thursday, October 16, 1975
dsi!y nebraskan
page 4
editorial (pififi
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3
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11 PL
Dear editor,
The issue of selling alcohol on campus is not a matter of
morals or ethics. It is simply a matter of good business.
Remodeling the South Crib of the Nebraska Union,
creating a new, beautiful drinking establishment, could
benefit both the taxpayers of Nebraska and the students at
UNL. The profits from such a lounge in the Union could be
channeled to worthwhile, student-determined activities,
which are always the last priorities of state tax money.
Let's take the advice of more than 100 colleges and
universities in America that allow the sale of alcoholic
beverages on their campuses, and begin supporting the
needs of students with profits from a student-operated
establishment. It's a matter of good business, our business.
, Jeff Searcy
Wasted water
Dear editor,
Why are they wasting water on the lawns this time of
year? They will soon be brown anyway. To me, it's like
giving Vitamin E to 80-year-old ladies.
D. Nelson
Editor's note: Jay Schuckebier of the UNL Grounds
Dept. says grass needs to be watered throughout the fall if
it is to stay alive. Blades of grass, like leaves, turn brown in
autumn, but that does not mean the lawn is dying.
As for your simile, we have no idea what you mean by
your reference to 80-year-old ladies, but medical authorities
assure us Vitamin E has nothing to do with it.
Toy money
Dear editor,
We write to you today with much satisfaction, for we
have finally figured out where money for traffic fines is
going. ,
At one time during this semester, we were naive enough
to" think money was going to paint lines on the gravel lots,
so one could see where to park, or maybe to put in a cross
walk in front of Abel Hall so students wouldn't have to risk
their lives every time they cross 17th St.
However, we now see the light. Money for fines has gone
to the purchase of Rhino Boots. We want to congratulate
John and Gail for putting the money to such a worthy
cause and we would like to wish them luck and happiness
while playing with their new toy.
David R. Kirshenbaum
Steven Scheffel
More than jungle
Dear editor,
' Being a foreign student in a big university like UNL, and
an African student for that matter, can be a very gratifying
experience.
You are sometimes asked questions by your fellow stu
dents, questions that may range from the totally ridiculous
to the sublime. During my brief stay here so far I some
times have a feeling that I can see pictures people have in
their minds after I tell them where 1 am from.
This has led me to conclude that the picture in the
average young American's mind about Africa is naked
people running wild with blow guns, rubbing bodies with
wild animals in the jungle and scrambling for food and
shelter.
To some it is a safari, with car loads of tourists and lions
climbing all over them as they drive through towns and
villages.
I don't think I can blame young people for this and I
would like to use this opportunity to ask my African
brothers not to blow up should a fellow student ask them .
questions of this nature.
Perhaps the blame should go to the most powerful
means of communication mankind has ever been exposed
to, the American media, for spreading ignorance to the
youth of America on that line.
Young people may be forced to believe what they see on
television or in the movies-like Africa being all jungle and
animals-just as we may have been forced to Lelievs that
America was a nation in perpetual warfare, cowboys and
Indians on horseback shooting at each other with guns and
bow and arrows.
We have a lot of animals in Africa but they don't roam
wild in our cities and towns. They are a natural resource
that modern technology has not wiped out yet. Find out
for yourself that we are not all jungle.
A.A.Opo
Loose ad hole?
Dear editor,
On the other hand, perhaps your editorial page problem
is a loose ad hole.
B.R.
actsneede
Fear is at the root of the Sherdell Lewis case
and it threatens to branch out into the entire
Lincoln community.
Fear, whose seeds were misinformation, mis
understanding and misdirection, prompted me
poorly led and ultimately tragic raid on Lewis s
home. Fear; according to deputy sheriff Rod
Loos's polygraph test, prompted the shotgun
blast that took Lewis's life.
Read County Atty. Ron Lahners' report (Daily
Nebraskan, Oct. 1 5). The fear is there.
Fear of the black community is shutting persons
in their homes, windows closed, doors locKed. hear
in the black community has sent persons to the
d to halt fear
IS
street corners armed with spiked clubs. Fear
breeding rumors, wiuui uw icai.
Fear is making us ugly, and it must stop.
The incident sprang from misunderstanding and
half-truths, so let us have all the truth. Let us have
"some factual matters" that Ron Lahners has
"indicated cannot be revealed." Let us have the
file that Lahners says he has not yet decided to
release
If it takes a grand jury to get at the truth, tlien
let us have a grand jury.
Above all, let us stop fearing each other. Blacks,
whites, citizens and police alike can be cut down
where they stand if we do not.
Rebecca Brite
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innocent bystander
Gender decides immoral acts
By Arthur Hoppe
When Private Oliver Drab (578-18-4454) heard that
Leonard Matlovich, the gay sergeant, had been discharged
for engaging in immoral acts with other military personnel,
he immediately went to see Captain Buck Ace.
"What is it this time, Private?" said Captain Ace with a
sigh. "If you've come up with another phoney reason to get
out of this man's Army, I don't want to hear it."
"Oh, no, sir. It's just that I've got this problem. . ."
The cpatain put a fatherly arm around Drab's shoulder.
"I always want to hear the problems of my men, son," he
said. "No matter how terrible they may seem to you, I'm
sure I can help."
"That's good, sir," said Drab, "because me and this
sergeant over at division headquarters are living together in
sin."
Captain Ace whipped his arm away as though Drab had
turned into red-hot, pot-beliied stove. "Good Lord!" he
cried, backing off three paces.
"We met in this bar," began Drab dreamily. "Right away
there was this kind of spark between us. So we had a couple
of dances and walked down the street holding hands to this
motel where we. . ."
"Stop!" shouted the captain, his face red. "I don't want
to hear about what other disgusting, immoral acts you've
engaged in. You'll get an automatic discharge out of this,
Drab!"
"I will?" asked Drab hopefully.
"First, you're a security risk, A spy could blackmail you
by threatening to reveal your conduct to your commanding
officer."
"Even if I just did?" asked Drab, looking worried.
"Second, what mother would want her son to join an
army with people like you in it?"
"You're right, sir. My Mom didn't."
"And what kind of soldiers would you people make?
The Army will never tolerate obscene behavior. By God, I
should've guessed by the faint-hearted way you shouted,
'Kill! Kill! Kill!' during dayonet practice."
"I never could put my heart in it," agreed Drab.
"Now give me the name of that sergeant, Drab. ThereH
be two discharges here!"
"Gee, that's great of you, sir. Her name's Cynthia
Yosarian. And she's been wanting out of the WACs, too."
The captain appeared stunned. He tentatively
approached Drab, clapped him on the shoulder and
beamed. "That sexy blond? Congratulations, son, you
really scored. By George, you'll make a soldier yet!"
"I'll never understand the Army," Drab later said glumly
to his friend Corporal Partz as they peeled potatoes. "Isn't
living in sin an immoral activity?"
"It's like any other activity we do, Oliver," said Corporal
Partz, spitting thoughtfully. "There's the right way, the
wrong way and the Army way."
(Copyright Chronicle Publlihing Co. 1975)
1 vH wi
long hord climb
Word labels affect neutrality
TV
By Marsha J ark
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in
rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it
to mean-neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can
make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which
is to be master-that's all."
-Lewis Carroll, Through the looking Class
But it is not so easy to master the meanings of words.
The words we assign to objects and people have the
effect of legitimatizing or illegitimatizing the things they
stand for. Words are our symbols or labels, static repre
sentations of the ever-changing.
What "Monday" represents to a person today is not the
same as what "Monday" represents to the same person
Sunday night.
What "morality" means to one person may be totally
different from what it mean;; to another person.
The language of psychoanalysis is an interesting example
of the way labels can change a neutral situation into an
"unhealthy" or neurotic situation.
If you say that a person will not eat pork for religious
reasons, the statement remains neutral. But if you sav that
a person Iras an acute phobia of pork, a bad connotation
usually results.
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psychiatrists stop using them to prevent the misunderstand
ings that develop over such words as "schizophrenic or
"manic-depressive."
One big headache In business Is the MissMs.Mn
question. Some pocple claim that Miss and Mrs. are deriva
tions of the word "mistress" (which has connotations of
own) but that Ms. is the abbreviation for manuscript.
However, business manuals since the 1950s have
recommended using "Ms." as formal address for women
whose marital status was unknown.
"Ms." now is associated with 'Women's lib" so instead
of being a neutral formal address, it has become a tmro
category for feminist women.
Occupational labels have changed radically mjjj
people found that their jobs would seem nicer
an important-sounding name. Therefore, "janitor beciwj
custodian," then "maintenance engineer, J"
undertaker" became "mortician-," which became fuiw
director."
' There is no way to remain neutral. Even behavioriJJ
find that operational terms like "positive reinforcernei
and "negative reinforcement" may elicit nightmares om
white rats pressing buzzers and running across tigww
in cages.
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