Thursday, December 13, 1984
Pago 4
Daily Nebraskan
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I never saw the advertisement
Larry Flynt ran that depicted
Rev. Jerry Falwell as a wife
cheating atheist.
Nor do I necessarily agree with
the methods and reasoning of the
Rev. Falwell's heavy-handed evan
gelism. For all of Falwell's crusading
and moralizing, people should re
member he 13 a man of God. The
ideas he suggests may not be
consistent with the modern
method of life. But in my opinion,
they are consistent with the Bible
and the word of God. Believe it or
not without getting into a reli
gious argument the ideas in
the Bible can lead to a satisfying
life.
But for his stance on this and
other subjects, Falwell has been
the target of a rash of unwar
ranted personal attacks. Not cri
tiques on his methodology mind
you, but a series of venomous
barbs from Johnny Carson jokes
to the tasteless humor of Larry
Flynt. Friday, a court in Los
Angeles found that Flynt had not
libeled Falwell in the phony
Hustler magazine advertisement.
But the court did give Falwell a
monetary compensation for per
sonal distress in the thousands.
It should have been more.
It's difficult to take Falwell's
side given his elitist attitudes and
measures.
But the real question here is
the right of publishers to use
their exclusive material to des
troy or defame those of opposing
opinions.
The court should not have con
sidered only the body of the arti
cle and its weak disclaimer. The
source of the advertisement
dwells on the lowest common
denominator for humor and for
money. Even among the "skin"
magazines, Hustler has a reputa
tion of being cheap and low class.
The intent of the article was no
doubt to further sully the already
shaky public image of Falwell.
The ad was a blatant disregard of
responsibility and journalistic in
tegrity. It is the thing Hustler
often cries when it has been
attacked for demeaning and in
sulting photographs.
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It would have been dangerous
for the court to set precedent
allowing all offended people to be
eligible for retribution any time a
publication makes fun of them. If
that was the case, then comic
strips, such as Bloom County and
Doonesbury, comedians and news
papers would be common targets.
Being derisive on a subject cur
rently in the news is one thing.
But using the medium to reduce
a foe to a laughing stock is
another. Particularly when the
people involved have antagonized
each other in the pest.
Ward W.Triplett III
Daily Nebnuiaa Senior Editor
'Da AM
TA wants to
banh
oxin ' I'll moida dem! '
Author's note: Because of an increas
ingly busy schedule, IVe asked my
cousin, Mario, from New York City,
to sit in for me this week. I hope you'll find
his perspective honest and refreshing. IH
be back next week. Mario?
James A.
Fussell
Yea. So how's it goin' wit' you? I ain't
doin so good, see? Last week afta my pal
Vinnie caught a haymaker in da eighth
round at the toidy-turd street gym, I
decided ta grab a brew an gNvan home.
So I'm walking down toidy-turd street,
right? And Mickey from the hot pretzel
stand spits right in my path. So I asks
Mickey if he wants to live to see his kids
get old? So then Mickey tells me why he
spits, and I spits, too. I guess the Ameri
can Medical Association wants to ban
boxin in the good ole' U.S. and A.
Ban boxin? Ya tryin' ta cut my heart
out, or what? What am I gonna do on
Sattaday aftanoens, go ta the ballet? Da
noive o dem saw bones, where do they get
off? Ain't they got no compassion for
kids?
I mean, whatta about my kid, which I
ain't got one, bein's I'm not married an all,
but whatta bout him if I did? How's he
gonna learn the manly art of self defense
wit no fights on the tube? Nobody thought
o dat, did they? Ten, 12 years o dis an ya
got yaself a maj or crisis on ya hands. Eve
rybody's kid's a sissy, an goin ta the ballet
instead o woikin on his left jab. Pretty
soon zingo a nation o namby
pamby's. It's enough ta make ya puke.
I tell ya, de's AMA croaks, they ain't
thinkin straight. What about the econom
ics o boxin? The odder day I said ta Vin
nie, I said, I says to Vinnie, "What has
boxin done for ya's?" And even though
Vinnie forgot da question, I know dat he
bought his lovely mudder a new place in
Newark. Whatta sweetheart.
Anyway, da point is, Vinnie used ta rob
grocery stores. Now he's rollin in the long
green an payin taxes to da feds like ya
wouldn't believe. That's patriotic, ain't it?
Good forda economy an all dat?
And who wants ta spoil all dis? The
AMA, dat's who. Whatsa AMA know about
boxin, anyway? Only time ya see one a
dem's around ringside is when some slob's
wear in his nose on his ear, or gotta
busted eye joint, a tongue bit in half, or a
brain dat's been bounced off da canvas
too much. Hey, it happens.
So whattaya gonna do? Every year
more slobs buy it in bathtubs than in a
boxin ring. I can see it now AMA votes
ta outlaw bathtubs. Geez.
I say, whatta bout the public? Aint da
majority got no rights in dis country, or
what? Ain't it writ somewhere dat we
gotta right ta see a couple a mugs mash
each odder up inna ring if dey wanna?
Ain't it da American way?
I know my rights. I mean, I read, an like
all that. So I asks my mouthpiece about it,
an he says to me that witout a doubt
that's how he said it witout a doubt, he
says, Americans have a constitutional
right to free speech, free love and subsid
ized mayhem on Sattaday aftanoons. I
think that means boxin's OK.
No matta what nobody says, a ban on
boxin is unmanly an unnatural. An boxin
don need no outside troublemakers like
da AMA. Boxin takes care a its own, dat's
for sure.
Why jus do odder day, I wuz as kin Vin
nie how Boom-boom's gettin along, bein's
I heard Boom-boom's started bumpin
inta buildings, and like that.
"Boom-boom don see none too good
nomore," says Vinnie, "an I guess he's
havin a hard time cuttin up his noodles."
"Know what I'm gonna do?" says Vinnie
"I'm gonna give a testimonial for ole
Boom-boom. Dem pugs inna middle
weight division will all open up Boom
boom. We could buy him a place in
Newark - or he could live wit my
mudder."
I swear, dat's what Vinnie said, real sin
cere, like. An da AMA wanta ta spoil all
dis? I tell ya, it's downright unAmerican.
tt Tl Daily a
EDITOR ChrtfWtlftch, 472-1 m
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ttaeSt Thofitas
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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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PUBLICATIONS BOARD
CHAIRPERSONS Kick Fol?, 47&-C27S
Anstta KfetfetJ, 475-4:31
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' .LL fySATEH! AL 1184 B&iLY NESRASKAN
f2ft Letters
indent questions use of Lie
d 'gift'
In response to the Dec. 11 letter to the editor:
According to newspaper accounts, the Lied Foun
dation approached D.B. Varner, chairman of the
NU Foundation board of directors, about donating
$10 million to UNL, and asked how it could best
help the university. Varner, not spending the day in
the library looking for non-existent publications,
not waiting for hours for the computer to go back
on-line to finish an assignment and not having to
park miles from his office, chose a pet project that
has been on the books since 1086, an arts center
The arts center was earmarked after the founda
tion spoke to Varner.
Proponents say the arts center will improve the
quality of UNL's performing arts department. This
is obviously a red-herring, considering that the
Devaney Sports Center was supposed to improve
our basketball program. Buildings are not more
important than people. To improve quality, the
personnel not the buildings must be en
hanced. The Lied Performing Art3 Center has been ex
cluded from hosting any rock 'n roll concerts,
which are popular with students. Trawling art
shows currently are hosted by Sheldon. In fact,
such shows are so infrequent that Sheldon often
uses the space to showcase graduate art displays.
Was the $10 million really a gift? We have to
match that $10 million before we get a dime. A gift
is given freely, with no conditions attached. If the
Lied Foundation is truly more concerned with
Proving conditions at UNL, then it should give
UNL the $10 million, no strings attached and allow
our ivory tower leaders to put the money where it
can best serve the university as a whole.
. Je Performing arts center would be fine if even
naif of these other conditions high tuition and
rees, parking, computer and engineering deficien
cies library and faculty funds - were corrected,
i he fact is, we cant just hope money will fall from
JiSrt 0 solve,thes inadequacies. We need lesd
:tpr ?ur administration that faces programs
SSL0 . t0 8toM them over by building a
monument to themselves.
Tim Howard
senior
political science-history-English