Purpose of Johnson's speech a mystery

If he was so eager to learn "everything" about Penn State, you would think that he would ask the gender of our University president, especially because he was so grateful to him for the invitation.

I frown on the fact that he didn't even bother to find out the coach's name of the men's basketball team, the co-sponsor of the event. University President Graham Spanier and coach Jerry Dunn are not hard names. He arrived in the area at 4 p.m. and the speech was at 8 p.m., giving him ample time to learn information that he was going to use in his speech.

Johnson continued to surprise me. He prided himself on being a spokesman for HIV/AIDS, yet he could not explain HIV any better than a 13-year-old. I am sorry but saying that HIV attacks "your immune system, like a cold" is ridiculous. No, he is not a doctor (Thank God!) but as a spokesman, I think it is his duty to understand his condition.

Simply having the disease is not enough; one must be able to educate audiences of all ages. Furthermore, he neglected to mention that his treatment costs nearly $20,000 a week. So no, there are not too many "average" HIV patients that feel it is a blessing to have HIV. It could be different if they, too, had Magic's treatment. Let's not call him a spokesman, but a figurehead!

Finally, the heckler brought up a good point. What makes Magic so different from President Clinton? Why in this country are athletes put on a pedestal? How come it is acceptable for a basketball superstar to cheat on his wife and now be congratulated for his work?

So, I beg to differ on when the magic was taken out of the speech. I was left asking myself, "If he cares so much, why couldn't he take one minute from his busy schedule and speak to the gentleman who genuinely wanted to talk with him?" He might have had a minute if he wouldn't have repeated several times all the business ventures that he is now involved in. What was the real purpose of his speech?

Jaime Fettrow
sophomore-broadcast journalism

Heckler's comments not embarrassing

Why didn't Engel just come right out and admit that what the heckler said was downright amusing and very humorous. After all, he took the time to acknowledge the heckler by writing at length about him. I wasn't at the speech and would have never known about the comment until he wrote about it.

My views of Johnson date back to the time when he first came public with the HIV virus. He was a strong man with the courage to come forward at a press conference and announce to the world that he had a deadly virus. If it hadn't been for his successful basketball talents, Johnson would be just another face with a disease attached to it.

Sure, Johnson was a superstar athlete for all of the world to gawk at. However, the lifestyle associated with being the superstar that he was helped bring about his HIV virus. I can't blame him for living the lifestyle that he did. He was an integral part of a few NBA championship teams and the league's most valuable player a couple of times.

That doesn't give him the right to say, "Hey, don't do what I did, or you will get sick like me." How hypocritical is that? If it was natural for him to party and celebrate life, then why should he tell anybody else not to?

What makes him a distinguished speaker anyhow? If he were to talk about his basketball accolades, I could totally understand that. But in Engel's own words, "He even said the HIV virus was a blessing to him." Probably because it gave him something to fall back on after his retirement from basketball.

My opinion, from reading about Engel's opinion, is that the heckler was making a mockery of the media both presently, about Clinton and in the past, with their sympathetic view toward Johnson. Engel's opinion only furthers the cause of the heckler. One bad heckler doesn't make Penn State, as an institution, look any worse than one good journalist makes the media, as a social institution, look any better.

Brent Becker
junior-agricultural education