editorial
1 970s: era
of nothing?
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As decades come and go, they are branded
with titles of generalization meant to set them
apart from previous or succeeding eras.
The 1950s are remembered as the years of
rock 'n' roll, greasers, hot cars, sock hops and
45 r.p.m. records. The 1960s saw the
emergence of the hippie cult, civil rights
marches, antiwar demonstrations and the
accompanying publicity of a vocal youth
group.
Then came the 1970s. Although
fast-talking promoters are now experiencing a
boom in the rock 'n' roll revival, most of the
characteristics of the 1950s have faded.
Greasers have been replaced by $8 shag
haircuts. Hot cars have been replaced by
foreign economy cars and their recent
counterpart-American economy cars which
seem to be nothing more than miniatures of
the ill-designed full-size American car.
Sock hops have been replaced by Fillmore
style concerts, where, instead of dancing with
his best girl, a young man sits cross-legged on
the floor and nods rhythmically. Those small
records with the large hole have been replaced
by stereo album sets designed for playing on
expensive and technical pieces of machinery
able to produce as many as four channels of
sound simultaneously.
Even less of the 1960s remains. However,
the 60s cannot be replaced with newer or
more expensive versions ot the same products.
since the 60s were years without products.
And, unlike the 50s, where the individual
characteristics had merit of their own, when
the 60s left, they left completely.
When those true hippies (who wore
patched and faded jeans now easily purcnasea
at many department stores) abandoned their
cause, they took with them all the riots,
demonstrations and marches and, rightly so,
all the publicity of a vocal youth core in this
country.
Think for a moment of what the 1970s
will be remembered for. The end of the
Vietnam war? Not likely, since that end seems
to be a matter of interpretation. The fight
against pollution? Unless big changes occur in
management in this country, also not likely,
since Congress and other representative bodies
continue to permit extensions to large
corporations for time to clean up plants and
factories.
Of recent interest has been Watergate. Will
the 70s be remembered for this government
scandal? Again, not likely, since the American
public tired of this issue early in the Senate
hearings. Those who are behind Nixon will be
behind him forever, and those who aren't
never will be, but Watergate will be forgotten.
Rather it seems that the 70s will be
remembered for the re-emergence of such
grand old Americanisms as the hiding of a calf
or pig on the fourth floor of a girls dormitory.
Or spending Saturdays in front of that great
invention the vegetable box, commonly
referred to as the TV. Or, especially locally,
watching 22 young men attempt to break
each others bones on a carefully marked field
of plastic grass. Or, and this could be the
worst possible memory, spending time doing
absolutely nothing.
Remember the 1970s-those great years of
nothing.
Tim Anderson
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Scientific investigations
foster monster myths
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"Up to now, most zoologists have
treated the whole subject of sea
serpents, abominable snowmen and
similar creatures as something that is
not quite nice. It is as though they feel
there were some gigantic conspiracy
afoot to undermine their ideas of what
does and does not exist in the world,"
anthropologist Gerald Durrell said.
Last Monday, a team of 30
Japanese scientists, armed with a
complex array of detection
equipment, sonar, cameras and a mini
sub arrived in Scotland to prove the
existence of a Loch Ness monster.
Parts of the loch have been under
24-hour watch by local persons and
monster enthusiasts since the historic
Grey photograph of 1933. But for
learned men to travel 6,000 miles to
Scotland--not to mention the
monetary investment in equipment, to
search for a sea monster must raise a
few questions, if not eyebrows.
Man's monsters seem to be as old as
man himself and have traveled with
him to ever corner of the globe, His
monsters may vary in shape, size and
disposition but all share traits of being
unexplainable and rarely seen.
One could write volumes
speculating on the purpose and
functions of monsters for simpler
peoples, but why does this fascination
with the monster still exist in our
modern scientific age? Perhaps the
monster of today owes his survival to
the scientists themselves.
Science has advanced to a stage of
complexity far beyond the common
man's grasp or comprehension, This
complexity tends to isolate the
scientist He apparently loses his
humanity, and instead becomes a type
of wizened old sorcerer, contemplating
and altering the world with his
mystical tools.
The scientists have saved the
monsters simply through their
traditional denial of their existence.
The monsters have been left to the
layman. And until very recently, it has
been the laymen who made the
discoveries.
Hugh Grey, who first photographed
the "Nessic", was a worker at a local
aluminum plant, and the list of eye
witnesses now numbers in the several
hundred. Each picture snapped, every
sighting logged, strikes another
pleasant blow against the omniscience
of science.
But a more careful review of this
rivalry between layman and scientist
leads us to a more essential hypothesis;
perhaps man needs his monsters and
the invigorating uncertainty that
comes with them.
One often can hear instructors
from varying disciplines explaining
how simpler people used myths to
explain the awe of their environments,
One could say then, that science has
replaced the myth in our age, but why
then (Jo our monsters survive?
Perhaps our "Nessies", Yetis and
UFOs serve as a delicate yet stubborn
repository of man's basic wonder and
awe of life. Perhaps their existence
preserves for the world, mysteries,
things unrecorded, and unbound by
the binary fences of the scientist and
his computer. A monster ceases to bo a
monster when it is captured, measured
and put on display.
iohn michoel
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And it is for this reason that I hope
our momters are more clever than the
scientists in this latest effort at Loch
Ness. The seeking of the unknown is
not a realm restricted to scientists
alone, it is the domain of all men, and
luckily we have monsters who are
obliging enough to let us chase them.
daily nebraskan
monday, September 17, 1973
