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COMMENTARY Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - Page 5 A wake-up call for the American public on propaganda publicly multicultural, seemingly the world's cheapest rates for the Gee, being an adult might have Dr. Catherine Bodin overnight. No one has invaded us, no one attempts to educate Meanwhile, an outpouring of world's best mail service, to cho- to include the recognition that we has imposed martial law, no one ruses of general complaint, despite to know, and have a responsibility has shut down the press as if they Americans in lieu 0/9/11 charity contributions flooded Red the public outcry to better, more, if we don't know, to seek to know. needed to. tragedy. Cross and special-funds coffers to and prompter security. And reporting might turn into Our freedom of movement has offset the suffering of families Six months later, we see memo- something other than competition not been compromised, though In a recent class discussion, a stricken by the attack, while ironi- rial services as we did at the three- for the American viewer/reader. number of students were cha- cally nearly bankrupting other chari- month and at the one-month inter- The problem with emotionality some do object to the heightened in that is normal security airport grined that anyone should object ties in the same New York City. val after the tragedy. The Ameri- in reporting is that it leaves the many places around the world to the flag-waving that has oc- Our Defense department was at- can media services continue to re- reader open to manipulation. It's where there are howling differ- curred in the wake of 9/11; I was tacked and our economic nerve cen- port events, rather than situations, not constructed with truth, but with ences between rich and poor, e.g. chagrined that they should equate ter as well on 9/11; luckily, both as focal points. appeals for belief. Thailand, Nigeria, Israel. this with patriotism. were 100 diffusely located to fall It's shoddy journalism for a Where is the guarantee of ac- The problem with airports is They maintained that our coun- because of a single bombing attack. number of reasons: it's geared to curacy in that? that the ease of travel that we con- try had been attacked, that we were Nonetheless, we entered deep attracting attention rather than to It evokes not a state of know- sumers insist on has brought every- at war; that we were fighting for mourning for the innocent victims, reporting, it tends to emotionalism ing, or informed ness, or judgment, one to America's door,just as it has our freedom. I hope I replied that for the firefighters who redefined in order to attract attention, and it or critical thought, but indignation, brought us to theirs. these observations were only par- the word "heroism," and more than fosters a competition between animosity. warm fuzzies, fear, or Why should Americans wave a tially true, if at all. elation. flag, unless it is to blanket approve Our country was not attacked- And it encourages such bottom- two highly visible symbols of our As signatories of the Geneva Conventions, line emotional responses while anything and everything one ad- ministration does, before it does it? prosperity were attacked and our we cannot put aside out principles as did skipping all the necessary formali- If we are operating under the state power to strike back. also, to our ties of reflection. great shock and to an enormous Pinochet and Hitler simply because we're We're not fighting for our free- of emergency known as war, let the administration bring it to Congress loss of life. scared of the opposition or because we dom in the Afghan conflict (l can't and let them declare war. We were sickened to realize, say war-declaring that is There have been plenty of ques- early on, that the date 9111 had believe the end justifies the means. It Congress's prerogative, and they tions asked of the Bush adminis- been picked because "9 I 1" is the doesn't. seem content with not exercising tration, as there well should be, code word for domestic crisis in- it). political action. tervention. The malice was hard Attacked by terrorism, we did These officials are not our lead- to miss. a little, Ithink, for the carefree days news services which increases the not respond with martial law, ers: they're our agents. Our first reaction was to see that we saw as being over in the attention-getting antics. though we have acted illegally in You voted them in, in some ourselves as a victim and to nurse ensuing period of fear and apprehen- If a "news-making" event abrogating the rights of prisoners cases: you'll get the service you our anger, but not 10 ask why. Our sion. doesn't happen on a given day, we of war, and I don't think that not deserve. maybe. government, wisely, planned a ri- Adding to the panic, an Ameri- get less analysis and more emotion- calling it a "war" for OUf conve- I don't think you meant we are poste for about a month before ini- can scientist or scientists unchained ality about the impact of nience lessens our responsibilities fighting for our freedoms-l think tiating military action. and dispersed a weapons-grade an- yesterday's event. towards prisoners. you meant "lifestyle." And it is The president, wisely, asked thrax produced in domestic facili- Seen from this light, it's always Initially, we said the latter had precisely this lifestyle-our "eco- American schoolchildren for hu- ties (in violation of international second-day reporting: results and no rights (Is this America?) and nomic interests," already the object manitarian aid to offset the further treaties), seemingly in a bid to force impact, not facts, not cause-and-ef- then, when we'd finished interro- War, (so-called) victimization of Afghans, SOon to increased funding of this research fects, not situ;tions that spawn the gating them-which is against the of the Gulf many in the world and see Of hers-that be caught between our military specialization; me trail ofinvestiga- problems (not "'intelligence" as the Geneva Conventions-we said, of as closing them out of the race for strikes and their own government, tion leads to Fort Detrick. State department would name it, course we wouldn't hun them or survival. the authors of both 9/11 and of We passed tax-cuts we could ill i.e., what we need to know to be abrogate their rights. The figures support their point- years of repressing the Afghan afford in a period of massive spend- informed). As signatories of the Geneva of-view. Their response should not people. ing on an external military conflict Under a different system, we Conventions, we cannot put aside have come as a surprise. In this country, adherents of Is- (still not a declared war) and on do- might have to exercise some judg- out principles as did Pinochet and -Dr. Catherine Bodin is a lam were victimized, and Bush mestic security. ment upon being given the facts. Hitler simply because we're scared WMC professor in the and others were offered using Most recently, the post office We might have to try to fit the facts of the opposition or because we English and foreign three rituals, for three different crippled by the anthrax scare will into a framework for analysis and believe the end justifies the means. faiths. American became more raise the letter rate to 37 cents-still for say, informed voting. It doesn't. language departments. Athletic resilience demonstrated by statue and its creator Gregg Nibbelink offers ists of our time. or does he escape to gain more insight into sculptor's The sculpture in question depicts yards? . work of art. a boxer who has been knocked Mr. Goodrum felt that the ath- After reading the editorial from letes of WMC would be depressed by the Colby Goodrum concerning the Western Maryland or disheartened understand boxer; that he should rather, sculpture in the lobby of the Gill College is the Home every student-athlete at the college center, I was saddened that a phi- has been "knocked down" in some losophy major would look at the of Champions and way or another and just like the art from just one point of view. "Fighters" ... boxer, each athlete must decide Let me take a minute to delve into the history of the artist and the whether he will get up or quit. is College Western Maryland piece of art in question. "down," not "out." The question to the Home of Champions and The sculpture, called the be answered is whether the boxer "Fighter," was created by Joe will get up or fall back to the can- "Fighters." This statement is proven every time an athlete comes Brown, a boxing coach and pro- vas. back from an injury, when they try fessor from Princeton who later As with many of Professor received an honorary Doctorate of Brown's works, he invites the ob- to make a shot they've missed. or Fine Arts from WMC in 1978. server to determine the outcome of when they simply try to not make Professor Brown is a renown the action. the same mistake twice. sculptor whose works are show- For example, one of Brown's Colby, don't make the same cased outside Veteran's Stadium in sculptures in front of Veteran's Sta- mistake twice. Look at things from Philadelphia and The Newton dium shows a football player carry- more than one point of view. -Gregg Nibbelink is a White Center on the campus of ing the ball while an opponent at- Senior lecturer and the Johns Hopkins University; he is tempts to tackle him. one of the most famous sports art- Will the ball carrier be tackled Head Athletic Trainer,