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6 j Friday, November 30, 20011 The Red & Black
Samira Jafari | Editor in Chief
editor@randb.com
Angela McConnell | Managing Editor
me@randb.com
Colleen Oakley | Opinions Editor
opinions@randb.com
There's no place like home.
The Bulldogs have their last
game of the regular season
Saturday against Houston at
Sanford Stadium.
While the Dawgs are lookin’ to
end their season with a bang, the
Texas team (0-10) is just hoping
for their first win.
Broad daylight. Last Friday,
cops busted a couple of Georgia
Tech students for apparently try
ing to paint the arch yellow in
the middle of the afternoon.
Aren’t they supposed to have
a higher GPA than us to get into
Tech?
Cuttin’ up. Four Beta Theta Pi
pledges were were arrested and
charged with theft after police
caught them with a cut-down
Christmas tree. The tree appar
ently was acquired without per
mission from a farm belonging to
an Oconee County deputy.
’Tis the season to be jolly, not
stupid.
Finally, it's finals. Next week is
the final chance to turn in all
those last-minute papers and
cram for those exams looming in
the near future.
It’s also time for some of you
to introduce yourselves to your
professors and ask how you can
catch up on what you’ve missed
the past 15 weeks.
Searching for a signal. Cell
phones have become so popular
on campus that the networks
become overloaded and students
get cut off in the middle of their
calls.
Companies should quickly find
a solution — how else are we
gonna find our friends on cam
pus?
Apply yourself. Terry College of
Business may become a two-year
program where students have to
apply to get in.
What’s the application process
going to be like? That’s none of
your business.
Quote of the week.
“People used to tell me I
looked like Tom Cruise before I
grew beard, but I think I look
like Samuel L. Jackson.”
— Ryan Peoples, a senior from
Moultrie, said when asked which
celebrity he most favors.
Our Staff
NEWS: 543-1809
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ADVERTISING: 543-1791
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Black Publishing Company Inc., a non-profit campus news
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Opnions expressed in The Red A Black other than unsigned ecStorials are the opinions of the writers of signed columns and not nec
essarily those of The Red and Black Publishing Company Inc. Al rights reserved. Reprints by permission of the edrtors.
Editorial board members indude Samira Jafari. Angela McConnel, Coleen Oakley and Mack Wiliams.
Reaching Us
Phone (706) 543-1809 | Pax (706) 548-7251
opinions@randb.com | www.redandblack.com
123 N. Jackson St., Athens, Ga., 30601
Letters should include name, year in school, hometown, phone
number, major or job title or other appropriate identification.
Letters should be no more than 150 words. All letters are
subject to editing for length, style and libelous material.
Religion causes pain and suffering
W hat I have to say today
has been stated every
where but unfortunate
ly not listened to.
Beware of the dangers of
religion, faith and self-righ
teousness; especiaUy now in
a time when religious
extremism is at fault for so
much pain.
ReUgion is partly, if not
completely responsible, for
a lot of what’s going on
right now.
I have very basic and log
ical support for making that
assertion. Let’s start from
the beginning: Why does
Osama bin Laden hate us?
Well because our unholy
soldiers walked on his reli
gion’s supposedly sacred
lands. Can something be
holy without religion? Nope.
If bin Laden didn’t have
the very potent weapon of
religion to use, perhaps
these things might not have
happened. Perhaps.
He may still have hated
Americans, but he wouldn’t
have the righteousness to
tell him to destroy us.
Additionally, the very
pilots of the planes them
selves would have been
much less willing to loll
themselves were they not
given the promise of hordes
of virgins in the afterlife.
Just that point should be
enough, but a lot of people
are quick to write the ter
rorists off as crazy or not
right in the head.
Well, obviously they are
intelligent or they wouldn’t
have figuratively bent the
country over and made us
take it like a young prison
er.
I don’t think they’re nec
essarily just messed up in
the head, but let’s assume
that they are just crazy folk,
and I’ll move on to my next
point.
People say we are “one
nation under God.” I say
we’re not, because it’s my
right as a citizen here to
not be under your god.
So the easiest argument
Greg Woods
to say is, “well if God is on
our side, how come we
weren’t protected?”
The most common
response to that is, “Well,
because God has a reason
for everything he does.”
OK, if that’s true, then
why are we fighting for
revenge? Do all of you self-
righteous war mongers not
agree with your god’s rea
soning?
I have to revert back to
the beginning again, just to
point out that we may
never have even set our infi
del feet on bin Laden’s holy
lands had we not needed to
keep peace between coun
tries at war over — you"
guessed it — religious dif
ferences.
But still I have held my
tongue over Bush following
every statement with “God
Bless America,” simply
because the majority has
proclaimed that not believ
ing in God is “un-American.”
A recent letter to The
Red & Black even made the
erroneous sweeping gener
alization that “we all pledge
allegiance to one nation,
under God.”
Nope, sorry, we ALL
don’t; only some do.
I am an American, even
as an infidel; even without
submitting to a religion.
Godless does not mean
heartless, and it does not
negate my citizenship and
love of this country. I use
currency that says “In God
we Trust,” but have little
choice in the matter.
Bush was right in saying
we’re in a dangerous time
right now, but not because
of bullets or bombs; but
because of bibles. I don’t
just mean the Bible in a
Christian sense, I mean holy
books and doctrines as a
whole.
Religious extremism is a
dangerous and empowering
weapon, and if people insist
on fighting under a self-
righteous banner, caution
must be used.
I don’t know where I
stand right now — pro-war
or anti-war.
Truthfully, I don’t have
enough information, and
believe it or not, neither do
you. We have free press and
free speech but that doesn’t
mean we have all the infor
mation we need to make a
truly informed decision
about what’s right and
wrong to do at this point.
Just because our govern
ment is fighting for us
doesn’t mean they tell us
everything. Read some his
tory, look up all the lies our
citizens were told about the
disputes with the Libyans
and the Soviets.
I’m not saying don’t
trust anyone, but I am say
ing don’t just trust every
one.
The most important
thing to realize is we don’t
really have any concrete
information being funneled
to us.
What I do know is that
history shows, however,
that fighting under the ban
ter of religion can empower
and destroy in ways that no
other weapon can do.
The Crusades. The
Salem Witch Trials. The
Spanish Inquisition. The
Ku Klux Klan.
Nothing good came of
these malicious religious
events, groups, and people;
and if religion becomes our
primary weapon in this war,
nothing good can come of it
but pain.
— Greg Woods is a junior
in English.
Mailbox
E-mail, letters and faxes from our readers
To solve diversity, start at the beginning
Let me tell you something
— I hate diversity. Hold on, let
me explain before all hell
breaks loose.
I hate hearing about it,
and I hate the negative ways
it seems to be represented
not only in the paper, but by
word of mouth. I know, I
know, I am a white male.
What could I possibly under
stand about this problem?
Well, being the child of two
parents who work in the
Gwinnett County School
System, I know more than
you think.
I know that we need to
quit bitching about how we
diversify our campus and
start looking at how we can
make ALL schools in the
state more equal.
Throwing time and money
at a problem is one thing, but
it is useless unless it is thrown
in the right direction. Lets
aim the effort at elementary,
middle, and high schools that
need computers and books,
and shut our mouths about
our own institution.
To solve a problem, you
have to start at the begin
ning, not the end.
Jack Gayle
Senior, Lilbum
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Betrayal prevents
friendship with exes
In response to the Caroline
Sanfilippo’s column “Can you
be just Mends with an ex?” I’d
like to say first of all that I’m so
sorry Caroline, that you have
had to experience the great
pain and confusion that comes
with male/female relationships.
I’ve found that the problem
with most relationships today
is that couples are making
committments to each other
that are far stronger than they
are willing to hold.
For example, when you kiss
someone, or engage in other
sexual activity, you’re essen
tially saying ‘“I’m yours forev
er.” That’s precisely why we
see such things as “romantic.”
And when you break up,
you’re saying “Nevermind
what I previously expressed
to you. Turns out I was lying.”
And that is why you can’t
be Mends with an ex. You
can’t possibly have a normal
relationship with someone
who has betrayed you so
thouroughly.
Don’t give any part of your
precious body to guys who
aren’t going to be there forev
er. Save that committment
for your husband.
Daniel Montgomery
Junior, Cumming
Music Performance
God lets us ‘dig
our own graves’
In response to Bray
Deavours, who said that God
is omnipotent which is true:
Deavours then stated that if
God wants to he will allow
human cloning and if he
doesn’t that he will exact his
revenge.
Are you implying that if
God wants to let us clone
humans he will and if he
doesn’t he won’t? My reply to
that is God gave us a free will
so sometimes he lets us dig
our own graves.
Kimberly Skinner
Junior, Locust Grove
Therapeutic Recreation
n
James Craine
The best
5 or 6 years
of your life
Y our parents have told
you this since as long as
you were old enough to
take note, “College is a glo
rious time.”
It’s a truth so universal
that you probably even
believed your parents the
first time they told you.
And if, between binge
drinking, working your
couch’s ass groove to per
fection during Cartoon
Network marathons and
experimenting with mind
bending hallucinogenic
drugs (wink, wink), you
find the time to attend a
class or two, you can leave
this institution a wiser and
better person.
College is a unique time.
It’s the only time in all of
life when you can gently
tuck yourself into bed at
about 7 a.m., as the sun
groggily peaks its head
above the clouds, and tell
yourself in a reprimanding
tone “If I don’t wake up for
my 2:30 class, I’m not going
out next Monday night at
all.”
Priorities usually
become skewed in this
four- or five- (and often six-
) year window.
For example, I can not
recall one single instance
from high school where I
voluntarily chose to skimp
and save for a few weeks,
at times living on boiled
potatoes and tap water
alone, to afford the oppor
tunity to drive seven hours
in a cramped car, sleep on
a cold hotel floor and see
our football team get beat
like a rented mule that was
just caught by the angry
redneck owner of a stolen
car. (Seriously ... it hap
pened exactly zero times, I
took an accurate count.)
And here we’ve all
turned it into some sort of
sick and sadistic yearly
ritual.
College is the only time
you will attend a group
meeting with a pre
arranged cell phone call at
exactly 5 minutes after the
meeting is due to begin.
“The pipes are doing what?
Oh lord! I’ll be right there
with my collection of vari
ous wrenches!”
And don’t feel bad.
These devious plans are
simply justified when the
girl in your class that raises
her hand easily 20 times a
day has scheduled your
meeting at 10 p.m. on a
Thursday night.
Power Point always runs
a distant, distant second to
a Pilsner pint.
College is the only time
when you have to grapple
with choices that would
make King Solomon wince
and are, at the same time,
the least important things
you’ve ever racked your
brain over.
Should you buy the
paperback you need for
Friday’s test or get a large
beef combo at Achim’s K-
Bobs? Should you, at 4:15
a.m., call a cab company or
everyone on your cell
phone list?
Some of these choices are
easier than others. If you’re
awake and drinking then
everyone you know should
be too and a K-Bob sand
wich is always more satisfy
ing than a James Joyce
novel, but only experience
has lent me this wisdom
College is the only time
when the wonderful excess
of everything in your life is
only mediated by your
monetary flow.
Those who scoff of said
excess are best thought of
as jealous or fueled by
Satan himself.
College is the only time
for any of this, so when the
sheepskin is finally poorly
framed on your makeshift
office wall and the mortar
board is tucked away in
the same closet as the date
night T-shirts and
Birkenstocks, remember
those hazy Wednesday
afternoons when nothing
particularly noteworthy
happened but you went to
bed a little bit more happy
than you ever had before.
— James Craine is a
senior in English.