The Conservative Hawk Vol. I Issue 2

8/14/2019 The Conservative Hawk Vol. I Issue 2

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By: R. Seth Liston

On September 17, 2004, Bill

OReilly, host of Fox Newss The

OReilly Factor, interviewed John

Stewart of Comedy Centrals, The

Daily Show. With the 2004 Election

between incumbent George W. Bush

and Senator John Kerry less than a

month away, OReilly asked Stewart,

You know whats really frighten-

ing? Stewart replied, Uh oh. Youve

been reading my diary. OReilly

then went on to explain, You actu-ally have an influence on this presi-

dential election. That is scary. To

this Stewart responded, If that were

so, that would be quite frightening.

I am by no means a devoted

fan of Bill OReilly, but I will agree

with him here. Even more frighten-

ing was the influence of The DailyShow on the 2008 election. Lets take

a broad look at The Daily Show and

what it represents. The Daily Show de-

scribes itself as a fake news program

that humors its audience, hugely made

of young, easily influenced, potential

voters, by poking fun at world news.

So, when did The Daily Show becomea source for actual news? Can John

Stewart really not see the sway he has

in our younger demographics perspec-

tive on world events? During our most

recent election, I thought Stewarts

influence bordered on brainwashing.

In the months prior to No-

vember, 2008, I would catch glimpses

of The Daily Show as roommates and

friends around me watched. It almost

seemed as if Barrack Obama was ac-

tually paying Comedy Central to have

The Daily Show, among others, ac-

cumulate the youth vote. I was on the

UNCW Swim Team at the time and

evidence of Stewarts influence swirled

all around me. I asked teammates who

had decorated their cars with the words,

Hope, Change, and Obama,

what about this democratic candidatesplatform so moved them to action? The

reply was often less than persuasive.

Regardless of the reasons, I

often saw these ideals reflected in The

Daily Show. When asked about his

obvious liberal bias, Stewart and other

writers of The Daily Show respond

that they do not have any journalisticresponsibility and that as comedians

their only duty is to provide entertain-

ment. When does this quest for en-

tertainment go too far? As Americans,

when we select our President, we are

selecting our course into the future. He

is to be the champion of that current

time. Is it ethical for John Stewart tocome on millions of televisions each

night in an attempt to gather ratings

and make fun of Republicans? Or rath-

er, is it ethical for John Stewart to air

a program, not poking fun at policies

and steps taken by an administration


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in the path of history, but rather pok-

ing fun at physical flaws and mistakes?

Now, anyone is entitled to

his or her opinion. That fact is a core

value in our Nations beautiful Con-

stitution. However, Stewart rode thecoat tails of George W. Bushs fum-

bling speaking style until they tattered.

Stewart couldnt wait to jump on the

fact that George W. Bush mistakenly

attempted to open a locked door in Bei-

jing at the end of his East Asian tour.

It almost seems spiteful, if not cheap.

So for a comedy program

that the Pew Research Center claims

has become a primary source of news

for many young people, to go about

such ill-mannered attempts at laughter

frightens me. As a part of the younger

generationthe majority of which con-

sists of those who screamed for Hope,

Change, and Obama in 2008I can

attest to the fact that, no matter how

innocent their intentions may be, pro-

grams such as The Daily Show

have crossed a moral and ethical line.

The once highly honored andupheld practice of Politics has now

been reduced to the butt end of cheap

jokes for young viewers on Thursday

evenings. The viewers of this pro-

gram, however nave and easily per-

suaded, still retain their right to cast

their vote; and it is a vote to help chart

our great Nations path into the fu-

ture. Are programs such as The Daily

Show the way we intend to educate

the youth of America to approach this

tradition of voting? Moreover, is this

how a victorious candidate wants to

win the votes of the youth of a nation?


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What has happened to thisgeneration of so-called men? Ill tell

you what has happened. They have

fallen so far from their fathers gen-

eration, and yet they have no idea.

They naively think they are headed

for greatness. If they only knew the

path they are traveling leads to ab-

solute destruction of our society,maybe they would then change,

but I wouldnt hold my breath.

The men of this genera-

tion have forgotten the grave sac-

rifices their ancestors made to al-

low them to live in such splendor,

in the freest country man has ever

known. Most of the men todaydont even know of their predeces-

sors, much less care to acknowl-

edge their struggles and hardships.

Television, video games,

and computers have replaced reli-

gion, books, and newspapers. Work

has been replaced by sleep and idle

time to contemplate how hard life

is. Constant partying and bachelor-

hood have overshadowed the ben-

efits of getting married and having

a family. All of these things have

led to the downfall of the man, but

something else also concerns me. Men can no longer pro-

tect themselves. Building a strong

body has always been manly, and

a right of passage in growing up.

That is no longer the case. Most

men are now skinny, frail, with no

muscles, closely resembling a boy

in his early teens. Strong, well-builtmen are no longer the norm, but

the exception. This leads me to my

next point - how will these physi-

cally weak men, like the ones that

swarm college campuses each fall,

fight for their country? Hmm, such a

hard question. Most of them wont!

Mentally, most men in thisgeneration are weak - unfit to survive

the least bit of resistance or hard-

ships. They seem to be able to do

very little on their own, but still care

nothing for acknowledging a higher

power. No longer do they dream big

and work hard to see their dreams

become a reality. They show no signs

whatsoever of leadership or even a

clue as to just what they are doing

at college. Many have succumbed to

prescription drugs, or illegal drugs

for that matter, to stay upbeat enough


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to face a day full of video games,

pornography, fried foods, sports, and

hard drinking. What a difficult life.

The chances of these so-

called men entering the workplace inthe coming years and being success-

ful are slim to none. Most of them

only know how to poke people on

Facebook or Tweet useless profan-

ity-laced garbage from their iPhones

that Daddy paid for. They have no

real skills that make them look the

least bit appealing to a business. Withthat said, most will avoid hard work

and do their best to take advantage

of their parents, who actually worked

for a living. Once their parents wise

up and cut them off financially,

they will turn to the government.

(If you think I am talk-

ing to you in this final para-

graph I most likely am.)

People like YOU have

very little live for and nothing to

be proud of. Your father would not be happy with what you have done

with all he gave YOU. He may not

even care to look at YOU in the

coming years as he sees this coun-

try collapse from within. I dont

blame him. But I do blame you for

the downfall of America! I will con-

tinue to have nothing but contemptfor YOU until YOU wake up and

take responsibility of your actions,

and the future of this great country.

Seek fulfillment for once and

not excitement and you might

just see America rise again.


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By: Angela Carroll

Have you heard about the

green fee? Did you sign that petition

to impose another fee on our students?

UNCW is proposing a $5 green fee per

student per semester. It will generate

more than $120,000 a year. This money

will be placed into a sustainability fund

managed by a subcommittee of the chan-

cellors current sustainability commit-

tee. This subcommittee, consisting ofstudents, faculty, and staff, will oversee

projects paid for by the fund and will

routinely report progress to the sustain-

ability committee. Money in the fund

will help UNCW implement the top

recommendations set by the committee

every school year and will also finance

mini student grants to allow more op- portunities for students to express

their passions as environmentalists.

They want to take money from

everyone and give some to a handful of

choice students who exemplify leader-

ship skills and environmental steward-

ship. This all sounds wonderful, ex-

cept for the part where our tuition wasraised this year and is predicted to be

raised again in the near future. We dont

need another fee, especially right now.

One of the goals of this fee is

to integrate better waste management

on our campus. We already have recy-

cling bins inside every building. Our

budget for recycling alone is already

$10,000! Its like our money evapo-

rates directly into our thinning ozone.

Most of the schools in the UNC sys-

tem have already imposed this fee on

their students, as well as numerous

colleges across the country. On their

campuses, the average amount of stu-

dents who voted for a green fee was

about 80% according to an article from

Appalachian State University. Instead

of a mandatory green fee, I propose

a voluntary green fee. All donations

will be placed into the sustainability

fund. Hopefully that 80% wasnt lying.

During my environmental

studies class, Dr. Jack Hall said a few

words about it and noted that the fee

would not be added on to our bills, but

it would instead be taken out of whatwe already pay, since there is currently

a moratorium on adding to student fees.

Sound familiar? President Obama said

this when he spoke to Congress promot-

ing his precious healthcare reform bill

about Medicaid and Medicare. To pay

for it hes going to eliminate hun-

dreds of billions of dollars in waste1Bottom line? Cutting out the

waste in any program should not be

happening after the program has been

in place for years. If the money is not

being used for anything completely

imperative to the vitality of UNCW,

we should not be paying for it. I do

not consider student funded grants,or more trash cans for that matter,

to be imperative. I want to know ex-

actly where this $120,000 a year is

going before Im forced to pay for it.

Im sure you have all noticed

the most obvious evidence of UNCWs

efforts to save the trees. The new pol-

icy? No hard copies, just blackboard.

Yes, this is one more thing you should

expect to pay out of pocket for. So

until next time, Ill see you at iPrint!1www.pol i t ics555.com/us-pol i -

tics/president-obamas-health-care-

speech-full-video-september-9-2009

Your Money Has Some People Seeing Green


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Top 20 Salaries at UNC-WilmingtonThis month we felt it important to continue to shed light on

the budget here at UNC-Wilmington. Below we have listed the top 20

salaries here at UNC-W and will continue to do 20 more each issue.As students and taxpayers, we have the right to know, and now you do.

All of the above salaries and more can be found online at

http://starnewsonline.com. If you find yourself bored,

playing the whats my professors salary? game is

quite fun. Especially in the dorm common rooms!


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The Conservative Hawk Vol. I Issue 2