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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1996)
2 The Clackamas Print Wednesday, May 1,1996 Histzxy of Cinao de l&ÿo Contributed Story Cinco de Mayo is a date of great importance for the Hispanic commu nities. It marks the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla. Although the Mexican army was eventually de feated, the “Batalla de Puebla” came to represent a symbol of Mexican unity and patriotism. With this vic tory, Mexico demonstrated to the world that Mexico ■ • and all of Latin America were willing to defend themselves against any foreign in tervention especially those from imperialist states bent on world conquest. Cinco de Mayo’s history has its roots in the French Occupation of Mexico. The French occupation took shape in the aftermath of the Mexi can-American War of 1846-48. With this war, Mexico entered a period of national crisis during the 1850’s. Years of not only fighting the Ameri cans but also a Civil War, had left Mexico devastated and bankrupt. On July 17, 1861, President Benito Juarez issued a moratorium in which all foreign debt payments would be suspended for a brief pe riod of two years, with the promise that after this period, payments would resume. The English, Spanish and French refused to allow President Juarez to do this, and instead decided to invade Mexico and get payments by whatever means necessary. The Spanish and English eventually with drew, but the French refused to leave. Their intention was to create an errL pire in Mexico under Napoleon HI, Some have argued that the true French occupation was a response to growing American power and to the Monroe Doctrine (America for the Americans). Napoleon III be lieved that if the United States was allowed to prosper indiscriminately, it would eventually become a power in and of itself. In 1862, the French army began its advance. Under General Ignacio Zaragoza, 5,000 ill-equipped Mestizo and Zapotee Indians defeated the French army in what has come to be known as the “Batella de Puebla” on the fifth of May. In the United States, the “Batalla de Puebla” came to be known as simply “5 de Mayo” and unfor tunately, many people wrongly equate it with Mexican Indepen dence which was on September 16, 1810, nearly a fifty year difference. Over, the years Cinco de Mayo has become very commercialized and many people see this holiday as a time for fun and dance. Oddly enough, Cinco de Mayo has become more of Hispanic holiday than a Mexican one. Cinco de Mayo is cel ebrated on a much larger scale here in the United States than it is in Mexico. People of Mexican descent in the U.S. celebrate this significant day by having parades, mariachi music, folklórico dancing and other types of festive activities. Opinion/Feature V-Chip - tool for parents EricEtl ierton Wister k» The V-Chip w¿is part of tft Telecomniunications'Act of 1991, and in the" minds of Some, it wl the key point of the act. Until my colleagues brought it to my attention, I didn’t even give it a passing thought - mainly because I didn’t even know what the V-Chip was. However, now my thoughts are on this concept (please note I said concept, as this V-Chip isn’t even in existence). Do I support it, or do I stand in oppo sition? Let’s weigh the arguments. First of all, why do we even have this idea? Those who successfully lob bied for it argue about the exces sive amount of sex, violence and profanity on television. This is especially evident between the hours of 8 and 11 p.m., which tele vision honchos call “prime time.” (However, the profanity is edited out with the help of bleeps and mutes.) These lobbyists believe the V-Chip will help parents block out shows containing too much sex, violence and profanity. The television networks have since developed a rating system. It works the same as the one which successfully serves the motion picture industry. It serves mainly as a preemptive strike against government’s admonitions of “regulate yourselves, or we’ll regu late you.” A panel of judges will deter mine suitability of television shows on the criteria of sex, pro fanity and violence on a scale of 0 to 5 (5 being the maximum). Parents, with the help of a special remote control, can set a maximum rating fit for their chil dren to watch. The special remote control will block out shows with the higher ratings. So why should I support or oppose it? Those who oppose it will cry “censorship.” This being the same argument used against the ratings system in the motion picture industry and earlier this decade, the,video game industry. They assert that if the parents don’t want their children to watch those shows, they need to take responsibility themselves and not leave it to government, who they fear will take away their rights to freely create, express or speak whatever they want to, if govern ment isn’t doing that already. But the censorship card be ing played notwithstanding, the major argument is that it’s likely kids know more about how to work the remote than their parents. They can override the parents and watch whatever they please, at which point the V-Chip won’t do one thread of good (except if a password program is also in stalled). To say nothing of older television sets, which are not re quired to have the V-Chip because the requirement for installing it only starts with televisions made after (I believe) this year. Those who support it have as an argument that finally parents can assert control over what their children watch on television, after years of an all-out assault on “fam ily values.” They have seen our society get less and less civil over the years. There has been a pro liferation of various forms of inde- See V-CHIP on Page 8 Join the Spanish Club Euthanasia: the final choice Tanya Hedbor Contributing Writer On April 20, some of the students from the CCC Spanish Club, Entre Amigos, went to see the Spanish/ English bilingual play: Tierra del Fuego. with a presentation of Brazillian dancers. The dancing was first with an exciting array of costumes and dance styles. Tierra del Fuego was about the island with the same name, in Chile and its environmen tal concerns. Participants enjoyed the play, although there was less verbage in Spanish than many had hoped for. It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. If you would like to participate in Hispanic Cultural events, come to the Spanish Club on Fridays 11 a.m. in B237. Nos gustaria tener su participación. Unanse a nosotros. The Clackamas Print Staff Editor-in-Chief: Chad Patteson (Ext. 2576) Managing Editor: Amy K. Hanson (Ext. 2576) News Editor: Pamela Sirianni (Ext. 2576) Feature/Assistant Sports Editor: Jon Roberts (Ext. 2578) Sports Editor: Lora Wahrgren (Ext. 2309) Photography Editor: Paul Ulmen (Ext. 2578) Copy Editor: Laney Fouse (Ext. 2309) Opinion Editor: Brendon Neal (Ext. 2309) Business Manager: Cori Kargei (Ext. 2578) Assistant Opinion Editor: Karin Redston (Ext. 2309) Assistant Feature Editor: Brad Zimmerman (Ext. 2309) Cartoonist: Brian Ray ♦ ♦♦♦ Staff Writers/Photographers: Eric Eatherton, Andrew Beck, Jessica Dvorak, Jack Evans, Brian Ray, Joel Shempert Secretary: Joanne Gale (Ext. 2309) Advisor : Linda Vogt (Ext. 2310) The Clackamas Print aims to report the news in an honest, unbiased, professional manner. The opinions expressed in The Clackamas Print do not necessarily reflect those of the student body, college administration, its faculty or The Clackamas Print's advertisers. Products and services adver tised in The Clackamas Print are not necessarily endorsed by anyone asso ciated with The Clackamas Print. The Clackamas Print is a weekly pub lication distributed every Wednesday except for finals week. The advertis ing rate is $4.50 per column inch. All signed letters to the éditor will be considered for publication and must be submitted by 1 p.m. the Friday prior to publication. Letters contain ing libelous material shall not be printed. Clackamas Community College, 19600 S. Molalla Avenue, Oregon City, Oregon, 97045; Barlow 104; (503) 657-6958, ext. 2309. E-mail : cccprint @ clackamas.cc.or.us Laney Fouse Copy Editor In a video cassette titled The Right to Die (a Reed Community College presentation), two sepa rate arguments on euthanasia were presented. One argument stemmed from a legal standpoint and the other from an ethical one. Both medical and legal fields were represented. Their answers varied depending 6n which of the three hypotheti cal cases were being discussed. The three cases included: an 18-year-old boy who refused a blood transfusion because of reli gious reasons, a woman who re fused to have a Cesearean section to deliver her unborn fetus which only had a 15% chance of survival, and a 75-year-old man with termi nal cancer. In the case of the 18-year-old boy, doctors claimed his right to refuse treatment was honored be cause he was considered a ratio nal human being. The woman who refused to have a C-section was considered rational because her intentions were to let the natural process of dying happen. The biggest argument against assisted suicide came when the 75-year-old man felt that continuing his life would be futile. He didn’t want to go through the suffering he feared cancer caused, nor put his wife and family through the experience. My stand against assisted suicide stems from a purely ethi cal point of view. Perhaps the 75- year-old man feels he has lived out his life. But, if he is making his decision based on the fear of pain and suffering he thinks is ahead, his rationale cannot be considered to be logical. If he refuses the drugs nec essary to ward off his pain, as well as further medical care, he is mak ing a decision to let nature take its course. This-decision would then be made in a logical manner. He knows without medical attention he will not only suffer, but even tually die. Some terminally-ill patients find that families tend to draw “We are slowly but surely destroying ourselves. With abortion and eutha nasia, how soon will it be before we meet in the middle?" ~A Native American Elder closer during their illness. Oftentimes, closer relationships develop. Perhaps a better under standing of life is achieved by be ing a part of this dying process. Such was the case in three very important relationships in my life. My grandfather suffered a heart attack, which was further complicated by kidney failure. I was only 19 at the time, but the event still stands out strongly in my mind. I recall him being lucid for brief moments near the end. My most vivid memory is when he asked the doctors to let him die in peace. They tried to convince our family otherwise, but we held to our belief: that when it’s time to die, the family just has to let it happen. Fortunately, his doctors were persuaded to let my grandfather go naturally. Like the pregnant woman who refused the C-section, my dad re fused open heart surgery. The doctors could not guarantee any improvement to his heart or way of life. My dad made a rational decision to refuse a futile attempt to alter the course of nature. This was over seven years ago and he is still enjoying his retirement. As humans, we often take life for granted. If we know someone doesn’t have long to live, we tend to make a concerted effort to spend more time with that person. More recently, I lost a friend to terminal cancer. Marge refused treatment by radiation and was given only a year to live. She suf fered greatly near the end, but not once did she complain. She con stantly reminded me that “life is too short, but death is too long.” She proved to be one of most influential persons in my life. With out her encouragement, I wouldn’t be here today doing what I love most: writing. She helped me to believe in myself. Had Marge cho sen to end her life, like the 75-year- old man wanted to end his, I would not have had the privilege of knowing and learning from her. Unfortunately, long-term so lutions to such problems are of ten lost to society’s passion of the moment. As a friend told me re cently, “We are slowly but surely destroying ourselves. With abor tion and euthanasia, how soon will it be before we meet in the middle?”
