Videos show severe hazing at University of Alberta

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the ubyssey
OCTOBER 25, 2010
• volume 92, number xv
• room 24, student union building
• published monday and thursday
• feedback@ubyssey.ca
The Stuff of
‘Nightmares’
Videos show severe hazing at
University of Alberta fraternity. Page 3
2 / u b y s s e y. c a / e v e n t s / 2 0 1 0 . 1 0 . 2 5
events
october 25, 2010
volume xcii, no xv
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tuesday, oct. 26
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US and Them: An Intimate Evening of Theatre Created by you
UBC improv Presents: UBC improv in a
UBC improv Spectacular
At this event, audiences will experience an
intimate evening of theatre without a play.
No actors, no script—just an open theatrical dialogue about why and how humanity
creates the other, asking questions about
how we recognize there is only “us” here.•
7:30–10pm, First Nations Longhouse, 1985
West Mall, reservations recommended, call
604-871-0508, go to headlinestheatre.com
for more information.
UBC Improv is hosting themselves in
their first of two October shows after
their success during Firstweek. What
is being improvised, you ask? Are there
explosives? What about Iago-styled revenge plots? No, it’s theatre! Which
sounds boring, but it’s actually totally
great! • Oct. 26 –27, 6:45 – 9pm, Scarfe
100, $3 at the door, free with a year-long
UBC Improv membership ($10).
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UBC Film Society Screening: GET LOW
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tickets, go to standubc.com for more information.
The exciting young dancers of the renowned Goh Ballet Youth Company perform a rich selection of classical ballets
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Joe Peace
Jon Chiang
Henry Ye
Matt Naylor
Paul Bucci
David Elop
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News
editor ARSHY MANN » news@ubyssey.ca
associate SALLY CRAMPTON » associate.news@ubyssey.ca
Videos show hazing at University of Alberta fraternity
“If you’re hammered through the whole thing, you’re going to have a lot less nightmares”
Alexandria Eldridge
The Gateway
EDMONTON (CUP)—The Delta
Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity at the University of Alberta
tells pledges to eat their own
vomit, deprives them of sleep
and closes them in a plywood
box as part of a four-day initiation process, according to video
footage from January 2010 obtained by The Gateway.
A DKE alumnus, who wished
to remain anonymous to protect his identity, and who will
be referred to as Joe, described
his experience during initiation
as traumatic.
“[Pledges are] not told what happens. There’s very little...actually done for them. They’re stolen
from, they’re taken advantage of,
they’re yelled at [...], they’re not
told when it will end,” Joe said.
“They’re definitely hurt mentally and physically at the end
of it.”
According to Joe, the initiation
weekend took place last year near
the end of January. Pledges arrive
at the DKE house on Thursday and
do not leave until Sunday.
During check-in, when pledges arrive at the house, the initiated DKE brothers put the food
and alcohol each pledge brings
into the communal fridge.
One of the videos shows a
pledge being yelled at by at least
five of the active members or
alumni during check-in because
he brought two small cans of
beans instead of one large can.
“Do you have a problem following instructions? Because if
you do, your life is going to become extremely difficult... Do
you have a learning disability?
Are you retarded?”
The video also shows the
pledges being told to do wall
s it s, b ei n g
pressured
into taking
a bite out of
a raw onion a n d
being
pressured
into
eating
raw
eggs, to which one brother says,
“Go salmonella.”
Video footage also shows
pledges attending an off-campus dinner, where they eat food
that is intentionally disgusting
and then smoke a cigar as quickly as possible after eating. Joe explained that for these reasons,
some pledges are forced to vomit
and then eat their vomit.
“As far as I know, no chemical is added to the food, and
there’s always a percentage of
the people that just eat it,” Joe
said. “But here are the instructions: get him to eat as much as
possible, get him to puke. When
he pukes, try to get him to clean
up his plate. His plate should
be empty, including his vomit.”
Over the weekend, the brothers also hold extended exercise
drills for the pledges called “circles.” One alumnus, called the
circle master, stands in the middle of a group of pledges who are
surrounded by active members
and alumni. The pledges must
do and say whatever the circle
master tells them to,
including sit-ups and
push-ups, while being
yelled at by their surrounding brothers.
Multiple times over the
weekend, pledges also go
into “The Hilton”—a plywood box that Joe described
as a confined space. He said
that the brothers alter the size
by putting desks and chairs
inside of it.
“I’m guessing you could possibly stuff 30 people in there, but
if you’ve got a class of 15, you
just close off half. You couldn’t
stand in it.”
Joe said that often, someone
would squirt ketchup or throw
food into the Hilton, or urinate
inside before the pledges enter.
The pledges usually won’t stay
in the Hilton for any more than
15 minutes and Joe said that
anyone who is claustrophobic
is not forced in.
Many hours over the weekend are also spent in “meditations,” during which pledges
are instructed to sit upright facing the wall, but
are not allowed to sleep.
The alumni play extremely
loud, repetitive music. After
a few hours, Joe said many people start to hallucinate.
The video indicates that over
the course of the weekend, the
personal property of the pledges is often stolen. At one point
on the video, one brother says
to another, “We steal their
shit.”
Jo e a d de d t h a t t h e
pledges get no substantial time to sleep. Accord i n g t o schedu les obtained
by The Gateway,
t he pledges
a re on ly a llotted time
to sleep
for a half
hour on
Friday
night
and
for
five
geoff lister graphic/the ubyssey
15-minute intervals and one
half-hour interval on Saturday night.
In addition to sleep deprivation, Joe said the pledges are
also encouraged to drink large
amounts of alcohol throughout the weekend, but this is not
mandatory.
“I’ve always wondered if it’s
better to get drunk or not, because the alcohol dehydrates
you, but [it] definitely helps
deal with the trauma. If you’re
Creationist speaker creates clamour at UBC
Sally Crampton
associate.news@ubyssey.ca
Evolution was the hot topic on
campus last Friday, when Dr Jonathan Sarfati gave a lecture on
his latest book The Greatest Hoax
on Earth?—a direct response to
Richard Dawkins’s book The
Greatest Show on Earth?
Safarti, founder of the Creation Ministries International,
spoke to a crowded auditorium
of around 200 listeners, including many families and children.
Sarfati, who has a PhD in
chemistry, is the founder of the
Wellington Christian Apologetics Society in New Zealand. He
refutes Darwin’s claims that
life evolved from non-life, and
that our ancestors were microbes t hat developed over
hundreds of millions of years.
As a creationist, Safari believes
that the Earth and universe
are the creations of a supernatural being. He spent much
of his speech attacking Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary
biologist who is famous for his
opposition to creationism.
“Claims of evolution and creation are really claims of history,” he said.
“We disagree that all things
come from a single cell,” he said
at the end of his speech. “Dawkins
clings to Darwin’s evolution, because he needs it for his faith.”
The event was hosted by the
Ambassadors for Jesus at UBC,
whose mission statement is to represent “Jesus in the power of the
Spirit to bring students to the Father and God’s kingdom to UBC.”
Creationists reject the theory
of evolution and instead try to
justify Biblical theories of creation with what they claim is scientific evidence. The website of
his book claims that belief in the
Bible’s account of creation ‘does
not commit intellectual suicide,
it is if anything the intellectually superior position.’
“Evolution says life came
from non-living chemicals,” said
Sarfati. “There’s no evidence; it’s
anti-science.”
Sarfati’s claims have garnered widespread criticism. In
jon chiang photo/the ubyssey
the National Centre for Science
Education Executive Director
Eugenie C. Scott’s Antievolutionism: Changes and Continuities,
Sarfati’s books’ are described
as “a crude piece of propoganda.” The same paper warns that
in light of his writings’ large
circulation, “[the] shoddiness
[of his methodology] is no excuse for complacency on the part
of the scientific community.”
Last year, Sarfati was given the
March “Moron of the Month” title by anti-creationist blog “Creationist Idiocy.”
“Fossils don’t come with a label saying [they are] 100 million
years old, nor does the Grand Canyon,” Sarfati said at the lecture.
“How can we have the same evidence and come up [with] lots
of different explanations? Because we have different starting
assumptions.”
He continued, “When people
read the Bible they could no longer believe that the world was
made in a certain way. Students
started looking at the Bible objectively and then looked at nature objectively.”
Beth Squire, a third year Arts
undergraduate, said that Sarfati wasn’t able to make a compelling case against evolution.
“For the most part, I think his
speech was incomprehensible.
Although it was an interesting
topic, I’m not convinced by his
beliefs at all,” she said. U
—With files from Trevor Record
hammered through the whole
thing, you’re going to have a lot
less nightmares than if you’re
sober the whole time,” Joe said.
After Friday night, pledges
are not allowed to leave the initiations. On the video, a group
of alumni discuss the basic
rule that once someone starts
on Friday they can’t leave until Sunday unless it’s a special
circumstance.
Joe explained that some of the
pledges actually enjoy the challenge of initiations, and many of
the brothers enjoy it as well, but
he feels it’s unfair that pledges
do not know what to expect from
initiations before they begin.
“I’d call it hazing, I call it
abuse. I think the better word
i s abu se. You get abu sed,
absolutely.”
A second DKE alumnus, who
also wished to remain anonymous, confirmed the information listed above.
According to the DKE International Risk Management Policy posted on their website, hazing by any chapter, student or
alumnus is prohibited. Having
the permission of the person
being hazed is not an admissable defence.
At a press conference on October 21, Dean of Students Frank
Robinson said that the university is currently investigating.
DKE International did not respond to requests for comment
as of press time and requests for
comments from the U of A chapter of the fraternity were sent to
its alumni association. A spokesperson for the DKE alumni association denied the allegations.
“We never would do anything
to offend the honour of any of
our own guys or any potential
member either,” the spokesperson said.
crime briefs
On Oct 21 around 3:00am a female
entering her residence building was
approached by an unknown male
from behind and groped. The RCMP
were contacted and provided the
following suspect description: Indo-Canadian male, 5’7, 25-30 years
old, heavy build, shoulder-length
dark hair. Suspect was wearing a
hooded sweater, blue jeans and
dark shoes. This is the third such
incident in two months.
On Oct 20 around 9:00pm, a male
walking on East Mall was ap proached by an unknown male who
accused the victim of stealing his
iPod. The unknown male accosted
the victim and fled when bystanders
intervened. Campus Security was
alerted via a Blue Phone and contacted 911. The suspect was able
to get away before Campus Security or the RCMP got to the scene.
On Oct 21 around 2:00am, a male
walking near the Bus Loop was approached by two unknown males
who said, “Show me the money,”
and then punched the victim. Campus Security and the RCMP were
called to provide assistance.
4 / u by s s e y. c a / n e w s / 2 010 .10 . 2 5
UBC Allies looking for a fresh start
Resource group looking to “support rather than lead” feminist groups
Kalyeena Makortoff
kmakortoff@ubyssey.ca
A l lies at UBC is beginning
t he year wit h a new v ision
and executive t hat hopes to
increase activity and visibility on campus. Allies is an AMS
Resource Group that aims to
provide male support for women’s and feminist groups and
movements.
“The call for a men’s focus
group is to start pointing that
out, that we as the privileged
group are never forced to look at
our privilege,” said Allies President Isaac Rosenberg. “In the
language that we use, men are
the standard. I don’t know how
anyone could say there isn’t [a
need for Allies at UBC].”
Rosenberg admitted t hat
while the group has not been
noticeable on campus in the
past, what may have kept Allies a more insular group has
been the emphasis on theory
rather than action.
“What Allies has been in the
past is focused on the construction of masculinity, which is
very philosophical. And while
I feel that’s very important and
something we will focus on,
without action that’s nothing.”
An annual pancake breakfast to support the White Ribbon Campaign, a men’s organization to end men’s violence
against women, has been the
only organized activity in recent
years, Rosenberg added.
“Rather than just campaigns
and fundraisers, we want the
Allies at UBC members at their office in the SUB. Jon Chiang Photo/The Ubyssey
group to be about something...
so that we can provide an end
in and of itself to become an
ally rather than just to support
the Women’s Centre or just to
buy a pancake. We want people
to sign on to end violence and
oppression and particularly
subjugation of women, that’s
our focus.”
Allies is planning to hold antioppression workshops, as well as
provide education on what feminism actually means, “because
that’s hugely misunderstood...I
know there are people who come
up against very archaic views...
on general beliefs on feminists
and feminism, who feminists
are and who they can be.”
Angela Marie MacDougall,
executive director for Vancouver’s Battered Women’s Support
Services (BWSS), said that any
men’s group must be careful
when looking to be part of women’s movements.
“They would need to have
clear women’s leadership they
could name and be sanctioned
by the women’s group. They
have to declare the leadership
of women that they are following....and the perspective they
are coming from.”
Rosenberg agreed. “I think
that a lot of our effort has to
be based on support rat her
than leading, because there
is a potential for the patriarchal system that exists in society to reify within the women’s
liberation movement, if men
are allowed to take charge as
liberators.”
A variet y of groups have
been suggested as potential
on-campus partners for Allies,
including the Sexual Assault
Support Centre (SASC), AMS
club Students for Reproductive
Rights, and Access and Diversity’s Sexual Assault Awareness
Campaign.
However, the “ally” terminology and the “supporting” concept
could generally be reassessed,
MacDougall explained.
“I’m not sure I like the ‘ally’
language these days because it
comes from a 90s analysis of
feminism. I think it came from a
well intentioned language from
a particular point in time…[but]
we’re in the 21st century...I prefer an activist that understands
that he is accountable to the anti-violence movement that women are part of.
“An ‘ally’ is a buddy. I don’t
need a friend—they need to be
wearing some of the war stains.”
Whatever the contribution,
there is still a call for this group
on campus, according to Becki
Ross, a professor for UBC’s Women’s and Gender Studies.
“Allies at UBC sends the important message that men are
speaking up and challenging
sexist, racist and homophobic
advertising and jokes, drug-facilitated sexual assault, and
rape on campuses and beyond,”
Ross explained. ”These are not
women’s issues—they are issues of concern to everyone
committed to safety and security for all students, staff and
faculty at UBC. We need to communicate how it’s cool for men
to respect women, at all times,
and in all venues.” U
2010.10.25/ubyssey.ca/perspectives/5
perspectives
Visa arrangements to Kabul: Not your ordinary travel planning
brian platt
bplatt@ubyssey.ca
A lot of people have asked me if
I’m nervous about going to Afghanistan. It’s not nervousness,
I reply; it’s a funny feeling of having no clue what you’re about to
experience. I’ve also been asked
whether I’m frightened at all. I
know for sure that this isn’t an
issue. Big spiders scare me. Afghanistan doesn’t at all.
Although Afghanistan does
have big spiders.
I think it’s important to be
confident but not naive about
my safety while travelling. Yes,
Afghanistan is one of the most
violent countries in the world
right now. But Kabul is also a gigantic city and hosts a very large
assortment of foreigners, both
governmental and otherwise,
from all over the globe. Seeing
a white-skinned face in Kabul is
not uncommon these days. And
from what I’ve heard, the cliché
about the hospitality of Afghans
exists because it’s entirely true.
Furthermore, not being with
the military or a United Nationsaffiliated organization makes
me safer in some respects. An
anti-government fighter in Afghanistan could care less about
the notion of international law,
meaning that UN employees
and military convoys are both
prime targets. In a horrific episode that occurred on October
28 last year, a UN guest house
in Kabul was charged by suicide
bombers. Six UN staff, two security guards and an Afghan civilian were all murdered. The
sole purpose of such attacks is
to drive the United Nations out
of Afghanistan, but the UN has
refused to be cowed.
When I applied for my visa
to get into Afghanistan, I did
not specify it as a work trip—although “holiday” didn’t seem
right either. So I marked it down
as “other.” I immediately got a
phone call from the Afghan Embassy in Ottawa. “You aren’t coming for work?” the man asked.
Not really, I told him. It just feels
like it’s time for me to go. There
was a pause on the other end of
the line. “You know what the situation is there, right?”
This caused me to laugh, although perhaps it shouldn’t
have. It must be terrible to have
to warn people against visiting
your country. Then again, as a
friend has commented to me, it
would seem wrong to be going as
a tourist, considering what most
Afghans are dealing with on a
daily basis. This trip is decidedly not about tourism. It’s about
declaring my uncompromising
solidarity with Afghans who are
once again facing the prospect
of being abandoned by the international community, and to
tell their stories as best I can.
Most of my other preparations
have been of the kind you might
make before any large international trip. My arms are perforated with vaccine needle holes.
I’m packing novels and homework for the 24 hours of plane
travel and trying to manage my
sleep so I don’t get devastated
by jet lag. A pharmacist leaned
over the counter the other day
and handed me a bottle of pills.
“Now, don’t take these for regular diarrhea. Take them if you
get terrible, agonizing, bloody—”
Alright! I get it!
If you’re reading this on Monday, I’ll be in an airplane or airport on my way to Kabul. Starting Tuesday, you can follow my
trip on the Ubyssey’s website, at
www.ubyssey.ca/afghanistan. U
UVic bans sororities, but threats and coercion politics continue as usual
kai green
copy@ubyssey.ca
In their Annual General Meeting on October 14, the University of Victoria Students’ Society
(UVSS) voted not to recognize fraternities and sororities on campus. The move was attributed
to concerns that Greek letter organizations (GLOs) are bastions
of racism, sexism, homophobia
and classism that endanger safe
spaces on campus.
In light of recent fraternity
fuckuppery across this continent
(disgusting initiation chants at
Yale; horrific, abusive hazing at
U of A, to name two), UVic’s decision might seem logical, even
sensible. After all, what kind of
stone-aged horror show would allow an organization of this kind
onto their campus?
Well, UVic, for one. The vote
to withhold recognition ignores
two facts: first, that the fraternity responsible for the aforementioned incidents, Delta Kappa Epsilon, already exists on the Victoria campus, and is not affected
by the ruling. Second, while the
national Intrafraternity Council
does not require a letter of recognition to establish a chapter on a
university campus, the National
Panhelllenic conference does. In
plain English: UVic, in attempting to make its campus a safer
space for women, has instead
simply told them they can’t join
the same societies the men can.
Ah, you say, but now UVic
has spoken out. They’ve proven—these 100-something people
who were able to vote at a meeting in the middle of midterms—
that an atmosphere of oppression and disgusting, disgusting
violence cannot stand. It’s an atmosphere which must be prevalent, since Rachel Chapman, who
spoke at the AGM, told The Martlet she found the meeting itself
an unsafe space. “Someone said
they wanted to punch me in the
face... Someone said ‘Take that,
you racist asshole.’”
What better argument for a
more enlightened university? Except Chapman was at the meeting
on behalf of students who wanted to form a sorority. In a notespecially ironic twist for UVic,
those threatening her were the
same people speaking of a culture of violence against women.
It’s ironic because UVic is in
many ways a perfect location for
GLOs. With a hypersensitive political atmosphere and incredibly dedicated student body, fraternities would find no room for
their alleged bad behaviour. Concerned students could organize
mass-rushes to ensure the presence and inclusion of minorities
and safe spaces in GLOs. At the
very least, a motion condemning GLOs would have had much
the same effect, with the added
bonus of not removing anyone’s
right to associate.
Instead, UVic chose to play
politics as usual, revoking the
opportunity of students to freely associate to placate a few reactionaries‚ and doing it, as per
usual, with no consideration for
the tactics they’re using or the
outcome of their actions. Refusing to recognize GLOs doesn’t fix
the problem with the organizations; it just sets a nasty and patronizing double standard. Hey,
that’s two misogynist groups—
frats and the student union—for
the price of one! U
6/ u bys s e y.c a /c u lt u r e /2 010 .10 . 2 5
culture
editorS BRYCE WARNES & JONNY WAKEFIELD » culture@ubyssey.ca
ASSOCIATE ANNA ZORIA » associate.culture@ubyssey.ca
The sounds of Canada
Author charts the top 100 Canadian singles
#2 Neil Young
Album Reviews
Joe Peace
Contributor
Beekeeper, Be kept
#14 Tragically hip
david elop photo/The Ubyssey
Canada’s top ten singles
1 “American Woman/No Sugar Tonight”— The Guess
Who
2 “Heart of Gold”—Neil Young
3 “The Weight”—The Band
v
4 “Summer of ’69”—Bryan Adams
5 “Hallelujah”—Leonard Cohen
6 “Born to be Wild”—Steppenwolf
7 “If You Could Read My Mind”— Gordon Lightfoot
8 “Takin’ Care of Business”—Bachman-Turner Overdrive
9 “Four Strong Winds”—Ian & Sylvia
10 “Snowbird”—Anne Murray
#4 Bryan Adams
#6 BTO
#70 Celine Dion
Ginny Monaco
Contributor
Bob Mersereau’s The Top 100 Canadian Singles could have easily been
called 100 Reasons It’s Great to be Canadian. By the time you reach number 100—Wintersleep’s “Weighty Ghost”—your heart will swell with (appropriately humble) Canuck pride.
Mersereau, an arts reporter for CBC News: New Brunswick, says that
a jury of over 800 people from across the country was tapped during the
process of writing the book.
“The bulk of the jury was formed by people who made their living in
the music world: musicians, journalists, roadies, managers. But I also
wanted to have fans voting. I didn’t want it to seem elitist.”
While the selection of the songs was an involved and ambitious undertaking, Mersereau feels placement is secondary to the stories that run
alongside the number. There are those who would scoff at the idea of Canadian musical history filling a glossy 216-page book. Mersereau delves
into this history and the result is a complex story of solitude, open roads,
ingenuity and good old fashioned rock and roll.
“The list is what’s going to draw people in to read the stories. I mean,
I could publish a list,” said Mersereau. “But this is a way to get people to
read about the musicians, read about their stories and get to know a bit
about the history of Canadian music.”
Critics of Mersereau’s last book, The Top 100 Canadian Albums, took
aim at the lack of Francophone inclusions. This time, he aimed for
a selection that was as balanced as possible; rankings are not contingent on chart positions and do not reflect a preference for any one location or language. But Mersereau says it is difficult to reconcile the
two languages.
“The only thing that doesn’t work well is trying to compare English
to French. Francophones know English music but it generally doesn’t go
the other way.”
The criteria are broad. Some songs, like the Tragically Hip’s “Wheat
Kings” (87) or Robert Charlebois’s “Lindberg” (31), directly reference Canadian events. Some are simply great songs by musical legends that happen to hail from the Great White North.
“It’s rare to hear people outside of the country talk about
Canadians, unless it’s Neil [Young] and Joni [Mitchell],” said
Mersereau. “Even then, so much of their stuff is directly linked
to Canada. Who else in the world would write a metaphor about
the need to escape and get away and [turn] it into ‘I wish I had
a river I could skate away on?’ Americans can’t write that, unless they’re from Maine. They don’t have frozen rivers.”
Attempting to summarily describe Canada’s musical tradition is a perilous task. Mersereau hesitates when making
such statements.
“The only generalization I like to make is we have very
strong singer-songwriters,” said Mersereau. “We are really,
really good at crafting songs for people to sing along to. Perhaps that comes from those early immigrations in the 1600s
and the need to entertain oneself in rural settings with very
sparse instrumentation. It gets passed on and on. Jim Cuddy and Greg Keeler [of Blue Rodeo] wanted to sing songs like
Lightfoot did and Lightfoot wanted to sing songs like the earlier folk singers. And then there’s Rush, who have nothing
to do with any of this.”
There’s a great range in Canadian music. This is the country that gave the world “Hallelujah” (5), “ Big Yellow Taxi” (11),
and the classic “Working for the Weekend” (46). We’re a strange
mix of undeniably talented people, and Mersereau’s collection
of our top 100 singles proves that. U
Luke Cyca and Devon Longheed
are two of the core members of
Beekeeper, a wonderfully unconventional Vancouver-based
indie band with an ever-changing line-up.
I asked, “So, out of you guys,
who’s ‘the talent’?” and the pair
instantly pointed at one another.
“Luke and I have a really wonderfully complementary relationship,” explained Longheed.
“We’re both creative in just the
way the other person needs to
actually get things done.”
Thoug h prima ri ly based
around Cyca, Lougheed and violinist Tegan Ceschi-Smith, the
band itself is a “strange community, augmented with extremely
talented friends,” as musicians
and artists from all corners of the
country are enlisted to contribute parts. “It’s kind of a revolving
door of people,” added Cyca. Both
Longheed and Ceschi-Smith are
graduate students at UBC.
Their debut album, Be Kept,
was made on a shoestring budget on their own terms. From the
vocals being recorded in a room
with nine others, to crowd noises in the rain outside a hotel in
Toronto, they used “exactly the
wrong recording techniques,”
said Lougheed. The album is the
result of several months of haphazard and off-the-cuff recording, which manages to come together as a cohesive and tight
pop record. Wall of sound pop
and pitch perfect harmonies
make comparisons to the New
Pornographers inevitable.
“One of the main challenges
has been adapting songs from
the album to the stage,” said
Lougheed. “Sometimes there’ll
be two people on stage, sometimes thirteen, all you know is
it’ll be fuckin’ good!”
The official album release ties
in with “Faithful Neighbours,”
a concert series with proceeds
supporting various Downtown
Eastside charities. “We didn’t
want the fanfare for ourselves
really, the album speaks for itself, everyone will love it!” joked
Lougheed. “The idea of doing a
show for the release where everyone comes out and should
love us seemed a bit weird to
us. People should come out and
love the Downtown Eastside.” U
Beekeeper’s debut album, Be
Kept, is available on November
24th. Full disclosure: Beekeeper
played The Ubyssey’s fundraiser party Saturday night.
2 0 1 0 . 1 0 . 2 5 / u b y s s e y. c a / s p o r t s / 7
sports
editor VACANT
Men’s basketball splits home opener
Colin Chua
& Justin McElroy
coordinating@ubyssey.ca
Friday: UBC 91,
Saskatchewan 60
Jon Chiang Photo/The Ubyssey
Last March, UBC lost to the Saskatchewan Huskies in the CIS
Championship game. Friday
night, in a home opener that
doubled as a championship rematch, they showed they hadn’t
forgotten the loss.
In front of a crowd of nearly 1200 at War Memorial Gym,
UBC went on a 20–0 run in the
first half to break the game wide
open, eventually winning 91–60
and showing why they are one
of the top picks to be national champions. They dominated
outside with 12 three-pointers,
inside with nine blocks, and in
transition with 23 assists.
Sakatchewan’s offense looked
lost at sea for most of the game,
shooting 30 per cent from the
field overall, with UBC centre
Balraj Bains making life miserable for the Huskies inside with
a total of five blocks.
“I thought Balraj probably
played his best basketball as a
Thunderbird, even though he
didn’t score a point,” said head
coach Kevin Hanson.
“He rebounded and when
he had to guard the point on
switches he did a fantastic job.
In that second quarter he was
just outstanding.”
Last year’s CIS MVP Josh
Whyte led UBC with 18 points
and ten rebounds, while Doug
Plumb added ten points and seven rebounds.
Saturday: UBC 96,
Saskatchewan 97
A spirited comeback was snuffed
out by the Huskies in the final
seconds, leaving the home fans
bitterly disappointed after a dramatic 97-96 win for the Huskies, splitting the season-opening series.
Saskatchewan came out of
the gate fired up following their
loss Friday night to take a 22-6
lead midway through the first
quarter. Seventeen points from
Josh Whyte kept UBC in touch
through the first half, but UBC
found themselves behind 56-43
at half-time.
It was a fast-paced start to
the third quarter with both
teams trading baskets before
UBC seized control, taking a 15-2
run to race into a 69–65 lead.
After Melvyn Mayott and Nathan Yu had brought the Thunderbirds to 65-62, Balraj Bains
made a key block and seconds
later brought UBC to within one
with a spectacular dunk, and
UBC finished the third quarter ahead 76-68. The fourth
quarter was played more evenly with Saskatchewan drawing
level at 84-84 with 5:14 on the
clock, but UBC pulled away again
and seemed to have the game in
hand when Brent Malish scored
with a put-back with one minute
left, bringing the score to 96-90.
But in stepped Jamelle Barrett, who nailed a three-pointer and then added another bucket to bring Saskatchewan within one. The War Memorial Gym
erupted in howls of protest as
Josh Whyte was called for a push
on Rejean Chabot with 3.8 seconds left.
With the spectators on the
edges of their seats, Chabot
made no mistakes and put Saskatchewan ahead 97-96. With the
ball back in play, UBC’s Melvyn
Mayott attempted a desperate
lay-up but it bounced off the rim
as the final buzzer sounded.
Jamelle Barrett was instrumental in the Huskies’ win, finishing the night with 34 points,
15 of them in the fourth quarter.
Josh Whyte finished the game as
UBC’s top scorer with 23 points
while Brent Malish contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Assistant coach Randy Nohr
said the Thunderbirds “played
our type of basketball” during
the third quarter. He found little else positive to say about the
rest of the game, however.
“We gave up too many points
in the fourth quarter... our defensive numbers were just terrible. To let in 97 points is a humongous let-down for our team.
“When you play a team two
nights in a row, you have to be
ready to play both nights and
we just weren’t.” U
Huskies tear apart Thunderbirds, send
UBC to their third straight loss
Colin Chua
Contributor
Friday: UBC 65,
Saskatchewan 73
The Thunderbirds got off to a
tough start to the season at the
War Memorial Gym, losing in a
game that was closer than the
scoreline suggested.
After finishing the first quarter behind 19-17, UBC started
the second quarter strongly
and went in front, but couldn’t
hold on as the Huskies then
took control. While the T-Birds
drew close to the Huskies several times, they were never able to
regain the lead, though they kept
it close to the very end.
One of the Huskies’ leading
scorers, former SFU star Katie Miyazaki, spent most of the
third quarter on the bench after getting into foul trouble, but
UBC could not take advantage,
with Kim Tulloch making up
for her absence, finishing with
24 points.
Zara Huntley led the way for
the Thunderbirds with 21 points
and eight rebounds, and one potential turning point came with
8:06 left when Huntley grabbed
a rebound, was fouled and made
the free throw to bring the score
to 59-55. But, repeating a pattern
throughout the night, the Huskies pulled away.
Chloe St. Amour missed a
chance to bring the Thunderbirds within a bucket, bouncing
a three-point attempt off the rim
with 1:40 to go and the Huskies
leading 70-64, and while she
quickly put in two from the freethrow line, the Huskies held on
to take the victory.
UBC head coach Deb Huband
was satisfied with the team’s performance off the back of a disappointing exhibition game loss
to Lethbridge last week.
“We were much improved
from a week ago,” she said after the game.
However, she also added, “We
had one player in double figures,
but we’d like to see three or four
getting there every night.”
Zara Huntley agreed that the
scoreline flattered Saskatchewan and t he Thunderbirds
played better than the eightpoint margin suggested.
“There were lapses on both
teams,” she said.
She was also quick to praise
her teammates’ efforts and contributions to her individual performance. “Everyone was doing
a good job, and they were feeding me the ball really well.”
Saturday: UBC 40,
Saskatchewan 66
The team took a step back the
next night, falling to a tough 6640 loss as the Huskies completed a season-opening weekend
sweep over UBC.
The Thunderbirds trailed 1117 at the end of the first quarter, but stormed back in the second with Devan Lisson scoring
a three-pointer, the first of eight
unanswered points to tie the
game at 17-17. The Huskies went
on a run of their own, however,
and had pulled away 28-21 by
the end of the half.
Chloe St. Amour, who needed
treatment for an injury during
second quarter, recovered to start
the third with a three-pointer that
brought UBC to within four points
at 24-28. However, that was all UBC
scored for the next six disastrous
minutes as Saskatchewan went on
a 15-0 run and closed out the quarter ahead 50-26 with Jana Spindler
and Marci Kiselyk scoring 11 of
those points between them.
Summing up UBC’s offensive
struggles, Jana Spindler finished
the game as the Huskies’ top
jon chiang photo/The Ubyssey
scorer with 16 points as one of
three players on her team in double digits, while UBC had three
players tied for the scoring lead
with six points each.
Speaking after the game, Thunderbirds head coach Deb Huband
said, “Saskatchewan worked hard
defensively and we didn’t have
any intensity. We wanted to set
the tone but it didn’t happen.”
Huband focused on the team’s
shooting percentage as particular
factor in the loss. “When we’ve got
open looks we have to hit them,
and we’re just not hitting them
right now.”
UBC struggled to find the basket throughout the game and finished the game having scored 13
of 56 shots, for a 23.2 per cent
field goal shooting percentage. In
contrast, Saskatchewan made 24
of 51 of their field goal attempts
to end the game at 47.1 per cent.
“We got a good look at ourselves,” said Huband. “The team
has good potential but we need
a lot of work individually.” U
Game notes: Zara Huntley led
all T-Birds with 26 points over
the two-game series...UBC had
13 wins and nine losses last
year...Saturday was Shoot For
The Cure night. After the game,
Devan Lisson hit 16 free throws
in 30 seconds to raise $1,600
for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
8 / u b y s s e y. c a / s p o r t s / 2 0 1 0 . 1 0 . 2 5
Engineers—UBC’s most efficient athletes
Applied Science students balance sports and homework
Ian Turner
iturner@ubyssey
Davis Wuolle woke up at 5:15am.
By 5:45, he’d eaten, changed into
his speedo and hopped into
UBC’s indoor pool for an hour
and a half of swim practice. After showering and a quick meal
at the SUB, he was off to the Engineering buildings for the remainder of his day: material engineering courses, three more
hours of swim practice and dinner, followed by study time.
Wuolle is one of the select
few varsity athletes who are enrolled in Engineering, and says
he craves the grind of his busy
schedule.
“I enjoy the challenge of it. I
don’t think if I was doing anything else, I’d be really happy
with that. I think no matter what
I was doing, I’d load the commitments up until I was completely full of things to do. I enjoy the pressure and challenge
of it, I guess.”
The pressure can build up to
unhealthy levels, however.
During her first year at UBC,
current third-year chemical engineer Grainne Pierse fell ill because of the stress that comes
from the endless and exhaustive
cycle of training and an arduous
academic program.
“We do 18 hours in the water a week plus six hours dryland so it’s a lot of extra work.
And of course all that physical
exercise tires you out and you
don’t have the energy to keep up
with everything. Trying to take
a full course load... I got sick,”
Pierse said.
Pierse has the support of
four teammates who are also
engineers, which helps to ease
the burden. This past summer,
she and Wuolle took Stats 251
together.
“It’s good. When we miss
something, we’re all missing it
together so that way when we
catch up, we catch up together. If we’re on a trip, we can all
sit down and work through the
problems. It really helps to have
people in the same state as you
are. They’re not ahead or behind
you. They’re in the same place,”
Wuolle said.
But as swim team captain and
mechanical engineer Rachelle
Salli found out last year, there
a re some i n su r mou nt able
roadblocks.
Registered in mechanical
engineering’s second-year program, Salli was unable to attend both the swimming team’s
morning and afternoon workout because her program’s requirements, which had to be
Tibiriu Banica (left) and Serge Kaminsky (right) balance sport and school. Henry Ye Photo/The Ubyssey
completed all in the same year,
conf licted with the training
schedule.
“I’ve always been pretty open
about people who want to be varsity-level athletes and do engineering. All I’ve said, is, ‘Okay,
ease off on your course load.
Plan to take a little longer or
plan to take some courses in
the summer.’ And that seems to
have worked,” said Bruce Dunwoody, who is an engineering
academic advisor.
But even wit h a reduced
course load, Dunwoody is somewhat concerned: “A lot of highlevel athletes are very organized
people, and they seem to be able
to do more in a day than most
of us would ever contemplate.
And so trying to balance off participating in a sport and doing
study, they do more than I think
would be reasonable, but it is
their choice.”
Their choice does not, however, result in their professors
granting them leeway.
Fifth-year civil engineer Kirsten Mihalcheon, who in her first
two years was voted the women
hockey team’s top defenceman,
emphasized she has received no
academic privileges.
“[P r ofes sor s] a r e pr et t y
good... They understand, but
at the same time, they don’t
really give you any special privileges. You still have to get everything in on time or early,”
Mihalcheon said.
Most of the other athlete-engineers seconded Mihalcheon’s
statement.
In fact, academics are often
the priority. Take women’s basketball player and chemical engineer Arianne Duchesne as an
example.
Last January, Duchesne’s department organized a field trip
to Alberta to see potential job
sites and possible lines of work.
Schedule conflicts meant Duchesne had to ask her coach for
permission.
“I had to go on [the trip] because it was part of one of our assignments. It was hard to get out
of. But I wanted to go too. And my
coach, she let me go. She was totally fine with it... School comes
first,” Duchesne said.
In an email, the women’s head
coach Deb Huband confirmed
her emphasis on school first,
academics second.
“In the university setting our
team members are student-athletes (with the student listed
first) and you cannot be an athlete at a university unless you
take care of academics,” Huband
wrote. Huband also noted that
Duchesne was not the only player on the team to miss a game
because of an academic field
trip last year.
Duchesne has also publicly
stated her intention to leave
UBC after four years to pursue a career. Having attended
CEGEP in Quebec, Duchesne
is already 22, but only in her
third year of eligibility. In Canada’s athletic association, the
CIS, student-athletes are given
five years of eligibility. Again,
Duchesne’s career aspirations
don’t differentiate her from her
teammates: last year, fourthyear Montanna Dunmore left
the team to earn a Masters in
Education.
Huband also noted she was
initially unaware of how much
stress Duchesne was under because of how well she manages
to organize her life.
An emphasis on organization
was a sentiment echoed by the
other engineers as well.
“The thing with playing football and being in engineering at
the same time is that it keeps
you on track,” said Serge Kaminsky, a football defensive linebacker and a civil engineer.
“You don’t have time to mess
around. During first term, I go
out once a month. You know you
need to be at school. You know
you got to do this, this and this.
After that, you go to practice.
Then go home, and pass out.
It’s tough, I’m not going to lie.”
With a constant tug-of-war between athletics and school, they
often miss out on the social side
of a university education.
“Once you get into the season,
your own social life goes down.
You don’t get to go out as much.
The Pit doesn’t really happen,”
said Tibi Bianca, a running back
on the football team. “It kinda
of sucks when you get to practice and you hear all the guys
talking about what they did the
night before, and you’re like, ‘Oh,
yeah, I did my math homework
last night.’” U
2 0 1 0 . 1 0 . 2 5 / u b y s s e y. c a / g a m e s / 9
games & comics
suscomic.com, by michael bround
corpus christi, by robert e. lee (yourcorpuschristi.blogspot.com)
blundergrads, by phil flickinger (blundergrads.com)
sudoku (very easy)
philosophrenic, by Rachael Freedman
solution
Submit your comics
to our website at
ubyssey.ca/volunteer/
submit-a-comic.
virginie menard |
production@ubyssey.ca
U theubyssey.ca
10/ u bys se y.c a / l e t t e r s/2 010 .10 . 2 5
letters
Of women and death cults: A critical response to Brian Platt
Dear Mr. Platt,
I just finished reading your article in the October 21 issue of The
Ubyssey entitled “Why Afghanistan matters and why I’m going
there.” I want to complement you
for your passion and your commitment to serving others. I really believe that your overall attitude is commendable and that
your heart is in the right place.
This being said, I find a number of elements in your article,
and your trip as a whole, problematic to say the least.
You characterize the war in
Afghanistan as an “international project to fight off the Taliban
and build up democracy in a
country that has been absolutely devastated by three years of
war.” This rose-coloured picture
ignores the fact that some of the
worst devastation that Afghanistan has experienced in its history is happening now as a result of the war that we are waging there.
To say, as you do, that “grievous mistakes have been made”
is to downplay the horrendous
impact that the war has had on
Afghan communities. It is estimated that the war effort kills
65 civilians a day. In over nine
years of war, that works out to
almost half a million people
who had absolutely not hing
to do with the Taliban killed.
It works out to millions more
displaced, millions of family
members traumatized and a
whole generation of orphaned
children. That is not a “grievous mistake” that somehow got
made by no one in particular.
That is an act of mass murder
that Canada is complicit in.
Moreover, the benefits and
motives which you ascribe to
the war effort are nothing short
of phantasmal. This war has
brought no democracy to Afghanistan, nor does it show
any sign of doing so in the future. All that the occupation
has done is to replace one set
of brutal warlords with no respect for human rights with
another—and possibly a worse
one at that.
Much of your justification
for all of this is based in the
picture you paint of the Taliban. You draw a caricature
of them as “gangs of religious
death cults.” You pretend that
the “enemy” we are fighting in
Afghanistan is an irrationally,
irredeemably evil entity—and a
faceless one at that. You dehumanize the enemy, thus making it easier to shoot at them.
Don’t get me wrong. I do not
want to see the Taliban back in
power in Afghanistan any more
than you do! But to use them
as a bogeyman to frighten and
disgust us into supporting the
war is both intellectually and
morally reprehensible. The existence of the Taliban and similar groups arises from a specifically colonial context—a context that we helped to create.
The Taliban are not brutal because they are irrational or religious. Rather, they are brutal because of the conditions
of brutality that western colonialism and neocolonialism
have created and continue to
create in enterprises like the
occupation that you support.
Finally, I want to say that I
hope that your trip to Afghanistan is an eye-opener. Hopefully
you will be able to talk to people
who have experienced the horrors brought on by the occupation firsthand and who will be
able to give you an alternative
perspective to the one that you
now hold. I hope that your articles for The Ubyssey in coming
issues are something more than
thoughtless propaganda. May
you have a safe and enlightening journey.
Sincerely,
—Gregory Williams
In response to “CITR: your community radio
station?”
Dear Ubyssey,
Although we appreciated your
coverage of CiTR last issue, your
editorial created an inaccurate
impression of the station which
we would like to correct.
CiTR is a club with very high
levels of student involvement. In
addition to hosting radio shows
(including arts, sports and news
reports) there are many other
ways in which students are integral to the station.
We publish a music magazine with student writers and
photographers. Station promotion opportunities allow student volunteers to make valuable connections within the
local music scene and throw
their own on-campus events.
Our highly dedicated student
executive is composed entirely
of undergraduates.
It is true that to run these multifaceted operations as a nonprofit organization, we depend
on student fees, fundraising initiatives, and club membership
fees (discounted by $15 for UBC
students).
In exchange, members are
taught valuable skills through
their involvement in the aforementioned opportunities, as well
as how to use industry standard
broadcasting equipment (BURLI),
and more. The recent introduction of one-on-one training sessions aims to improve the accessibility of programming opportunities for students.
Although we would greatly
appreciate the extra dollar earmarked for CiTR if the referendum passed (which we would
use in developing our new DJ
training program), we must
stress that this dollar is a small
part of the greater referendum,
intended to offer students an
overall improvement of AMS
services. We support this initiative and it is far from an arbitrary proposal.
CiTR has always identified as
a campus-community station.
Greater student involvement is
our priority but we will never
close the door on anyone and
we pride ourselves on the continuing dedication of our alumni members.
Our slogan at CiTR is “Own
Your Frequency”; we ardently
invite The Ubyssey and the entire student body to do so.
Sincerely,
—Penny Clark, CiTR president,
on behalf of CiTR’s student
executive
Agenda for Tuesday’s
Staff Meeting:
Have this look when you see
1. Introductions
2. New Members
3. Hootenanny Wrapup
4. NASH Fundraising
5. Retreat Discussion
6. New Business
an oxford comma?
Help proof our pages. Come
by on Wednesday and Sunday
afternoons for production
kai green | copy@ubyssey.ca
U theubyssey.ca
justin mcelroy
coordinating@ubyssey.ca
U theubyssey.ca
2010.10.25/u byssey.ca /opinions/11
opinions
do you care? WRITE US A LETTER » feedback@ubyssey.ca
editorial
NewsflasH: We have a “web-site”
There was a time you could walk down to the corner tobacconist or dry goods store and pick up
the day’s news for a nickel. Of course, our Pappy
had a yearly subscription. Every morning he’d
be at the breakfast table with a cup of chicory
coffee, his old briar pipe and a copy of the paper.
We never interrupted him, for fear of the switch.
But every now and then, puffing on his pipe, he’d
muse aloud on the rising cost of barrel pork or
the brashness of some AMS President.
Boy, have times changed. Radio and television,
in their day, sent many a newspaperman to the
soup line. Now this new-fangled Internet World
Web has folks in a tizzy, all suggesting it’s set to
be the “death of print media!” Young folks today
haven’t a straw of common sense or decency. We
ourselves have seen what this “cyber-net” has to
offer, with its lewd pantomimes and its “laughing-out-loud cats.” To think that this glorified picture box could ever compete with good, honest paper—the lunacy! The hubris of it all!
And yet, as our Pappy was wont to say, “Grandfather Time spares nary a grain of sand in his
hour-glass for any mortal on this earth.” The ages
march onward. We place no confidence in the fads
of the current generation—inured as they are with
tight trousers and castrati pop-music idols—but
we cannot help but look back on the demise of the
telegraph and the ticker tape, and wonder to what
fate these “electro-mails” and “face-books” may
condemn our own beloved medium.
That is why, as a contingency against the failure of the folded page, we have taken steps to digitize The Ubyssey. It is now possible, with the tapping of a computer mouse, to access a facsimile
copy of any of the fine written and photographic
content you hold now in your hands. Simply direct your personal computer to www.ubyssey.ca,
and all the news of today will be etched in light
upon your screen. And, on the advice of experts
in the field, we have taken further steps, bringing our fine publication into the “social” sphere
of this ethereal realm. You can now, through the
services of Twitter and the aforementioned “FaceBooks,” up-link yourself to all our latest breaking
stories. Simply enter “Ubyssey” into the searchfield of the service you wish to use, and in a moment’s time you will be given access.
Furthermore, our technicians have perfected a
method of compressing cathode ray tubes to such
a minute size that they can be delivered via the
narrow passages of optical-fibre wires. Yes, you
read that correctly: the moving-picture charms of
the modern television can now haunt the screen
of your personal computer or lap-book. At www.
ubyssey.ca, you can view a number of tastefully
assembled news reels.
The purchase of additional “multiple-medias” staff has taken up a sultan’s salary of our
spare capital this year, but we’re still looking for
enerprising young upstarts, well-versed in the
fashionable mediums of the day, to help make
it work. In fact, our investment in this technology is so dead sure, so adamant, that we are currently seeking the talents of video-composers. Do
you have a friend or acquaintance who is familiar with the operation of a modern digital movie
camera? We suggest they visit The Ubyssey editorial office, SUB 24, UBC Campus, to enquire further. Doing so may open up a wealth of artistic
and economic opportunities with the likes of Al
Jolson in their immediate future.
As a further memorandum, anyone familiar
with the workings of web applications of the Adobe imprint such as the “Flash” program would
find themselves in high esteem in the respectable company of The Ubyssey Publications Society. Technomancers versed in the coding scripts
of Java or any of the other digitized languages of our era may also find themselves considered peerless in our midst. This applies doubly to anyone entertaining clever new machinations we might employ to capture this generation’s ever-fleeting attentions.
So go, now, and indulge yourself in this newfound convenience. Enjoy it while you may. In the
end, only one medium will prevail—print or digital. And as willing as we may be to make concessions to certain trends, our money will be—will
always be—on good, honest paper. U
Und now, ve train you for ze fundraising!.Anne Tastad Illustration/the ubyssey
opinions
Why I’m excited for the Rally to Restore Sanity
Matthew Naylor
Contributor
On Friday morning at some ungodly hour I will be boarding a bus to
take me on the first leg of my weeklong journey to Washington, DC. I’ll
be headed there for the Rally to Restore Sanity, Jon Stewart’s exasperated cry for a little more understanding and respect in American political life.
There are a host of reasons why
I’ll be going, not the least of which
is that the rally looks like it’s going
to be a lot of fun. As a religious viewer of The Daily Show and The Colbert
Report since I came to UBC and one
of the poor fools who waited in line
from five in the morning to get close
to the stage at the Olympic Colbert Report tapings, this was an opportunity
that I wasn’t going to miss.
But, as Ron Popiel of Ronco fame
would say, “That’s not all, folks.” I
tend to follow politics like a sport,
paying the same amount of attention to the ups and downs on pollster.com as some others will read
baseball stats.
I have asked the bartender in the Pit
Pub to change the channel so I could
drink while watching the Quebec election results come in live.
I have gone to Super Tuesday Parties and paid my dues in drinks when
Hillary Clinton came up short.
I have planned evenings around the
Manitoba election returns.
I am, in short, a massive political
nerd.
Therefore, the chance to bear witness to Americans collectively making a massive error in judgment was
too tempting to pass up. Every government town is its own special little bubble from which the view is
entirely different, and I’m looking
forward to the view from within the
Beltway.
I’ll have a couple of days to do the
standard touristy things. Well, standard is probably going too far, since
my itinerary includes, in addition to
old favourites like the Lincoln Memorial, some things a little more off the
beaten path, like the Lincoln Skull
Fragments at the National Museum
of Health and Science. Still, it’s mostly about the politics.
The fact that two comedians have
become the voices of a generation is
an interesting enough phenomenon
in its own right. More and more young
Americans are getting their news from
Stewart and Colbert, packaged with
just as many biases as Fox News, although perhaps less destructively. I
can’t honestly say that I blame them,
given the alternative. If every Canadian station emitted the same kind of
meaningless, sensationalist schlock
that rules the US airwaves, I’d probably be hanging off of Rick Mercer’s
every word. U
The Internet Generation finally generated something good
Paul Bucci
pbucci@ubyssey.ca
Pay attention. Smarten up. One of the
most important cultural events of our
generation is about to happen, and you
don’t want to miss it.
On October 27, I fly out to Washington, DC to take part in the Rally to
Restore Sanity and/or Fear. I will be
armed with a DSLR, a digital recorder, a video camera, my iPhone and
MacBook and a brand new blog that
I’m sharing with Matthew Naylor at
ubyssey.ca/washingtondc.
The rally is being put on by Stephen
Colbert and Jon Stewart as a response
to Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor Rally.
The idea began on reddit.com while
Redditors were having discussions
about holding a “Restoring Truthiness
Rally.” Stewart agreed to hold the rally
after Redditors raised over $250,000
for educational charities through DonorsChoose.org.
The rally is for the 70–80 per cent
of Americans who don’t believe in
extremism, and therefore don’t have
a voice in a sensationalist media
environment.
This will be the Woodstock of our
time.
Let’s break it down. This is a rally
for the Internet, by the Internet, held
at one of the most significant cultural
landmarks in one of the most important cities of the United States, and it’s
being run by two comedians who just
want people to be reasonable. If that
doesn’t define who we are as a generation, I’m not sure what does. We want
things to be funny and intelligent.
We’re pro-health care, but not into
inefficiency.
Welfare is good if it isn’t abused.
The state should regulate some key
things, but shouldn’t overstep their
boundaries.
Drugs are fine in moderation, but we
shouldn’t take it too far, and certainly
no one should be getting killed over
them.
And when we debate these things,
let’s be reasonable about it. It’s very
Canadian.
It’s like their slogan: I disagree with
you, but I’m pretty sure you’re not Hitler. How absolutely perfect.
Over the next week, I invite you to
live vicariously through Matt and me
as we rub shoulders with thousands
of people who have different opinions
about things and we’re OK with that.
In fact, Matt and I are a great expression of the ideas of this rally. We
have clashed spectacularly over the
last four years in the media. We’ve
been at each other’s throats directly
and indirectly. I still view him as dangerous and unethical, and he probably still sees me as obtuse, pig-headed and unstable.
However, we can always sit down
and have a beer. And I really think
that that’s what this rally is about. U
2010.10.25/ubyssey.ca/advertisement/11