1992_03 Insight March 1992

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"Look at me! I'm doing this for you..."
By Craig Moyle
StaffWriter
Ode to those hearty souls that stand upand shout
their crusade for the benefit of every Tom, Dick
and Mary who don't give a raf s ass.
These are the type of people with concerns for your
well being and will continue their dogged drive to
convert your pitiful, head-in-the-sand attitudes because, well, thdr egocentrie ideology forces them.
A]towrnetoratuec^afracbonoftt^09e"Lookatme!
I'm doing this for you" ideologues: The bible-thumping praise the lord, forced-birth anti-abortion bigots;
the tree spiking, environmentalist Earth First! tree-
hugging tyrants; the Bambi-loving anti-hunting hustlers; and, of course, the (now get out your whiney
voice) I'm going to school for life, and I can't afford that
40 percent tuition fee hike, students.
For myself, these people look and act remarkably
like that guy with the gleaming yellow t-shirt imprinted with "John 3:16" at every televised sporting
event Every time I see that guy standing behind Greg
Norman on TV, I blurt out, "Irs God and Mike Eagles
everywhere!"
Ifs their ideology that propels them to prattle on
about frequently purposeless issues that lack relevancy or authenticity.
Take, for instance, the forced-birth anti-abortion
folks. If I was, but I don't have the plumbing for it, a
soon-to-be-lactating woman (and preferred not to be),
on what grounds do religious zealots have to deny me
the constitutional and personal right to terminate my
pregnancy?
"Ifsagainst thewillof God," they'd scream and hurl
tiny anatomically correct dolls. That's dribble from the
dark ages that has no place in a modem, free world.
While I'm at it, I don't understand tree-huggers.
They lie down, Tienmen Square style, in front of earth
movers, chain themselves to trees and drive 12-inch
railroad spikes into trees all for the purpose to end
logging Then after a hard day in the sticks, they
waddle home and strum their wood en guitar and sing
songs about lumber mill workers swimming across the
Rio Grande for work at mills in Mexico.
Trees grow back, people, they grow back. Every
year, more trees are growing than loggers can cut
Clear cutting is a dying practice (granted due to the
efforts of tree-huggers). What do you want? Your
wooden house and live in it too? It would be a rough
world without toilet paper.
And anti-hunting Bambi lovers seem to be in the
same mindset as tree-huggers. Their sole identity
revolves around the premise that killing a living being
is wrong. Hmmm, so if their wooden house is infested
with cockroaches and termites they don't call an exterminator?
"But thafs just a lowly insect," they'd say, "and
'" ,Ibuy meat at Save Mart that comes from ugly
beasts."
Bet you like lamb...nice cuddly little ewe.
Still, the Bambi lovers will throw themselves in front
of a four wheel drive Ford, filled with disinterested
road hunters, and plead to thehuntcrs' sensibilities that
they are annihilating a species.
Annihilation of a species? Don't hunters pay for
their hunting pleasure through license fees? The same
fees that allows hunters to harvest/kill more deer
today, than the entire deer population of the 1920*s
fruntersaverageapproximately alOpercentharvestof
the total deer population).
Fiiully, there are those CSUF students thataredoing
five years to life being professional students. Lopped
into this illustrious group are the University Democrats.
Last Wednesday, March 18, they called together a
"rally" in the free speech area. All the television media
that a trended planned to show angry students pro testing the proposed 40 percent tuition fee hike and another planned "rally" in Sacramento this Friday.
Only problem was, though, students didn't show
up. Well, thafs not entirely true. About 15 signed up
for the "rally" road trip to Sacramento. Most stood 40
feet a way to ga wk and the balance merely continued on
to more important tasks.
At the rally, Richelle Noroyan continually (whine,
whine) shouted, "If you people don't stop and listen to
what we have to say about that dirty scoundrel Pete
Wilson, we're not going to help you.
Whine, whine, whine Noroyan and the rest of the
University Democrats. If people aren't stopping to
listen to your banter then you're focusing on the wrong
issue. By and large, students have accepted the tuition
hike, not out of fruitless despair,but because even with
the increase the California State University system is
still the second cheapest state higher education system
in the nation.
I also eavesdropped on the last one-liner Noroyan
said to KMPH reporter Mike Pearce.
These people have to stop(whine, whine, whine),
wake up and smell the coffee," Noroyan said.
Wow! .What description, what vision. No wonder
Democrats can't find someone worthwhile for president
That statement not only borders on the literary
profoundness of Bush's "a thousand points of light,"
but if salso a hideous cliche that, well. Democrats seem
to cling to.
So 1 say to the rest of you tree-hugging bible-thumping Bambi- loving and Noroyaning ideologues that nil
the world with innate dribble, "Find an issue the rest of
us give a raf s ass about"
Letter to the editor
Dear Editor,
As a member of the 1988
Tulare-KingsCounty honor band
and a starter in the 1988 Tulare-
Kings County All-Star football
game, I find Kate Henry's comments in the March 18th column
"Music vs. sports — which gets
the cut?" to be way off base and
insulting.
First, let me say, as a music
lover and a musician, I would
hate to see the public schools'
music programs cut. I would
hope that all other areas of extracurricular activities would be
modified to help keep the music
programs in placeHowever, why
Kate Henry chooses to blast
sports, particularly football, instead of detailing the benefits of
the public schools' music programs is a mystery. Many of the
valuable lessons I've learned in
school have been through band
and sports. Such as hard work,
discipline, perseverance and the
fulfillment of reaching a com-
mon goal by working as a group.
1 didn't play football to be-
eomea "real" man as Kate Henry
believes young football players
do. I didn't play to be some kind
of stud/jock, to date cheerleaders, to shove other lads into lockers, or whatever other stupid stereotypes trial Kate Henry believes
in. lam very offended at Henry's
constant implications that athletes are not intelligent Kate
Henry contends that "sports fos-
tersa regressive evolu tion where
the man with the least sense
wins." I wouldn't compare
learning football plays or baseball signs to brain surgery, but
there is no way that Kate Henry
can con vince me tha t athletes are
unintelligent or that athletics are
a detriment to learning.
Kate Henry talks about professional athletes as"snot-nosed,
foul-mouthed, self-centered,
immature men and women who
receive millions a year to play
games." Well maybe there are
some athletes that fit that description, but if she thinks that
there are no musicians that fit
that description as well, she
needs a new brain.
Finally, shesendsa plea to the
masses to call civic leaders and
tell them that music is more deserving of a place in public education than sports. Yes, by all
means, call civic leaders and tell
them that cutting music programs is a big mistake but don't
besrupid enough to blame sports
for all the financial problems in
public schools.
Eddie Garcia
All you need to know about Fresno
By Jeff Kopp
For five years 1 have been an
appendage of CSUF. In that
time I have learned very little about
Fresnoand its university. As graduation approaches and my search for
outer-valley employment intensifies, rvebecome curious about some
of the facts about Fresno and GSUF.
First, what kind of name is
Fresno? Was there a different name
to choose from? Maybe i t's the name
of someone famous who founded
the city, or a well known landmark.
It might appear that the person
who chose Fresno as the name for
this city was looking at one of those
lovely, Fresno summer skylines
StaffWriter
filled with dust and haze from its
agricultural industry.
"Fresno" is the Spanish word for
ash. Yes, ash. While you may associate ash with the remains from
cigarettes or fire and the choking
blistering heat during the summer
months, the ash idea actually came
from the ash trees that lined the
Fresno River.
The second question that has
sparked my curiosity is, where did
the bulldog mascot come from?
How did a city named after ash
associate an English dog with its
university? A good look around
Fresno, its farms, fields and or
chards,-would seem to suggest
mascots like the Aggies, Cowboys,
Dirtfarmers or Vinesmen.
The association with a bulldog
goes back to CSUFs initial season in
1921 and a stray dog Student Body
President Warren Moody and
friends were continually greeted by
a white bulldog outside the main
campus building. The group
adopted the dogas their mascot and
made him the official mascot for the
university after a student body
meeting on November 21,1921.
I guess my final question, at least
for now, is why are blue and Cardinal the school colors? Was the Hue
and red combination chosen because of a sense of patriotic devotion, or is there a greater significance? Perhaps the white bulldog
adopted by Warren Moody wore a
blue and red collar.
Actually, American patriotic de
votion or the color of a dog's collar
had nothing to do with it The blue
and red color combination, that was
later changed to blue and cardinal,
d evcloped d u ring an argument between Fresno Normal School and
Fresno Junior College, the sl
block of CSUF that b
State Teachers College in 1921.
Fresno Normal was arguing for
blue and white, but Fresno Junior
College was fighting for red and
white. The white was left out and
the obvious compromise was
deemed as the official colors for
CSUF.
Although this information may
seem trivial to some, I believe it is
not. It is important to know the
background and history of the institution where we pursue our academic career and the city where we
could possibly settle for the rest of
our lives, God forbid.
Letters to the Editor
Wttkfi 10. CSU. Fnxno / F™«», CA «7*3 Mm: 771
Editor in Chief Sports Editor
_ Kate Henry     Tim Haddock
Managing Editor Advertising Manager
 Eric Coyne David Wellenkamp
Arts & Entertainment Editor       Advertising Produdion
 Laura Rasmussen     Christina Griffin
Copy Editor Photography
 DeeErway Marc Matteo
 Steve Skibbie
Graphics Editor
 Craig Moyle    Production Staff
Jenny Hamilton
Photo Editor Shiranee Murugason
 Jesse Chenault Sonny Starks
 Christie Sundberg
Produdion Editor
 Renee Torres    Staffxoriters
Students of Journalism
Opinion Editor  100,110 tfclgg
Susan Goad
Insight welcomes all letters, comments and corrections. Iracm*
reserves the right to condense letters to the Editor for any reason.
Anonymous letters to die Editor will not be considered
Dear Editor,
In no way are you in a position
to undermine extra-curricular high
school sports. I don't think you
have the faintest idea of the importance of high school sports or
sports in general.
In most cases, the lower levels
(freshman and junior varsity) of
athletics are where the characters'
of young people are built. The
alternative is the single-parent
home, where there is usually no
parent present until later in the
evening, and the only characteristic to come from this situation is
independence.
I'm not for dropping any kind
of educational program, but I'll
guarantee you that given a choice,
more students will go out for high
school sports than will go out for
the high school band.
As for sports being a "sacred
cow," again you are showing your
incompetence. There are just as
many middle dass families who
aren't driven to turn their "red
neck"boysinto "soul-less, musde-
bound and insensitive airheads."
To hard-core sports fans sports
may be a sacred cow, just as
Shakespeare is to an English major, as Freud is to psychologists
and Newton is to physicists.
Now get off of Trent Dilfer and
Mark Barsotti. Yes, Dilfer concealed a hand injury so he could
play. Ifscalled determination and
the will to win—something maybe
you've never dealt with. I'm sure
that as a journalist, if you had an
injury to your hand you wouldn't
stop typing.
And now Barsotti. He got rid of
his cast quickly, because his leg
healed fast. Also, when his cast
came off he worked hard on reha
bilitating it Whaf s wrong with
that?
Where do you get off saying the
man with the least sense wins?
Are you saying that Jack Nicklaus
and Arnold Palmer won millions
of dollars between them because
they have no sense? I think not;
maybe you have no sense.
Also, you said that many stu-
dentsatCSUFare fresh out of high
school and don't care about anything connected with their childhood. How do you know? Just
because you seem tonotcareabout
yo ur child hood connections, don't
assume others don't
Oh yeah. I really doubt that
John (bless his soul), Paul, George
and Ringo played in their high
school bands Do they even have
high school bands in England? I
also have a hard time visualizing
U2's Bono leading the high school
band. I would also bet that rap
artistsand reggae groups were not
playing clarinets and trombones
at their high schools. Hell, these
people don't even stay in school.
I do agree with youonone point:
Erofessional athletes—especially
aseball players — are tremendously overpaid. But then, so is
the U.S. president. What has he
done for his paycheck or for our
country? Nothing. So why don't
you do us all a favor and write
about that; again something you
have no idea about. On second
thought, do us a favor and stop
writing about things you have no
idea about. Save the space for
someone who is intellectually informed. ^-~^^
Dan Dismuke
Mr. Djtmukt is a CSUF graduate currently'
enrottHm fa tesschmg credential program
Dear Ed**tr,
Whaf s in a name? Obviously,
names are very important in our
society. Why else would parents
spend so much time agonizing
over names for their .children?
Names matter. Consequently, we
should alsospend at least as much
time determining what names to
use when referring to minority
groups, such as disabled people.
Granted, it is sometimes nana to
keep up with what is "politically
correcr atany given point in time.
But, many people just don't care
enough to realize how important
names are and what thev really
say about each individual.
The term "handicapped" originated in Great Britain in the 19th
century. Some individuals with
disabilities were forced to beg with
their "caps in hand" in the street
(Report on Disability Programs,
11-2-89). Today, however, this is
not the picture most people with
disabilities would like others to
have of them.
During the summer of 1990, a
Periodical called The Disability
Rag did a survey to learn what
readers thought about various
words and terms used to describe
disabled people. Responses were
remarkably similar.
Nobody really cared for
"handicapped," though many
agreed it wasn't too offensive —
certainly not as bad as "crippled"
or"handi-capable." "Person with
a disability" was better than "disabled person," in that it put the
person before the condition. Still,
this term may only be die best of a
not-so-great list of possibilities.
Many believed it was forced,
awkward, or simply a mouth-full.
Politically correct,butdumsy and
too long to be used consistently
by journalists, were just some of
the responses to the term "person
with a disability."
Other cutesy terms many
would like to see banished are:
physically challenged, inconvenienced, sped al, survivor and for
those of us who are not vet disabled, temporarily able-bodied.
Many feel these words are too
"California." In other words, they
make light of the situation. Stairs
for a person in a wheelchair are
not simply an "inconvenience,"
they are a pain in die butt These
words are inadequate understate-
It may be difficult to know
which names offend some, but are
correct to others As a general
guideline, words like "cripple" or
"gimp" are offensive to all. The
key is to think before speaking-
you're not just naming a condition, you are labeling a person.
Whaf s in a name? A lot, especially for people with disabilities
who have been called everything
from crippled, to retard, to victim.
When unsureof what is politically
correct just ask people what they
pre/erbeingcalled. You can never
lose with that.
Cris Young
Ms. Young | ■ senior majoring k liberal
art, md an employee of Daabled Student
\