Posted on November 20 at 9:27 a.m.
Agreed with the above poster, and laughing at the "I have a black friend. No really, I do" line from the letter. What I can say about MU is I actually grew up in Missouri as a kid. I was watching a basketball game, where the student section very classily yelled "M-I-Z- F*** K-U," (Muck Fizzou is at least a tiny bit less direct) I realized I didn't want to go there.
To seal my decision, though, one of my friends a couple years ahead of me was in the marching band, and had things thrown at her from the stands when the band came to perform at MU. Really classy! So, I did what I knew was best, and decided that MU was a waste of time. I haven't been to Columbia since, except to stop in to use a bathroom on my way to St. Louis for a NCAA tournament game (it's kinda like the NIT... Only... it's for good teams).
Posted on November 19 at 4:33 p.m.
The answer is simple. Go to Kansas City, or somewhere else. You can find all those things there. College is about trying new things. Would I rather see Britney Spears or Dethklok perform? Probably Dethklok.
Posted on November 7 at 8:26 p.m.
The fact is Pharmeceutical companies wastefully spend money. All this supposed cost investment in reasearch is supplemented heavily by grants, both public and private, and the companies that manufacture do not shoulder as ridiculous a chunk of money as you are stating, Eudoxus. Let me ask you this- is the industry profitable enough? At what point is there "too much" profit? To most companies, there is no such thing. As a matter of fact, if they could produce items for $0.01 and sell them for $1,000 successfully, they would. Do they *need* a 75=90% profit margin, when much of their research is tax deducted as it is since they are coming up with medicines to help people (who can afford their product)?
Is there an inherent monatery value on human life? Or are you going to repeat the tired conservative mantra of "personal accountability" since "everyone gets the same chance in life."
Posted on November 7 at 2:20 a.m.
Meh, I'm not claiming to understand what it's like to be a woman, it's not comparable, I understand that- women have to deal with a lot more socially than men do. I just haven't met a woman that acknowledges the fact that all men aren't d-bags, and all women aren't oppressed
Posted on November 6 at 11:26 a.m.
Just to get this in before I get ripped for saying that women do this- I'm talking about the attention-desiring ones. I find that the large majority of my female peers do not exhibit these behaviors- however, they are out there, and often ignored in the too-often bleak assessments of men. Men are only interested in sex, only men do sexist things. While male sexism is more direct and therefore easier to spot, female sexism is just as prevalent, in bleak assessments of male counterparts and general frustration at perceived sexist mistreatment.
Young men are socialized now to be completely respectful of women (but a lot aren't), but as the author pointed out, sometimes when treated like an equal, it means the treatment must go both ways. I remember at a previous retail job, I was ringing up some purchases for a woman. In order to get a special accommodation (she wanted the store to authorize a sales flier she found, supposedly in the store, that was more than a month out of date), she insinuated that I was "talking to her breasts." It's ironic, because I had absolutely no interest in her sexually- one of my turn offs happens to be an egotistical smugness, and she was dripping with it- and I made eye contact throughout the full time she was talking to me, except for when I was going to scan her purchase, when I looked down at the counter. Of course, I look like the huge jerk, but every single person who knows me knows I am not like that. I felt like saying "I have no interest whatsoever in your boobs, lady, I really don't even want to talk to you," but again, there's no route you can go. If I apologize, it seems like I actually did stare at her breasts, which I did not. If I don't, it seems like I'm just being a jerk. There's no way to win there- I can't argue with her, as that makes the situation worse. I simply said that I wasn't looking at her like that and she promptly went to complain in order to get a special accomodation on the price.
Hell, it's the same deal where a girl who was dressed provocatively was picked up away from any bus stop not too long ago on Park and Ride (she flagged the bus down)- and offered a ride to where she was going, which was a building not even on the P&R route- the bus detoured and cost everyone else on it an extra couple minutes because she got extra special treatment. I can tell you that no matter how I dress, there isn't a single bus driver on this campus that would stop away from any other stop and make an extra stop off the route just for me, and I certainly wouldn't expect them to.
Posted on November 6 at 10:13 a.m.
There is a sort of vicious double standard in the female sex in our society, I think. As an example, it's becoming increasingly trendy for women to say "I want to be treated equally to men." Great! I completely agree with that. There's no excuse for a woman to be in the same career field as a man and get paid less than her male counterpart for doing the same job. That's just dumb.
However, how many women work against themselves at the same time by using their "assets" to their advantage? Call it doing what you have to to survive, or blame it on men having a biological reaction to seeing cleavage, but I know too many women who are willing to wear a low cut shirt and go out of their way to flirt to put themselves at a significant advantage. Many women indeed abuse their sexuality, in a much more subtle way than men (I'm not saying men don't abuse it in more vile ways)- everyone knows a woman who has gotten out of a traffic ticket by crying, and some even know women who have gotten into their jobs by using a romantic or sexual relationship or just by flirting.
It's also amusing to me when I see girls on campus on the phone complaining about "nasty guys" who "keep staring at my chest/butt" but they have booty shorts with "Princess" or "Prostitute" written across them. Hello? You're putting a word on your ass. Think about it! If I wore a speedo with "stud" written in glitter on the ass, I'm sure people would look- probably in horrid disgust, but they'd look nonetheless. Now I'm not saying it's right to gawk at a girl, but if you don't want attention, don't dress sexually! I mean, honestly, do you think if you're in a t-shirt and sweatpants, you're getting stared at the same? And I know, men shouldn't look at women they don't know sexually, but honestly, you cannot tell me that women are not dressing to appeal sexually to men on SOME level when they dress in some of the clothing that is out there. This isn't a defense of a rapist who rapes a girl for wearing a miniskirt. This is just a simple "how can you be offended if a guy looks at you for wearing a bathing suit to class."
Posted on November 4 at 3:18 p.m.
Conflicting viewpoints within this article: You want all local music to stop, because it isn't as good as Coltrane and the Stones, but you want new big-name musicians. I guess we'll go American Idol for all our music needs?
Posted on October 26 at 8:09 p.m.
great article. the kansan did well with hiring you.
Posted on October 23 at 10:07 a.m.
I'd bet Red Lyon sees approximately 350 people every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. There are no fewer than 60 people in there every time I visit the joint. If every one of them is buying two drinks, at their average price of like $4.50 a beer, they're getting $3,150.00 every weekend night. Almost $10k per weekend. I can name a lot of places that don't draw nearly that much business in a weekend, that aren't going to be broken by this.
I do agree, though, I'd much prefer to have the game here supporting the local economy. I just don't like the whiny excuse that this will break their business- how have they come to rely on this for business, since up until a couple years ago, no one was really excited or coming to see KU football?
Posted on January 31 at 7:16 p.m.
A great column!
On Durbin: The truth is missing