North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 91, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 24, 2008 Page: 7 of 8
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Thursday. January 24.2008 Page 7
O
Views
Matt Goodman
Views Editor
ntdailyviews@yahoo.com
Online Humor
Go to ntdaily.com to watch 'nods and
Snakes'
Radical group plans to
protest Ledger s funeral
Editorial
Earlier today, the radical congregation of Westboro
Baptist Church in Kansas announced that it will protest
at actor Heath Ledger's funeral. The reason: his portrayal
of homosexual cowboy Ennis del Mar in the 2005 film
"Brokebaek Mountain."
The sad part is, this is not too surprising.
You may recognize the members of this church picket-
ing at funerals of soldiers and homosexuals. Their radical
methods of belligerently defying Christianity have gained
ample media coverage and angered many Americans.
The church also runs the Web sites godhatesfags.com
and godhatesamerican.com. The Web sites report they
have "conducted over 34,000 peaceful demonstrations
opposing the fag lifestyle of soul-damning, nation-de-
stroying filth."
How does this lunacy supercede common sense?
Picketing a funeral? Is there anything more disgusting?
It should not matter how Mr. Ledger led his life or how
he died; this is a time of solace and reverence and should
not be picketed by a disillusioned cult claiming to work
for the Lord.
These people portray Christians in a negative light
and are starting an offensive and revolting trend. Let's
just hope that this minority comprised of the excessive
backwash of American culture is limited to the members
already in the cult.
The press release for the picket states, "WBC will
picket this pervert's funeral in religious protest and warn-
ing... God hates the sordid, tacky bucket of slime sea-
soned with vomit known as 'Brokebaek Mountain' — and
He hates all persons having anything whatsoever to do
with it."
The thought process that goes along with these words
is baffling. What possesses a person to misunderstand a
religion's teachings so blatantly as to actively engage in
such actions and believe this is any sort of a just God's
work?
Is this taking the First Amendment too far? Our Con-
stitutional right to free speech is one of the greatest gifts
that we as Americans possess, but I believe it should be
employed with a certain taste and respect— especially for
those who have just lost a loved one.
Say what you will about Ledger or the war or homo-
sexuality, but these are still people like us. Ledger has a
2-year-old child and left behind a family— how can they
reach peace with these misunderstanding ignoramuses
lining up before the procession?
There is a time for voicing an opinion about someone
and his or her lifestyle, and there is a certain panache that
must be applied, especially so soon after death. Perform-
ing a boycott of a funeral is a blunt and misunderstood
way of voicing an opinion that you are not smart enough
to project on your own.
Let's hope this trend stops soon.
T
JL
C
mñ Two,men
steal, eat
pet dog
(AP) - Two former golf club
employees are charged with
theft and cruelty to animals
in the death of a pet dog the
owners say was cooked and
eaten. An Oahu grand jury
indicted Saturnino Palting,
58, and Nelson Domingo, 43,
both of Kalihi.
They were accused of
stealing a dog owned by
Frank Manuma who lost his
8-month-old German shep-
herd-Labrador mix named
Caddy.
Manuma had taken Caddy
to the Moanalua Golf Club
with him on Dec. 16 and
left the dog tied up at an
equipment shack when he
disappeared. Manuma said
police told him the two men
slaughtered and ate the pet
belonging to him and his wife,
Debbie Weil-Manuma.
The charges are both felo-
nies punishable by up to five
years in prison and a $10,000
fine.
Arrested man likes to
in the drive nude
WEST FRANKFORT, 111.
(AP) — Word that a man was
caught driving in the buff
through town has Mayor
Marion Presley hustling to
get the real skinny out about
the Illinois community: West
Frankfort is not a nudist
colony.
Police arrested Justin Flora,
34, of Marion, 111., on Monday
and charged him with two
counts of public indecency
after several female motorists
reported him driving without
a stitch of clothing.
Police Chief leffTharp said
Flora said he just liked to drive
unencumbered to check out
the ladies.
Tharp said Flora insisted
he didn't mean to offend any
one in the southern Illinois
town of 8,200.
Flora doesn't have a listed
home telephone number
and couldn't be reached for
comment.
Online classes are not worth the cost
It is a scientific fact that
the internet has an
impact on our lives. It
has changed the scope
of the world, and its possibilities
are limitless, blah blah blah, ad
nauseum.
Somewhere, someone, who was
neither Al Gore nor Steve lobs,
decided that online college classes
would be a great idea, and these
classes could be used as effective
teaching devices and interactive
tools in order to further facilitate
the learning process.
Then someone found out how
to make money off it.
How about it? Let's have
hundreds of kids sign up for a
class, never have to hire a real
professor for them and make them
pay extra fees for using the online
resources. Brilliant! The kids will
love it because they never have to
go to class, and the departments
will love it because they never
have to deal with these non-major
students and yet can get all the
money from them. Who loses?
Well, I do, for one.
No, I'm not going to complain
about the lack of interpersonal
contact, nor will I complain about
the reliability of WebCT, which
makes aGeocities site look like the
CIA mainframe by comparison.
I'm going to complain abo ut the
very basic idea of all of it: there's
no real learning involved. We're
paying a ridiculous amount of
money so we can go
on our computers
and read infor-
mation and take
quizzes about it.
I could do that on
my own for free
on countless sites.
Thanks but no
thanks.
Every year, kids
are suckered into
these online classes, because it
seems convenient not to have to
go to class, only to realize that
HAL-9000 would be "teaching"
them.
Take a nutrition course for
example. When one signs up for it,
one reads countless pages of infor-
mation and then takes quizzes
and tests on said information.
The same goes for the classic
World Cultures through Film class,
wherein you are asked to watch
some of the most poorly made
documentaries ever filmed, then
write reviews of them, which are
apparently graded by a schizo-
phrenic monkey in the anthro-
pology department. Then you
answer awkwardly worded ques-
tions about the text, which reads
as though it would be better suited
as a socialist manifesto than a
textbook.
If you have a question, a handy
professor who wrote neither the
content nor the quizzes and does
not have the power to alter either
Brandon Cooper
will get back
to you on the
next available
work day via the
message system
to tell you that
he or she can't
do anything, and
you're out of luck,
whatever your
situation.
If one wishes
to visit these professors, one learns
that they are either inaccessible or
their office is a cubbyhole some-
where, and the person is essen-
tially a glorified teaching assistant
with a degree.
Does anyone else see the sham
here? These classes are in the core
curriculum, and every year when
NT considers cutting three hours
out of the core, every department
comes out of the hive to defend its
particular class.
All of them claim that the class
is important for the students. In
this case that translates to, "Our
department depends on the cash
earned by these easy-to-run online
classes for non-majors, and we
don't want to lose that."
They vehemently defend the
importance of the class, knowing
that no one will ever take it if it
isn't required.
If someone can explain this
dilemma, I would be much
obliged. If I am reading informa-
tion online, then taking an online
exam to test me over what I read,
where is the professor coming into
play? Why should my money pay
someone who is there to deal with
the trivial problems of the class?
The professor must answer ques-
tions from computarded people
and put together the grades at the
end of the year.
Meanwhile, the department
rakes in the cash.
Online classes can be extremely
useful. They can be an extremely
efficient tool for students and
faculty in order to learn and evolve
with the society around them.
Somewhere I know there are
departments using these tools
effectively, and they should be
praised for that. There are those
that manipulate the system to their
own benefit, and I believe there
are departments out there doing
just this. I can only encourage
students to avoid these classes
and for faculty members to take
a close eye to their peers.
If someone is going to spend
this amount of money on an
online class, one would hope
that it would involve more than
reading off a screen and slapping
an answer down in a little box.
It's not learning, it's burning, and
I, for one, am glad I'm through
with it.
Brandon Cooper is an RTVF
junior from Lewisville. He may be
reached at runfellow@gmail.com
" ough classes, tough professors or just a bad system
Certain professors are
infamous for being
tough. Most of them
are also renowned as
being some of the best profs you
can take if you are actually inter-
ested in learning the subject. As
for the others... who cares.
Inevitably, everyone gets the
professor that mandates, "No
students can earn an A in this
course."
The logic behind this assumes
that the students are not as smart
or well versed in the material as
the professor and therefore can't
possibly be good enough for an
A. Crap.
This is such a load, it boggles
my mind. I am not contesting
the superior intelligence and/
or expertise of the professors.
I actually hope that they know
more than I do because if not,
then why are they teaching at the
collegiate level?
What miffs me is the fact that
the students (keyword: student
— a learner who is enrolled in an
educational institution) are held
to a level of expectation applied
to professionals.
Of course, the
students won't
know as much
as the professor.
Of course the
students won't be
perfect.
If this is ever
disputed, the
same old lines
come up. "I have a set curric-
ulum and 'x' number of points
must be earned," or "This is a
tough subject and you should be
prepared to get tough grades."
Blah, blah, blah. This is a bland
cover-up posturing as objectivity.
Objectivity doesn't exist.
Professors are human too.
Uh-oh, he's humanizing these
tough super-profs: this guy must
be stupid. Look, these profs
may say they are objective, but
they are just lying to you. It's
this supposed objectivity that
is really killing us anyway. It is
reallyjust apathy, which is conta-
gious. Some students work hard.
Those st udents deserve an A, and
instead they get knocked down.
Limmy Alford
What lesson
does this teach?
Basically, that you
shouldn't work
so hard because
it won't pan out
for you in the
end. People want
to know why
students get so
apathetic. This is
why: it's contagious.
I used to work as hard as I
could, but as the system works, I
found that I could put forth half
the effort of others and get the
same grades. Great for me, but it
sucks for everyone else.
Objectivity sucks. Subjectivity
is where it's at. I know that sounds
like a bad idea, but stick with me.
If the professor graded students
on the quality of their work and
the effort put forth rather than
this gold standard in the syllabus,
the grades would be more repre-
sentative of what's learned rather
than what's expected.
I can hear the grumbling now.
"All you want is a curve." Well,
tell me why a professor sho uldn't
curve. You are rewarding the
students who work hard. The
others will make basically the
same grades anyway.
I don't know how it works in
all departments, but in the jour-
nalism department, students
usually can't fail anyway. That's
right, there are classes that won't
let you make A's and classes that
won't fail you. Such a phenom-
enon turns the department into
a cattle chute, herding students
in and pushing them out without
really teaching them much
more than they already knew.
(Although, we are all better at
recognizing bull if you know what
I mean.)
If you've been paying attention,
then you might see the contradic-
tion. I see it too. NT can't have it
both ways. Either you figure out
how to bring these lower grades
into perspective or at least give
us what we deserve.
Jimmy Alford is a senior jour-
nalism major from Pittsburgh, TX.
He may be reached at eaglel_66@
yahoo.com
Why I Hate College
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Nods and shakes: Ledger, Clinton and Fry Street
SHAKE: To the recent
Democratic debates. Two hours
of childish bickering between
two candidates who can't seem
to overcome the urge to one up
the other. Hey Barack, Hill: get
away from referencing ties to
slum lords and corporations
and get back to the issues.
You're making lohn Edwards
look good.
NOD: To the Oscars putting
out a spirited group of nomina-
tions despite the writer's strike.
"There Will Be Blood" deserves
to sweep the event, and I'd really
enjoy being able to sit and watch
it with an honorary milkshake.
Rumors say the writer's strike
could be on its last legs, so maybe
we'll get another entertaining
three hours of Hollywood grit-
ting its teeth through fake smiles
and silly accep-
tance speeches.
One can only
hope.
SHAKE: To
the development
halting on Fry
Street once again.
Now that Fry Street
lake has evaporated, we can't
hope for it to ice over so we can
strap on the ol' ice skates and
take to it. We may not have all
agreed on the proposed Fry
Street Village, but one thing
is certain— CVS and a shop-
ping center are infinitely supe-
rior to a large mud-filled void
of nothing.
NOD: To Britney Spears' drug-
addled brain finally realizing
she isn't fit to raise children.
Matt Goodman
After reaching
the courthouse
yesterday
morning for a
custody battle
over her two
children, she
jetted half an
hour later and
didn't return.
Maybe, just maybe, this woman
has finally learned some sense.
Though handing the kids off to
Federline maybe throwing them
to dogs rather than wolves, but
whatever.
SHAKE: To sleepy Bill Clinton.
You're getting old, Bill. ABC
has caught you falling asleep
in church and during a Martin
Luther King speech. Your wife is
running for president; wouldn't
it be wonderful if you could hold
your eyelids open for an hour
or two while in public? Wake
up, bud.
NOD: On a serious note, nod
to the life and career of Heath
Ledger. Lie was really begin-
ning to hit his stride with films
like the Bob Dylan biopic "I'm
Not There" and the upcoming
Batman film "The Dark Knight."
He has been branching out and
attempting interesting roles,
and his death leaves a hole in
the Hollywood community.
Hopefully director Terry Gilliam
can bounce back and finish
"The Imaginarium of Doctor
Parnassus" without incident.
Matt Goodman is a journalism
major from Houston. He may be
reached at ntdailyviews@yahoo.
com
NT Daily
Editorial Board
The Editorial Board includes:
Aaron Bracamontes, Kirk Cooper,
Bryan Shettig, Rachel Slade, Matt
Goodman, Richard C. White,
Victoria Smithee, Rebecca Evans,
Moniqua Paullet, Bailey Riley
and Stan Ascher.
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North Texas Daily (Denton, Tex.), Vol. 91, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 24, 2008, newspaper, January 24, 2008; Denton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth145532/m1/7/?q=%222008~%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.