The Daily Utah Chronicle from Salt Lake City, Utah • 6

8 The Daily Utah Chronicle Moday, May 5, 17 LETTERS Ghk Chronicle Editorial Pot Freedoms Under Fire Everyone grows dope. Everyone sells dope. This continues until someone gets caught. The alleged miscreants go to court and have a trial with a jury of their peers. Luckily, their peers are sympathet-ic-they're growing marijuana, too and no one goes to jail.

They return to the farm and their crops. Sometimes the farmers must start again, with crops being confiscated in the so-called "bust," but the neighbors are always willing to lend a helping hand. The situation has progressed to the point where the breed of sheriff that looks down upon hemp cultivation is forced into extinction. Many sheriffs in these Midwest farming towns have crops of their The phrase freedom fighter is misleading. It sounds like it means "someone fighting against freedom.

Of course, we all know that a freedom fighter is supposed to fight for freedom. In the American struggle for individual freedoms, there are always those two types of freedom fighters. Sometimes it can be difficult to determine which is which or who is who-a predicament that characterizes the fight for marijuana decriminalization. Here in the West, federal agents are again raiding northern California medical marijuana vendors. Although the passage of Proposition 215 frees residents to sell medical marijuana in California, federal law allows no such freedoms.

The Cannabis Cultivators Club and other medical marijuana groups arc easy targets for federal drug agencies. They arc overt in their usage of the plant, and are not afraid to decry the injustice of current federal marijuana restrictions. They are fighting for a freedom the federal government aims to deny them. Although it remains to be seen how the sentencing in California will be handled-even California is unsure what to do about the disparity between state and federal law-Midwestern farmers are sticking together to protect their freedoms. As the classic plight of the farmer worsens, farm owners often turn to alternative crops to make ends meet.

The most popular alternative cash crop these days is hemp. Entire Midwestern communities arc organizing themselves into hemp unions. It works like this: ffifaeTthaxtawomm'antsntl mscd: to what extent a Country which espouses eofiecdwc sodaliai as I open to fce mmmtm tae atte ot male ncnaan, mt terns tat mm CSalWdyblkVptm sure to send her iHtsck, Afctt wsh the irrvoive- mfonSCd wrkcrs. at fcsst wrkr aat pieSoih 0m eaa eonceittme 4htr: eraftwat add the legal system, they assignment and contribute to. njnipatrauxnai power ami can- rot encourage feminist awareness! Itistheestablinentofbatieied women's shekers that was the first ste in the process of ttxereasing public attention to the situation of Israeli women in Israeli society, and the anecdote that 1 gave, with which Galbrakh opened her ankle, was to illustrate that violence against women is a male problem Not Sellouts: U2 In a Mid-life own.

With the negligible distance of 2300 miles between them, we have law enforcement officials either cracking down on state-sanctioned pot growers, or sheriffs growing their own. The simple fact is that you don't have to like pot, you don't have to smoke it, and you don't have -to like the people who grow or smoke it either, but you have to recognize that this is America, where people are supposed to possess certain freedoms. In California, people are supposed to be free to grow marijuana, but they will most likely be prosecuted for it. Somewhere in the Midwest, farmers are growing their own strain of hemp freedom. The government is caught in the middle and doesn't know how to proceed.

Maybe it should ask the people. Chronicle editorials represent the majority opinion of the Chronicle editorial board, which consists of Chronicle editors and assistant editors. ed into a massive disco ball during an encore. The screen magnified U2 to God-size, making sure you didn't forget they were heroes. Yet, when the lights weren't blinding, you could catch a glimpse of the actual band below all the props.

U2 looked uncomfortable and overwhelmed by the monstrosity they were orchestrating. Bono's constant fiddling with his earplugs made him look as frustrated as an old man trying to set the clock on his VCR. And Edge couldn't hide his seriousness behind an air of rock stardom when the camera was on him. U2 indeed looked God like on the giant screen, but they also looked all too human. More accurately, they looked like humans going through mid-life crisis.

The only difference between them and an aging suburbanite is magnitude. Where the suburbanite may spend the family savings on a shiny German sports car, U2 can afford to put on the shiniest, hugest stadium tour in history. This expensive mid-life crisis has many shouting that the heroes have "sold out." They haven't. They've just decided to meet consumerism head-on. rr': That's what upsets so many U2 0 Yesterday I spoke on a panel which was the University of Uwh's fcSddJe East Studies Student Advisory eounci aao aoojessco inc wpc ot women.

ksjuhho tne woo vast. One of ymt reporteri1 Ms Galbrakh, covered the panel discus- ia the Msf 1 edttiba of the Cknmck. I am astounded at the wh wiui my vs-uros were mw- coostrued and misrepresented is hcrartkfc. Inmypraentatkai, history of the women's movement in Isi-ad. First I discussed the myth of equality in Israel with specific ref- erence to the history of die Zionist enterprise, and mandatory mOkary service.

The issue if individualism wnVdtoubefe qoesuottl Engulfed fans. -They want to remember U2 as the bleeding-heart heroes of The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua 7f-passionate musicians who spoke out against the destructive power of greed and matcrialism-not as a band who would stoop to Village People impersonadons. Fans want a reason for the new direction U2 has taken. They want to know why their heroes have fallen from grace. Truth is, heroes fall from grace because they're heroes.

I don't know what it's like to be an international pop icon. I couldn't tell you how it feels to perform nighdy for 50,000 people. And I'm not going to spectdate as to how rock stardom affects the psyche. You shouldn't speculate either. Heroes are not ordinary people, but they arc human.

When we slip up, we can forgive ourselves. When heroes slip up, the entire world must forgive them. We expect them to be better than us, and when wc find out they're not, wc pounce on them with self-righteous indignation. 1 Stardom has destroyed more than one rock hero. Kurt Cobain left a suicide note directed toward his fans that said he could no longer please them; When Pearl rijC onuk to', smrtpnzzzx ttc tSiosel you tjuote at ymt Twxt to ratner uun cooluse, the eampu otwimunky: RwhTaofTar Dept.

of Languages and Laeratutc -Ediior't Jfae: The Daily Utah 0 Chronick. sneerrfy fir mis- rrpmeng kofasor 3SSr -wsiMf aid trgrrts en? trrisKwimtandimn or mnvenienu the story awed. Crisis television. And don't sweat it if you buy an outfit because it's "in." Being part of pop culture is not a crime. What is a crime is when haircuts become more important than values; when looking good takes precedence over feeling good.

You can be part of society and have morals, but once you start maxing out your credit cards just to look hip, then you should step back and re-evaluate what you're doing. That's where U2 were when they played at Rice Stadium. They've maxed out their rock stardom and now they're re-cvaluaung themselves. The showVas kitsch to the extreme. It was ovcr-the-top in every way.

Still, the music was loud and clear. Bono swaggered around like the bleeding heart of old as he tried out his new disco dance steps. The Edge was as serious a musician as ever in his campy cowboy hat and Fu-Manchu mustache. Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. played solidly despite the rave outfits they.

wore. U2's trendiness was transparent, but so were their moralistic souls. U2 haven't sold out, they're just going through mid life crisis. Someday you will, too. Shan Fowler Twitch Assistant Editor Last Saturday 38,000 people paid to watch four men go through a mid-life crisis.

I was one of those who shelled out $60 for a U2 ticket, and I would do it again if given the chance. It probably wasn't U2's best tour, but it was a rare chance to sec one of the bands that shaped my childhood-some of my personal heroes. I wasn't about to pass it up. What I got was a group that has changed profoundly over the past few ycars-from a band with the plainest black wardrobe of any stadium group to a band that comes at you in full Technicolor madness. The world's largest television screen shouted images at the audience.

A huge golden arch held several tons of day glo orange speakers over the stage A 100-foot toothpick held a pimento olive with neon rings. Below the toothpick sat a giant lemon, which was convert MA Jam achieved megastardom and opted for anonymity instead, fans took it personally. U2 don't want to be anonymous, but they don't want to hold up their morals higher than their fans, cither. That's the point of the whole PopMart extravaganza. People think that consumerism is incompatible with morality and they sec U2 as blatant consumers.

Once "Discotheque" hit the airwaves, many considered U2's morals dead. On the contrary, what U2 is saying is that it's possible to be a part of pop culture and have morals. Bono has said that U2 arc no less idealistic now than they ever wcrc-thcy're just better at hiding their ideals. Some aren't buying it. They sec the haircuts, the sunglasses, the blinding lights, the huge screen and the "clectronica" trendiness and assume that U2 are no longer heroes, just commercial rock stars.

U2 are just making us look in the -mirror. They're telling us that it's, OK to be part of society as long as you're not consumed by it. It's OK if you didn't like techno until it became trendy. Don't feel guilty if you want your next haircut to look like somebody you saw on.