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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 12, 1953)
- , 7W K . I 4 Page 2 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Tuesday, May 12, 1953 Just B etvjQsn Us... best In the hands of those who are reluctant to as sume it A New Mentality I have said that the Silent Generation is fash loning the Twentieth Century Man. It is not only suffering and bearing forward a time of transition, it is figuring forth a new mentality. In the first place, these young people will be the first truly international men and women. At last it has ceased to be a mere phrase that the By DON PIEPER Editor The Yale Daily News recently published aa anniversary issue devoted entirely to a "Study of a Generation in Transition." Thorton Wilder, a well-known author, was asked to comment on a Time Magazine article (Nov., 1951) on The Younger Generation. The Nebraskan offers Wild er's thoughts here for your consideration. Please read them and try to come to some definite con clusions about yourself. The Silent Generation A younger generation has been calling attention world is one- Compared to them my generation to itself again. These crises in the public ap- was parochial. Their experience and their read- praisal of the young used to occur at longer in- ing their newspapers as well as their textbooks tervals; now, with the acceleration of social have impressed upon them that the things which changes, they appear with increasing frequency, separate them. In the Twenties and Thirties one Some of us remember the Jazz Age; this was felt oneself to be one among millions; these young followed by the Lost Generation; now we are in people feel themselves to be one among billions. a state of alarm about the Silent Generation. They know it not as a fact learned, but as a . self-evident condition; they know it in their bones. . On the one hand the individual has shrunk; on I have been given an article on "The Younger the other, the individual has been driven to probe Generation" which appeared in Time magazine more deeply within himself to find the basis for on November 5, 1951, and have been asked to a legitimate assertion of the claim of self. This comment on it. There I read that these young conviction is new and its consequences are far people "do not issue manifestoes, make speeches, reaching in international relations, in religion, in or carry posters do not want to go into the social reform, in art, and in the personal life. Army Their ambitions have shrunk They want . a good secure job either through fear, passivity, or conviction, they are ready to conform They For instance, we went to war against and are looking for a faith." . among "foreigners" and "enemies." That atti- All this I recognize. I propose that we read the tude was narrow; henceforward all wars are civil wars. This generation goes forward not to punish and destroy, but to liberate oppressed and mis guided brothers. The Army authorities go into anxious huddles over the unabashed candor with CL-..U Dl::.JLITTLE MAN ON CAMPUS Be Subsidized? which young men can be heard exploring ways of manifestations differently. The Jazz Age preceded and accompanied the first world war. There was a breaking of win dows and great scandal. It made evident to all avoiding military service. The Army like the that the American home or the partriarchal pat- church. like the university is an echoing gal tern had come to an end. The young neoDle lerv of out-dated attitudes and sentiments. It still won the latchkev. Thpn th vniimr mm wn( nff thinks soldiers can be coerced and it still thinks to the war. That made them heroes. As heroes that the primary qualifications of a soldier are they acquired more liberties than they had seized courage and obedience. In a machine warfare, the as rebellious bad boys. The Lost Generation was ser a kind of engineer; his primary virtue the generation that did not know what to do with is technical skill and his function is co-operation, its new liberties. The younger generation of to- not obedience. day is facing the too-long delayed task of con solidating its liberty and of impressing upon it a design, a meaning, and a focus. No wonder they strike us as silent. Twentieth Century Man An even greater task rests on their shoulders. They are fashioning the Twentieth Century Man. They are called upon to illlstrate what the Ger- Jhe Nature Of Beliefs Most of us were Protestants; the beliefs held by others were the objects of our all but condes cending anthropological curiosity. Today these young people are interested in the nature of be lief itself. Some of us in the previous generations hurled ourselves into social reform and social revo lution; we did it with a personal passion that left mans call a "life-style" for our times. This work luie room Ior aeiiDeration and long-time plan is usually done by men and women of middle age, ninS- To correct one abuse we were ready to up but in the accelerated tempo of these war-punctu- set manv a benefit. It was of such crusaders that ated years a man or woman of forty-five is out tne Sidney Webbs were finally driven to say. "We of date. He does not respect or despise the same hate moral indignation." The emerging Interna institutions as an intelligent person in the middle tional Man wil1 move less feverishly in his en- twenties, does not read the same books, admire larged thought-world. This generation is silent the same art, nor agree on the same social or cul- because these changes call not for argument, but tural premises. The Silent Generation (loquacious Ior rumination, ihese mistakes of the previous enough among its contemporaries) holds its tongue generation are writ large over the public prints, because it cannot both explore itself and explain itself. The first charge against these young people is These young people are setting new patterns apathy. They do not fling themselves into causes; for the relation of the individual to the society they are not easily moved to enthusiasm; the ex- about him. The condition of being unimpressed by pression on their faces is impassive, is "dead pan." authorities and elders has thrown them back more , resolutely on themselves. They are similarly un- impressed by time-honored conventions. For in- But I know where they learned this impassiv- stance, young married couples today make a few ity. They learned it at home, as adolescents, concessions to the more superficial aspects of so guarding themselv'ts against their parents. Guard- rial life. In my generation young brides suffered edness is not apathy. In all my reading I have if their street address was not "right" and if their discovered no age in which there was so great table silver was not distinguished. Young men a gulf between parent and child. A seismic dis- were very conscious of influential connections, turbance has taken place in the home. Within commissions in the Army, membership in good forty years America has ceased to be a patri- ciubs. Members of this generation exhibit a sin- archy; it is moving toward a matriarchy but has gular insistence on wishing to be appraised for not yet recognized and confirmed it. There is themselves alone. How often I have known them nothing wrong with a matriarchy; it does not con- to conceal sedulously the fact that they come of note any emasculation of men; it is merely a shift privileged family. This insistence on being ac- of balance. What is woeful for all parties is the cepted as an individual produces an unprecedented time of transition. These young people grew in the fluctuating tides of indeterminate authority. I've always been an awful liar. I'm trying to get A latner was no longer held to be, ex officio, wise over it." A veteran, in the presence of his strick and unanswerable. The mother had not yet en parents, informed a mixed company that he learnea tne ruies oi supporting and circumscribing had been a "psycho" for six months after the war. her new authority. Father, mother, and children Such expressions reveal the consolidations of a have had daily to improvise their roles. This led liberty the liberty of belonging to oneself and to a constant emotional racket in the air. The not to a social faction, child either learned a silent self-containment or fell into neurosis. "At The second change is that they "aim low" These paragraphs have been part description, they want a good secure job. The article in Time part explanation, part testimony of faith. Faith says that, as far as their domestic life is con- is in constant correspondence with doubt. It may cerneo, xney iook lorward to a "suburban idyll." be that these young people have been injured by the forces which have been sweeping across the world in their formative years. It may be that What they want, at all cost, is not to find them- what I have called their self-containment is rather elves in "false situations." Life is full of false sit- a cautious withdrawal from the demand of life, uations, especially American life today. The most It may be that they lack passion and the con frequent and glaring of them is incompetence in structive imagination. My faith returns, how high places. My generation saw a great deal of ever, with each new encounter. I have Just this in government, In the Army, in culture, and crossed the ocean with a boatload of choice young In education. We exercised our wit upon it, but we "Fulbrights" (all hail to the Senator!). The traits were ourselves (not yet free of patriarchal in- I have been describing reappear constantly. They fluence) still vaguely respectful of rank and of- have two orientations well in hand ,to themselves lice and status. This generation is not impressed and to the larger ranges of experience. It is by any vested authority whatever. And their toward those middle relationships that they are freedom to Judge authority is accompanied by their indifferent current opion and social usage and willingness to be judged. Their caution reposes the imperatives of traditional religion, patriotism, upon their unwillingness to exercise any authority and morality. Their parents wring their hands or responsibility for which they do not feel them- over them; their professors find them lukewarm selves to be solidly prepared and adequate. They or cool; the Army grows anxious; we older friends hate the false and they shrink from those conspic- are often exasperated. These impatiences are pro- uous roles which all but inevitably require a cer- voked by the fact that they wish to live correctly tain amount of it. I find this trait very promis- by their lights and not by ours. In proportion as Jng. Plato was the first to say that high place is we are free we must accord them that. The Daily Nebraskan nFTY-FTRST TEAR Member: Associated Collegiate Press Intercollegiate Press Advertising Representative: National Advertising Service, Inc. Madison Ave.. New York 17. New York T DR7 ffvtnsckaa k mMMhnI iw tin iMna nf tin Vet mmttr a atamauaa f rndaaW am and Mtntom aHi. AcxfrtiBg M ArtM If f fa ttr-hmw rr train nadra mmicailoM aad adatinfctierad or H Boar iW tib!lcatlm. "it k ttm dawiarad (Miter at fa H"r thai annllrattoM aadr to tart. dwflaa taut) ba fr tmm Mliorlal tmnannla aa Iha awl af fa Iw.rd, af aa iha aari of uv aunMr af fa tacalir af th itmt, feat waaiUr af Mm rf af Taa ball? Ha (. bb an acnmtally raaaaaslMt fat arhal Ihar o ar aa ar ama w h ariaifaU" nnhwfiirtlna rrnw aia f t nnwalat. II. sn anlM at SS fat Ow nlisa r, tna'lad. fUnxi aopjr aa. ruMlakatf tail a Katartar, Hundav, Moaday, antlim an tumluilM aa. ''- n Nuiia pi!lmbl urlrt Aetna! raok pmm bt tka "' Ih wnxrvUlna at tha Commit. .. MMttrmt I'nnltaaMana. t.ntr4 aa amand nlaa mattar at tha I'-w tlifa fa UtuKttn, Nabraaka, BMIar art af fjancrm. Man S. !T, 4 at Rxrjnl rata af a" mM- fat fa ft una, &t at Comnm af (taeaat S. itil, anaariaaS lnaM 10, ttt. KUITORUIi STAFF l""" mtu . Oaa pitm Kalla. M Dt Km .... Kaa Rratram Saltr Hall Tern VaaSw4. laa Harrtaon. Hatlljra Tjraea, Nans Gardiner .(liana Howard Vaaa Cnffar Kdllmtal fw KtfHor MnaaaiK Kamm ton SMItem para tuna AM't SaorM Bdkar .... Ftafar Mitor Aa Kaftat BrrORTRB Marianne Hamnn, Kajr Nky, fynlhla fli-ndonnn. Marilyn Huttua, Willi 'llraoh, Marilyn Mltahcil, B-lh Hnhwiir, (Iraa Harvrv. Dun llllkrmrlrr, Nancy Odnrn. Marpfa Mlrkl.n. Nat. II Katf, Rlaln Nmlthlwwir. liivlll. Ilrlil.rrr. rinri. hi. tnka ihwdr. Hrnry llaum, Rrnl Rnka, Frank Nr.. bona, Da jarknon, ishnrltiM nf Pnmmrnln1i0m Dn !. Hhafton, Rnrr Waif. Die. Kadlrrak, Jim farrl.b and SnBC M . 01 commerCia"8m and mnri.fi nrm, u IIIJI C7.181UI1. OUICtV Ule HQVrTU8' ers themselves, mostly high-' minded men, cannot really wish to put religion through the com-i mercial and suppression sieves. (EDITOR'S KOTBi Tb followlnt editorial by Clayton T. Grliiwold wa published In a raceat una of. Prubytuiaa Ufa.) Is Bishop Sheen contributing to the moral and spiritual strength of America through his appear ances on the Admiral sponsored television program "Life Is Worth Living"? Or is he dragging the Church down to the ways of the "money-changers in the temple?" An answer to these questions may help also to shed light on another problem that is troub ling many Americans of all faiths today. "Should religious leaders be sponsored by com mercial advertisers on tele vision?" First, let us examine the ob jective! of those who are in volvedBishop Sheen, the Ro man Catholic Church, the Ad miral Corporation, and the American public Bishop Sheen is the head of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith of the' Roman Catholic Church in this country. His worthy objective is to win as many converts as he cn to the Roman Catholic faith. As an aid to that end he accepted the invi tation of the -Du Mont Television Network to occupy the "death watch" Tuesday evening at eight o clock, a time when most tele viewers dialed to either the Mil ton Berle or the Frank Sinatra program. So refreshing an improve ment was Bishop Sheen over both these rivals that the Frank Sinatra program shortly died and the Milton Berle program had to be put into the hands of a program super-surgeon named Goodman Ace. So successful was Bishop Sheen in building an audience that he won himself a commercial spon sor and countless awards as the television man of the year. The Roman Catholic Church must be pleased to have so able and successful a spokesman. Yet hierarchy and laymen must be troubled by some of the implica tions of the present arrangement. Does it foreshadow a day when television stations will no longer give time free as a public service for the broadcasting of Roman Catholic programs but will re quire that sponsors be found for them all? According to the arrangement with the sponsor, Bishop Sheen is to sound as little as possible like a Roman Catholic priest. He is to talk about ethical, moral and pa triotic subject! which have inter est to all people and will offend no one. He is to use his great skills and his magnetic personality to build good will for his church. And by his wearing of ecclesiasti cal robes and having a statue of the Virgin well centered in the background there is no doubt as to the particular denomination he represents. We suspect there are many pressures on the Bishop the hierarchy pressing him to in clude more of the distinctively Roman Catholic teachings in his programs, and the church lay men urging him to let well enough alone and to win friends and influence people by being a good fellow and not revealing too much that would alienate part of his audience. The Admiral Corporation is probably interested in two things and its president, Ross Siragusa, in an additional third. The Ad miral Corporation is interested in the worthy objectives of winning good will and selling its products. Its president, said to be an ardent Roman Catholic layman, should be given the highest praise. Surely his earnest desire is to make America finer through the influ ence of Christian teaching. And he appears to be the type of cour ageous layman who loves his church and does all he can to strengthen it The public, which eventually decides these matters, turns to television for entertainment, for information and for the excite ment of living in a larger world. But however much they like the Sheen program, many view ers. Including churchmen of all faiths, are beginning to feel sorry for Bjshop Sheen on two counts. They are wondering if he has not got himself trapped in the unfortunate position for a churchman of being a salesman. Just as "Uncle Milty" sells cer tain gasoline and lubrication products and "Lucy" sells a par-! ticular brand of cigarettes, so now Bishop Sheen has been made the "show" to pull an audience fori the sale of certain manufactured goods. O Sympathy goes out to Fulton Sheen for the second part of the trap in which he has been en snared. An advertiser is anxious to secure the largest possible au dience of potential buyers of what he has to sell. For that reason he does not wish to offend a single televiewer. So Bishop Sheen has been told he must not present sectarian views lest he oTfend Protestant and Orthodox Chris ftians, Jews, Mormons, Buddhists, : and others. Thus he is forced to disguise himself and try to sound like what he is not. To a degree he is asked to sound like Pollyanna and then is criticized because often he does sound like Pollyanna. lie is denied on the air the right of integrity, the right to talk like what he is, one of the ablest preachers and teachers in the world today and an ar dent exponent of the Roman Catholic faith. This commercially imposed limi tation on the Bishop is not fair to him, and it represents a great threat to freedom in America today. Totalitarianism has advanced a long way when America accepts the "never offend" philosophy of the advertising fraternity and sup presses the real freedom of speech of leaders like Bishop Sheen. Ro man Catholics as well as Protes tants, Jews, and all other men of good will should be concerned to from Fulton Sheen the By BibJer 1 - - - - --H 4X1 COrV INUSffARY PITHECANTHROPUS CMLIZATlOW by MECTHiOLATt I. CHMP (20S4 fAfle) HOTS'. TESTS twill axittt. apws flWM Tn'.J IOC. X WILL NOT LATE WfcW 00- WlP i iv4- ' jl Union Cues "Don't take th' book out of th' library, class I forgot to put it on the reserve list." r Ifs The Rule MUS Alay Change Rules At Workshop Suggestion The Associated Women Students! Kay Nosky may make some changes in AWS!0,wi v, ,i j i n . a iiwujc icui cadi iau ca rules at a meeting Tuesday. lto the AWS Board. ii mese cnanges are made, it would be composed of girls from will be partly due to three work-! each organized house on the cam shop discussions which the Board 'pus, since at the present time neia may o. ai tnese workshops some houses are not represented University coeds aired their views on the AWS board. Although this concerning three areas of AWS group would not have the nower &upervision: ruies, university to vote, it would be able to pre standards and AWS point system xne Kuies Workshop dis cussed changing second semes ter freshman hours back to 9 p.m. instead of 10:30. Most of the coeds felt that 9 p.m. would be better for freshmen. The general opinion of coeds on changing Sunday hours to 11 p.m. was also in favor of the earlier hour of 10:30 p.m. The workshop also recom mended that if a student has twn hours of downs, she should hp tp. quired to have 8 p.m. hours on weeks nights. At present the minimum is four hours of downs. lhe standards workshon dis cussed several recommendations to De included in the AWS Rule book which is given to freshmen at the beginning of the year. These would include proper wear on campus (no jeans or slacks except on appropriate occasion), smok ing habits and no drinking in nr. ganized houses or at campus functions. sent its views and suggestions con cerning the work of the board. Re-evaluating the point sys tem to make it fairer to girls in activities was the main dis cussion in the point system workshop. In addition they dis cussed enlarging the appeal board and making It more in formal. They suggested that the president of any organization involved in an appeal be con sulted in making decisions con cerning over-pointed coeds. The workshop discussed adding certain house oifices such as so cial chairman to the point system. At the present time, house presi dents, vice-presidents and pledge trainers are pointed. Ag Union Committee Plans Picnic By MARIANNE HANSEN Staff Writer Soring and picnics along with cut-classitis are almost synony mous. So, with the help of thk weatherman, the Ag Union gen eral entertainment committee if sponsoring an all-Ag campus pic nic Thursday afternoon. Softball games and sports will begin at 4:30 p.m. on the west Ag campus picnic grounds. At 5:30 a picnic supper, for which a nomi nal fee to help cover cost of food is being charged, will be served. Supper tickets may be purchased any time this week at the Ag Union booth for 25 cents. The third annual event is under the direction of Mary Ellen Ma ronde. eeneral chairman: Don Leen, games and Junior Knobel, food. Tonight the Ag campus is host to another picnic the annual workers, chosen by board mem bers, are given recognition cards. Spring brings picnics, but it also winds up another activity the weekly movie Saturday night in the Ag Union and bunday night in the city Union. This weekend's movie will be the last for the semester "Panic In Th Streets," starring Richard Wid mark and Paul Douglas. "The movies have proved to be one of our most popular activi ties," Mrs. Peters, Ag Union Ac tivities Director, said. She added, "This year here hat been a bigger attendance than in any previous year." Consequently, the Ag Union is conducting an informal survey to determine what types of movies students most enjoy. Saturday night's movie audience will check its favorites, providing an indica tion of student preferences in choosing next semester's movies. Picnics, movies an art gallery, too. The multi-service Union is now a miniature supplement to Morrill Hall. Ranging from "Tin Can Battle" to "Spring in New Orleans," 13 paintings from the collection of the University Art Department have been hung in the main lounge. The house and office committee, under the guid ance ! of Polly Ackerson, wasre- sponsible for making the arrangements. Why don't you go out to the State Hospital and give yourself up. a a a That's a nice suit you have on didn't they have your size. NUBB TUESDAY Interfraternlty Council will hold a special meeting following th ROTC parade in Room 316 of the Union. Army and Air Force joint ROTO parade will be held at 4 p.m. Corn Cob mass meeting will be held in Room 315 of the Union at 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY New Student Council will hold its first meeting at 4 p.m. in Room 313, Union. AT ITITLLER'S Belted-back BBflDX Jacket fc, Ail SJ 1 wad Weathervane Belted low in back, this is the three-season, stay crisp suit youll praise both for its suavely tailored derfier and its casual front softness. rrs CELANESE ACETATE Colon Navy Red Tobacco Black Sizet 10 to 16 ISots detail of back belt 25 you ean feel the good fit BacinaH M A't Hmlara M ClrcaialliHl Mnnnvvr A'iftit wi Cdttor TSIKSS STAFF . . AraeM mam kd ftar rat karawea, ftiaa flhnl Dlak Oof! Exchangeable for $2.50 in Merchandiiie SUITS .. . Fashion Floor . . . Second miLLER C PAIflE "AT THE CROSSROADS OF LINCOLN" It ".. ,y.vr-'-(rr.1.v- 1 ,