 |
|
| Make sure to give all details in story |
To the Editor:
Your March 23 story, “Car wreck benches athletes,” failed
to mention an important aspect of any car wreck: were the occupants
wearing their seat belts? The degree and types of injuries mentioned,
especially since one of the injured was in the usually very protected
back seat, suggest they were not.
Most car accidents, even rollovers, leave the passenger compartment
of modern cars fairly intact. If the passengers are belted they
will usually (although not always) survive, and often with minimal
injuries. At the same time, most college-age kids subconsciously
think of themselves as immortal. These two facts collide to produce
needless death and injury.
Newspapers, especially college papers, can make these reports a
“teaching moment” by always reporting the seatbelt status
of auto accidents. In the vast majority of cases this will encourage
seat belt usage.
Daniel B. Caton
professor, physics & astronomy
catondb
Editor's Note: The driver of the vehicle said all passengers
were wearing their safety belts at the time of the accident.
|
 |
| Alternative would be discrimination |
To the Editor:
There was a lot wrong with Abigail Dixon’s opinion article.
I don’t want to dwell on Dixon’s ignorance of university
finance; it’s non-essential. She should at least know, however,
that her tuition is not going to pay for the new library or the
new dorm. That said, I’ll move on to the meat of the issue.
While she bemoans “paying” for things she will never
be able to enjoy, Dixon demands that taxpayers foot the bill for
the rising cost of education ... as if a tax payer from Wilmington
will be able to “enjoy” the parts of Dixon’s education
he is helping to finance.
If ASU can’t get money from the taxpayers, fear not. Dixon
suggests that we use a “sliding tuition scale.” How
requiring “students from high-income families to pay more
than students from low-income families” qualifies as an “alternative
to raising tuition,” I do not know. How that wouldn’t
be pure discrimination, I have no idea. Given that “students
from high-income families” bear a much higher tax burden than
students from low-income families, one could easily argue that ASU
actually HAS a sliding tuition scale.
There’s an old Spanish proverb that reads: Take what you want
and pay for it. Notice that this proverb doesn’t read “Take
what you want, pay for a fraction, have tax money cover the rest,
and whine fervently if you ever have to pay a higher percentage
of the real cost of what you get.” That’s not as catchy
... and not as moral.
Brandon Byrd
junior, marketing
bb47782
|
|
| Remakes of horror movies are terrible |
To the Editor:
Let me preface this by putting in some background.
Within a matter of months in one dorm, my best friend and myself
became known as “zombie boys” for our tendency toward
watching horror movies in the lobby of Gardner and Coltrane--especially
zombie ones (“Night of the Living Dead,” as well as
the Savini/Romero remake from 1990, “Dawn of the Dead,”
“Zombie, “Braindead” (aka “Dead Alive”
and many others).
Here in our new dorm, we’re fairly well known for this taste
as well, having watched some there as well.
Now, having established myself as a fan of horror and zombies: “Dawn
of the Dead” was garbage. Plain and simple. How anyone could
like the original and that brainless, poorly scripted, poorly directed,
illogical nonsense is beyond me.
One of the important parts of the original was the social satire
innate to Romero’s films, a commentary on commercialism. Having
a prominently shown and labeled bottle of Aquafina water is antithetical
to that very idea.
Romero is also known for the interplay between characters, and for
the drama between them--something James Gunn seemed incapable of
writing. The characters were all, as Sarah mentioned, poorly caricatured
stereotypes. There were plot holes and ridiculous moments of sheer
nonsensical happening that were so obvious it hurt. The list of
problems continues on and on, but I’ll restrain myself and
cut back to four words: Running. Zombies. Are. Blasphemy.
The terrible remakes need to STOP. “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”
was bad enough.
R.C. Killian
junior, English education
rk53542
|
|
| Don't watch hockey if it's too violent |
To the Editor:
Half of the Marshall-Kellenberger article on hockey violence was
the perfect example of the double standard of personal responsibility.
As a former high school hockey player who suffered a pretty serious
knee injury in an act of “violence” I can say, from
experience, that every time we skate onto the ice we understand
the risks that we’re taking. We know that hockey is a violent
sport, that fights are common, injuries even more so, and grudges
are held game-to-game if not season-to-season.
To say that this event was a “crime” is ignorance of
the sport of hockey. It was uncalled for, maybe, and there have
been some adequate penalties issued. But don’t play in traffic
if you don’t want to get hit by a car. If you want to hold
Bertuzzi responsible for his actions then you have to hold Moore
responsible for putting himself in the situation.
If the violence of hockey is too much, don’t watch it. If
you don’t want to get hurt, don’t play it. Some people
are tough enough to play the demanding sport that is hockey while
others belong on the couch watching Friends.
Jonathan Ogilvie
senior, creative writing
jo51340
|
|
|
 |
| |
