Male Responsibility
I am now more concerned about some of the male response to Elizabeth Ellsworth’s most recent column, “The Function of Fear.” Frankly, it has been disgusting. One male-bodied individual went as far as to call Elizabeth “stupid” and naive for thinking that she or any other female-bodied individual has the power to overcome a sexual predator and, by extension, they have any control over what happens to their bodies.
Sexual assault and rape are not acceptable sources of humor or apathy or of anything short of contempt. And every second that we as members of this community accede to sexual assault as an inevitable facet of the female condition, we are letting our friends and neighbors down. To risk coming off as a sound bite, rape is a man’s issue just as much.
So boys, the next time you hear your friends making light of the situation Ashland has found itself in, please – although it might be hard – confront the patriarchal assumption that it’s just not our problem. As men, it is our responsibility to help create and maintain a space in which women can feel safe with themselves and with the town that they reside in. Do not underestimate that.
We need to ally ourselves with women’s struggle. We need to be supportive.
Noah Jacobs
SOU Student
U.N. Casualties In Haiti
While the final casualty count is not yet in, estimates of the number of United Nations personnel killed in the Haiti earthquake run between 40 and 100, over twice as many as were killed in the 2003 truck bombing in Iraq.
One may ask, why so many? There may be other reasons, but foremost is the fact that the UN is the agency with the most personnel on the ground all over the planet, at any time, providing food, medical care, and developmental assistance where it is most sorely needed.
Every day the United Nation provides food to 108 million people in over 74 countries; assists over 34 million refugees and others fleeing war, famine, disaster or persecution; leads a campaign to plant over 1 billion trees a year to fight global warming; monitors, promotes, protects and develops human rights worldwide, and promotes universal primary education. And this is an incomplete list of their humanitarian activities.
The United Nations is barred by its charter from self-promotion, so we all too rarely hear about its daily routine of truly righteous acts, hearing instead only the criticisms that make the news. While imperfect like any large human institution, the U.N. does a huge amount of good on a meager budget. It deserves our support.
John B. Richards, PhD
Advisor, SOU UN Club
President, UNA-USA of Southern Oregon
Rants Are Fun To Read
I do love a good rant. Moments ago I was in the library preparing for my morning nap while reading the new addition of The Siskiyou. As I was winding down I came upon a lovely rant called “Liberals are fun to watch.” No more nap for me. For I must now refute idiocy.
I did very much enjoy this article. It was an invigorating stew of comments involving global warming, food on campus, no tray Tuesdays (where no trays are given with food on campus to save energy), and liberal slamming. The only major issue I have with this lovely intellectual entropy is that it’s an opinion. An extremely arrogant and angry right-winged opinion, formed without research or fact.
This author cites an article from the BBC titled “What happened to global warming?” (Oct 9, 2009), written by Paul Hudson, a BBC News Climate Correspondent. Paul Hudson states in the conclusion of his article “Both sides have very different forecasts. The Met Office (British meteorological service) says that warming is set to resume quickly and strongly.” The article actually contrasts the two sides of the issue. Someone who chose to read it carefully would know that.
Another source cited in the “liberal” article is “The great global warming swindle” available via Google. I say watch it, do the research and form your own opinion. The author of this “liberal” article states that we should go educate ourselves about global warming. So I did. Here is some data from our own National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Calendar year 2008 was the coolest year since 2000, according to the Goddard Institute for Space Studies analysis; 2008 is the ninth warmest year in the period of instrumental measurements, which extends back to 1880. The 10 warmest years all occurred within the 12-year period 1997-2008 (http://gcmd.nasa.gov/). There are volumes of research on global temperature, sea ice, glaciers, deserts and fresh water supply.
In the USA we have a prime example of global warming. One of our greatest national treasures, Glacier National Park, soon will no longer live up to its name. In the year 1850, Glacier Park, which is located in pristine northern Montana, was host to about 150 glaciers. By the year 2005 only 27 glaciers remained. It is currently estimated that by 2020 or 2030 zero glaciers will inhabit Glacier National Park.
Our use of limited resources of fossil fuels results in carbon dioxide production. This is a real problem with real consequences. Writing a rant devoid of fact on this subject is easy. Ignoring it is stupid. Calling the university you chose to attend “the silliest college on earth” is probably not the brightest move. The author of “Liberals are fun to watch” and I do agree on one thing though: No Tray Tuesday is dumb.
David Petley
SOU Student
