DECEMBER, 2006 • VOLUME 3 • ISSUE 3 ~ FSU’S COMMUNITY NEWSMAGAZINE
YETI
PARTY FRIDAY, DEC 8 details inside
The Yeti Collective:
Contributors:
Ryan Jenkins Danny Clifton Sarah Stinard-Kiel Parker Dority Brett Ader Anne Dunlop Alisha Buckman Ed Caddell Jocelyn Giancoli Felix Velazquez Amanda Plummer Danielle Way Taj Taylor
Contents
Virginia Howard Hodge Hermann Brendan Wynn Susan Gundersen K.L. Fuss Lindsay Tuttle Michael Moore James N. McKay Sean Johnson Gregory Harris Spencer Greene Cody Diefenthaler Advisor: Paul Rutkovsky Cover Art: Will Heller
You can find The Yeti at these locations: Ali Baba’s All Saints Vinyl Fever Diffenbaugh Building Renaissance Cafe 621 Gallery Krank it Up Pitaria Momo’s Paperback Rack Breathing Room Video 21 Decent Pizza Fat Sandwich Pocket Sandwich The Yeti now has a “pod” within the Student Activities Center on the 3rd floor of Oglesby Union, #3D. Stop by to find out information on how to get involved and meet some of the people who toil over this publication.
The Yeti will be hosting a party (at which donations are accepted) on Friday, December 8th to help cover the costs of printing this issue. There will be live music, good people, and refreshments for those who donate $3 or more to the cause. On Dec. 8 @ 10PM: From Lake Bradford/Gaines: Turn onto Lake Bradford from Gaines, second right onto Airport and second left onto Mayhew (there’s no street sign). House #1622 on the right. From Lipona at Pensacola: Take Lipona south across Bellevue and Jackson Bluff, first left onto Mayhew. House #1622 on the left.
The Conflict of Western Perceptions of Women in Islam – 3 Homeless Helpout – 5 Implementation, History and Consequences of the Military Commissions Act 2006 – 6 Mixed and Dangerous Messages – 7 Hymn to Irreligious Vegetarians (On Thanksgiving Day) – 7 In My Country There is Problem – 8 Black Friday – the Other Thanksgiving – 9 The Path of Water – 9 Politics as Usual – 10 The Conflict of Expression – 10 his mother said that he had a good head on his shoulders – 12 Paternalism – 12 Movie Review: V for Vendetta – 13 New Years Eve in TDC, not Tong Du Chon – 14 Why the Government should Respect and Allow the Right of an Individual to Partake in Doctor Assisted Suicide – 16 Economic Theories – 17 Travel Journal – Macedonia – 18 Mediators and Paltry Dogmatists – 20 Dark Has Come Onto the Night – 20 The Yeti needs you to...
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December, 2006
The Conflict of Western Perceptions of Women in Islam ~ by Virginia Howard
The veil has, for many women, come to embody a new-found liberation from a society which has sexually exploited them and disregarded their social abilities. “Far from being disempowered by the veil, or what they called the khimar and sometimes the ‘uniform,’ they (African-American women who joined the Nation of Islam in the 1960s) used it to symbolize their freedom and social worth in a community that valued its women and rejected their previous sexual objectification under slavery.”1 These women made a statement within their society that liberated them personally and was difficult to ignore, as it directly challenged all previous conceptions the West formed concerning Islam. Although these women were veiled, they viewed it as a way to reactivate their social voices and become recognized and regarded as fully engaged beings as males were. The veil served as a way to demonstrate solidarity and strength in themselves, individually, cohesively and, most significantly, as women. Another aspect of the controversies surrounding veiling concerns its relationship to men. Veiling is often argued as serving the purpose of subordinating women to men, while a differing view concerning the relationship of veiling to gender is one that expresses the need for women to shield themselves and their bodies from male antagonism. The boundary between self-preservation and self-oppression has proved difficult to define, and was previously defined differently by various groups of
people. The West may consider veiling to be unnecessary and of no benefit to women, however Muslim women see veiling as providing protection and safety. “What has today become known as Islamic hejab, which covers women’s nakedness but displays the parts that stimulate, is not Islamic hejab. Islamic hejab is what protects a woman’s character from man’s aggression by any means.”2 As expressed in the latter excerpt from Ziba Mir-Hosseini’s “Islam and Gender,” veiling does not merely protect the body, it protects the character or emotions of a woman as well. Many Muslim women believe that by protecting their bodies from male sight and touch, they are also preserving their integrity, intellect, and self-worth. When the body is treated as sacred, the mind and confidence remain on a worthy and moralistic ground. From a Western perspective, it is difficult to see the positive aspects of the protection that veiling can offer a Muslim woman. Muslim women have put forward a counter-argument to this difficulty in accepting their traditional practice of veiling, inquiring about the position of women in Judeo-Christian thought. “The image of Eve as temptress in the Bible has resulted in an extremely negative impact on women throughout the Judeo-Christian tradition.”3 Many Muslim women adhere to the concept that Western women are terribly oppressed within their own dominant religious faiths, and yet fail to recognize such due to the illusion of liberation by exploitation which they are presented with. The argument states that due to Western women’s exposure to an ideal of freedom which revolves around the notion of baring one’s body and speaking one’s mind, the women are forced to believe they are free and equal, yet do not realize that they are being mislead. Although Western opinion on the veiling of Muslim women states that it is a sign of fundamentalist oppression, the voices of Muslim women most often strongly indicate otherwise. “Young
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Muslim women are reclaiming the hejab, reinterpreting it in light of its original purpose -- to give back to women ultimate control of their own bodies.”4 Veiling is regarded as true empowerment. The base of Islamic feminism rests with the veil. Veiling has seen an increasing resurgence in women across the globe, even throughout Westernized nations. Muslim women often view this as a sign of an international immergence of Islamic feminism. Western nations are unwilling to accept the term ‘feminism’ entering into a discussion of the purposes of Muslim women deciding to veil. As the qualm continues, the number of women converting to Islam worldwide, including in the United States, rises. The tradition of veiling is blatantly surrounded not only by controversy, but also by profoundly fearful judgments. Veiling is a complex social and religious issue that readjusts ideals concerning women and their place in various religious faiths. Questions and assumptions are constantly arising, from both Westernized cultures and Islam. Trepidation concerning unfamiliar cultures is a regular motive leading each to their harsh critiques of opposing lifestyles. Both cultures are currently strengthening animosity towards each other as they attempt to disprove one another and set the standards for judgment high. Although Islam and the West advocate fundamentally dissimilar ways of life, small groups are working globally to bridge this cultural gap, and each passing day will hopefully close with some semblance of success. Endnotes 1.
2.
3.
4.
Cooke, Miriam. Women Claim Islam: Creating Islamic Feminism Through Literature. New York, New York. 2001. Routledge Press. Page 132. Mir-Hosseini,Ziba. Islam and Gender : The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran. Princeton, New Jersey. 199. Princeton University Press. Page 67. Azeem, Dr. Sherif Abdel. Women in Islam Versus Women in the Judeo-Christian Tradition. The Wisdom Fund. http://twf. org/Library/WomenICJ.html#veil Mustafa, Naheed. Young Muslim Women are Reclaiming the Hijiab. Islam for Today. http://www.islamfortoday.com/ hijabcanada2.htm. Updated – October 10, 2006
Politics and the Cultural War ~ Anne S. Dunlop
As humanity nears its vision of the technological future, the number of cultural critics swells. Rifts have sprouted from our increased freedom like ugly weeds and lines have been drawn in the sand. Many politicians and religious leaders believe there to be an ongoing “culture war,” with the inevitable triumph of one side over another devoid of any compromise or collaboration. The term, coined to describe fissures between incompatible ideologies, often results in cultural competition. At the 1992 Republican Party convention, conservative political pundit Pat Buchanan claimed “There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself.” This “us versus them” mentality looms over our country, with one side perceiving the other in extremes: religious whackos or hedonistic, politically correct secularists. As the reverend Jerry Falwell said, “We’re fighting against humanism, we’re fighting against liberalism... we are fighting against all the systems of Satan that are destroying our nation today... our battle is with Satan himself.” Clearly the stakes here are high, and many view it as an inevitable struggle between good and evil. This unfortunate contention has bled through to politics. During the early eighties, as evangelical Christianity began rapidly growing in popularity, we saw a surge of religious activism. At the same time, American culture was becoming less restrictive, and in turn this freedom became perceived as a potential threat, an open window to immorality. Facing a increasingly edgy pop culture, a backlash began. Once
the threat of atheistic communism could no longer be used to rouse social policy, the religiously motivated segment of conservatives, commonly identified with
Today, we see the effects of this ongoing movement. President George W. Bush largely pandered to the religious right during his election and, to the misfortune
Will Christians trade in their Crown of Thorns for a Tin Foil Hat? Republicans as the “religious right,” began focusing on the “liberal media,” “secular humanists” and “relativism” within our culture. Armed with the belief that our country was founded to be a Christian nation, the cultural warriors began their ideological battle. Building fear and paranoia of persecution, the evangelicals (particularly in the south) began to preach martyrdom and victim-hood. “Just like what Nazis did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to evangelical Christians,” claimed Pat Robertson. “It’s no different.” How much influence do these words have within politics and legislation? Christians represent what is probably the single largest voting demographic in the country, with churches strongly influencing voting habits.
The Yeti
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December, 2006
of religious minorities, much of his policy reflects this influence. The word “Republican” is almost synonymous with “Christian,” with non-Christian Republicans few and far between. Fanning the flames of political religious fervor, conservative editorialists also cash in on the cultural war. Bill O’Reilly, for example, claims to offer his viewers a “no-spin zone,” when in reality he merely presents his own highly biased views. Recently, his “War on Christmas” (in which he claims that liberals are oppressing Christmas in favor of political correctness) was a very popular story, although widely blown out of proportion. This fluff-story eclipsed larger issues in the world in favor of appealing to a certain extremist group. Another popular conservative writer, Ann
Coulter, is purposefully outrageous to rouse fans and sell books. On Muslims, she writes, “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren’t punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That’s war. And this is war.” Clearly, rather than reasoned political solutions, she only feeds off the fear of terror and the idea that Christianity alone will correct all these vices. Rhetoric like this does not convince anyone because it holds no logical argument. It is merely a culmination of name-calling, finger-pointing and preaching to the choir, without actually examining any problems or proposing viable solutions. This is propaganda, disguised as educated analysis. The religious right’s tolerance for the demonization of large groups of people lowers the national political discourse, dividing people into two sides who shout nonsense at one another – a problem George Washington warned against. In his farewell address, he cautioned that parties “distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It [the political party] agitates the community with illfounded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another; foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passion.” Indeed, this animosity is thriving in our current “culture wars,” which many times boil down to “party wars.” We live in a time of paranoia and fear of change, with anything deviating from the status quo interpreted as a threat to society. The cultural schism in entertainment exists today, with current critics echoing historical evangelists. Buchanan stated “the adversary, with its implacable hostility on JudeoChristian teaching,” has subverted values “from the public classroom to the TV screen, from the movie theater to the museum.” Dan Quayle also focused on the entertainment industry, asserting that it is run by a “cultural elite” group of “left-wing, out of step Democrats” who impose their values upon the majority of Americans. This cultural concern led to stringent, yet ultimately arbitrary obscenity laws and ratings restricting the movie, radio and television industries which carry over into the FCC
crackdown on “indecency” in the media. Yet this does not address the real issue. Again, we see a case of a religious Republicans using inflammatory remarks to gain votes and support. Entertainment is merely a reflection of the society that consumes it. If it weren’t popular, it wouldn’t sell. It’s much more economical in nature than ideological, and it seems the religious right fails to acknowledge this. Instead of condemning entertainment for everything from gun violence to promiscuity, perhaps we should examine why companies market and successfully sell these things. Furthermore, restrictions do nothing for quality control because context is not examined. Finally, how do these religiously-based legislations affect religious minorities or the non-religious? While strong values are important, it is not the government’s role to define individual values, especially in regard to religion. That is not to say that religion should be avoided and stifled in public places, but that government should not favor or impose any particular creed. Clearly, the religious right favors only Judeo-Christian traditions, something evident in their policies. Furthermore, it is also not the role of government to tell me what I should and shouldn’t see or hear regarding entertainment. If red-blooded Middle America disagrees with Hollywood’s values, why don’t they employ their heavily touted freedom of economic opportunity instead of crying “cultural oppression?” Think of what we could accomplish if we put aside differences and focused on our common concerns? Both sides of the spectrum have something different to offer and no one party is going to save the country. The religious right seems to have forgotten that social change is not always a threat. Unfortunately, the very things that slow progress define our politics and the ensuing cultural wars. If we ignore the American tradition of open debate and consideration, our country will slowly crumble as we bicker over petty, theological issues. Turning a blind eye from the truly menacing problems, our ship will begin sinking while we fight like children over who is winning and losing, as if the preservation of the nation was simply a contest to be won.
The Yeti
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December, 2006
Homeless Helpout As the temperature drops, many of us find ourselves snuggling up in our warm homes, a cup of hot cocoa in one hand and a good book in the other. While happy in our comfy bliss, we must not forget that there are many in our own town who aren’t fortunate enough to have such a cold-weather refuge. There are a variety of nearly effortless things we can all do that can make life a little bit more bearable for the homeless in our own community. Spend some time rummaging through your closet and pick out the cold weather clothes and blankets you no longer need. You can either donate these directly to The Shelter (on the corner of Malcolm and Tennessee) or keep them in your car in case, while driving around town, you happen to see someone who can put them to use. If you have a car, it is also a good idea to put together a little toiletry kit – toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, shampoo, etc. – for the same reason. If approached for lose change, the most effective thing you can do is offer to take the person to the nearest restaurant to buy them a hot and healthy meal or perhaps a cup of coffee from the nearest gas station. On a cold night, a warm meal or cup of coffee can go a long way. Another great idea is to always have some food on hand in case approached by someone in need. I always make a healthy lunch when heading out to campus to hand out to anybody who asks, and if not, I just eat it myself so it doesn’t go to waste. Keep in mind that just because someone doesn’t ask you for help doesn’t mean they don’t need it. If you see someone who looks hungry, ask them if they’re hungry. And sometimes, all someone needs is simply another person to talk to. These gestures may not seem like much but for those who have fallen upon hard times, it can be the one thing that reaffirms their faith in their fellow man. And that’s a beautiful thing.
Implementation, History and Consequences of the Military Commissions Act 2006 ~ by Jocelyn Giancoli
On October 17, 2006, George W. Bush signed the Military Commissions Act (MCA) into law, effectively negating the U.S. Bill of Rights as well as habeus corpus, unraveling 215 years of freedom that American citizens took for granted. Unfortunately, the American public paid seemingly little attention as our individual liberties were swept from under our feet. In short, the Military Commissions Act gives permission for any person, U.S. citizen or otherwise, to be indefinitely detained if the president labels them an “unlawful enemy combatant.” Evidence extracted through torture is made legitimate to be used at trial, as the Geneva Convention and its protocols are not applied to treatment of the defendants. At its heart it brings the “war on terror” home, stripping the rights of citizens and lowering international standards of justice. But let’s get back to the aforementioned claims of negation. The purpose of a Bill of R ights, when embedded into a constitution, is to limit the power a national government has to intervene in the lives of its citizens. The Preamble to the U.S. Bill of R ights states that “…as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, [it] will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.” Unfortunately, the past 30 years have seen a significant decrease of public confidence in our national media and government. Habeas corpus is Latin for “you [should] have the body.” It is a legal action or writ by means of which detainees can seek relief from unlawful imprisonment. It allows for a prisoner to be brought before a court to determine whether that person is serving a lawful sentence and/or whether they should be released from custody. Habeas corpus is an important instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary state action, considered important
enough to be specifically mentioned in the United States Constitution, which states, “The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public safety may require it.” (Article one, section nine). Habeas corpus has been suspended before in the United States. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln suspended it in certain states on April 27, 1861, in response to riots, local militia actions, and the threat that the border slave state of Maryland would secede from the Union. In the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis also had it suspended, and imposed martial law. Then, in the early 1870s, Ulysses S. Grant suspended habeas corpus in South Carolina as part of federal civil rights action against the Ku K lux K lan under the 1870 Force Act and 1871 Ku K lux K lan Act. The November 13, 2001 Presidential Military Order gave the president the power to detain non-citizens suspected of connection to terrorists or terrorism as an “unlawful enemy combatant.” As such, that person may be held indefinitely, without charges being filed against him or her, a court hearing, or entitlement to a legal consultant. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 further limited the use of habeas corpus by, among other things, imposing a one-year deadline (statute of limitation) and dramatically increasing the federal judiciary’s regard to decisions previously made in state court proceedings. The brand “unlawful enemy combatant” may be issued based on information acquired through the
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legal snooping that The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 ( USA PATR IOT Act, Public Law 107-56), permits. The PATR IOT Act allows for the interception of wire, oral, and electronic communications (including “computer trespasser communications” (§217)), the use of pen registers and “trap and trace” devices, seizure of voice-mail messages, access to personal records, “Civil Liability for Certain Unauthorized Disclosures” (§223), the issuance of search warrants for “electronic evidence,” “Single-Jurisdiction Search Warrants for Terrorism” (§219), and executive “assistance” to law enforcement agencies. On September 29, 2006, the U.S. House and Senate approved the Military Commissions Act of 2006, a bill which would suspend habeas corpus for any non-citizen determined to be an “unlawful enemy combatant engaged in hostilities or having supported hostilities against the United States.” The bill stated that “Except as provided in section 1005 of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.” (§1005(e)(1), 119 Stat. 2742). However, when President Bush signed the bill into law on October 17th, 2006, the language was altered from “alien
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Mixed and Dangerous Messages ~ by Hodge Hermann
It would be impossible to deny that many nations of this world are involved in all manors of conflict. Most people are, of course, aware of this and have their own opinions on the nature of many of them; the justifications, and so on. The international arena can be complicated, and often accurate information is hard for someone to find unless they spend a reasonable amount of their own time doing so. Even when taking this into account, there are aspects of these international conflicts that apply to human sensibilities in a much more obvious way. Generally, people want to help those who have been victimized, to offer aid to those he need it, keep safe, and foster a world that will be a better place for their children to grow up in. But certain recent events have brought up another issue, one that threatens many of these values and one that is so very simple for people to understand: nuclear proliferation. There is fear that North Korea may have nuclear weapons, and that Iran is seeking and possibly close to developing them. People have every right to be worried about this. No reasonable human being seeks nuclear conflict or even an escalation in such armament among nations. This would lead to a world filled with fear in which no one would want to live, if they are able to survive at all. But then a question we might come to is why? Why would they be developing these weapons? To quote one of Israel’s leading military historians, Martin van Creveld, “Obviously, we don’t want Iran to have nuclear weapons and I don’t know if they’re developing them, but if they’re not developing them, they’re crazy.” The same is probably true with North Korea. The international community has recognized what happens to nations that cannot defend themselves, and unfortunately fear of utter destruction has become the only deterrent. It has almost become the only way to force diplomacy. If we take the United States, as an example, we see that very often force is used against
those who are deemed enemies or going against policy, but always against those who are unable to defend themselves. The United States’ secret war against the third world over the past half century never targeted the Soviet Union, or other major powers that posed a threat to security, but always weaker countries whom were vulnerable and related to political or economic interests. It is impossible for such nations to compete with the United States in terms of military power and resources. And what of these nations who feel diplomacy, international discussion, and rules of law would ensure their rights? Unfortunately history has not shown that to be a venue nations of power choose to respect. As one example (there are many), Nicaragua won a historic case at the World Court in 1986 against the United States, in which the US was ordered to pay $12 billion in reparations for violating Nicaraguan sovereignty (by engaging in attacks against Nicaragua during the Iran/ Contra scandal years earlier). In response, the United States withdrew its acceptance of the Court, claiming it had no authority in matters of sovereign state relations, and refused to pay restitutions, even after a the General Assembly passed a resolution on the matter. In simply reflecting on the past, states today see the lack of respect powerful nations have for international law when it does not coincide with their interests. With the most recent invasion
and subsequent war in Iraq, “rogue” states have now realized all too well that the only way to protect themselves is by developing nuclear weapons. While this is a frightening reality, all hope is not lost. Many in the international community are seeking alternatives and coming up with realistic ways to manage the production of nuclear materials under international bodies, and there have even been votes, in which the majority of the world (even Iran) have agreed too. In particular, a 1993 UN resolution to have a fissile material cut-off treaty, in which the General assembly vote was 147 to 1 (with Israel and Britain abstaining), the United States was the only nation to refuse. The problem current lies in part with us – we need to cease our actions as an outlaw predatory state. If we want this world to become safer place, it is crucial that we be willing to engage in dialogue with the rest of the world, and actually respect the decisions reached. As long as we continue to disregard the international community and conduct military operations in our own interests, other nations will not be able to trust us, and will continue to seek out the most available means to protect themselves. Unfortunately for us all, the most efficient method of that kind of security is currently nuclear capability. Whether this trend will continue, or whether nations will strive for a more stable future – only time will tell, and only we can make it happen.
Hymn to Irreligious Vegetarians (On Thanksgiving Day) ~ by Brendan Wynn
Traditionally, I’d be here giving lots of advice To any God-loving, turkey-praising Tryptophanites (In order they may be more pious and righteous, May to the angels their blessings pay, May the turkey they devour more divinely on Thanksgiving Day): Clasp your hands toward the Lord And give thanks to a wonderful bird. But since you’re an irreligious herbivore, I’ll describe for you another door: To yourself give thanks on Thursday, (Eat all that you can eat), And to your health your homage pay, Sans God, sans sleep, sans meat.
The Yeti
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December, 2006
In My Country There is Problem: Borat Made it Quite Clear ~ by Susan Gundersen
Jagshamesh. Americans are people that like to pride themselves on the notion that they are the most accepting and open-minded people in the world. The truth in this statement only comes to light when they are put into uncomfortable situations with a person whose customs they do not understand. I fear that many people who saw the newly released Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan missed out on the true intentions that Sacha Baron Cohen had when making the movie. Sure it is easy to laugh at Borat when he wrestles with a fat, naked man, or when he misuses English words, but these antics are only a mask for the deeper social commentary and satirical undertone of this comedy as a whole. Cohen cleverly uses his character to confuse people to the point where their true demons eventually come crawling out. One would think that in a documentary geared toward educating a foreign nation on American culture, the participants would be inclined to represent America in the best way possible. At several moments in this movie we see the adverse effect take place when people let their guard down. As a result of the knowledge that the documentary would never be seen by anyone whom, in their minds, mattered, people in this movie felt at liberty to say the truth. This left the door to political incorrectness swinging wide open. The attitudes of the Americans in this movie were made clear and blatant. They displayed outright ignorance regarding other nations and often didn’t care for a second to learn, more than on a superficial level, about
Borat’s home. When Cohen spoke in Borat’s supposedly native ‘Kazakh,’, not one of the participants realized that it was a slew of other languages meshed together. Due to the lack of knowledge regarding nations other than the US, the people in this film simply inferred that Borat came from an uncivilized and savage country where anything goes. Any remark about his beloved Kazakhstan, no matter how outrageous, was taken as fact. The majority of the people in the film paid no mind and simply responded condescendingly about how Americans don’t do this or that. Borat offered pubis (pubic hair) as currency to a shop owner and the man angrily responded, “We don’t use that stuff in this country.”. I can’t help but wonder if this man actually believed that there are nations in 2006, or were in any time period for that matter, that would actually use pubic hair as currency. In the beginning of his journey, when Borat took driving lessons, his driving instructor believed to be educating Borat when he told him, “A women has the right to choose who she has sex with.”. I guess this man thought that rape is acceptable to all others outside the US. Because people believed that they were filming this documentary for an ‘uncivilized’ nation, Borat’s unwitting co-stars felt justified in saying how they truly felt about matters concerning society and politics. Perhaps the most outrageous person to appear in the entire film was Bobby Rowe, a rodeo promoter from rural Virginia. He told Borat to “shave that god-dang mustache so you don’t look so conspicuous. Every time I see a Muslim I think ‘I don’t know what kind of bomb he’s got strapped to him.’”. He went on to enlighten us with a remark concerning the gay community in this country: “We should take ‘em out and hang ‘em.”.
The Yeti
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December, 2006
Another extremely important commentary that Borat provides us with concerns blind prejudices;. “Fuck you Uzbek!” is just one colorful example from the film. I couldn’t help but compare his hatred of Uzbeks to the superficial rift between Florida State and University of Florida students. We hate them, they suck. That’s about the extent of it, and many of us really don’t even like football all that much. This idea has just been embedded into our skulls and reinforced so many times that eventually it begins to stick. Many people have criticized the film for its anti-Semitic gestures, but these people are obviously missing the point. Cohen is clearly Jewish (just look at his name), and he brings forward such gestures to illustrate a point. Blindly following anything should be perceived as a negative, especially when it is prejudice. The audience at the rodeo was guilty of doing just that. They were thrilled to hear that Borat supported our “War of Terror” and to hear him say, “May George W. Bush drink the blood of every man, woman and children in Iraq!”. The audience responded with resounding applause to this comment and I think it’s safe to say that I was not the only one whose jaw dropped to the ground. If there is one thing that I hope people are thinking when they walk away with from this film, it is this: most Americans believe they are accepting of other cultures and do so with open arms and minds. The most accepting and open people were a prostitute and individuals marching in a Gay Pride parade. Those who had been pushed to the outskirts of mainstream society were patient and tolerant of diversity, while the vast majority came across as arrogant, ignorant and extremely callous to cultural differences. The qualities displayed were quite contrary to what these people believe to be true of themselves. The most genuine person in the entire film was a prostitute that Borat befriended; the fact that people of ‘high society’ went from hot to cold with Borat when he showed up with her illustrates this point nicely. I understand that this is a movie and that these people are obviously the extremes, but I think the degree of extremity can be questioned here. The fact is that these people really did say these things. Rather than bitch and moan about it (ie: two frat boys who are suing Cohen for fraud), I say, learn from what was said. I’m sure Borat did. Dzienkuje.
Black Friday – the other Thanksgiving The Path of Water ~ by K.L. Fuss
I’m starting to think that Thanksgiving really spans two days: Thanksgiving Day itself and Black Friday – the day after. One day we give thanks for our friends and family, and make a special effort to help those less fortunate. The next we indulge in frenzied consumerism, spurred on by persistent advertising and the stress of the holiday season. I learned about Buy Nothing Day from my roommate’s Adbusters magazine (vol.12, no. 5) – really just as a statement on global economic inequality. The TV, the paper, the internet, they all say “Go, buy!” So we do. But when we spend so much on gifts for the people we care about, we often forget about who actually makes most of this stuff. Nobody really supports sweatshops, but it seems like nobody wants to go out of their way, either. So I spent a couple of hours on Black Friday making figure 8’s among the crowds at Governor’s Square Mall, holding a plain sign that read, ‘Stop buying. Start living.’ Most reactions were either amused or confused, although a few of the retail clerks gave me dirty looks. Even while holding this sign, I was still offered a free cell phone, and a free FSU hoodie with a purchase of $30 or more. Do FSU students make those hoodies, I wondered? Didn’t think so. At first I was really cautious around the security guards, who were out in full force. But I gradually became more and more daring, hoping for an exciting end to the afternoon when I would be (politely) asked to leave the premises, except... they didn’t seem to care much. I guess they figured one person couldn’t do too much damage. Maybe they were right. Only one person asked me what it was all about: an Iraq vet on crutches. ‘It’s just a statement on consumerism,’ I said, a little nervous that someone had finally talked to me. ‘Thanksgiving is supposed about family
~ by Alisha Buckman
and friends and helping the poor. The next day everybody flocks here to buy massproduced stuff probably made by poor, exploited people in some other country.’ ‘Oh, okay. Are you gonna draw a little Grinch on there?’ he said, gesturing to my sign. I’m not anti-gift-giving or anti-(insert your holiday here), I just feel there are better ways to celebrate than spending the day right after Thanksgiving searching out the best deals and the sweetest discounts at national chain stores. These are the symptoms of a culture of waste, a culture of mass media and corporate giants where we’re all taught to want the same clothes, the same music, the same toys and the same foods. Am I the only person who truly appreciates something handmade, something that required time and care and imagination to create? Or something locally grown – there’s another way to give back to the community. It’s just too easy to go out and buy something unoriginal. I’d like to learn how to write calligraphy, so I can make cards for extended family. Maybe I’ll finally get around to editing that home movie, or making a mix tape. And who knows what I might find in secondhand stores. A few people read my sign and made loud irritated comments about it, and though I turned and waited, they never wanted to stop and talk. As I was leaving, one woman had a particularly interesting opinion: ‘Ha! Fuck you, I’m buyin’ it all!’
The Yeti
~9~
December, 2006
I take my bath one toe at a time Watching the drain with a careful eye My hand follows the razor, smoothly traveling up my wet, wet leg I tense as a mixture of suds, water, and hair slop down, Down the drain Keeping my distance from an up-close fight My mind begins to wander Forgetful me In the sink float two hatchling turtles Which occasionally dive to inspect the plug in the drain They frolic while I flail Slowly reality spirals down a drain As I slip into a comatose state I once heard how little children, So innocent in their games, Dove down to the bottoms of pools To pick up shiny pennies and such things Only to have their hair or some loose part Caught in a pool drain As they struggle to reach a breath Their playmates laugh and forget them An obnoxious sound brings me back And I knowingly race to the kitchen Clutching my chest as if it were about to burst The sink is now empty; I search the drain with my bare hands, Hands which find the pieces of two lifeless turtles Dismembered in the disposal within the drain, That black pit of fear Which found its way inside of me And made me shudder head to toe
Politics as Usual
The Conflict of Expression
~ by Ryan Jenkins
Democracy could afford to take a play from the book of two former Communist artists. What lessons could a particularly bland and inoffensive painting teach us about our political system? Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid, two runaways from the Soviet Union, conducted a series of surveys in the late 1990s in which they asked people what they would like
“Most Wanted” painting, for example is a blue-tinged landscape featuring a lake and a mountain range. In the foreground, deer frolic and a trio of innocent children trek through nature. The unmistakable figure of George Washing stands in a dignified pose front and center. I suppose that’s America, to a T. The rest of the countries are similarly pointless. Nothing bold, nothing experimental. Nothing that lives up to the avante garde reputation of modern art. The paintings represented, if you will, the lowest common denominator of society: here is something everyone can agree on: Let’s just be happy with this. What, then, can this teach us about our beloved political system? Democracy simply subverts the
Holland’s most wanted painting (left) and America’s. to see most in a painting. In the United States, 1001 individuals were surveyed. They asked respondents such questions as, “What is your favorite color?”, “How frequently do you visit a museum?” and “Who would you have dinner with?” The two artists tallied the results and then collaborated to create what they determined to be the most desired painting in America. They conducted similar surveys in thirteen other countries and through an Internet questionnaire. Certainly such a bold exercise in democracy would yield triumphant results, which would unquestionably be celebrated by all. That’s they way Democracy works, right? Viva the will of the people! Yet the resulting paintings are all particularly bland, inoffensive and unremarkable. America’s
revolutionary energy of the masses. Consensus or majority voting undeniably produces nothing special, nothing wildly progressive and nothing boldly iconoclastic. And what recourse can we have if the winning candidate is not the one we voted for? “Don’t blame me, I voted for the other guy,” becomes the powerless resignation of the dispirited minority that may number in the tens of millions. As it were, revolution and violence are removed from the equation. Instead, the people are encouraged to engage in an activity much more noble and civilized: dropping a slip of paper in a ballot. That’s how you make a difference! Viva the bland opinion of the masses. Democracy gets us nowhere. Now that’s something everyone can agree on.
The Yeti
~ 10 ~
December, 2006
~ by Felix Velazquez
There you are, on campus listening to your Ipod, mp3 player, mp3 CD player, or for the select few old school kids the Generic CD player. When suddenly your favorites song comes on and it makes you want to dance, but now you have a problem. You are in the middle of campus it will be a while before you get home, you could be walking home or to class in this situation but what will you do? Will you dance as you walk, shaking those hips and that ass carefree as the days of youth, or will you yield to the oppression of the rest of the world and say . . . “Well it’s not cool to dance in public unless you’re at a place that’s playing dance music, like a club.” The choice not to dance is enforced by people every day, people who don’t want to be seen as silly, possibly not cool, spaced-out, or just plain dumb. This is a problem going on in the world today, people are afraid to express themselves when they’re just out for a little walk or just in their daily lives. They have been taught that expression is something made with a proper place and time. This is a bold faced lie, expression is something you do in the everyday. Expression is the center of thought and interaction you are who you are all the time not just when you’re out around the proper people and in the proper settings so I say turn your headphones up as loud as you can and swing your body round wherever you are. Screw everyone else, so long as your happy what does it matter. Enjoy life, it’s unpredictable and the last thing you want to think on your deathbed is “man I should have danced more when I wanted to.” It’s such a simple thing to accomplish and you shouldn’t be embarrassed to do so.
Continued from 6 detained ... at Guantanamo Bay” to “an alien detained by the United States who has been determined to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination” (§1005(e)(1), 119 Stat. 2742). The term “alien” is defined in the MCA as one “who before, on, or after the date of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, has been determined to be an unlawful enemy combatant by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal or another competent tribunal established under the authority of the President or the Secretary of Defense” – worded as such to ensure U.S. citizens can be classified as aliens. That such language allows for unnervingly loose interpretation has elicited much criticism. The critics understand it as law riding on Bush or Rumsfeld’s (or the new Deputy Secretary of Defense, Gordon England) individual judgment of who is and is not an enemy combatant. If that decision is yes, the defendant’s right to be represented by counsel of his or her choosing is limited, as well as the hope of a trial being conducted in a reasonable amount of time. Civilians may be tried by military commissions rather than civilian courts, where impartiality is questionable due to the authoritarian role that the executive plays in the commissions’ procedures and in the selection of military judges and officers to sit on the “jury.” Military commissions have the power to issue death sentences, breaking international standards which only permit capital punishment after trials affording “all possible safeguards to ensure a fair trial.” George W. Bush has so far led a pattern of official public commentary on the presumed guilt of detainees, effectively overthrowing American citizens’ previous judiciary right of being innocent until proven guilty to guilty until proven guilty. The MCA okays the use of classified evidence against a defendant, without the defendant necessarily being allowed to challenge the “sources, methods or activities” by which it
was attained, thereby invalidating the federal standard of a notice pleading by which the opposing party is provided a basic knowledge of the nature of the claim or defense. The new process legalized by the MCA contradicts international standards and case law, as defendants are prohibited from invoking the Geneva Conventions or their protocols as a source of rights in any U.S. court. Defendants are subject to permanent detention and torture, explicitly contradicting the third Geneva Convention (of which the United States is currently a signatory) which bans “outrages upon personal dignity, particularly humiliating and degrading treatment;” the use of evidence extracted under said conditions is then permitted to go to trial. Consequently, the US is in active violation of its own War Crimes Act of 1996 by endeavoring in a “grave breach of the Geneva Conventions,” while the MCA prohibits U.S. courts from using “foreign or international law” to inform their decisions in relation to the War Crimes Act. The fine print of the MCA grants Bush authority to “interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions” as he sees fit. The MCA also backdates the “war on terror” to before 9/11/01 in order to try individuals in front of
The Yeti
~ 11 ~
December, 2006
military commissions for “war crimes” committed prior to that date. And yet, while immediate adjustments made by the MCA are startling, the worst has yet to come. The New York Times described the Act as “a tyrannical law that will be ranked with the low points in American democracy, our generation’s version of the Alien and Sedition Acts.” 1 More than anything else, the MCA and 10/17/06 represent an international lowering of human justice standards. Since the end of W WII, the U.S. has been looked to as a model for these standards; nations with far worse records of human rights violations now see torture as justified since it’s in accordance with the “Bush Doctrine.” The “war paradigm” of the Bush administration is legally endorsed by the MCA, making constant war and deplorable treatment of individuals legal, so long as it contributes to the defense of “national security.” Endnotes 1.
“Rushing Off a Cliff ”, The New York Times, September 28, 2006
his mother said that he had a good head on his shoulders ~ by Lindsay Tuttle
and my erik is in prison, he brutally drugged and raped a fourteen-year old girl the wildly bipolar boy. up and down, out of control. alternately sweet and awful. my blondie who once through wet kleenex all over my room just because he could. i never thought he would do something like that. it doesnt fit with how i remember him. i remember playing simcity with him at recess and just laughing and being silly. he was my fruit tart, and now he is in prison for twenty-five years for rape.
Paternalism Remember those fights you got in with your parents, disagreeing as to which of your actions stood in your best interests? Though they may have been right, acting better than we could have alone, we like to think we’ve grown up and have the capacity to make responsible decisions for ourselves. Still, paternalism insidiously clings to our lives in the form of governmental maxims of law presumed to be necessary for societal well being. One particular area in which political prohibition of activity is argued to have negative effects on society is Needle Exchange Programs, or NEPs. In the state of Florida, according to the Department of Health, national incidence of HIV infection from intravenous drug users (IDUs) reaches as high as 17%. Needles cost very little to supply to IDUs, programs for those people living with AIDS (PWAs) cost tremendous amounts of money. Florida has programs to acquire medications, medical insurance, and even housing to those PWAs who are eligible for assistance. Lifetime care costs frequently reach near $200,000/PWA, according to a 1992 American Medical News article. This is public money. Contrary to the claims of those who prohibit needle exchange from reaching those most in need of them, IDUs, their availability does not increase drug use. We are in conflict with the very government who seeks to protect us, by thinking other actions would better reflect our interests; protect us. With IDUs being a significant route through which blood-born pathogens like HIV or Hepatitis C infect, providing NEPs is a proven measure to decrease new cases. It is true, as my father reminded me, that not all ‘doped up’ people will take advantage of such programs designed for their well being. Given the route, it is true that these IDUs will have the ability to protect themselves to a greater extent than our government now allows. Currently, all US NEPs have been privately run small scale operations. They work to great effect, providing a safer environment to engage in dangerous behavior. Even if you are in the statistical minority of persons not affected by HIV to some degree, possessing no friends or family who’ve been exposed, never having unprotected sex with a partner, and have never used a drug intravenously, I wish to stress taxpayer funded NEPs stand in your interest. Simply put, is it more sensible to collectively spend $20 over the lifetime of an IDU to provide them with clean needles, or spend in excess of $100,000 to provide treatment for someone infected with HIV? From a financial standpoint, it seems simple. To protect our society, our health, and our public funds, might it be time to re-examine the policies such a patriarch as State ‘protects’ us with? I, with faith we can determine for ourselves, feel now is the time to speak up as self-responsible adults. For more information, visit: nasen.org, ssdp.org, drugpolicy.org, harmreduction.com
The Yeti
~ 12 ~
December, 2006
MOVIES MUSIC V for Vendetta ~ by Michael Moore
“I’ll cry me a river… over you.” Such was the repetitive lament sanctioned to the beleaguered masses. That’s what Ella said to her ex-lover and apparently what “V” designated to the lost souls of war laden Earth circa 2020. I liked that—the backdrop of music that buoyed forth the nuances of the film; the score helped delineate the subtleties of the complicated psyche of out tortured protagonist. And of he, Mr. V, formerly identified as prisoner Roman Numeral V in some government sponsored research lab (that looks more like a concentration camp), well the jury is still out on the new millennium archetypal hero. I’m not exactly sure when the western superhero switched from the quasi-queer All American Super Man prototype to the vaudevillian good/ bad guy that is V (short for Vendetta), but if mythologies are a gauge for the consciousness of a people, then Mr. V clearly benchmarks a shift in the collective Western state of mind. Today’s vanguard of morality is no longer the sterile all-American boy in blue. He has adorned himself in the darkly connoted colors of menacing black and alarming red. He is equal parts dark and light, good and evil, cop and robber. He is human, or at least as human as the viewing public will allow its superheroes to be. Our 21st century man of the people
emerges from the mind of comic genius Alan Moore; “V” was a project started in 1981 and completed in 1988. Fittingly, there’s a strong dose of 1980’s UK undertones – replete with the ominous clouds of the totalitarian regime that governed at the time (still does). But the film (with which Moore has disassociated himself) is set some 15 years from now in a future where a disassembled United States writhes in the grasp of civil war and desperately clamors for cheap pharmaceuticals from a European motherland that locks its citizens down to early curfews and incessant surveillance. Meanwhile, corruption not only runs amuck in London – it is the reigning principle in the ranks of a government gone garishly gangsta! Such is the prevailing law of lawlessness, in which the most extreme shall reign supreme. And it’s this recipe for tyranny that lays out the red carpet for the outlaws that manipulate the British government to walk right in. “V for Vendetta” takes us on a two hour tour through the inner workings of how V came to be who he is as he systematically pays back his vendettas one by one. V’s modus operandi emulates the rebellion of one Guy Fawkes, a true life legend of European lore whose attack against Parliament in 1605 serves as V’s well of inspiration. “Remember, remember, the 5th of November...” begins the ode to Mr. Fawkes in the opening of the film. In the first scene V meets his protégé Evey, the orphaned daughter of murdered activists who were abducted during London’s antiterrorism sweeps some 15 years prior. After saving her from some corrupt lawmen, he introduces her to his vigilante lifestyle, veering off into his first act of vengeance – exploding a sight called the Bailey, which pays false homage to the legend of November 5th. The following morning he takes over the British television network and announces himself to an astonished populace, revealing his plan to destroy Parliament upon next year’s anniversary.
The Yeti
~ 13 ~
December, 2006
The Wachowski brothers (The Matrix Trilogy) directed the film, so it’s no wonder that V’s first mass PSA sounds a lot like Morpheus introducing Neo to the real world. The following 90 minutes wind us through conspiracy, secrecy, and deception that stretches back some 20 years and binds together the entire cast. To delve deeper would of course unveil roots in an ideologue that extends past this movie, but of course we’re dealing solely with the allegory of V, one of many derivatives of the vast saga of humanity versus global white supremacist imperialism and its many legged manifestations. And V merely represents, as he says, “an idea… and ideas don’t die.” More from the vault of Mr. V’s philosophy: “People shouldn’t be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.” I’m not sure how accurate that is, as it seems like an ideal situation would entail a harmonious correspondence between the two units in the symbiotic relationship of government and populace. People in power serving the ones who have chosen them – isn’t that what democracy is supposed to be? But alas, we’re not talking about democracy. We’re dealing with the mockery thereof, and the real world of controllers versus controlled. And for the sake of this film, and of this particular zeitgeist, V’s philosophy is right on time. Change of the guard indeed… Speaking of which, my reference to Superman earlier on just may be contextualized by that old argument in the black community of MLK versus Malcolm, the ballot or the bullet, turn the other cheek versus by any means, etc. Or at least we can kind of figure where Alan Moore and the Wachowski brothers may stand on it. At the end of the film as the credits roll through, some quotable gems are spoken from the late great Malcolm X and none other than the legendary Assatta Shakur. Wow! It was like the big head baby from Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood had sprouted up one more time to holler, “Message!” The first time I watched it at the theater, this was of course the part where all the “Yeah, that was a really cool movie” viewers of the predominately alabaster persuasion were nonchalantly walking out. Nonetheless, this one here is a classic whose greatness cannot be suppressed even if overlooked. If the movie doesn’t get the point across, time will. After all, “you can’t kill an idea.”
New Years Eve in TDC, not Tong Du Chon ~ by James N. McKay
Iman Bhullar inherited the typical imperious stature and strong features of the Sikh warrior, but none of the fiercely aggressive spirit. As a result, he was bullied in high school until everyone discovered just how brilliant and wild-natured he was.
In a high school so academically rigorous that 96% of seniors graduate and go on to college, he could come in to any class completely wasted with fifteen minutes remaining and ace the test. Iman became a legendary figure, idolized by underclassmen who would gather to hear any tale of his crazy exploits. But Iman learned the pitfalls of youthful abandon the hard way; in three out of five semesters, he failed out of the University of Rochester spectacularly with GPA’s between 0.5 and 1.3. Despite this, the school was so taken with his prodigal scientific abilities that they employed him full time to do cancer research, giving him the key to the lab so he could conduct experiments with mice on his own at night. A combination of his family moving away, a self-imposed solitude, and sheets of LSD precipitated a complete breakdown. He stopped bathing, took out the trash every few months, and only left his apartment to go to the lab. After cutting off all contact with his lifelong buddies, we were forced to kidnap him and drive him around the city for hours, lecturing him, threatening, reasoning, finally begging, but to no avail. Then one day, at 22 years of age, Iman saw enlisting as the only option to reform his life, perhaps via some instinctual militarism surging through his Sikh blood. The same fall that I graduated from university and found a job in Mok’po, an obscure port city of 300,000 on the far southwestern tip of the Korean peninsula, Iman was shipped off to the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, on the North Korean border. I hadn’t seen a non-Korean, nor met any English
speaking Koreans. Without any assistance, I had acclimated myself to a place where eating live octopus isn’t considered unusual, where everything would stop and people would rush out of buildings for a glance at me. Every day I interacted with people who had never interacted with a foreigner before. I was now settled and prepared to go about living in Korea, Korean style. But when I woke up and got off of the night train to Tong Du Chon, I felt as if I had eaten a whole sheet of Iman’s acid, so surreal were my surroundings. There was little evidence that Camp Casey was in Korea-all of a sudden, I was back in America. Shopping malls identical to those in the states (only much cheaper), and Burger King with ten foot-high drive through speaker boxes and wide, reinforced drive-thru lanes to accommodate missile-carrying trucks and tanks. I had been just two months in the country, but I knew more Korean than any of the soldiers I met, some having been there for several years. Most didn’t even know the alphabet: perfectly phonetic and logical, it takes the average person just a day or two to learn. One G.I. with a farmboy smirk proclaimed, “We’ve learned a lot more Russian than Korean, with all these friendly Siberian girls in town.” They uniformly refer to the village at the gate of the base as TDC, because after all, it exists to serve them, so why make all that effort to pronounce Tong Du Chon? When I called the place by its true name with the proper Korean inflection in my voice, some of them wouldn’t even catch what I was saying, because even the locals called it TDC.
The Yeti
~ 14 ~
December, 2006
In the stuttering, rapid-fire speech that he purposefully developed because he liked the sound of it, Iman explained to me with his dry humor that the rich cultural tapestry that the army encompasses was exemplified by the diversity of his batallion, who lived in a barrack of fully-equipped, two-man suites that resembled the luxury dormitory of some private school more than any traditional Hollywood portrayal of army life. “We’ve got k-k-krunk thug niggaz, hyphy thug n-n-niggaz, tough-ass East coast niggaz, a-a-a-and then we’ve got inbred Southern rednecks, a-a-and corn-fed M-M-Midwestern rednecks. A-a-a-all kinds in this army.” Stereotypes they were, but these were not men you would want to walk past alone on a poorly-lit street, not guys you would envision as noble husbands for your daughter. To put it bluntly, I looked around and saw the dregs of society, dressed and pressed into some semblance of professional soldiers. Perhaps this can be partially explained by the fact that Korea is the dreaded posting in the Pacific region, and thus not a place where you will tend to encounter the crème de la crème, but that logic only goes so far. Iman and his buddy Kurt were only on speaking terms with the token Korean soldier assigned to their unit, and two Honduran mercenaries who did nothing but chain smoke and play Playstation in their suite. Contrary to the rhetoric from Washington evoking the citizen’s fears to maintain the military’s astronomical budget, boredom is the greatest
adversary most troops stationed in Korea will ever combat-the only real enemy, in fact. When Iman’s battalion got sent on the occasional three-week patrol of the DMZ, the North Korean soldiers would be in a cordial, playful mood, if ever spotted at all. Usually the G.I.’s are only faced with desperate, starving peasants trying to sneak across the heavily mined border. If the mines and North Korean soldiers don’t stop them, some mean-spirited, ‘roid raging’ jock with an IQ low enough to be in the Bush family might use them for target practice. We shot pool, not peasants, because it was one of the only things to do on base aside from shopping, going to the movies, lifting weights or playing sports at the extensive athletic facilities. We went to the library because Kurt is an avid reader in need of new material for the long holiday weekend. The room had a few desks and about eight, fifteen-foot long rows of bookshelves, mostly outdated works on history and military affairs. In the middle of the afternoon on a free day for most of Casey’s 15,000 soldiers, we encountered only one person there-an officer, studying for a test. If they weren’t pumping iron or shooting hoops, the boys were resting up for the big New Years night on the town. At night the Korean architecture of Tong Du Chon is blurred out by neon signs, along with any resemblance to the Korea I know. Iman and Kurt determined to hit all the spots on the strip with me. Yet aside from the Lebanese shoarma diner, there seemed to be nothing but an endless row of strip club/brothels. I pleaded with them to let us have a beer in a plain old bar for a break, just having been utterly turned-off and depressed by a Filipina stripper who begged me to accept some extra personal services, telling me that she sends all the money back home to feed her three children. Apparently that tactic makes the soldiers feel like philanthropists doing her a favor by screwing her. We brainstormed, and then came up with the one place we might try for a bit of a breather from the strip scene. At first the place seemed like a typical bar in the states, but within ten minutes the ladies of the house were upon us, demanding $20 drinks for the pleasure of their conversation. As soon as the suds hit the
bottom of my mug, it was time to move on. To finish off the night we went to a place where my buddies are regulars- also a strip club, but special because Kurt’s girlfriend works there. The girl was from Vladivostok, only nineteen, and noticeably still more innocent that most of the women, with a body that could have been carved out of marble if it didn’t move so rapturously. Kurt watched her dance with a detached pleasure. Her
society, which dictates that the young defer to and show the utmost respect for those of senior generations, regardless of race or even gender. If these soldiers came to Mok’po and tried the same behavior, any number of onlookers would have beaten them senseless. But G.I.s vacation at army resort colonies in Guam and the Philippines, and don’t see any part of Korea outside of base towns and commercial parts of downtown Seoul, which also cater to foreigners. Thus, the average soldier knows less than nothing about the people he is supposedly there to defend, and the army does nothing to correct their misconceptions and counter their ignorance. Ignorance is bliss, they say, but I noticed that the G.I. stationed in Korea is usually no happier than when his transfer back home is approaching. While this account of the most perverse, shameful, and tragic place I have been in my world travels reads as a total condemnation of the entirely inhumane and dehumanizing culture that the U.S. military both allows and creates around it’s foreign bases, there truly is a speck of light in every darkness. Now that Iman is out of the army and a content, stutter-free, cleanliving member of civil society in New York, friends, family, and especially Iman himself testify that his army experience had an overwhelmingly positive effect on his life. I only wish that all soldiers, foreign workers, and native peoples around the base could say the same, but I doubt that many could
To put it bluntly, I looked around and saw the dregs of society, dressed and pressed into some semblance of professional soldiers. routine involved working her way around the crowd, briefly giving men free lap dancesbut they had to pull up their shirts and let her drip candle wax on them. I hoped she would avoid the three of us for Kurt’s sake, but spotting me as a visiting friend, she was going to wax and grind me extra hard, regardless of how uncomfortable it made me. Kurt was saving money to buy her passport from the club’s owner, who kept her indefinitely as a sex slave. This practice is the norm in strip clubs and bars around TDC and in fact all Korean towns around American bases, and Kurt’s situation is by no means uncommon. During the previous year, when a soldier was unable to buy his beloved from her pimp slavemaster at any price, he stole an APV (Armored Personnel Vehicle) and drove it over the closed base gates, straight through the front of the club and out the back, while the owner was inside. Strip club hopping works up quite an appetite, so we stopped at a crowded, tiny greasy spoon. Faced with patronizing and humiliating comments, filthy and belligerent behavior from the drunken soldiers, the self-depreciating, servile demeanor of the fifty-something Korean man and his wife running the shop was the biggest of all shocks to my system, and one which would revolt and shame any Korean observer (fortunately the customer base was 100% G.I.). This is because of the strongly Confucian hierarchy of Korean
The Yeti
~ 15 ~
December, 2006
Why the Government should Respect and Allow the Right of an Individual to Partake in Doctor Assisted Suicide ~ by Sean Johnson
For the majority of society the issue of assisted suicide is seldom discussed, due its depressing nature. Laws have been enacted in the hope of inhibiting the unfortunate event of a person choosing to end their own life. Many people support such laws, generally, for religious reasons or because the thought of somebody voluntary committing assisted suicide stirs up feelings of sadness and dejection, feelings .they would rather avoid. Unfortunately, these laws often result in the unjust imprisonment, suffering, and forced sedation of non-violent citizens. These unintended consequences can further add to the unfortunate state of the victim, particularly those already in agony due to his or her medical condition. The denial of the right to commit and assist in voluntary suicide strips an individuals’ right to free will, discrediting human responsibility and prolonging the suffering of those who make the conscious decision – that every citizen should have - to end their own life. Supporters of the Right to Life movement laws argue that an individual who possesses the will to commit suicide is incapable of making decisions concerning his or her own life, essentially advocating the denial of
a doctor’s ability to provide assistance to those they are sworn to remedy. The fact that some of these distraught individuals have families further conflates the issue, as there is certainly a serious ethical differentiation between a parent who wishes to commit assisted suicide and a person who has no dependants. Special considerations should be taken on an individual basis and sensible laws enacted that prevent doctor-assisted suicide under reasonable circumstances. However, by allowing the freedom of choice for independent, consenting people, the government will be giving solace to those who endure life in continuous pain. When the United States first established independence from Britain, the founders, acting under the political philosophy of liberalism, envisioned a country based upon on the most fundamental concepts of independence, free will, and personal responsibility. To deny an individual the accountability over his or her own life underminds the basic philosophy this country was founded upon. Among the freedoms granted in the Bill of Rights, including freedom of speech, press, assembly, and religion, American citizens are guaranteed the pursuit of happiness. If one’s happiness lies within death, it is hypocritical of society to condemn the actions of those individuals who knowingly partake in this act. Patients have the choice of whether or not to partake in an operation given knowledge of the circumstances. Conversely, there is a deceitful double standard concerning the choice of assisted suicide: the medical welfare of an individual is no longer at his or her judgment. By inhibiting one’s decision of suicide, we are simply reinforcing the notion that the people
are unable to make decisions for themselves, instead relying on the government, or more specifically lobbyists who pander to the Republican religious conservatives in our government to use human lives as stepping stones for a political agenda. The denial of a person’s right to die is not only harmful in that it inhibits basic human freedoms, but in the fact that it enforces the unmerited imprisonment of the individual. Having committed no crime, these people’s lives are in the hands of the government, and often living conditions alone result in a daily routine of chronic physical and emotional pain. For many, their condition is irreversible. These individuals have little hope to look forward to, seemingly being kept alive for the sole purpose of being alive. The anguish and pain that originally led to their plea for death is likely amplified to an unimagable degree every day of their continued existence., yet we are all told that these laws are in place to support subjective concepts such as ‘humanity’ and ‘compassion.’ It is our ethical obligation to allow individuals the freedom of choice over their own lives. An individual’s existence does not belong to the state, or their relatives, or their friends. To suggest that a person is incapable of having absolute responsibility over his or her own life is both demoralizing and fascist; furthermore, it degrades human dignity.
Economic Theories:
The Unfortunate Resurgence in Modernization’s Popularity Modernization theory was originated by Max Weber, who invented the Protestant work ethic, which claims that making a profit is man’s moral obligation. Rationalization is glorified, thereby crowning capitalist beurocracies the most efficient model for the goal of profit-making. According to modernization theorists, capitalism can only produce wealth; therefore, the rest of the world, namely developing countries, should follow in America’s footsteps, adopting Western values, markets, and government institutions in order to pull themselves out of poverty. The inherent problem of this view is that it completely ignores the culture, agriculture, history, and people of the rest of the world. It says the West is the best, and if a country isn’t willing to surrender its ideals to America’s, then it’s tough luck. What worked for America does and will not necessarily work for the rest of the world, and it’s willfully ignorant and arrogant to impose one model as the panacea for all. That the world economy is unkind to countries who are still struggling to get on their feet after being colonized is ignored by modernization theorists, who focus only on the internal causes of poverty. It suggests that if developing countries are still struggling, they are simply not trying hard enough to imitate America. For example, the reason a nation of traditionally religious people may be impoverished is because they are not embracing the fast-paced model of modernity, and are wallowing in their own “irrationality.” It’s also easy to pontificate from the top. Modernization theory does not take the reasoning of world-systems theory into account, which points out that the wealth of one nation may inhibit that of another. When one country, let’s say the U.S., is occupying so much of the world’s wealth, is there enough for everyone else?
“the success of the west would have been impossible without the brutal power trip in history known as colonialism.” The West’s advantage of being the colonizer rather than the colonized allowed it to escape what is arguably the largest burden shouldered by the rest of the world. Capitalism was brought from Europe to the rest of the world by conquest (Japan was the only country to dodge being colonized). Colonialism changed Europe through capitalist social relations, and the power and wealth that accompanied them. Europe got to the top early on thanks to its technological advantage that enabled it to use inanimate energy, resulting in a high agricultural yield (primarily wheat), and subsequent population density. Europeans were not prone to disease since they had a native resistance to viruses due to the proximity of draft animals. Agricultural imports from the American colonies also helped finance further expansion of colonial power. Their “rational” legal and economic system that practiced secular law created secure property rights and enforceable contracts. Its governments were generally supportive of the merchant class; the fact that Europe was not united and that there was no central government kept innovation and the rise of the merchant class from being stifled. Also, Spain’s early appropriation of large amounts of precious metals in South America provided an influx of capital to finance more colonial expansion. These basic advantages during colonialism facilitated the promotion of capitalism, which has been set in place in a seemingly irreversible manner. Former colonies continue to struggle to work within a system they did not create. who the hell the IMF and world bank are The International Monetary Fund is concerned with short-term economic fluctuations, originally established to promote global financial security, trade, and macroeconomic performance. Since the collapse of the Bretton-Woods agreement in 1973, its focus has switched to that of debt relief, exchanging its duties from rate stability among the first world to control over third world development. The IMF’s actions include technical
advice on policies, correction of short-term balance-of-payment problems, and what they have become most infamous for, debt restructuring. Under the Baker Plan, terms of new loans to indebted countries are designed to promote neoliberal “free markets.” Debt restructuring is the major reason why the IMF is so hated by some; it revolves around Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs), which are criticized as a thinly disguised program to promote American interests and force open foreign markets. SAPs devaluate currency to make exports and raw materials cheaper, privatize government assets, end tariffs and quotas to liberalize trade, increase interest rates to battle inflation, and cut back government spending to free funds for debt repayment. This last agenda is a major criticism of the IMF, since it reduces subsidies for food and transportation, favors capital over labor and elites over the poor, thereby widening the gap of social inequality. Further criticisms are that SAPs (“austerity programs”) make problems worse in countries that are already in crisis, potentially causing mass misery, as in the cases of the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Russia’s economic collapse in 1998, and Venezuela’s similar collapse in 2001. The World Bank, formerly The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, seems to be hated more by its association with the IMF in their two-fronted representation of globalization than for what it is actually doing. In the 1960s and 70s the World Bank’s focus shifted from coordinating funding for Europe and Asia after WWII to the developing world; the World Bank is the largest external funder of development assistance. It extends loans, sponsors research, and offers technical assistance, developing means of water, transportation, and farming in the third world. However, The World Bank has been accused of being undemocratic and secretive since it doesn’t listen to community groups, as well as promoting corporate interests, advancing the neoliberalist agenda, and causing environmental harm by allowing multi-national corporations to open fragile ecosystems to the world economy. Notably, the World Bank has made recent strides to focus on sustainable development in response to these criticisms.
Travel Journal – Macedonia ~ by James N. McKay
Yesterday I wandered through a picturesque part of Skopje, Macedonia, called “Beverly Hills” because it had been rebuilt by some philanthropic Californians after an earthquake in 1963. The war which brought so much devastation to Tetovo was followed by no such grandiose acts of charity. My photos of “Beverly Hills” could be mistaken for a middle-class part of Munich, whereas my images from Tetovo more closely resemble scenes of Kabul, Grozny, or Mogadishu. People seem to travel only in threes in Tetovo - three covered Muslim women stroll arm in arm, three teenage guys suck Marlboros in jean jackets and sneakers, three girls with hair dyed red strut in tight pants. The coffee is rich and strong, served with a shot of sparkling water. I had forgotten how much I prefer this espresso over the sickly-sweet Turkish coffee that is my only option at home in Istanbul. At the foot of mountains separating the country from Albania to the West and Kosovo to the North, Turkish and Muslim influence is much more prominent than in Skopje. No restaurants here, but tons of cafes and ice cream parlors. A dignified man sipping tea is wearing a suit, the first one I’ve seen. With one of the highest unemployment rates in Europe, I shouldn’t be surprised. A wild-eyed guy with a classic Turkish moustache and a blue beach hat with “Hawaii” scrawled across an embroidered palm tree is wandering about in the mid-afternoon drizzle with a pink carnation clenched between his teeth. No one finds that worth a second glance aside from myself. Chilly winds after the rain urge me to keep moving. There are still a couple of hours
until the last bus - enough time to wander the backstreets. First I have a pleasant cabbie take me on a slow roll back through the city towards the vicinity of the bus station; the only taxi driver in the country who didn’t try to cheat me, or throw my money back at me and scream, “GO, FUCKING AMERICANSKI SHEET!” A generous tip was the reward for his civility. Taking advantage of institutionalized piracy that felt much more like being in back in Asia than Europe, I bolstered the local economy by buying 35 CDs. Copies are sold in shops here for about two dollars, but they keep a few authentic originals on display, perhaps to create a facade of legality. The shopkeepers were mystified by this foreigner who bought all of their gypsy music and Albanian hip-hop without the faintest idea who the artists were, or what they were saying! Albanian Muslims and gypsies can speak Turkish quite well, which was fortunate for me, not knowing any Macedonian. A wirey guy with a dark complexion named Samir was one of the many eager to describe for me the conditions in Tetovo. He claimed that before the war, Macedonians were paid nearly twice as much as Albanians to do the same job. Now that isn’t the case, although discrimination is still a huge barrier to employment and advancement. He said that half the country is ethnic Albanian, making them the largest ethnic group among Macedonian Slavs, Roma gypsies, Bulgars and Serbs. Fully 90% of Tetovo is Albanian, he claims. Just like all the Slavs I met in other parts of the country, with a glint of fierce tribal pride in his eye as old as mankind, Samir tells me that turnover of arms mandated by foreign powers was only complied with on a token level. The Muslims too have plenty of their best weapons hidden deep in the hills, patiently waiting for the UN peacekeeping force to withdraw. Waitng for the bus, I snap a photo of some people who are living in gutted jalopies and little cardboard and sheet plastic lean-to structures, built against the wrecks in the middle of a trashlittered field. These are the villagers
whose homes were razed by NATO air strikes more than four years ago, the only visible consequence of the Clinton administration’s great “humanitarian” effort. Many of these refugees are grotesquely disfigured – the sinister legacy of uranium-depleted artillery shells. Like in Kosovo, the children of these people are often born without eyes or with webbed digits, which may explain why the city dwellers have relegated them to the junk fields on the outskirts of town. I try to get in closer for better shots, but the old man by the fire shouts and thrashes his arms about wildly in a venomous display of disapproval. The rage of the taxi driver comes back to my mind: go, fucking Americanski shit. I tactfully decide it’s time to return to the buses and buy some sunflower seeds from an ancient, hunchbacked lady who pats my hand and smiles while telling me something in Macedonian, oblivious to the fact that I can’t understand a word. Or could I? In a land with constant reminders that tomorrow is promised to noone, blessings are bestowed upon the traveler. As we pull out of the delapidated bus terminal, we leave behind the spectral scenery of burned-down villages outside Tetovo. The last one we pass is tiny on the northern horizon, but I see that the exquisitely tiled minaret of its 17th century Ottoman mosque has toppled and crashed through the dome, which must look like an impacting Patriot missile from the shattered interior. Now all is peaceful in the brilliant return of the late afternoon sun, among these unblemished, forested hills, upon these rich, freshly tilled clay fields. A rainbow is the gateway to the valley which we cross. Both sides of the road are exploding with legions of crimson poppy flowers, blinding in the long rays of sunset. The larger, longer mountains are so uniformly covered with small pines that they look like fuzzy green blankets under which giants are nestled in slumber. The steady diesel hum of the engine is a lullaby, and combined with the twilight stillness, I drift into sleep.
Terrorism is on the minds of all in the country and aside from being concerned with the obvious international terrorists threats, the U.S. government is cracking down harder then ever on the “terror at home”. And what two groups has the government decided to pour a vast majority of our tax dollars into deconstructing? The only two domestic terrorists groups that have not once resulted in the death of a human or non-human animal: animal rights activists (ARAs) and environmental activists (ERAs). Both have been deemed by the United States Department of Homeland Security as the “number one domestic terrorist threat” in the country. Allow us to analyze who the ARAs and ERAs are up against. The list of domestic terrorist groups in the United States includes (but is not limited to): • Aryan Republic Army, an extremely militant anti-government, white supremacist group whose ultimate goal is the violent overthrow of the U.S. government through bank robberies, armed resistance and the killing of non-whites. • World Church of Creator, a white supremacists group who denies the Holocaust, promotes racial neo-eugenics and who is wholly dedicated to the “survival, expansion and advancement of the White Race exclusively.” An example of one of the many killing sprees by a member is the homicides committed by member Benjamin N. Smith in 1999, when Smith went on a three day killing spree, causing the death of a Korean
man, an African-American man and nine others, committing suicide at the end. The group views Smith as a martyr. • Viper Militia, and anti-government group who is against weapons regulation. They promote weapons, ammunition, and explosives manufacturing and stockpiling. This groups is thought to be responsible for a large portion of Timothy McVeigh’s training leading up to the Oklahoma City bombing in which 168 died. • -Phineas Priesthood, an anti-semetic Christian Identity movement who vehemently opposes inter-racial intercourse, the mixing of races, homosexuality and abortion. The group advocates bank robberies to fund their activities as well as the bombing of FBI buildings, the bombing of abortion clinics and the killing of doctors who perform abortions. • And most notably, the Klu Klux Klan, a group that advocates white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, and nativism. The KKK is responsible for the killings of AfricanAmericans (going as far as murdering black soldiers who had returning from war) and white supporters of civil rights (some killings having taken pace in broad daylight), lynching, cross burnings, church burnings, floggings, knifings, and murders with guns and bombs of anyone deemed un-American (those thought to be communist and socialist) stretching over a hundred years. The goal of animal rights groups and environmental activism groups is the end of industries that are destroying our planet, destroying our bodies and causing cruelty to be inflected upon harmless creatures. The most extreme action taken by these groups has been the destruction of property that is being used to injure animals, people or the environment (note: it is always ensured that
The Yeti
~ 19 ~
December, 2006
these buildings are empty and that no one or thing will be harmed in the destruction of them). ALF and ELF must be ten fold worse then all of these terrorist threats combined to earn the title of number one! But if these groups haven’t resulted in one death, then why are they considered more of a threat then groups that are actively killing scores of humans? “direct action in the form of economic sabotage to stop the exploitation and destruction of the natural environment.” If you haven’t already lost all faith in the inherent good in our democratic government, now you surely will. The largest industrial targets of animal rights activists and eco-activists are the government’s two biggest moneymakers: the largely government-owned farmed animal industry (including animals raised for meat, milk and eggs) and the automobile industry (who in turn feeds the largely government-owned oil industry). While Anti-abortion activists killing doctors who perform abortions aren’t hurting the fat cat aristocrats’ billfolds. Uncle Sam’s pocket book takes no blow when white-sheet clad KKK members beat a group of African Americans to death. But when an animal rights activist holds a peaceful demonstration outside, Instead of focusing our tax dollars on protecting women and doctors (from anti-abortion groups), African Americans (from the KKK), or homosexuals (from the Phineas Preisthood), our government is more concerned with protecting the American “right” to exploit animals and the environment for our own selfish enterprises. The men, women and children in this country don’t make America the land of the free and home of the brave it is. Triple-decker bacon cheeseburgers, foot long chili cheese dogs and 8 miles per gallon SUVs do. Anybody who threatens these American virtues is un-American. And not just un-American, they’re members of the number one domestic terrorist group in the country.
Mediators and Paltry Dogmatists: Dark Has Come The Conflict Between Comprehension and Agency Onto the Night ~ by Gregory Harris
Many evangelicals talk about their faith as having ‘a personal experience with G-d.” This understanding implies that there are two personified participants, meaning g-d is a being. Nothing could be further from the experience of Schleiermacher. Schleiermacher would probably agree with today’s evangelicals about the need for religious strivers to be personally invested in their strivings toward the unknown. He would not label them ‘believers’ or ‘adherents’ however, since these terms imply an absolute relationship to a human defined way of grasping the infinite. This is because to him, the idea of g-d falls under attempts to grasp and put into words that which human consciousness cannot fathom. To be sure, he approves of conceptual frameworks to start from when traveling a personal path. The idea of someone using sacred authority to define the terms under which another will relate to the unknown would probably seem absurd to him. Even holy documents, which normally carry more weight in a community than the sermonizing of this or that representative, would only be taken as tales of those who previously strived beyond the common understanding of their day. “Every holy writing is merely a mausoleum of religion, a monument that a great spirit was there that no longer exists.”1 Out of this rejection of sacred authority, Schleiermacher re-imagines the role of clergy as mediators. They are not to present an idea of g-d that must be accepted, rather they present previously successful conceptions to help seekers discover a path that might support them until they
~ by Spencer Greene
can intuit directly on their own. Thus, the idea of g-d is something of a ‘resting place on the path to infinity’ much as humanity in a holistic sense is. Since holy writings are a ‘dead letter’ than most of their ideas have long since passed their usefulness, as they represent the crystallization and death of an ongoing process of intuition. This would include ideas of g-d, given that each biblical character had their own twist on relating to the infinite through g-d. “Now if you cannot deny that the idea of God adapts itself to each intuition of the universe, you must also admit that one religion without god can be better than another with God.”2 Schleiermacher, if he read this, would probably squirm out of any of these definitions of his relationship to ideas of religion and g-d. In context, my last quote might rather speak of the hierarchy of directions to take ideas of g-d in, and not merely state that godlessness could be as spiritually healthy as godliness. His main theme about distangling from g-d seems to be more about losing boundaries and facing the unknown from all sides, where any portal might be intuited. Alternatively, his idea of absolute dependence might suggest that an idea of g-d will surface in a seer, and thus it is unnecessary to proselytize about it. Overall, I envision these passages as a reminder about much of organized religion being a template for moving outward and inward, rather than the final destination. 1.
2.
Endnotes Schleiermacher, Friedrich. Edited by Richard Crouter. On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers. Cambridge University Press. 1988. pg. 50, speech 2 “On the essence of religion.” Ibid. pg. 52.
Dark has come onto the night crashes resound outside of sight, the child sits waiting frozen in fright it hasn’t even tasted the night. Peace come upon the gentle hour watch the wilting of the flower as the people slip still stuck in tomorrow, slave always wishing for the grave still stuck in tomorrow, slave. Hot in the heavenly light of hell to the pit of darkness dwell for it was back then when he fell. Frozen golden glowing key, how you sparkle just for me. Here a chance to go run free, wonder what it is I’ll see. knowing what it grows to be waves come crashing eternally. Watch out the window of what we know leave it to the watchers to label what we show. Let them learn to glow, let me learn to grow.