Posted on April 16, 2007
I am not a member of Campus Crusade for Christ. I, however, find Casey Shaw’s latest opinion piece very troubling.
While I agree with her that using Ben Franklin to spearhead a Christian evangelism campaign may be a misstep, her vitriolic attacks on the organization are unfounded and uncalled for. Miss Shaw defiantly announces that she does not like having an opinion shoved down her throat. This opinion being “shoved down her throat,” as she put it, was in an advertisement CRU printed in The Breeze. This seems to be a rather hypocritical statement, since this column itself is an opinion and is being printed in the very same newspaper.
Miss Shaw continues, requesting that she be left alone by CRU. That’s just fine — simply skip over their ad or do not go to the Web site.
In quite possibly her most ridiculous statement, Miss Shaw informs CRU that all JMU students are all not white, upper-middle-class females. While this may be a true statement, I fail to see what this has to do with anything in the Beer is Proof campaign or Miss Shaw’s piece. It is just another statement in a stream of ridiculous attacks on one of JMU’s most loving and generous on-campus organizations.
Eric Bolinder, junior economics and English major
As a steady smoker for a little over two years, I’ve never really thought much of my habit, but according to Anna Young’s editorial on April 12, I am merely a pawn in Big Tobacco’s diabolical scheme to swindle and kill those who lack the will to disobey their persuasive advertising. Apparently, I’m just another number on the bottom line of Philip Morris’s income statement.
Obviously, smoking is a dangerous habit and the government isn’t a model of moral purity. It is true that the government doesn’t ban smoking partially due to the fact that it can exploit the addiction with hefty taxes (in some states up to $6 per pack), but if there is a one word explanation for why smoking is still legal, it’s choice, not profit. Smokers are not seduced by Big Tobacco’s advertisements — they make a conscious choice to do something they enjoy.
Banning cigarette smoking is as absurd as lowering all speed limits to 5 mph to avoid highway fatalities. Anti-smoking advocates haven’t had luck banning smoking altogether, and instead they have taken to banning it in restaurants and public places; I have no problem with that — so long as fast food is also banned so that I don’t have to look at fat people anymore. Either way, no one stands between me and my nicotine.
Chris Dey, sophomore finance major
