Letters to the Editor

Cup debators fail to address isssues

Dear Editor,

Resolved: Current corporate media conglomerates are an insult to the ideals of the First Amendment.

This was the issue debated during the battle for the Madison Cup — whether or not there existed enough diversity in the available programming or the range of the media conglomerates' political lobbying power. Arguments from both sides seemed to spar back and forth over the same aspects of the argument. Several of the debate teams on the positive side of the debate made arguments for the "little man," the one in the minority with no representation by these corporations. They mentioned the fact that communist leaders rarely appear on prime time or cable television to promote their points of view. The fact is, all of their arguments seemed to miss the point entirely. The First Amendment to the Constitution doesn't guarantee every citizen access to unbiased media — it doesn't even guarantee that you will be able to find a shred of truth in what the media says. What it does guarantee is that you will be free from political persecution if and when you choose to express your own opinion. That is all. Don't get me wrong and think that I'm arguing in favor of or against the major media corporations. I do believe that many voices in the media today are silenced by executives in many of the cases because those voices won't earn the executives an extra buck, but that doesn't affect my or your right to have our opinions protected by the government. We were never promised national coverage or millions of dollars to promote our views. Corporate media conglomerates thus far haven't violated the First Amendment to any degree.

Jonny Finity
senior, financial economics major

Music majors have right to practice

Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to the dart to the music majors for practicing outside. I am a music education major.

In the past three years, most of my time has been spent inside those walls of the Music Building, taking many, many classes and practicing in the dark, dank, moldy practice rooms. But, there only are so many practice rooms.

We have about 30 rooms for around 300 music majors. We are told, as instrumentalists, to practice at least two hours a day — if not more. You can imagine that this causes a problem.

When the days are nice, we tend to venture outdoors to escape from the building and get some fresh air and enjoy the weather.

Is that so wrong? We are stuck in that building for class all day, along with practicing. Are music majors not also allowed to enjoy the weather? A lot of people are outside with school books, doing their homework. To us, it's the same thing. Do you honestly think it is fair not to let us do our homework outside like you do? Most of the people at JMU are taking five classes a semester.

This semester, I am taking 10 classes and it's a lighter load with 20 credit hours. No one truly will understand the music major unless he or she is one.

Obviously, you are not a music major because you would understand the stress and demands our major required of us and why sometimes we need to retreat outdoors to get some sanity back into our hectic lives.

Christy Kidd
senior, music major