Oregon Daily Emerald
Thesday, August 9, 2005
HOW WE REALLY VJOH THE VAR OF THE W/^PS"
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■ 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
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■ 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