Right to eat fast food analogous to bear arms

I just want to say that Laura Donovan is completely right when she says that banning fast food will do nothing to prevent children from being obese. There are plenty of other ways to get fat other than eating McDonald’s. I’d just like to point out that while people understand the logic in terms of something as absurd as banning fast food restaurants, they completely ignore the same logic in favor of emotional arguments when talking about gun control. By banning guns, you do not remove the ability of a determined criminal to obtain a gun; you simply make it much more difficult or impossible for someone to legally purchase a firearm for self-protection. Similarly, instead of preventing childhood obesity, banning fast food restaurants simply inconvenience those adults (or children) who happen to enjoy fast food and are responsible enough to eat it as part of a healthy diet. The reason people ignore the logic in one of these situations and not the other is the media (not to be too cliché). Most people don’t have much personal experience with guns and all they ever hear about is murders, armed robberies, etc. What they don’t hear is the thousands of cases where a crime is prevented because a law-abiding citizen uses his legally obtained firearm. Even in today’s paper there is a story in the “”offbeat”” section, in which an 85-year-old woman prevents a burglary with her gun (without firing a shot, I might add).

The gun is the great equalizer. It’s the only thing that puts an 85-year-old woman on the same level as a bodybuilder. So next time you drive by a McDonald’s and realize how absurd it would be to ban these restaurants, try to see why the same applies to guns.

David Knapp
electrical engineering

Don’t judge romance by celebrities’ standards

Regarding “”Till death do us part,”” I think it’s ridiculous to base our perception of marriage, and the success of which, on actors’ glitzy, paparazzi-followed romances. As if the sparkling artificial stars of Hollywood are good indicators of what real people, relationships and marriages are like in the real world. And yes, gasp, it is a publicity stunt. And there is nothing wrong with that for celebrities like Britney Spears; it’s what gets them the big bucks and fame, and we should not degrade their choices in the least because scandal sells and we, the public, buy it. If anything, we should pay less attention to the celebrity marriages because we are the ones who fuel the fire for the sensational stories and gossip that we want to hear.

Marriages are still going to happen no matter what racy melodrama takes place in Hollywood, and some are even going to survive after the Las Vegas compulsions. Imagine that.

Regina Little
international studies sophomore