By Audrey Reed
Opinions Editor
With the current state of affairs of the world, being educated about what is happening in Iraq has suddenly become en vogue.
While students should want to know what the country they belong to is doing across the world and across the country during wartime, they should also have that same curiosity when things are more peaceful.
In short, the color orange is not a reason to turn to the news station or to pick up a paper.
The term “Pepperdine bubble” is often casually mentioned as the reason why students are not concerned with national and worldwide affairs. But when the bubble is popped, it is almost as if Pepperdine students feel the need to make up for years of being out of the loop.
Now, people are always gathered in The Sandbar watching Fox News, which is a change from the usual “American Idol” or “Dr. Phil.”
The Student Government Association catered to the students’ desire to learn about the situation in Iraq by setting up a projection screen in the Caf on Wednesday, March 19 for one of President George W. Bush’s speeches.
In residence halls these days, the newspaper racks are always empty. Not because all the papers are being used to prop open doors, but because students are actually reading them.
War is a great reason to follow current events. These times are what our grandchildren will read in history class. Hereos will be made. It is a very controversial and exciting time.
Except tuning in now is like watching the last two minutes of a football game.
Arguably, the most important part of the game is who won or lost. But unless people know who won the coin toss, how the players acted and what violations the referees called, the last two minutes is comparatively a minor detail.
For whatever reason, some people would rather come in way after the halftime entertainment.
They will follow the news when teenagers are shooting others in schools, chads are pregnant or presidents are caught in scandal.
They seem to thrive from tragedy and other major events. In fact, most of these fickle followers probably haven’t paid attention to the world since the attacks on the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, 2001.
But it’s OK to start following the news now if people continue after the war is over.
Watch the news regularly. Read the newspaper when “nothing is happening” because there is always something of value the public must know.
Maybe the knowledge won’t be needed until the next war, which could be in a month or in 10 years, but to know what happened is the responsibility of anyone who claims to be educated.
No one can take an educated stance on whether the United States should go to war if they do not know about U.S. actions in the world three months ago.
If they do not know about the United Nation agreements or couldn’t name the capital of Iraq a month ago, how could anyone determine what side to take?
So before anyone decides who needs to attack who, look at history because it has a tendency to repeat itself.
By the way, if you didn’t catch “American Idol” last week, Charles Gringsby was kicked off the show.
March 27, 2003