There’s a lot of bloodshed going on in the Mideast. The presidential election is coming up on Nov. 7. The Ames City Council is trying to push a smoking ban on Ames’ bars and restaurants. And ISU Interim President Seagrave has gotten rid of the Veishea Pledge. What? You can’t hear over the sound of your new Playstation 2?

Student apathy has hit a new low. While about 65 students from Iowa State, University of Northern Iowa and University of Iowa came to the Board of Regents meeting to protest a 9.9 tuition hike, 80 to 100 people mobbed Wal-Mart in search of the almighty Playstation 2.

Look around. Your peers are attending Coming Out Days rallies, demanding Ralph Nader be allowed to debate, urging marijuana legalization and trying to prevent abuse with a Week Without Violence.

While, believe it or not, some people in this world are actually doing something with their lives, you’re sitting around watching “Jackass” on MTV, downloading “The Thong Song” from Napster or watching “A Night at the Roxbury” DVD on your cool, new, limited-release PS2.

Sorry, but waiting in line all night for a new game system does not count as social interaction.

Peel your eyes from your TV screen and take a look at the world outside your dorm room. Use what imagination you have left after years of canned entertainment.

There are books! Libraries full of them! And art! Plays, concerts and exhibits!

A wealth of culture and knowledge sitting outside your door!

As your thumbs grow deformed from pushing controller buttons 18 hours a day, you find you can now only see in pixilation, and grass, trees and human contact become distant memories, remember this: some things are worth fighting for.

A video game system is not one of them.Editorial Board: Carrie Tett, Greg Jerrett, Katie Goldsmith, Amie Van Overmeer, Andrea Hauser and Jocelyn Marcus