©

PINION

October 12, 1998

Recalling All Sensibilities

By Paul Berard

I'd like to talk about:

Recall.

Without it turning into
a rant.

As you may be
aware, Paul Ramsey,
Minister of Education
has recently come
under the scrutiny of
another Recall
attempt. To me, this is
the final straw for the
Recall process.
Granted, the individu-
als who have set forth
on these campaigns
may have had good
intentions to begin
with but this latest
‘round is sponsored
more out of a group
lynching mentality
than any other produc-
tive process.

I’m not an NDP sup-
porter. In fact, | am
furious that the NDP
have even proposed

to allow their families
to travel with them for
business trips. Not
angry that it might
have passed. Angry
that it has even been
proposed on taxpay-
ers dollars. The NDP
have not seemed to
be the government
that British Columbia
needed. | can under-
stand all these frustra-
tions that people have
with the current gov-
ernment, but if you
support Recall, you
might as well go out
and steal a loaf of
bread and declare it a
protest of the NDP
when they catch you.
It's so close to crimi-
nal, it’s not funny.
We've had it with
Recall. The continual
daily bombardment
from the local media

has turned a process
that was supposed to
be for the good of the
Canadian governing
system into a trial we
undergo every time
we purchase a paper
or turn on the local
television broadcast.
Why should the peo-
ple pursue Recall now,
at a time when the
period for a provincial
election is coming
closer? If you really
feel that your govern-
ment has wronged
you, then don’t under-
mine the electoral sys-
tem, get off the couch
and vote. Why is it a
surprise to those run-
ning Recall campaigns
that the voters list is
not updated more reg-
ularly? Simply put, it
all boils down to the
money. Do you really

think that a country
like Canada can afford
to spend more money
when it sits so far in
debt? How can you
come up with an accu-
rate list of voters even
if you tally them up
every six months? You
can’t, no matter how
much you pay the
people actually polling
and registering individ-
uals. Demographics
change daily, just ask
StatsCan. We need to
get a grip, both on our-
selves and the man-
ner in which our coun-
try operates, if we truly
expect anything to
change.
It's time to make

some change.

But let’s do it by the
rules, okay?

HOLD

H NEW
W/ LT 4

REMEMBER,
ABOVE ALL ELSE,

CALM AND WATT...

THE Hu. Presents DURING A
FuW THINGS

TO O0cce

ASSTGNMENTS
on TIMEV

CONVERSATIO.
PEOPL

HAVE FU, STAY

«. FOR THE POWER
TO COME BACIr ON.

iF

ay"

POWER
OUTAGE

AIE!MY
Eyes!

In the last issue of
Over The Edge,
Elizabeth Lee asked a
few questions of those
who were involved with
the ‘Have You Had
Enough’/anti-NDP
Centre a few weeks
ago. As a student at
UNBC, and as some
someone who attended
the rally and did
research for the pre-
sentation that was
given at the rally, | think
rll respond to her

query.
Ms. Lee asks the
question: “Were the

people who attended
the rally concerned that
they might end up in
jail...and be charged
with mischief and
obstruction of justice?”
She was referring to
the RCMP arrests of a
couple of developmen-
tally arrested adoles-
cents who thought it
would be clever to write
spec on the walls of

Over The Edge welcomes all letters to
the editor and attempts to print every
submission. Submissions may be with-
held and printed at a later date due to

spacial restrictions

Over The Edge reserves the right to edit

for spelling, grammar, content, withhold,
in whole or in part any Letter to the
Editor.
Anonymous Letters will not be printed
in any way shape or form.

_ LETTERS
The Chalk “Expression”

the Civic Centre. The
straight answer to your
question is no. Why?
We didn’t break any
laws with our gathering
of frustrated citizens.
Quite simple. Ms. Lee
continued with this
masterpiece of argu-
mentative minimalism
“These two women (the
vandals), both UNBC
students (aren't we
proud?), exercised
their democratic right
to disagree with the
rally’s agenda.”
Vandalism, no matter
how lame or petty, is
not a “democratic

right.” And besides,
how pathetic and
unimaginative can a
protester be to write on
the walls of a public
building with chalk? A
more constructive/adult
way for these children
to dissent with the
views of those at the
rally might be for them
to hold a pro-NDP rally
of their own, or become
active within the NDP,
or join a third party
organization that
espouses whatever
they believe. Any of
those options would be
a tad less tacky and

predictable than their
kindergartenesque
artistic undertaking.
Ms. Lee closed her
piece thusly: “For this
expression (interesting
descriptor) the two
women will now... have
to deal with the impli-
cations and tramua of
being charged with two
serious criminal offens-
es.” My heart bleeds.
When grown adults
behave in a childish
manner in an attempt
at “expression” and
break the law during
their “expression” there
are legal conse-

Art suggests stereotypes

To the Editor:

| couldn't help but
notice the irony in
Monique Germaine’s
comment on her work
“Mulatto”, alongside a
poster for ‘Other Eyes:

art, racism & stereo-
types.’ The card reads
“| have often heard
white people say ‘Don't
they all look the
same’.” When Monique
sees my white skin,
does she then pre-

sume to know what |
am thinking or saying?

The poster asks “How
can we give a positive
image to destroy dan-
gerous stereotypes
and promote cross-cul-
tural understanding?” |

quences. The RCMP
upheld their responsi-
bility and arrested
those who violated the
law; not to mention our
congenial standards of
civilized/adult behav-
iour were upheld.
Those students will be
held accountable for
their petty crime and
will likely yield little or
no formal penalty. All
they will be left with are
proud parents, I'm
sure.

James Moore
Political Science

suggest that this is not
the way.

Norm Skelton
Anthropology