Published since 1915 by the students
of Xavier University
Published since 1915 by the students
of Xavier University
— STAFF EDITORIAL —
Terrorism, as defined by the ever useful Dictionary.com, is the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. Here in America we have settled into a fearful mindset, or have we? It’s evident that terrorism is playing some role in our day to day lives, be it increased security, overzealous law enforcement agencies or simply the entire page Fox News has dedicated to the “War on Terror.” But how scared are we really?
There are people out there petrified to cross the Bay Bridge in Maryland or get on a plane because of the seemingly imminent possibility of an ‘attack.’ The Newswire isn’t biting. We’re not scared. Not even after a bomb (which was detonated) shut down I-71 for hours last week. And it seems as though the rest of the world isn’t as scared as the United States either.
In London, after the July 2005 bombings occurred, there was an increased level of caution, and rightfully so. But soon thereafter the public transportation system opened up and life in jolly old London continued normally. The same thing happened with Spain and Italy after bombings. For some reason the world understands that terrorists, by the very definition, are trying to make you scared.
They want you to become paranoid and anxious to the point of social hysteria. That’s how they win. And it seems as though we’re helping them. Society is quick to jump to the assumption that something is “a terrorist attack.” When New York Yankee Corey Lidle crashed his plane into a building in New York, everyone thought it was terrorists. It wasn’t, and everyone who claimed it felt stupid afterwards.
We, as an American culture, have become scared. Again Fox News, America’s most reliable source for fighting terrorism, has a HANDBOOK on how to survive terror. It highlights procedures and precautions ranging from carrying an energy bar with you at all times to making sure you know every exit wherever you go, so as to make a quick escape in case of a bomb or attack.
Has the United States, arguably the most powerful nation in the world, become afraid of the boogie man, the unseen bad guy who is never seen and always present? The Newswire isn’t trying to make light of a very serious subject. It has Fox News to do that. But what we are trying to do is to point out that everyone has become so obsessed with “terror” that we’re all left either hiding under our covers or in the streets protesting the government. Neither is acceptable.
It’s up to America as a whole, not American government, to win this war. Blaming the terrorists or blaming administrations is the same thing. Both ways create dissention among us, and once those seeds have been planted the only result is growth; the continual deterioration of our way of life. So, the Newswire recommends that you quit living scared and angry, be it at the government or the terrorists, and just start living.
Pat Stevenson
Asst. Op-Ed Editor
Police Notes are to the Newswire what Michael Jordan was to the Chicago Bulls. MJ was always the best player on the Bulls and basketball fans jammed stadiums every season to see His Airness ball, regardless of how good or bad the rest of the Bulls were.
Just as people showed up every season to see MJ play, students of Xavier University pick up the Newswire every week to read the Police Notes. No matter how popular any writer or columnist becomes, we can only hope to be the Scottie Pippen to the Police Notes’ Michael Jordan.
Due to a miscommunication earlier this semester, Police Notes didn’t appear in the October 25 issue of the Newswire. That weekend I was at a party where I was confronted by multiple individuals demanding to know why we hadn’t published Police Notes that week. To put this in perspective, a month before, we discontinued the long-running “Mall Talk” feature, and received only one disappointed email.
My favorite way to kill time here at the Publications House is to dig through the Newswire archives in search of old Police Notes. At this point, I think I’ve read every one published since 2002, which my co-writers can attest to, as I’ve constantly distracted them by reading many of my discoveries out loud.
So this week, I’d like to share with you some of the most notable Police Notes published over the past few years:
March 7, 2003 at 4:45 p.m. Two high school students were arrested in the C4 lot for the underage consumption of alcohol, urinating on cars and running from the police during one of the high school basketball games being held at Cintas Center.
March 16, 2003 at 4:25 p.m. A Village resident exiting her vehicle in the Village lot observed a male subject approximately 18-20 years of age masturbating in an older Plymouth vehicle while asking her for directions.
August 29, 2003 at 5 a.m. Campus Police investigated a report of an unknown female subject climbing into bed with a female resident student. Officers searched the building for the unknown female.
April 2, 2004 at 1:15 a.m. Two resident students were cited for public indecency and possession of stolen property after they were observed urinating behind a building on the west side of campus, as well as having approximately 10 street signs in their possession.
September 6, 2004 at 1:40 a.m. Campus Police investigated a report of two naked men throwing a football on the greenspace. Campus Police were unable to locate the individuals.
November 6, 2004 at 11:25 p.m. A student reported grape jelly, eggs and bologna thrown on his car parked in the Village lot.
November 22, 2004 at 11:50 p.m. An intoxicated alumnus was found passed out by Bellarmine Chapel, identified and taken home by his spouse.
September 5, 2005 at 6:55 a.m. Campus Police, Cincinnati Police and Cincinnati Fire/Rescue checked on the well-being of an intoxicated student found sleeping on the wrong porch at the 3900 block of Winding Way. According to the student, friends dropped off the student inadvertently at the wrong address following a fight with another student at a bar.
February 2, 2006 10:06 p.m. An intoxicated fan outside the men’s basketball game was observed asleep behind the wheel of a vehicle in R-2. The subject was released to his spouse.
November 11, 2006 at 1:20 a.m. Four students were cited for underage consumption after they were caught attempting to sneak into the pool at O’Connor Sports Center.
On November 14, 2006, I listened to Reza Aslan’s lecture at Cintas Center. Aslan is the author of No God but God. In Aslan’s view, the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks weren’t primarily a clash with the West but rather an attempt by Muslim extremists to use the West as a polarizing force in this century-old struggle.
While I find Aslan refreshing, enlightening, stimulating and entertaining, I come away with more questions than answers.
The speaker’s major thesis is that 9/11 is not caused by, nor is it a manifestation of, cultural conflicts. It is driven by radical reformists within the Muslim ranks, the likes of Osama Bin Laden in order to enlist support for its cause. On the other hand, Huntington argued that future world conflicts (including terrorism) are driven by clashes of cultures, not ideology or economics.
“It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflict will be cultural,” said Huntington. “Nation states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs, but the principal conflicts of global politics will occur between nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash of civilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will be the battle lines of the future.”
I do not see how the speaker can argue that 9/11 is precipitated by religious reform movements alone within the Muslim ranks, and not as a result (in part) of a clash of civilizations initiated by the West.
First, to observe that there are divisions within a (Muslim) culture is not to say that such divisions automatically or inevitably translate into disunity in the face of external threats/enemy (West). More significantly, to say that that 1.2 billion Muslims in the world do not agree on their identity and destiny is not to prove that the West is not intending to be the dominant culture of the world.
Second, as a “reformed” Iranian, the speaker looks at the United States (West)—Iraq (Middle East) conflict from the perspective of a (Western?) modernist. Though he insisted that modernization is NOT to be equated with westernization, we know there is only one way to be modernized—to speak English, watch 007, drive a fast car, have a beauty pageant, drink Coke, etc.
In a Chinese vs. the United States context: it is not OK to have bounded feet, but it is quite all right to have contact football. If binding feet retarded human natural development, Sunday noon football certainly artificially breaks bones! Both of them are cultural products —binding feet to please male, knocking heads to appease the big corporations!
Lastly, even if the speaker can explain away 9/11 as a “religious reformation” movement, he is hard pressed to explain why the West constantly tries to make and remake other (third world) countries in their own image: there are more churches in China than temples in the United States; more people wearing ties the world over than Chinese/Iranian clothes. Is this not clashing of cultures?
Where there are clashes of culture, there are potentialities of wars. Westerners invaded China in the 1860s to open her up, and the United States attacked Vietnam in 1970s to shut her off. Now it is Iraq’s turn. Is there any doubt in anyone’s mind that Western cultural influence (dominance) is not obtained through the barrel of a gun?!
That, my friend, is what Huntington is prospecting.
Kam C. Wong
Chair, Criminal Justice
Matthew Finger 
Op-Ed Editor
Pat Stevenson
Asst. Op-Ed Editor
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