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Lest we forge
Some things just can't be forgotten. Or ignored.
There's one issue readers tired of reading about six or
seven years ago. Editorial writers tired of writing about
it. Students tired of demonstrating against it In general,
citizens tired of thinking about it. Nonetheless, it was a
hurran, moral and polticial issue, and in spite of all the
tiredness the issue always was alive as ever.
Now it's time the lack of concern, news coverage and
protest end. The issue is. Vietnam, and U.S. involvement
has anything but ceased.
In a recent letter to ASUN Senate President Ann
Henry (see Page 5), State Sen. Ernie Chambers wrote
the following:
"Students pretended so much concern for the
Vietnamese people who were dying from American
bombs, bullets and napalm. Vietnamese people are still
dying. But there is a conspicuous student silence. Why?
Because they are no longer confronted by the draft;
there is no longer any danger to their own hides. So
they no longer have any moral indignation about the
Vietnamese people who continue to die."
Chambers apparently is on the right track. Not even
150 persons showed up Thursday to hear what Don
Luce, an internationally known expert, had to say about
the United States' continuing involvement in Vietnam.
Four years ago, the Nebraska Union Ballroom would
have been packed.
Thursday's spotty showing is unfortunate. For a
larger group, the picture of Vietnam, circa 1974, as
drawn by Luce might have served as a springboard for a
resurrection of nonviolent protest.
According to one publication, "Luce is to the South
Vietnamese government what Ralph Nader is to General
Motors." The agriculturalist-journalist outlined a
nbmber of reasons why American outrage at the U.S.
50veiment'S'fole in South Vietnam should be renewed.
Among them:
-Uncle Sam foots the bill for 25,042 barrels of oil a
day for South Vietnamese military purposes. Each
barrel holds 42 gallons, which amounts to 365 million
gallons of oil a year." "' " 777 7771 '.'
Apof tT6n of ttSTtooherSffll ' mgnunne7eTmto
Vietnam helps to build such military devices as "tiger
cages," 5 x 5 x 10 ft iron bar-covered craters that house
as many, as five persons for years at a time. If the
prisoners-most of whom are political-survive their
tiger cage tenure, they often are crippled or paralyzed.
-Smith & Wesson of Springfield, Mass., manufactures
the shackles used to chain political prisoners in South
Vietnamese jails.
The Paris Peace Agreement stipulated that the U.S.
would not dispatch military observers to Vietnam. But
several sources report that there are at least 6,000
"advisers" in Vietnam, many working directly for the
Pentagon. 'This sends us right back to 1954-55," Luce
said.
-South Vietnamese law says a person can be arrested
and incarcerated without a trial for as long as two years.
The period without trial is renewable.
-The. peace agreement called for the release of ai!
prisoners. U.S. prisoners were released; an estimated
200,000 persons confined in South Vietanmese jails for
political reasons were not. "A lack of concern and the
continued flow of U.S. money is why the Thieu
government can still keep them in jail," Luce said.
About 1,200 of the political prisoners remain in tiger
cages.
Americans seem sadly myopic when they talk or
write about Vietnam. Too many focus on statistics and
casualty counts rather than the impact the war had on
the citizens. "What would Lincoinites do if the entire
city was bombed by another country and only one
building was left standing?" Luce asked.
Part of the reason the war goes on is because
newspapers have quit reporting on it and people have
quit worrying about it, according to Luce. He urged the
small crowd to take action, even if it only involved
writing a congressman. "If we spoke out about these
prisoners in South Vietnam we could get them released,
international concern kept Solzhenitsyn out of jail."
Luce said Americans can display a renewed concern is
by championing beleaguered Vietnamese individuals.
One such person is Nguyen Long, a lawyer now
imprisoned for his political statements. He is 65.
Luce suggested that one way Long's plight could be
publicized is by awarding him an honorary degree. This
is something UNL should look into. For once, this
University could distinguish itself in something besMes
athletics.
The war, in Vietnam has touched almost every
American to some extent. It's deplorable that so many
have forgotten so soon.
Mary Voboril
Wrry esTtrer6ooi Old Days
The doddering members of The National
Assoc. for the Perpetuation of Nostalgia held
their annual meeting last week to fondly recall
in quavering voices how lovely the world has
been - "back in The Good Old Days."
"Remember how it was, friends?" President
Horrer T. Pettibone said gently in opening the
meeting. "Everyone was at peace. No American
boys were being sent to die in little Asian
countries. Why, there wasn't even a war in the
Middle East - back in The Good Old Days."
"And prosperity," said an aging banker,
rising to his feet with the aid of a silver headed
cans. "Unemployment was down, everybody
had been making killings in the stock market
and nobody was worried about a worldwide
Depression not in The Good Old Days."
"Why you didn't think nothing of getting in
your big old car and going for a nice Sunday
drive," said an old working man wistfully.
"Heck, you could even drive clean across the
country if you wanted. Those sure were The
Good Old Days."
'"Course, we used to complain about prices
even then," said his wife, frowning. "Guess we
always have. But you didn't have to lay out half
"Oh, they were just happier times," said a
retired schoolteacher nostalgically. "Remember
the wonderful shows on Broadway then? Irene
and No, No, Nanette? Ruby Keeler and Marlene
Dietrich? Jack Benny and Duke Ellington?
They were younger in The Good Old Days."
"And look at this Exorcist thing!'" cried the
banker, pounding the floor with his cane. "No
wonder the country's going to hell in a
handbasket. Remember Lost Horizon? Why
can't they make the same kind of good,
wholesome movies they made in The Good Old
"I believe these drastic changes are due
primarily to inflation and Watergate," said a
Prof. Emeritus thoughtfully. "Most of us
believed in our President then. We had faith in
our government, faith in America, faith in the
future. That is why they were, in the final
analysis, The Good Old Days."
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back in The Good Old Days.
"And you could go to a restaurant without
spending a fortune," said a former businessman.
"A 6-course Italian dinner with a bottle of wine
at some little place. . . Well, I forget what it
cost. But we used to eat out once a week
regularly in The Good Old Days."
"J think peopla were nicer then," said an
elderly spinster sweetly. "You didn't see them
people fighting in Sines at service stations or
over the last roll of paper towels in the
supermarket Maybe it's the chil! and the dark.
Everything was so much warmer and brighter
back in The Good Old Days."
"It's these shortages," said the working
mari'i wife. "They make people testy. We
didn't have shortages of anything in The Good
Old Days."
"Perhaps it's fear, too," said the spinster,
shuddering. "We didn't have these radical secret
armies murderinj and kidnaping innocent
people in The Good Old Days."
ea est iwsswa mm
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The meeting broke up with a rendition of
that old favorite, "God Bless America." There
wasn't a dry eye in the house.
On his way out, Pettibone was stopped by a
young reporter, who asked, "Excuse me, sir,
but just when were The Good Old Days?"
"Why, precisely 12 months ago today," said
Pettibone. "You se? we meet once each year to
recall how much better things were the year
before."
'Then in 1975," said the reporter, "you'll
look back nostalgically on 1974 and. . ."
"Oh, yes, can't wait for our next annual
meeting," said Pettibone, rubbing his hands. "!t
should be a real pip-er-oo!"
(Copyright Chronicle Publishing Co. 19 74)
page 4
daily nebraskan
friday, february 22, 1974