Letters

Thursday, January 28, 1999

Letters

Show school spirit or get out of town

After reading the letter by Larry Pizarro,"Bruin chants simply
stupid" (Viewpoint, Jan. 26), I thought that someone should stand
up for the students here at UCLA. First of all, these same students
chanting "fuck you" and "bullshit" and other obscenities are those
most dedicated fans who spend the night before the game in sleeping
bags outside of Pauley Pavilion for the best seats.

Please excuse us for having even an ounce of school spirit.

Besides, you were an undergrad once, Pizarro, and I’m sure that
your student class kept to its seats at all home games, chanting
"obscenities," such as, "That was a really bad call Mr. Referee" or
"Hey, you on the other team, you don’t look very attractive." Take
a lesson from your son and just enjoy the game, or maybe you should
get season passes to that other school across town.

Derek Evenson

Second-year

Mathematics

You can’t invent a language

Several responses have been written to Megan Hall’s article,
"Use of ‘man’ overlooks half the population" (Viewpoint, Jan.
20).

Many good points have been brought up to rebut her rather harsh
view of society, but there has been a glaring omission in these
responses.

Clearly, from what I have read of Hall’s article, she has not
been keeping up with modern linguistical theory, or even
20th-century literature. I am referring to the idea that by
doctrine language can be "manufactured." It cannot be. This is why
nobody knows how to speak Esperanto, and nobody uses the many
"politically correct" pronouns that past feminist movements tried
to introduce.

Also, her cause and effects are backwards.

Language does not determine the way we think; the way we think
determines the way we talk. The proof? Simply put, we do not think
"in a language."

We think in our brain’s own language. This is why sometimes you
know what you want to say but can’t think of the word. This is why
people invent new words for an idea that hasn’t been thought of
before. (For more information I recommend "The Language Instinct"
by Steven Pinker.)

The idea of banning the word "man" unless you are referring to
just men, or whatever Hall intends to do, is like newspeak in
George Orwell’s "1984."

The idea behind newspeak was that by eliminating words for
dissent from the language, it would be impossible to even think
dissenting thoughts.

Since she is so fearful of her male oppressors, I find it rather
hypocritical for her to be agreeing with the ultimate oppressor,
Big Brother, er, Big Sister, um … er "Older Sibling."

Ben Phelps

First-year

Music

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