Super Chicken Pecks at Fox 8

To the Editors:

One thing that can certainly be said for Cleveland's Fox 8 news team is that whatever they lack in professionalism and journalistic integrity, they certainly make up for in nerve and persistence. In December I wrote a letter exposing Fox 8 for what I considered inappropriate and disrespectful behavior while on our campus in the wake of the assault in Noah. Instead of taking my comments as constructive criticism, and using this unfortunate event as an opportunity to look into improving their station's relationship with the community which it serves, the station's news director and vice president instead opted for the easy way out; more sensationalism, more lies and more misrepresentations.

In a letter to last week's Review, Channel 8 management attempts to paint a picture of Oberlin student's as disrespectful and unruly, noting that an individual in a chicken suit came out to "clown around" during their report. They then proceeded to mount a high horse, and proclaim that the events which had occurred were "far too serious" to allow such behavior. It is unfortunate that Fox 8 did not deem the assault with such seriousness when they were painting a distorted picture of the Oberlin Campus as living in constant fear due to several recent assaults, which they portrayed as an epidemic. Fox 8, a Cleveland organization basked in the fall from grace of Oberlin College, seen by many outsiders as an upper-class liberal utopia. In their letter, Channel 8 management spoke of the cooperation between their crew and campus security. However, campus security explicitly told media outlets to stay out of dorms. However, for nearly two solid days news reporters attempted to lie, cajole and force their way into Noah and other student residences. Additionally, Noah residents complained of camera crews recording images of them through open windows. We came to Fox's live report accompanied by the Oberlin Super Chicken to expose the media's over-zealous and exaggerated reporting for the farce that it had become. The Fox team certainly seemed to see the incident as fair game for off-color jokes when one Fox staff member sarcastically told and Oberlin student that he"fit the description" of the suspect. The media created the circus like atmosphere, and then feigned shock when costumed revelers showed up.

Fox 8's letter also stated that their crew had been trained in handling "tense situations" and remained "courteous and respectful". Incidentally, upon approaching the scene, we were welcomed with the courteous greeting of, "What in the hell are you doing" and later, we were respectfully informed that we don't matter as viewers, because all we do is buy beer and drugs.

Curiously enough, Fox management did not refute my criticism of their questionable journalistic techniques, or even my observation of the obvious joy they took in knocking our prestigious college down a peg. They did not object to my citation of a recent study which found Cleveland television news the worst in any major market. This leads me to one conclusion: the Fox 8 team is filled with hacks and opportunists, and management knows it, perhaps having chosen this breed of neo-yellow journalism very consciously. Channel 8 News is, after all, consistently among the most watched news programs in the Cleveland market. I understand that television is an extremely competitive business, and the job of management and producers is to produce what sells. But if the goal of Fox 8 news is simply to generate the highest possible rates for ad time then they should at least have the decency to spare us the speech about journalistic integrity. Had the Oberlin students who were "clowning around" actually made it to air and ratings had increased, the next prime time News Anchor on Fox 8 may very well have been Oberlin's own Super Chicken.

--Jeff Harvey, College junior

Safe Space Demands Respect

To the Editors:

I confess, even I have to congratulate Mr. Sener for his brilliant locutory skills. Who else could take racism, arguably invented by Europeans, and ascribe it to racism's targets. His judicious use of facts and obfuscations make him a real sophist.

Sener asserts that safe space is all about segregation. That people who have traditionally been targets of segregation practicing it doesn't make sense. People fighting for their freedom restricting other people's rights is contradictory. The fact that no Obie would allow a straight white male club, although groups for other minorities are tolerated is also contradictory. Groups should also have to empirically prove their worth to the community to be permitted to operate. He also argues that no Oberlin student should complain about being oppressed because relatively speaking they're not.

There are several points needed for a rebuttal. First, safe space is not about segregation, but respect, a respect of boundaries and differences. Second, the oppressed's segregating themselves as a form of empowerment is not contradictory, but necessary to achieve major social change. (Collective efforts are needed to overthrow the dominant hegemony.) Third, as numerous people have pointed out, there already is a straight white male club, its called Western society. Fourth, groups do not exist to enrich the community directly, but to enrich their members and indirectly the community. (The only except being groups that provide a service, e.g., the Review, the Cat, etc. I derive little to no benefit from most groups on this campus, but that doesn't mean they should not exist.) Fifth, the assumption that unless you are at the absolute bottom of the socio-economic order, you have no right to "complain" is balderdash. (Just because someone is relatively better off than someone else, that doesn't emasculate, please forgive the sexist reference, their ability to critique injustices.)

Although Sener thinks he knows what "multiculturalism" is about, he fails to see the linkage between what he's against and what he's for. "True multiculturalism is all races and ethnicities working together to create a safe space for every member of the community - not for a small minority." That a safe space for all necessitates a safe space for minorities to develop eludes him. After hundreds of years of racism and oppression, what is there to motivate people of color to trust white people? White people demonstrating respect for people of color, what safe space is all about, is essential for molding that trust. For white people to simply protest their innocence re racism is utterly insufficient given the innumerable historical instances where whites' ideals far surpassed their actions. Besides, given recent events, I don't think white people are ready for "true multiculturalism". After all, most Americans don't even see why we should apologize for slavery let alone the injustices done to the Native American Indians, Asians, Latino/as, or numerous other groups. If white America is not ready to seriously address its past, then how can it be ready for a multicultural future? Racism is a chameleon - it's not dead, but cleverly camouflaged. So don't be an ostrich, content to chill without the slightest awareness of reality.

By the way Mr. Sener, since you're so mature, so brave, and such a maligned victim, come by my room and I'll give ya the f'ing Medal of Honor.

--Yahya Ibn Rabat, College fifth-year

Constant No-Shows Project Poor Image of OFS/IFS

To the Editors:

Okay. This sucks.

We were just about to get jacked up on sugar. Like, *lots* of sugar; enough sugar to help us endure what would surely be an amazing cinematic spectacle - Bob Dylan's maligned magnum opus Renaldo and Clara, a four hour piece of what very well could've been genius. We wouldn't know, though.

Nobody from any representative student film body bothered to show up to tell us that the film wouldn't be shown, though there was a helpful sign letting us know that the film from the previous night - David Lynch's The Straight Story - had been postponed. It's a good thing we didn't consume those overpriced DeCafe Kit-Kats and extra large cups of Pepsi. There would've been hell, bubba; all those big stone ashtrays, that lovely statue of Charles Martin Hall...all those shiny windows.

Indeed, we briefly considered channeling the seething energy of the crowd that had gathered for the film, coordinating slightly, and with a "one-two-three: heave-HO" picking up the likeness of the renowned aluminum pioneer, backing up slightly, and charging forward at full force, using the monument as a battering ram against the locked aluminum doors. Well, they might not actually be aluminum, but it sure would make for poetic justice. At any rate, a security guard showed up before such actions could be taken.

He unlocked the door for us.

The next stage of the plan - also eventually thwarted - was to pick the lock to the projection room, jerry-rig the projector and watch (at least) one roll of the film before it got swallowed and melted in the tangled innards of the contraption. Thankfully (I suppose) cooler heads prevailed and we went out and rented The Last Waltz instead. It would've been nice to rent Renaldo and Clara, but the movie has never been released on video - which made the cancellation-by-default verdict all the more...sucky.

It's bad enough that Oberlin doesn't have a bookstore...but to have consistently canceled movies? This isn't a new problem by any stretch. Going to OFS or IFS movies has been a risky proposition for the entirety of my three years at the school. I fully realize that the folks from OFS/IFS work on a strictly volunteer basis (though I believe the projectionists do get a small stipend), but it has grown to be quite frustrating.

All in all, to advertise movies that aren't going to show doesn't really amount to much more than a consistent annoyance. Occasionally, though, the consequences can be more than frustrating. On this night, for example, I had to choose between seeing what I thought would be a rare screening of Renaldo and Clara or venturing into Cleveland to see an increasingly infrequent concert appearance by the aging folk singer (and one-time Dylan mentor) Pete Seeger.

Thankfully, it's still early; plenty of time to get good and zooted, and head out for a pre-midnight rampage with a paintgun and some Spang, a truly nasty concoction of Spam and Tang that stains anything it comes in contact with and leaves a heady odor for weeks on end. Time to go load up the car.

--Jesse Jarnow, College junior

Alumni Office Stays in Touch

During the early years after graduating from Oberlin, I hid my current address from the College. The reason for this cat-and-mouse game was that I was preempting those pleas for money, particularly during those "lean" years when I was burdened with student loan payments.

My perspective changed when I decided that it was against my Obie upbringing to let others do all the work. So as a "young" volunteer I got involved in local admissions programs. Although I wasn't giving great amounts of money to the school during that period, my experiences at Oberlin were resources that I could contribute as a volunteer speaking to prospective students and their parents. More important was that at these activities I met alumni from eras earlier than mine and enthusiastic applicants who eventually entered Oberlin. Through these exchanges I realized that generations of Obies truly are linked by common interests, relationships and talents.

Today as the regional alumni organizer in Washington, D.C., I have come to recognize the opportunities that alumni and students are missing because of our failure to establish better connections. Because students eschew our local alumni activities, the alumni community cannot share in your talents, we cannot have an informed dialogue about the current state of Oberlin, and you lose the opportunity to make contacts on future careers and jobs.