Opinions March 17, 2008 Aimee Ouellette opinions @theotherpress.ca Give feet a chance Aimee Ouellette opinions editor H... in Vancouver the sunis beginning to make an appearance, and as our fair city takes a moment to shake the rain out, Vancouverites are getting the opportunity to take a long look at the heels and toes they’ve neglected “You might want to schedule a pedicure comes up, with the answers a 70 year old dude with Parkinson’s and a bad case of fungus (true story). Anyway, if you’re anxious about summertime because you want to avoid putting your ugly feet on display in open- toed shoes or slingbacks, you might want to schedule a pedicure to help jumpstart sandal season. Unfortunately, many people have anxiety about their ugly feet (I can’t imagine why!), and they let their uncertainty keep them from enjoying summer as much as the rest of us. What follows are the two questions I hear most when the subject of pedicures all winter. Despite the fg help jumpstart I generally give. I’d like rising temperatures, to note here, also, that the however, the return of sandal season.” advice in this particular sandal season leaves article is intended just as some people feeling cold. When they look down at their newly exposed feet, many don’t like what they see. Do you? I know that I’m your trusty opinions editor, but I feel that I have to set aside my ranting and raving just for one week, in order to invest in the greater good. I have a message to send—think of it as a Public Service Announcement: Douglas College students, your feet are ugly and they smell. I’m sorry, but it’s true. I should know—before I was your opinions editor, I worked in the beauty industry. Ugly toenails, smelly feet, I’ve seen it all; so if you think angry letters to the editor are going to discourage me, then you’ve never seen me give a pedicure to much for the men in the audience as it is for the women. Many people prefer to get pedicures without any polish, so guys, don’t let the fear of sparkly pink toenails stop you from making that appointment. If you have feet, you should get regular pedicures—end of story! I am ticklish. No really, I am seriously very ticklish. What if I’m too ticklish to enjoy the pedicure? Unless you’re too ticklish to wear socks, you’re not too ticklish for a pedicure. Nail techs are taught to handle feet gently but firmly, which should avoid any tickle issues you might have. Do you want to know a secret anti-tickle trick? If you grasp a person’s foot with your thumb placed very firmly between the ball and the arch, you hit a special spot that pretty much eliminates ticklishness in the rest of the foot. My feet are ugly, and I feel bad about making someone touch them. First of all, you’re going to pay for the pedicure, right? Unless you’re planning a polish n’ dash (which is bizarrely rude, and likely to ruin your polish anyway), there’s no reason to be squeamish about presenting your unpedicured feet to a salon worker. Also, chances are that your tech actually likes working with feet. In all honesty, pedicures are one of the most enjoyable nail services to perform, because they are low on harsh chemicals and high on results. Nail techs see thousands of feet during the course of their careers, so, statistically speaking, your feet are likely to be nowhere near the ugliest. If you really do have some tricky foot problems, nail techs worth your time will take that as an opportunity to show you just how talented and accommodating they are. In short: In order to let your nail tech get rid of your hangnails, you need to let go of your hang-ups. Now, I know most students can’t afford to go to a salon every month— and that’s not really the key idea here, anyway—but even going to get a pedicure just once a year will show you not only how the pros take care of feet, but also just how aesthetically pleasing your feet can be— if only you’d give them a chance. Censorship isn't the way By Garth McLennan Axa across British Columbia, teachers are uniting together to enforce a ban on a new video game published by Rockstar. The game in question is Bully: Scholarship edition. It’s available on both the Nintendo Wii and Xbox 360. The game follows the adventures of al5-year old who retaliates against various cliques at his fictional boarding school. Teachers claim the game glorifies bullying. “These kinds of games tell children that this behavior is okay. In fact, these kinds of games tell children that behavior is good, that it should be aspired to,” said the President of the BC Teachers’ Federation, Irene Lanzinger. While that statement in itself is debatable, a recent study conducted at McGill University suggests that there is little correlation between young people playing violent video games and actually acting out what they see. Bully shouldn’t be banned. It is already an age restricted title (13+), and banning it sends the wrong message. At the same time that BC teachers are attempting to stop the sale of Bully, the Conservatives have just legislated Bill C-10, which stipulates that the federal government can cancel tax breaks and deny funding to any film or production it finds offensive. The contradiction is that many of those who are most vocally opposed to Bill C-10-are teachers and other highly educated people. Isn’t it a bit of a paradox that some of the same people who oppose Bill C-10 and call it “censorship” are simultaneously condemning store owners for stocking a supposedly offensive video game? What should happen—but what probably won’t— is the elimination of censorship in its entirety. Warning labels are already placed on the covers of games and movies that people may find inappropriate, and that alone should qualify as a proper notification that some may take offense to the product. While material that is directly discriminatory or promotes hate should be banned, censoring things in general is not a good idea. It brings us down a dangerous path. While this may be taking things to the extreme, what is to stop political parties from banning the opposition if they don’t like what they say? We should all have the freedom to say and do whatever we want; that’s one of the things that makes Canada such a great place to live. Some might say that an end to censorship will never happen, but just take a look at what occurred at US Senator John Kerry’s lecture at the University of Florida several months ago. The video can be viewed on YouTube, and it’s pretty astonishing. After raising some questions about Kerry’s tactics following the 2004 presidential election, a student has his microphone cut and is seized by police for basically no reason. After repeatedly asking what he is being arrested for, a question to which the cops have no answer at all, the student is tazered. It’s a scary example of what can happen without freedom of speech. What those police officers did was wrong. The kid that was asking the questions was very straightforward, and some of his querieres were no doubt offensive to Kerry, but they were important questions that shouldn’t be outside the realm of discussion. He wasn’t being violent in any way and he wasn’t carrying a weapon. He was simply asking a question, and that right was taken away from him. It is a fundamental human right for all of us to be able to freely voice our opinions and thoughts. That right should never be silenced, except in extreme cases (such as Hitler’s rants about the Jews). Without the freedom to say what we think and feel, we are on the first step towards an overbearing, totalitarian regime — something that isn’t good for anyone.