern ment, because an intimate connection be tween government and journalist will ulti mately lead to corruption. ABC made the right move in broadcasting the interview and showing viewers an unusual perspective into the Chechen war. It was not ABC’s job to check with the Russian government first and make sure that the Basayev segment would reflect favorably on Russian President Vladimir Putin and others. TVy as they might, the Russian govern ment will get nowhere close to a perfect so ciety without the help of journalists all around the world. Russia affects the Unit ed States just as much as we do them; it is perfectly reasonable for people in both Rus sia and the United States to receive the best foreign journalistic efforts possible. Russia has been turning journalists away from its borders for years, but the time has come to end such a trend. The question is this: If the Oregon Daily Emerald had a chance to interview Osama bin Laden, would we? You bet. EDITORIAL BOARD Shadra Beesley Ailee Slater Editor in Chief Commentary Editor Tim Bobosky Photo and Online Editor
