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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 1968)
The Daily Nebrask.cn MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1968 MP- f met f )PO) J I PlCtfP I 1 (JPO) I I John Schrekinger . . . A "moderate" view I absolve myself of all responsibility for this messl? If society can't be the way I want it, I quit!? or, since "the system" is completely cor rupt, it must be destroyed!? The (communists, anarchists, "establishment", Jack Todd, etc.) are (is) to blame for (or are increasing) our problems , and something should be done about them (him). I (my group Left or Right) know (s) the 1Z problems of society, and we have all the answers!? "Chicken Little, was right the sky is falling, , "Z the world is coming to an end, morality is dying, life isn't w rfth a damn, etc, etc, etc ! ? ADMITTEDLY SOME of the above statements I ' are exaggerations and gross over-simplifications of what some people are really saying. These ' "' statements do, however, illustrate an important point: the extreme, intolerant, and simplistic view "V a number of people are taking of the complex problems of society today. ' It is especially amazing that so many very - intelligent people take such views. Whatever became of the rational, constructive, issue-oriented, problem-solving approach to such complex matters? "" At this point a number of people might resort to the expedient of calling me a "liberal", "sell- - out", an "intellectual," and worse ... It is very unfortunate when intelligent people try to pass off " shouting, name-calling, and empty rhetoric as a product of their thought processes. Being "open-minded" is condemned from both the Left and the Right. "Confrontation" is in vogue on the Left, with little thought given to determining . its applicability to a given specific situation Repression of "anarcists" and "communists" is the cure-all of the Right to "protect" the "American way of life." Drastic cure-all measures are urged by both the followers of George Wallace, and the followers of Carl Davidson and other SDS ' prophets. IT SEEMS TO me that "radicals" of all kinds are essentially abdicating their responsibilities as thinking citizens; they are, in fact, taking the easy way out by refusing to use their intelligence to solve complex problems. Instead they accept an easy, usually vague, ("Revolution" or "law and order") answers to the ills of society. They are in this sense "pseudo-intellectuals' as George would say; of course, George is a "pseudo-American" because he calls for the destruction of the basic American ideais in fact, while he is mouthing them as ideals. Both groups are expressing two basic American tendencies: (1) self-righteously declaring oneself an authority on "the one way" to define and achieve the "good life" and (2) Declaring oneself the saviour, and, if need be, the martyr, who will lead all the "sin ners" of the world (or at least the U.S.) down the path to "righteousness." All people are hypocrites in one way or another to a greater or lesser extent. Radicals of all kinds are also hypocrites, except that they seem less prone than others to recognize their own in consistencies. At the same time, they are more than willing to point out the shortcomings of others. THEIR IDEOLOGICAL approach to life has led many of them to believe that they have a monopoly on the moral, the "right", and the - "good." They tend to be elitist and to look down on the "unenlightened". Many seem to look at neither themselves nor others as human beings each with his own peculiar set of strengths and failings. While demanding to be treated as unique in dividuals, many in the "New Left" curse the "establishment", the "administration," etc. as a group as a unitary entity rather than as a group of individuals human beings. They sometimes demand to be heard while denying those whom they disagree with the same right. They condemn the groupiness and exclusiveness of others while practicing it themselves. While con- "T " Avtoncivalo in t'ifir own pt nf nnrms Oftpn thev are intolerant; while refusing to compromise their views one iota, they demand that others im mediately give up equally firmly held views. . THEY ARE OFTEN the apostles of gloom and doom, and the prophets of the self-fulfilling pro phesy; by expecting the worst, they are rarely disappointed but also rarely do much to improve things to a point somewhat short of perfection. By demanding all or nothing, they usually get nothing. They often "cut off their noses to spite their faces." In general, many in the "New Left" or of associated sympathies, seem to enjoy wallow ing in their cynicism, sarcasm, martyrdom, defeatism, and self-pity. Similar criticisms could be made of the Right. It is time to start facing reality, and to stop playing ideological games. There is too much in this country, and in this world te do for people to waste their time and energy in self-defeating, destructive activity. It is time to realize all ot us share a common humanity and a common responsibility for our fellow man as well as for ourselves. Radicals and idealists can serve a positive function as the "conscience" of society, but they will play this role better if they accept themselves land others as ordinary, fallible, human beings. It would do everyone good to examine his own particular set of strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of society. However, it is always easier to criticize then to evaluate and suggest positive alternatives or corrective action. This should 'be the next stop for the individual with regard to himself as a person and as a member of human society. More about this next time . . . in time for the hollydays Yes i was deducted into the arm-y; given a post in N.Y. (at the harbor) giftrwrapping arms and legs and rotted innards and sending them home to parents and loved ones in time for the holidays. Included, of course, were lovely cards saying Dear Fill-In-The-Blank This, I'm afraid, is what's left of your son (or husband, or father, or such) and we hope you enjoy spending the holidays together. He did bravely of course (we assume) and assorted medals will soon arrive In time for the holidays. Anonymous mm WW IT Ma. NUulwua tytfcm Editorials Commentar Dan Looker . . . Peaceful Lincoln, home of paranoids, etc. Lincoln, Nebraska is a peaceful town, unknown to most of the nation except for a few tourists who notice the Interstate 80 sign "LINCOLN NEXT FOUR EXITS" or the few grade school students who remember that it is the capitol of Nebraska, or the big eight fans who happened to tune in one Saturday when a Nebraska game was on television. Its residents would tell you that it has no problems, no smog, no real organized crime, no racial violence or student unrest. Just a nice clean town. Yet, if you walk into the Lincoln Journal newsroom, you will notice that among the usual newspaper gadgetry there is a box of riot helmets quietly collecting dust. Scat tered around the room are several large flashlights. IT IS REPORTED that employees of the University Administration Building have been briefed on how to batten down the ship before an on coming storm of student radicals. The Lincoln Police are Our man Hoppe rumored to have bought a machine that sprays a cloud of mace into the air. But at the present time, the only cloud floating over the prairie city of Lincoln, Nebraska, is a cloud of paranoia. One girl who has long, straight, dark-brown hair was told by her employer to pin it up before coming to work because she "looked like a hippie." AFTER THE ELECTION. the editor of the Lincoln Star was told in a letter that nineteen-year-olds were denied the right to vote because of youths who wear long hair, tight pants, and beards, and because of "daughters who are no longer virgins." (As if long hair and virginity had anything to do with one's conduct in a voting booth.) Clearly, there is something irrational about all this. That's obvious, but it's a little harder to pin down the causes of this subtle insanity. The roots of it seem to be fear and ignorance. That good old Midwestern pro vinicialism makes things tough on a University town during the era of "student power." The burden of remedying this paranoia seems to fall, not on Lincoln, but on the liberals among the students (some of them are radicals and all of tiiem are called radicals by some) and the liberals among the faculty (it is said there ARE some in certain unique departments). THE BURDEN WOULD seem to fall on ASUN. They ARE our leaders, aren't they? (i)on't tell me you haven't ever heard Craig Dreeszen, Tom Morgan, Curt Donaldson, and Sue Thompson.) And that includes the "conservatives" as well as the radicals in senate. It would be nice to see some of them come up with a few ideas, instead of just going to senate meetings and voting. It is usually those so-called conservatives who have the maturity tnd insight to understand the paranoid fears of the' University that the Lincoln community sometimes shows. Why aren't they coming up with ideas of their own about this problem in communications? THE BURDEN ALSO falls on faculty senate and its group with that wondrous and dynamic title "The Com mittee On Committees." Why not "faculty power?" The faculty certainly has "the facts" at their collective hands. Every faculty member is concerned about how those provincial state senators vote on the University budget, but what have they done to im prove the University's image outstate? (One notable ex ception to this criticism is the ag college.) Much could be done, if all of us, those strange members of ,the University community, 'cared just a little more, if we tried just a little harder. Believe it or not, time is running out. The dust will continue to collect on those riot helmets in Lincoln, Nebraska, but there will be more C h i c a g o s , more Detroit and more Colum bias, and then the fog of paranoia in Lincoln, and Bismarck, and in Topeka and Dayton and Des Moines will thicken. 'Hoo Dat' on first base in treaty talks? by Arthur Hoppe It was in the 43rd year of our lightning campaign to wipe the dread Viet-Narian guerrillas out of West Vhtnng. After years of se c r e t negotiations, the long-awaited Peace Talks at last got underway in Paris. Present for the historic oc casion were representatives of the four belligerents. FIRST TO ENTER was the fiendish agent of the dread Viet-Narians. a gorgeous former beauty queen with a 46-incb bust named Miss How Bot Dat. Close behind came the wily protege of the wily Com munist premier of East Vhtnnng ' the obsequious Dat Sma Boi. Another door opened and in marched the courageous leader of West Vhtnnng the famous General Hoo Dat Dan Dar. He as followed by the Loyal Royal Army Band playing the West Vhtnnngian National Anthem. "Foreigr Aid Forever!" And lastly came the U.S Ambassador. He looked wor ried. "WELL. GENTLEMEN." said the A m b a s s a d o i nervously, "all mankini U praying that we shall put aside our diffr -jives and . . . 'Just a minute!" inter rupted General Hoo in dignantly. "You clearly pro mised me the center chair on our side of the table. And not only is it not quite in the center, but it doesn't have arm rests. Furthermore, my name plate is too small and East Vhtnnng has one more water glass than I do." "Well, I'm sure we ... " began the Ambassador. "STOP!"SAlD WILY Dat Sma Boi. "We wish the record to show that by 'we' you are referring to the U.S. Govern ment and not including some puppet regime we do not recognize." "It is our position," said the Ambassador, "that General Hoo is merely a member of the U.S. delegation. Of course." he added hastily, "under a private agreement between us, he appears to be the head of it. "That's funny," said Miss How Bot Dat, "he doesn't look American to me." "EVEN IF I were speaking to you. which I'm not, l wouldn't recognize y.u," snapped General Hoo. "What have you done to your hair?" "That's no way to talk to a Daily iNehrankan Second-class ou(aue paid at Lincoln. ch. TEl.EPHOMC Editor 472 VM, New 472-. Buaines 472 tt'. Mtlmn correspondence to Daily Nehraakan, Room 51. Student Union, I'niverai' i Nebraska. Lincoln. Nehiaska oRfitia Subscription rale- are M per semester or for me academic teai Published Monday. Wednesday. Thursday and Friday durlni the nrhool year eweept during vacation and cxnrn period bv the student iri the I'nhersil.v nf Nebraska under the urisdlctlon ol the Faculty "ubcotnmlttee on Student Puhllcaiirma Publication shall be tree from censorship by the Subcomrntluer , r any per-ann outside the rniver-slty Member, of the kiehraskan r recponaibl or what they cauae to be printed Member .ssociat-d Collegiate Pitta. National Educational .dvrtiiii tervtc Editorial Stall Kditor Jack lodd; Uanaguii Editor Fd Icenwle. New bttitot l.jnii Ontt halk; Stent Newt Editor Kent Cockson, Editorial Pane jsUtant Molly Murreli -'ssratant SiKht Sew Editor John Krarida. Sport editor Mark Gordon. sij,laiii Sport Editor Randy Vork: Nebraskan Suit VYntexa Jim Evtnaer Jorw Dvoiak Larry Eckholi. Georne Kwulman. Julie Morns, lim Pedir mid Terry Giiibe Hit' Smtrherman, Connie Winkien Senior (Jipy Editot Mutt Waeoneri opy Editor I'hvlli Artkiason, Have r'ilioi June WAaoner, Andrea tAmid: Photography r.hie an (.arte'y; Photographer J K thaw; rtil Gail Pleasman Business Staft Hu-inf Miiiirtuet J I. Schmidt. HooLk'-rliei Ko-jei Hovf. 1'm-tu.tion Mn i--e limn Kb rn-na. S.tt tmal ri vtnavei Fi't tmi-m ni'i . I'.u-in. - Sit eiarj and t Iji'.sH'eil 4d- t.itiita I !m tl Stroud lp' I i ir -int i n n ol. Man rjr R in Pji f Vn Rii-i, Itnrun. s.d.eiH.ln-: ft-rir--enlsih e Me- ftrtrw.l Joel D. Uiena Fnendt, Nwlcy Guilhatt, Dan Looker, Todd $irV. lady," shouted Dat Sma Boi, "you Yankee imperialist." "Who's a Yank?" cried General Hoo. "You jerk. And she's no lady. She's a figment of your political imagination. Henceforth, I'm not speaking to you either." "PLEASE," SA I D THE U.S. Ambassador, wringing his hands. "You've got to talk to someone. As head of our delegation ..." "You're fired,'' said General Hoo. "They have three sharpened pencils each and you only got me two. From now on don't speak unless you're spoken to and I'm not speaking to you." And so the first session end ed three hours later with Miss How Bot Dat talking to Dat Sma Boi about crops. General Hoo talking to no one and the U.S. Ambassador talking to himself. BIT. PUTTING OX a .rave front, the Ambassador emerged to tell a waiting world hat he saw '.iope. "With extreme patience and understanding," he said ' the U.S. is confident we will some day be able to negotiate a lasting iruce." "With whom?" inquired a puzzle! reporter. "No." saiH the Amb s Jtr with ; si"li ' Wi h Hoo." Chronicle Feair' Inside report . . . Nixon neutrality heartens Scott by Rowland Evans and Robert Novak Washington Heartened by a pledge of neutrality on the part of President-elect Nixon, liberal Sen. Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania now has a 50-50 chance to defeat conservative Republican Sen. Roman Hruska of Nebraska for the job of assistant Senate Republican leader. But much will depend on what Sen. Everett M. Dirksen, the minority leader, decides to do. Should Dirksen throw all his influence to his close friend Hruska, instead of quietly supporting him, Scott would probably be doomed. DIRKSEN HASN'T said how far he will go for Hruska. Scott backers have given up hope that he will either be neutral or support the liberal Scott, as he supported the now-defeated California Sen. Thomas Kuchel, also a liberal, when Kuchel was elected assistant leader 10 years ago. Instead, Dirksen is vainly suggesting that Scott might be content to be named chairman of the GOP Senale Policy Committee. This year the stakes are much higher than in 1958. Dirksen is almost 73, has been in poor health for several years. Whoever is elected to succeed Kuchel in January will have a powerful advantage in the battle to succeed Dirksen when he steps down and will set the ideological tone of the Republican party in the Senate. One obstacle to Scott was cleared away when Kansas Sen. James Pearson, a moderate, decided not to seek the job, voiding a liberal-moderate split that would have elected Hruska. THE NEUTRALITY of Richard Nixon is also an essential part of Scott's campaign. Nixon has now let it be known through two intermediaries that he will take no part in this first post-election Republican fight. A footnote: Moderate and liberal Republicans increased their influence in the Senate in the November election. Robert Packwood of Oregon, Richard Schweiker of Pennsylvania, Charles Mathias of Maryland, and William Saxbe of Ohio slightly overbalance newcomers Barry Goldwater of Arizona, Robert Dole of Kansas, and Edward Gurney of Florida. Triple-Threat Harlow The transcendant importance to Nixon of Bryce Harlow, his first publicly-named White House assistant, is evident in the fact that it was Harlow whom President Johnson telephoned the night after he and Nixon sealed their unprecedented compact to act in unison in vital foreign policy matters during the transition period. Mr. Johnson once tried to hire Harlow as his assistant during the Johnsonian Senate era. The President picked up the phone on Monday night, only hours after he and Nixon had their White House unity-talk, to telephone Harlow in Manhattan. THE GIST OF Mr. Johnson's message: that if anything happened in Washington or in Nixon headquarters in New York to disturb the Johnson Nixon compact, Nixon should know it did not emanate from the White House or Mr. Johnson. Harlow is the only Nixon intimate who has ever been on close terms with Mr. Johnson. A footnote: Harlow will be on official leave of absence from Procter and Gamble, just as Neil McElroy was when he left that company to become Secretary of Defense. Procter and Gamble has no government contracts. McCormack Under Fire Disagreement within the liberal Democratic Study Group (DSG) in the House all but guarantees that Speaker John W. McCormack will remain as Speaker next year, even if the effort now being threatened to ease him out is actually attempted. At least one leading DSG member Rep. Philip Burton of California has told DSG chairman James O'Hara of Michigan that he will oppose any fight against the aging (76 next month) Speaker. DESPITE THIS defection, top DSG members met here on Wednesday and decided that if they could make a close contest of it that is, come within 20 votes or so they might challenge McCormack. Attending the meeting were O'Hara and Reps. Richard Boiling, Mo., John Brademus, Ind., Morris Udall, Ariz., Don Eraser, Minn., and Frank Thompson, N.J. A subcommittee was named o see whether Rep. Carl Albert of Oklahoma, the majority leader, would allow his name to be put in nomination for Speaker against McCormack. The first target of liberal Democrats, however, is not to upset McCormack but to punish Rep. John R. Rarick of Louisiana for having supported George Wallace for President. The second target is to place liberal and moderate Democrats In four Democratic vacancies on the Judiciary Com mittee. A leading prospect with DSG backing: Rep. elsct Richardson Pryor of North Carolina, a former feJeral judge. That will be the business end of the DSG's a enda for the start of the 91st Congress. The b ttit against McCormack, if it happens at al', w U have only symbolic value, with no chance o.r success. (c) 18 Publishers-Hall Syndicate