The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, May 15, 2009 Page: 3 of 24
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Blogging creates window to self-discovery
Everyone should have a blog.
In today's society, blogs are no
longer hobbies of a few, but near-
necessities for the majority.
perience you had at the '90s party,
the Internet will not, and neither
will Google or any other search
engine your blog happens to be
associated with.
Assuming that having your per-
a
Caitlin Porter
At the very least, it allows you to
have good, quality "you time" with
the computer while you write about
your day. Your entries might begin
with something like, "Dear Mr. Mac,
Today I fed a squirrel and ..." Ide-
ally, however, you might discover
something you did not know about
yourself, like how deep down, you
are a sex-crazed egomaniac. And as
college students, aren't we all about
self-discovery?
Perhaps your roommate has
been all "up in your grill" recently,
and you need a place to vent. May-
be school is getting you down, and
you need a reprieve from all your
work. Or maybe you're just bored,
looking for a good time that doesn't
involve breaking any laws. With
[Insert Clever Name Here] blog, you
have your very own space, where
you can vent, relax, or entertain
yourself all you want.
Fair warning, though — a blog is
not your average diary that you can
covertly keep locked up in a draw-
er somewhere. Even if you end up
forgetting about that awkward ex-
Ifyou are human, you
are exactly the type
that should be blog-
ging. As individuals
living life, our common
purpose is to learn
and evolve through
self-realization, self-
discovery and shared
experience.
99
sonal stories and opinions plas-
tered all over an infinite space until
the ultimate demise of the Internet
is appealing to you, here are a few
helpful words on how to make your
blog a success.
To begin with, you need a catchy
name that is easy to spell and easy
to remember. Perhaps something
like "Strawberry Cup-Kate" or
"Martel is My Hot, Hot, Sex" would
be appropriate.
You should also post entries to
your blog on some sort of regular
basis or else your groupies may
lose interest.
If you are still not convinced, I have
a few more not-so-subliminal mes-
sages meant to persuade you to start
your blog today. For one, if you are
a procrastinator, a blog will provide
you ample opportunity to delay work
on that ensuing orgo exam, while still
allowing you to be somewhat produc-
tive. After all, some of the most bril-
liant people in history have come up
with their ideas during long episodes
of procrastination (Leonardo da Vin-
ci, anyone?).
Or perhaps what is holding
you back from creating your very
own blog is simply that you don't
know what you will write about.
Read a few of your friends' posts
and it will quickly become appar-
ent that no one has anything truly
worthwhile to write about, And
since no one else has any prob-
lems publishing their ironic lives,
why should you?
If you are human, you are exactly
the type that should be blogging. As
individuals living life, our common
purpose is to learn and evolve through
self-realization, self-discovery and
shared experience. As my initial ar-
gument ran, self-discovery is an in-
escapable result of blogging, because
you are writing about yourself for
yourself. It's like looking in a mirror.
Blogs are almost an entirely selfish act
— they feed the ego.
Feed your ego. Start your blog
today.
You know you want to.
Caitlin Porter is a Martel
College freshman.
Rice is home to some of the
brightest young minds in the coun-
try. Students hail from all sorts of
backgrounds, and there is no deny-
ing that we are all highly intelligent
and capable. There is no doubt at
all that Rice is a prestigious univer-
sity — but prestigious universities
attract overachievers.
Christine Pao
Coming from a competitive high
school, I felt immensely pressured to get
involved in school and extracurricular
activities. All around me, overachieving
students participated in several sports
and academic teams, were very active
in several clubs and held positions in
student government — all while main-
taining stellar grades. I was brought up
to believe that this standard was nor-
mal, so I gave in and joined the overin-
volvement bandwagon, even though I
didn't particularly enjoy half the clubs
and teams I was a part of.
Now, I realize my mistake. Even
though my half-assed efforts beefed
up my college applications quite well,
I should never have compromised my
time in order to pursue extracurricu-
lar that meant nothing to me.
Am I the only one who thinks
that being involved in tons of clubs
and teams is crazy? To me, over-
involvement is not something to
be proud of. Participation in ten
clubs, the Student Association,
Rice Program Council, college gov-
ernment and club sports seems
impressive initially, but I don't see
how someone can divide all of their
dedication and efforts among every
single activity.
In the most extreme way of putting
it, people who are overinvolved are
attention-starved resume-builders.
Of course, not all overachievers
do it for the recognition. There are
the few, rare exceptions who actu-
ally care about all of the extracur-
ricular activities they partake in,
and they must be applauded for
their devotion. Additionally, there
are several other reasons for indi-
viduals to be overinvolved, perhaps
as a device to meet people, or may-
be just to learn new skills and gain
experience. New students may ini-
tially load up on activities in order
to see what they like, then weed out
the ones that don't fit.
But my criticisms do not go out
to these individuals. My frustra-
tion lies with those who stuff all
the extracurriculars they can into
their schedule, in order to appear
impressive and worldly.
tt
a
Even though my half-
assed efforts beefed
up my college ap-
plications quite well,
I should never have
compromised my
time in order to pur-
sue extracurriculars
that meant nothing
to me.
99
The problem isn't that these
overachievers make me look bad or
feel less competent; it's that they
take the focus off of doing some-
thing because it is meaningful. Why
be involved with RSVP if you don't
have a true dedication to volunteer-
ing and helping others? Why join
student government if you don't
really care about improving our
Overinvolved students expose pretension
school? Why do anything that you
don't really want to do?
It seems as if stu-
dents these days
are concentrating
too much on loading
up on activities in
order to build their
resumes, instead of
picking a select few
extracurriculars that
they can devote their
time and effort to.
99
It seems as if students these days
are concentrating too much on load-
ing up on activities in order to build
their resumes, instead of picking a
select few extracurriculars that they
can devote their time and effort to.
There is no doubt that college
applications and job resumes are
important, but even admissions of-
ficers and employers recognize that
an individual who focuses their ef-
forts on a few activities, rather than
several, is more dedicated.
Those who I admire are the in-
dividuals who partake in activities
that actually interest them, who
will actually work hard to improve
a club or a team, instead of just
wasting a spot that someone else
might have really wanted.
For those of you who don't seem
to understand what I'm arguing
against, please stop pretending to
be something that you're not. Be in-
volved because you want to be, not
just for the sake of it.
Christine Pao is a Martel College
freshman and opinion editor.
Government wrongly ignores
inhumane torture tactics
"Some of life has to be mysteri-
ous. Sometimes in life you wanna
just keep walkin'."
Rachel Marcus
This is what Peggy Noonan, Reagan
speechwriter and frequent Republican
pundit, had to say about the U.S. Attor-
ney General's recent declassification of
documents that describe a number of
methods explicitly authorized by Bush
Administration officials for use as "en-
hanced interrogation techniques" by
the CIA. Among the approved proce-
dures described are facial slaps, sleep
deprivation, stress positions, enclosure
of the prisoner in a small box with large
insects and the most controversial of all
these techniques, waterboarding.
Although evidence of the United
States' use of torture on suspected ter-
rorist prisoners has been public since
at least 2004, the recent release of these
new documents has created a media up-
roar on both sides of the political spec-
trum. Several prominent Democrats
in the Senate, such as Patrick Leahy of
Vermont and Russ Feingold of Wiscon-
sin, have pointed to these documents as
evidence of the need for independent
investigations into the Bush Adminis-
tration officials who approved the use of
"enhanced interrogation techniques."
On the other hand, many Repub-
licans are simply upset that the docu-
ments were released at all; they seem
undisturbed by the notion that we tor-
tured prisoners, even though President
Bush himself emphatically insisted that
"the United States does not torture."
The argument on this side holds that
al-Qaeda's knowledge of the details of
our torture techniques will allow them
to train against these tactics. Therefore,
our torture methods will become inef-
fective because al-Qaeda operatives will
be inured to them. Karl Rove even went
as far as to say that "the techniques
have been ruined!" on a recent Fox
News interview.
But that is patently untrue. In short,
we lied about torturing our prisoners,
and now those who supported the liars
are upset that the truth is finally com-
ing to light.
This kind of attitude is criminal hy-
pocrisy. Torturing prisoners is a viola-
tion of the Geneva Convention on hu-
man rights. The United States has long
viewed itself to be a beacon of moral
decency on the world stage, and it
has repeatedly denied violations of the
Convention's treatises.
The controversy in this situation
lies in the sticky definition of torture
outlined by the Bush Administration.
Although the authors of the recently-
released memos state that torture
will not be allowed for use in interro-
gations, they then go on to exempt a
number of tactics that are plainly tor-
ture methods, including the infamous
practice of waterboarding.
Long favored as an "enhanced in-
terrogation tactic" by despotic regimes
like the Spanish Inquisition and the
Khmer Rouge, waterboarding (as per
the CIA guidelines) entails strapping
a prisoner to a gurney inclined at an
angle of 10 to 15 degrees, then pouring
water over a cloth covering over his/her
mouth and nose from a height of six to
18 inches for a time period of no more
than 40 seconds at a time. By simulat-
ing a feeling of drowning, this proce-
dure intends to create an intense feel-
ing of fear that will supposedly lead to
prisoners to divulge more information
that they may be holding back.
Now, several voices in the media,
including Newt Gingrich and New York
Times Washington editor Doug Jehl,
have stated that they "don't know" if
waterboarding should be considered
as torture. This statement is ludicrous.
In the years following World War II,
the United States prosecuted and even
executed several Japanese for water-
boarding American POWs during the
war, on the basis that waterboarding
is unjustifiable torture. A half-century
later, the Bush Administration made
good use of this precisely this tech-
nique in the interest of "national se-
curity"; one prisoner was reported to
have been waterboarded 183 times.
One premise of the argument against
the release of the documents maintains
that torture tactics have led to the rev-
elation of valuable information about
potential terror threats, insisting that
Americans are safer as a result. At the
same time, a few Bush-era CIA officials
have said publicly that although they
support the use of "enhanced interro-
gation techniques," much of the valu-
able information they obtained from
questioning prisoners came before they
began applying torture. Regardless of
its supposed usefulness, torturing pris-
oners is a Geneva Convention-certified
human rights violation, and the United
States, in its self-regarding position of
moral authority in the world, should be
a
Regardless of its x
supposed usefulness,
torturing prisoners is
a Geneva Convention-
certified human rights
violation, and the
United States, in its
self-regarding position
of moral authority in
the world, should be
ashamed of its use in
any context.
99
ashamed of its use in any context.
Now that the public is widely aware
of this information, the main problem
we face going forward is the cowardice of
our leaders in addressing the situation.
Barack Obama has specifically said that
no CIA operatives will be prosecuted for
following orders from their superiors.
However, he has also said that the
current Administration would like to
"move forward" instead of supporting
efforts to investigate and punish those
people involved with authorizing the use
of torture. Essentially, he, like Noonan,
would like to "keep on walkin'" and for-
get about the whole torture ordeal.
This is unacceptable.
Crimes that go unpunished are
likely to be committed again; by effec-
tively pardoning Bush Administration
officials for their misdeeds, the Obama
Administration has dealt a slap in the
face to the Geneva Convention and to
human rights advocates everywhere.
The United States must conduct a thor-
ough investigation into the allegations
of torture and punish those who issued
orders accordingly.
As a nation, we cannot pretend to
assume a moral high ground in any in-
ternational situation if we simply sup-
press this issue. Americans need to de-
mand support for initiatives like those
of Sens. Leahy and Feingold, such that
we can face our past errors as a nation
and perhaps even learn a collective les-
son or two in the process. Only in this
way will we ever truly be able to "move
forward" into the future.
Rachel Marcus is a )ones College senior.
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Michel, Casey. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, May 15, 2009, newspaper, May 15, 2009; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443193/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.