Letters

Thursday, October 23, 1997

Letters

Check your facts

I find it supremely ironic that Mr. Chang chides conservatives
for their lack of attention to "historical dates, statistical
figures … or any hint of factual evidence" ("Discrimination still
colors society," Oct. 21). If he places so much merit in
"fact-based historical context," why, then, does he say that: "When
the Constitution was first drafted, it declared that ‘all men are
created equal’?" These words appear nowhere in the Constitution.
Rather, they were written 13 years earlier in the Declaration of
Independence.

Jerry Dunn

Third-year

English

Sex entertains as well as it sells

I am writing in response to the "Sexually Biased Ads?" article
published in the Oct. 17 edition of the Daily Bruin.

From a young male point of view – also a young male who finds
very few things offensive – sex sells. Sex will always sell.

I find all those advertisements entertaining. They make one
laugh, which makes their product very appealing. To many males they
are also visually appealing. But to say they are sexist, I think
that is going to the extreme. These advertisements are not
blatantly sexist and I think in no way to the average intelligent
person do they promote sexism.

They are entertaining and that is all they are.

Kelly Lowry

First-year

Undeclared

What’s wrong with silicone?

It appears from Simone Coffman’s letter to Viewpoint ("Vulgar
Marketing," Oct. 21) that she has a magical ability to determine
that an attractive woman in a commercial is surgically enhanced.
Either that, or she’s making the assumption that all thin women
with large breasts have implants.

The real question here is why do Coffman and many other women
throw the word "silicone" at large-breasted, attractive women? We
don’t hear people "accusing" those with straight, white teeth as
having altered their natural teeth through braces and whitening
techniques. Likewise, those with great hair are not often "accused"
of using unnatural shampoos and conditioners.

Coffman should leave women alone who wish to enhance their
breasts surgically. Cosmetic surgery levels the playing field for
those who care (a little too much) about their appearance. If she
somehow feels inadequate compared to women with enhanced breasts,
she should either get over it or consider surgery herself.

MacLane Key

Graduate student

Computer science

Word omitted for good reason

How dare The Bruin put into the mouth of the Spartacus Youth
Club the "n" word – the one word that encapsulates hard-core racism
in America, where tens of thousands of desperately oppressed blacks
and Latinos face a future of poverty, degradation and hopelessness
under capitalism. In the Spartacus Youth Club’s letter protesting
the racist ban on rap music ("Hearing what they don’t want you to
see," Oct. 16), you chose to spell out, on your own initiative, the
one word which is more than just vile and degrading to black
America. The word is a program and, as such, it is fighting words,
and everyone in this country knows it. The "n" word means not only
racist terror and lynch mobs, but that the victims "deserve it."
Today this word identifies its speaker as not just a racist, but as
one of the hard-core who would go down fighting rather than accept
a socialist revolution that would bring black liberation.

Michelle Oberman

Spartacus Youth Club