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Abortion
time for change
Venereal disease, one of society's worst menaces, is
commonly defined as "disease usually transmitted
through sexual intercourse." From this definition many
people have concluded that the most widespread
venereal disease is not gonorrhea or syphilis, but
unwanted pregnancy.
While an unwanted pregnancy may not be a disease
in the pure sense of the word, it does produce immense
physical, mental, social and economic suffering.
However, it is extremely hard for a woman to obtain
an abortion in Nebraska. The state's laws, adopted more
than 80 years ago, say the operation is legal only to save
the mother's life.
With the increasing number of states adopting
liberalized abortion laws, it is a good time to ask the
question: how realistic is Nebraska's nearly absolute ban
on abortion?
Most of the facts point to the conclusion that
Nebraska laws on abortion should be changed by the
Legislature.
There is increasing public opinion in Nebraska to
change the existing abortion laws. An "information
week" on abortion, sponsored by the Nebraska
Organization for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, starts
Monday at UNL. The organization is attempting to
change Nebraska laws so abortion is strictly a matter
between the physician and the woman.
One of the best arguments for legalizing abortion is
that the practice would be voluntary. It would be a
decision of the expectant woman to end her pregnancy.
Actually Nebraska women who want and can afford
an abortion can get it now since many states have
legalized the practice. Mrs. Twig Daniels, who is actively
involved in birth control counseling in Lincoln,
estimates an average of 25 to 30 Lincoln women have
abortions each week. About 60 per cent of them are
college students.
However, out-of-state abortions are usually
expensive. Thus only the very poor are now usually
prevented by Nebraska law from having a legal abortion.
Although abortion is widely practiced, it is definitely
not the best means of birth control. The moral and
religious questions involved with abortion should never
be forgotten. However, the views of a group such as the
Catholic Church do not necessarily make the best laws
for the whole society.
Often attempts at legislate morality create greater
problems than they solve. Such is the case with
Nebraska's abortion laws.
Gary Seacrest
Editor: Gary Seacrest. Managing Editor: Laura Witters. News
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The Daily Nebraska n Is a student publication, editorially
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and student government.
Address: The Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, University of
Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebreska 68508.
FX n - v Ac 1 1
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: -'.ill v )ivj
Phoenix, escalating from the ashes
jeffrey hart
Verbal hysteria
In a famous essay called "Politics and the
English Language," George Orwell showed how
polysyllabic bureaucratic jargon could be used
to place a barrier between reality and
understanding. The "rectification of frontiers"
meant an invasion. "Re-education" mean a trip
to Siberia. "Liquidation" meant murder. But
the jargon veiled the facts.
Since the mid-1960s another and even more
insidious kind of corrpution has been eroding
the relations between language and reality. I
call it the rhetoric of moral indignation, and it
has now slipped totally out of control. The
terms of abuse are now so heightened that they
have ceased to reflect any sort of reality.
Looking back, it seems to me that the first
important and symptomatic instance of this
sort of thing was the widespread acceptance of
the term "ghetto" to describe Negro
neighborhoods. This usage obliterated the
fundamental differences between such
neighborhoods and the Jewish circumstance in
pre-war Europe. But if it failed analytically and
descriptively, it was a tremendous emotional
success.
The use of the term really signified that the
user was against the current situation of the
Negro in America. And it opened the way, by a
metaphoric leap, to the related use of the
adjectives "fascist" and "racist" to describe the
rest of the American society. If the Negro
neighborhood was a "ghetto," then Lyndon
Johnson and Richard Nixon were "Hitler."
The rhetorical floodgates are now wide
open. The hopped-up feverish statement gains
attention at the expense of the more reasonable
one, and both politicians and journalists
instinctively grasp this tactical fact. Last week
it was Teddy Kennedy charging that Nixon was
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
The other night I was bored, disinterested, at wit's end for
what to do. I was not tired, but my will power was at an
extremely low ebb. For us existentialists, this experience is
known as "coming to grips with nothingness." The only thing
I can compare this to is when Jesus people "are saved", a sort
of opposite similar experience.
I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do. I tried
sleeping, but I would just lay on my bed with my eyes open.
Finally, inspiration struck, "Why not experience nothingness
to the fullest degree, McDonald's Restaurant?"
I drove to the McDonald's at 48th and "O" (Zero for you
Allen Ginsberg freaks). As 1 traveled down Zero Street, 1
experienced American architecture to the greatest extent, the
endless motels, billboards, neon signs, drive-ins etc. And it is
from this etc. that I gained my name for this type of
architecture. I dubbed it "Gas Station Architecture."
Tom Wolfe, author of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and
Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers, designated
Las Vegas, the ultimate example of Gas Station Architecture,
as the "Versailles of the modern western world", as it is the
only city in modern Western culture that has uniform
architecture.
Robert Venturi and Denise Brown, architectural professors
at Yale, have defended Gas Station Architecture, saying that
it's here to stay so we might as well learn to live with it.
As I entered the McDonald's parking lot, I noticed on their
billboard that they had sold six billion hamburgers, which
means that every American has bought around thirty
hamburgers. Figuring five minutes a hamburger, each one of us
has spent at least two and a half hours in the mere act of
eating McDonald's hamburgers.
I had to walk across the parking lot to enter the
establishment. As I walked across the lot, 1 noticed people
flipping nearly everything out their car windows: napkins,
cups, french fries, pickles. These acts made me regain my faith
in the American economy, because every cup thrown out had
to be picked up, thereby creating extra employment. This
extra employment would require more wages, thus increasing
the Gross (in two ways) National Product.
The people in the place were mostly turned-on teens
making a pit stop in their rodding around. The cars of these
kids are easily identifiable. The males drive hopped-up cars
with those tractor-size rear tires, giving the car a 45 degree
forward tilt. The girls drive their parents' large suburban cars.
I finally ordered my food: two double hamburgers, french
fries, a choclate shake, and a small Coke. I always order double
hamburgers. In an operation that usually produces single
hamburgers, ordering something else, like a double hamburger
or a hamburger without pickles or mustard, is an act of pure
joy and anarchy. It takes them ten minutes or so to get the
word through the chain of command in order to produce a
double hamburger.
After an eternity they brought me the food (loosely
defined). I was disappointed that they rang up the bill on a
regular cash register. At King's, in addition to patriotic
messages and telephone ordering, the bill is rung up on the
Digitmaster, a glorious super adding machine.
The way McDonald's food is manufactured has definite
effects on the body. The hamburgers are a bit greasy, as are
the french fries. With some mysterious process, there seems to
be an inordinate quantity of air in the malts and Cokes, as if
air were somehow injected.
The effect of this food are either somewhat immediate or
are delayed. If the effects are immediate, one must belch. If
this proves to be impossible, the effects are delayed, and one
must f-t. The gas to be exuded must come out one end or the
other. As they say, "Flatuence is our motto."
After finishing, I did the ritual croak. Then 1 noticed this
hamburger laying on the sidewalk. A dog went up to it, took a
sniff, then a bite, belched, and then trotted away. Never a
more fitting end.
With that I pulled back on to Zero Street.
Brevity in letters is requested and the
Daily Nebraskan reserves the right to
condense letters. All letters must be
accompanied by writer's true name but
may be submitted for publication under
a pen name or initials. However, letters
will be printed under a pen name or
initials at the editor's discretion.
trying to "destroy" the Constitution. The week
before that it was William Kunstler charging
that Nelson Rockefeller is a murderer. This
week, as the political season approaches, the
examples multiply. Do you realize that you are
living under a reign of terror? Listen to Harriet
Van Home writing in the New York Post:
"We are losing our freedoms. We are losing
them more rapidly, more insidiously during
these Nixon years than at any time since the
first World War. . .we are experiencing a
tyranny over the mind of man that is virtually
without precedent in modern times. . .Even if a
new administration is voted in at the next
election, it will still require a generation or
more to erase the scars and heal the blows dealt
our system by the Nixon bureaucracy."
Pondering those sentences, you wonder
whether this columnist really believes what she
is writing: "A tyranny over the mind of man is
virtually without precedent in modern times."
No, in fact she does not, I think, really believe
that. But it sounds good to her; it is expressive
and operatic.
Harriet Van Home is not an isolated
example. The American Civil Liberties
Union(ACLU) has issued a report called "The
Nixon Administration and the Press" which is
the occasion for her spasm of indignation. An
example of the ACLU rhetoric: 'There are
some who say freedom of the press is now in
the greatest danger of being lost in America.
There are others who say it is all but lost
already."
After a dose of this sort of thing it is a relief
to get back to the language of fact and sober
analysis, a change that is like a refreshing swim
in a clear, cool stream.
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1971
Dear editor.
There is an element on our campus that absolutely turns me
off. This element consists of various students who have to
crusade every damn thing that comes up. This group has four
or five pillars of strength that obviously thrive on splashing
their name as often as they can in the news media.
I am, however, insulted that this group feels that it has to
be the conscience of what they obviously consider an effete
student body and community.
Simply because their form of protest takes the form of
public statements and demonstrations does not mean that only
that element of our student population is deeply concerned
about the general state of affairs in our country and state. Many
of us work with many different organizations around town
which contribute greatly toward reform in many areas.
I, for example, would rather work through the church and
help collect blankets and clothing for families in India or
Pakistan, rather than standing at a booth all day doing nothing
but talking a lot.
I would rather use my annual church pledge as a
contribution to the deacons fund, so that hungry people in my
immediate neighborhood can eat if they are hungry. I would
rather spend my time marching on "Honey Sunday" for the
Jaycees, than standing around talking. There are many
problems in our country that are just as important as the war.
Since this is America I would say, "You do your thing, and
I'll do my thing. As long as we are both putting our best foot
forward striving for significant change in an important area, we
should not be insulted because somebody else thinks that we
should be doing something different."
The statement has been made, "Bob Hope is about as funny
as a dead Vietnamese baby." Bob Hope is a very funny fellow,
yet, there is nothing at all funny to me about a dead
Vietnamese anybody.
S.H.
poor choice of dorm leaf leting methods in the November 5th
issue of The Daily Nebraskan; Roy Baldwin and Allen
Bricker's subsequent "denunciation" was as superfluous as it
was puerile.
The "Coalition" for Muskie would do well to re-evaluate
their own strategy and begin to educate the public about the
merits of their candidate. We would like to know more about
the man himself and how he stands on the issues of the
Indochina War, racism, poverty, unemployment, and the
overall mis-management of the economy, and not merely how
well he rates on national polls.
The idea that his middle-of-the-road stance makes him "the
one" is disturbingly reminiscent of references made in the '68
campaign to the desirability of the Republican front-runner.
Muskie's choice of running without announcing his
candidacy may be the most expedient, but is it the most
honest one? (And while we are on the subject of information,
it would be only slightly less interesting to learn how Roy
Baldwin metamorphosed into a moderate.)
Instead of bemoaning the fact that they will be unable to
use dormitory mailboxes to distribute their literature, the
Muskie students should make active use of the many other
channels available to them.
Andy Cunningham
Dear editor.
It is unfortunate that the Youth Coalition for Muskie has
already been reduced to a state of ideological bankruptcy.
Enough attention was focused on the Students for McGovern's
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1971
Dear editor,
The "All American" Michael Hilgert said that I seem to
despise America and I should go to North Vietnam or Cuba
(The Daily Nebraskan, Nov. 12).
I don't seem to despise America, I despise "All American"
Americans like him and the idioticracist institutions they
stand for. He'd probably tell the "Native Americans" (Indian
American) to go to North Vietnam or Cuba if they didn't like
"All American" Americans like him and the idioticracist
institutions they stand for.
I think Michael Hilgert should read the "All American"
Constitution and the "All American" Declaration of
Independence, and then come talk to a militant African
American who is a product of this "All American" America.
Sanjulu Michael C. Randall
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
at the
Royal Grove
tonight
Ya'll come now!!
avsK.iasrflt wwKMif-SK'a seasiwtf 'foyfir
Can you
shoulder it?
A Lieutenant of Marines.
Command a Marine platoon
or pilot a multi-million dollar
Phantom jet. At your age
that's more responsibility
than most men will ever
know. Can you shoulder it?
You begin leadership train
ing to earn your lieutenant's
bars next summer.
If you can handle the job,
the Corps will make you
a Lieutenant of Marines the
day you graduate.
Introduce yourself to the
Marine Officer who visits
your campus.
The Marines
are looking for
a few good men
to lead.
FOR DETAILS, CAPTAIN TAYLOR WILL BE IN
THE NEBRASKA UNION, PLACEMENT OFFICE
ON NOVEMBER 16, 17 and 18 FROM 10 AM to
3 PM
The new
universiTY op
weorasKa
Rinq
SEE THE BEAUTIFUL
RINGS BY JOSTEN'S
CAEVfFUS BOOlCSTOIl
1245 uUn Street
Lincoln, Nebraska
J
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