Copycats as cowardly as original terrorists

John T. Bennett

Since the heinous terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C., and the recent string of anthrax cases along the East Coast, I have overheard several Appalachian State University students commenting Boone is the safest place to be.

While I doubt Boone ranks high on Osama bin Laden’s al’Qaeda terrorist network’s list of targets, this so-called new war hit home just as many Appalachian State students were voluntarily leaving Boone during the late afternoon hours of Oct. 18 for Fall Break.

All those inside Belk Library were forced to leave the building around 4 p.m. on that Wednesday afternoon due to a suspicious substance discovered on a book.

In accordance to established emergency procedures, the building was closed and evacuated as the Appalachian State University Police and Boone fire departments responded to the incident, according to a bulletin posted on the university’s Web site.

After contacting the FBI, University Police determined the suspicious substance did not pose a threat, and the library was reopened as scheduled Thursday morning, according to the bulletin.

While the substance was not a threat, the fact Boone fell victim to the growing national anthrax scare is a frightening commentary on the current state of what has become a collective fragile American mindset.

This brings me back to the popular notion of Appalachian being an educational safe haven, hidden away from the reach of terrorist activity.

If the goal of terrorism is to merely inject members of a respective society with fear and more instances such as the Belk Library evacuation occur in the weeks and months to come, will students still consider Boone a terror-free environment?

If twisted pranksters attempt to use the outbreak of anthrax cases to emulate the Oct. 18 Belk Library false alarm, what effect will such acts of blatant ignorance have on the students, faculty and staff of Appalachian State University?

After three confirmed deaths linked to the substance at press time, an anthrax threat on Capitol Hill serious enough to shut down the House of Representatives late last week, and confirmation it has been detected in a mal processing center that serves the White House I shudder to think anyone would find such pranks comical.

But, responsibility to resist the human reaction of panic rests on all members of the Appalachian State community if scenes such as the one that unfolded outside Belk Library last week become commonplace.

While some may take some amount of joy in planting a substance the untrained person may mistake as a volatile chemical substance, we cannot allow these people to cause us to veer from the paths that are our daily lives.

Copycat acts may very well become a part of everyday life in America — even in quiet Boone.

However, if we become a community that immediately goes into a state of collective panic whenever something appears even the least bit suspicious, we do nothing more than create a victory for those who support terrorism or attempt to emulate it for personal enjoyment.

Our society has changed forever, but we must be the ones who redefine the way of life in this nation, not the faceless cowards who hijack airliners and transform them into weapons of mass destruction, use chemicals such as anthrax to leave a nation unsettled or those who take joy in copying such acts to strike fear in others.

Our Perspective ...

Three decades at ASU

ABarbara Daye, dean of students and associate vice chancellor for student development, recently announced her plans to retire after the spring semester.

During Daye’s 33-year professional career at Appalachian State University, she pioneered many initiatives that are now central aspects of the current relationship between university officials and students.

Her initiatives include Parent Orientation, Family Weekend, the Appalachian Child Care Development Center and Walk for Awareness.

Daye is also in charge of the Spring Honors Awards Program, Who’s Who and the annual memorial service for Appalachian students who have died while enrolled here, according to a recent article in Focus, a publication of the Equity Office.

Perhaps the biggest void her retirement will create in the university community is the dedication to the student body she has exhibited since she began her professional career at Appalachian as a graduate assistant in 1968.

Daye’s commitment to students may stem from her personal experience as an Appalachian student. The dean holds bachelor of science, master of arts, and education specialist degrees from the university, according to alumni records.

Daye recently said she enjoys working with African-American students in particular. “I’ve always felt like [African-American students] needed someone to go in administration,” Daye told The Appalachian in an interview earlier this week.

However, her dedication to students has not focused on one type or class of student.

We urge those charged with selecting her successor to select a candidate who shares her desire to build lasting relationships with all students at Appalachian State.

Her commitment to Appalachian not only encompasses students, but also parents, faculty and staff. Daye serves as director of Parent Programs, which includes the Appalachian Parents’ Association.

Judy Haas, director of Student Judicial Affairs, calls Daye “an indispensible resource” in a February article of Focus. “My closest ally is Barbara Daye. … Students typically know Barbara as well,” she said.

University officials must soon begin the process of searching for the individual who will fill the two positions Daye currently holds. We must point out the individual chosen to replace Daye will take office at a crucial time and must be capable of emulating Daye’s pioneering spirit.

Her successor will become a top-level administrator at a state-supported university in the midst of a budget crisis and facing a future enrollment increase that will see the number of students climb from 12,560 to 13,300 by 2010.

One of the most appealing aspects of Appalachian State to prospective students is the modest size of most classes that allows for more interaction between professors and students.

We advise university officials to be thorough in selecting an individual who will keep the interests of students paramount as the university attempts to tackle these pressing issues.

History lesson helpful before writing

Jared Kavlock

Editor’s Note: The following is a
response to a column entitled “To the protestors without a cause” penned by Sean Oakley, which ran in the Oct. 16 issue.

One of the most important things my father taught me was not to walk around with blinders on while being spoon-fed rhetoric and lies.

Some of you may have read Sean Oakley’s column last week, “To the protestors without cause.” When I read that column, that lovely little example of free speech, I was quite shocked, to say the least.

Of course, Oakley has every right to his opinion and the ability to express it. I just feel kind of sorry for him. It was almost funny at times.

Let me refresh your memory a little bit:

“You expect everyone to listen to you, usurping the power of the First Amendment, which millions of Americans have given their lives for, yet you rarely ever listen to the other side.”

First of all, isn’t Oakley expecting everyone to listen to him, usurping the power of the First Amendment while urging me not to? Yes, he does say that I have a right to protest foreign policy, but it seems like he is urging me not to, and even begins name-calling. Apparently, everyone who doesn’t share Oakley’s view of the world is a “cowardly traitor.”

That is better than being an ignorant warmonger.

Perhaps what Oakley and others who share his opinion really need is a history lesson.

You see, this great country, this great “beacon of freedom,” is a nation built on land stolen from the American Indians and on the backs of African slaves. The freedoms outlined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were for white men only and remained that way for a long time. Before things got better, they got worse, as white men from the North and South began fighting and killing each other over petty squabbles.

Since that time things have slowly gotten better, but America is still very far from the utopia that Oakley seems to think it is. All peoples are not equal, not all are represented in our wonderful democracy, and whether you like it or not, America is not exactly the world’s good neighbor.

In fact, America is more of the neighborhood bully. The greatest thing about this country is that I can say it is a bully freely and openly. The only way to change oppressive U.S. policies is to speak out against them. I think it is extremely important that people stand up for what they believe in, even if it means being a sheep broken away from the herd – you will have company.

Sheep are exactly what the American people are, and the government and the media are the sheepherders. The majority of the information we receive is completely one-sided and distorted to fit within the American propaganda machine. Most of us have swallowed it all – hook, line and sinker.

Well, I, for one, refuse to be one of the sheep. I want to know the truth, the whole truth, not the half-truths permeating our airwaves. Oakley suggests that information obtained from outside the mainstream media is probably more one-sided and propaganda-filled. Does he mean more one-sided and propaganda-filled than “fair and balanced” “Fox News Live”?

I’m not even sure that is possible. It is Oakley who is receiving biased messages and lies, not the protestors of the war. The more I look at other sources, the clearer the picture becomes.

Let’s look now at some truths. (I promise it won’t hurt – much.)

People protesting military action against Afghanistan are not making excuses for the actions of the terrorists. Peaceful people who are anti-war do not support terrorism, but many of them are intelligent enough to learn reasons why these people have been driven to commit these acts.

Oakley brought up Iraq and its ability to produce chemical weapons. Iraq produces chemical weapons, but so does the United States. Iraq has people starving and living in poverty while the government and upper class get rich and build armies but to a slightly lesser extent, so does America.

Iraq would use its chemical weapons, even on their own minority groups. In America, medicines have been tested on black inmates, and in Vietnam we covered the whole jungle with Agent Orange, getting our own boys sick.

Hussein and Iraq were even once supported by the United States in their fight against Iran, where the United States had previously had their fingers in with the Shah. Hussein is not innocent but neither is America.

Have you ever heard of the Pashtun people? This ethnic group lives across the border in large areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. One hundred years ago, the “line-on-a-map” happy British split the Pashtuns’ land in two.

Now, they consider themselves Pashtun before Afghani or Pakistani, and they just happen to be in the way of U.S. bombs.

We do not sympathize with the Japanese or Germans of World War II, as Oakley said, but we do know the reasons and conditions that led them to their positions.

Israelis have carried out acts of terror, Oakley, and just last weekend their soldiers shot a 10-year-old Palestinian girl in her home. They have assassinated Palestinian leaders with missiles.

Yes, maybe America does keep Israel from all-out war with Palestinian military members, but if we washed our hands clean of the entire region, Muslim countries would likely assist Palestinian soldiers in wiping Israel off of the map.

This is not a religious war for America, but some Muslims believe it is. Some Muslims believe America is an unwavering, uncaring force of globalization and Americanization threatens the traditions and history of the Muslim world.

Islam is the predominant religion in the world.
One must be careful not to throw around the word “evil” too carelessly. The world is not a Saturday morning cartoon. It is not an archetypal plane of “good” and “bad” or a grainy, black and white picture.

There are varying degrees to everything and reasons how it ended up this way. Do not ignore them.

I like living in this country because I can say these things and feel this way right now and not be alone, and that is the extent of my patriotism. I could be living in Switzerland right now if not for the fact that I was born and raised here, just like the Afghani people are in Afghanistan, being bombed because of the location and traditions they were brought up in.

Think for yourselves and question authority.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: “The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing that it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.

“Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate … returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”