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Flimsy argument attempts
to justify illegal behavior
Lauren
Cates’ article April 18 struck me as an adolescent attempt
to justify an irresponsible action that she knows to be illegal.
While I realize that underage drinking does go on at TCU, it does
not logically follow that because a number of people participate
in illegality that the agency established to enforce the law should
simply ignore the offenses. Would we want the TCU police to stop
trying to enforce laws regarding theft or assault simply because
there are many perpetrators?
“Aha,”
you say, “crimes like theft or assault have a direct effect
on other people! There is no comparison between stealing someone’s
hard earned possessions and merely having a ‘good time.’
What I do with my own body is my own business!” Even if that
final statement is true, there are a great host of statistics that
indicate that drinking alcohol has the potential to affect other
people. According to the most recent study by the National Institute
of Health an estimated 1,400 deaths, 500,000 injuries, 70,000 sexual
crimes and 600,000 assaults last year were the result of student
drinking. Therefore, it cannot be argued that drinking is solely
a personal activity. Perhaps everyone that Cates knows does have
an alcohol-related tale of hilarity, but that is certainly not a
universal experience and therefore forms a flimsy argument.
—Michael
Emerson, senior finance major
Word
'persecution' misused in column
“I
am tired of living a life of persecution.” When I first read
this in Lauren Cates’ article “TABC tactics misguided,
ruin students’ good times” last week in the Skiff, I had
not read the title yet. I was expecting a poignant criticism of
dehumanizing forces in the world. Whether it be racial discrimination,
poverty or the situation in the Middle East, I was expecting a well
thought out article that might elucidate some of the various forms
of injustice around the world. I must have misinterpreted the word
“persecution,” because this article was speaking of the
“omnipresent force of evil terrorizing students at local bars
and parties.”
The
“persecution” Cates is speaking of boils down to the TABC
“ruining college students’ good times and emptying their
daddy’s bank accounts.” Have we really become this individualistic?
Can we not see past our own experience and truly appreciate the
tragic nature of the word “persecution”? “A life
of persecution” speaks of nothing but an alcohol commission
enforcing laws and ruining a night out on the town for a group of
upper-income college students. This is annoying, but it is nothing
life threatening or spirit crushing.
—Kip
Brown, sophomore biology and English Major
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