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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 1975)
thursday. december A ioie page 4 daily nebraskan editorial w guest opinion Editor's note: The following guest opinion, in response to columns by Marsha Jark and Del Gustafson, was prepared by mem ben of the UNL Arab Student Organization. The two columns on the UN resolution that described Zionism as a form of racism (Daily Nebraskan, Nov. 20 and Nov. 2) are uninformed and misleading. Judaism and Zion ism are not synonymous. Most Orthodox Jews considered Zionism's secular approach to Jewish redemption "a heresy disguised in sacred vestments." Zionism was a product of Western ideo logy and had little to do with Jewish values or Middle East ern culture. As the product of Zionist thought, Israel inherited the latter's predispositions: "The existence of a single Jewish nationality defined in racial terms, the endemic hostility of Gentiles toward Jews, and the illegitimacy of Arab rights in Palestine' (Alan R. Taylor, "The Isolation of Israel," Journal of Palestine Studies, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. IV, No. 1, 1974, p. 87) Limited space renders impossible any attempt at review ing here the extensive and detailed scholarly material on the subject. Several specialists have stressed that the early Zion ist ideology, that Jews are a distinct racial entity. This theme recurs in the Zionist writings of LeoPinsker and The odor Herzl, of Ahad Ha'Am and AD. Gordon, ot Chaim Weizmann and Ben-Gurion. In "Judaism and Nietzsche," Ahad Ha'Am argued that the Jews were essentially a superior race. He agreed with Nietzsche that "the highest moral aim is not the advance ment of the human race as a whole, but the realization of a more perfect human type in the chosen few." He asserted that the Jews "have regarded their election as an end to which everything else was subordinated, not as a means to the happiness of the rest of humanity" Essays, Letters, Memoirs, trans. Leon Simon, Oxford, 1946, p. 81 ; quoted in Alan Taylor,. "Vision and Intent in Zionist Thought," Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, ed. The Transformation of Palestine, Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1971, p. 15). Recently, Richard P. Stevens scrutinized the relationship between Jan Christian Smuts, South African's celebrated prime minister, and Chaim Weizmann, Israel's fust presi dent, from 1917 to Smut's death in 1950 Journal of Pale stine Studies, Vol. Ill, No. 1 , 1973). As for Israel, the exiled Israeli Arab lawyer, Sabri Jiris, examines in two scholarly works, The Arabs In Israel and Democratic Freedoms in Israel, both published by the Institute for Palestine Studies, the conditions of Arabs in Israel. . . Voices of opposition arc being heard within Israel (see Arie Bober, ed. The Other Israel, Doubleday, 1972). Three Israelis, Hafan Haneghbi, Moshe Machover, and Akiva Orr (New Left Review, No. 65, January-February 1971) under take a sophisticated analysis of Israeli political economy in which they underline the contrast between the colonizing and discriminatory character of the state and official Zion ist mythology. Uri Davis, an Israeli CO, is an active anti-Zionist in exile. The Israeli Socialist Organization is an anti-Zionist party working in Israel. Jewish opposition to Zionism is not new. Profiles of five critics of Israel, one a minister, three Jewish, appeared in The National Observer (October 11, 1975). Some distin guished Jewish intellectuals, such as Issac Deutscher, If. Stone, George Steiner, Noam Chomsky and others, have been articulate against Zionism. The Israeli anthropologist, Raphael Patai, and Jennifer Patai Wing provided scientifically researched evidence in The Myth of The Jewish Race (Scribner's, 1975) refuting the view that Jews are a distinct racial entity. The legal pro blems related to this issue have been only recently recognized. Dear editor, We are both former college men trying to keep in touch with the outside world. We are requesting your assistance in this matter which is of grave importance to us. Since we are both incarcerated for the first time, we are seeking correspondence with you out there in the free world because now we know just how lonely and depressing prison life is. It would be greatly appreciated if you would please run this letter. All letters we receive will be answered. Below you will find a short profile of each of us. Thank you for your time and effort. Tony Lauriceila, No.136-671, age 29, height 57", weight 170 lb., black hair, blue eyes. Jim McManues, No. 139-935, age 35, 5'7", 200 lb., black hair, hazel eyes. P.O. Box 69 London, Ohio Special thanks s 43140 Dear editor, I wrote and asked that you put a letter in the paper for pen pals. Well, I received about 14 letters and I'm well pleased. I would like to know, will you place this poem in the paper? This is for all those who have written and do write. This will be well appreciated. A special thanks to you for printing the letter. Me, Myself, and I Time and Space is all I occupy. For the next two years, I will be Confined in this place of misery. My home is called E Six West, A four by six and not the best. My yard is surrounded By four gray walls, And in each corner Are little guard stalls. m walk that yard all day long, In hopes that I may hear a song, And then I'll dream of things to come; For soon this two years will be done. For the two years that I must do Have become much lighter because of you. For all the letters that you have sent, Well make this time much easier spent. Thank you all, you've been so kind, I promise 111 keep you all in mind. I'll return a letter so very fast, In hope i that this friendship will always last William A. Graham P.O. Box 81248 iB Lincoln, Neb. 68501 Campus no-no Dear editor, Alcoholic beverages are being consumed on campus, at parties and in private, but thanks to the NU Board of Re gents it's still nono." Five other Big 8 schools allow consumption and four of those five allow the sale of some type of alcohol on campus. Neither has caused a problem. It's hard on a person's bank account to pay up to 80 cents for a beer at the bar (a six- pack can be purchased for about SI. 80 but can't legally be consumed on campus.) Consumption on campus would save many students the problem of driving home from the bar drunk and the risk of getting a Driving While Intoxicated fine. Should liquor be legalized on campus? Go Big Red! My body, my business Jcfr Unger Dear editor, The government has the right to pass laws that protect the public from acts of individuals, but does it have the right to pass laws protecting an individual from himself? This issue is largely a moral one and I believe the answer is no. Take for example the recently passed motorcycle hel met law. I don't think a person should be compelled to wear a helmet against his will. A helmet can be as much of a hazard as it can be a help. When I put on a helmet, my hearing and seing ability are greatly reduced. This increases chances of an accident that can lead to injury, and yet this is the very thing that the helmet law is supposed to prevent Undoubtedly many people think the helmet law is for cyclist's own good and he would be a fool not to wear one. Many who would criticize me for not wearing a safety de vice because it is restrictive are guilty of the same thing themselves. Anyone who goes out in the dark or near the water without reflective clothing or life belts is taking an unneces sary risk. The point is that there is a certain amount of risk involved in almost everything we do, but if I want to risk injury to myself by not wearing a helmet it's my business. After all, it is my body. Steve Pucppka MHO'. HO! MMlVS Linum smiciAusi J I amd mr uouw W LIKE FOR CMRisrm ? J VAGOrm MIEtPtpES m mr m, swa m? fiUi!) CrZK XfTA i-Mil mm , m NO, mrACOQPlfCfW tLl'BS kffltifi W THl ALASkA mutit IMt smm mtttrmt C6UL6 AmtlZ SX&'K J long hard climb Language isn 't just grammar By Marsha Jark "Do you know languages? What's the French for fiddle-de-dee?' "Fiddle-de-dee 's not English," Alice replied gravely "Who ever said it was?" said the Red Queen. Alice thought she saw a way out of the difficulty this time. "If youll tell me what language 'fiddle-de-dee is I'll tell you the French for it!" she exclaimed triumphantly But the Red Queen drew herself up rather stiffly and said, "Queens never make bargains." ' , lfColl'ThSh the Looking Gloss Apparently English teachers never make bargains either which would explain the "back to basics" movement in education. To some people, progress is synonymous with a Riant step backward. According to some educators, students are not learning proper word usage, spelling and sentence con structions. Therefore they should be drilled in traditional grammar until their heads turn into turnips . Numerous studies have shown that proficiency in cam mar does not correspond to proficiency in wri tine The only correlation is to mathematical ability. Apparently sentence diagrams make more sense One could conceivably train better writers by making students he on the floor and meditate than by teaching them to flinch every time they recognize a preposition It is ironic that a child of four, who has mastered the anguage in a way that is still not fully understood, should later be compelled to learn about it in the stilted stvle of traditional grammarians. ' A lack of trust by administrators toward students is a general rule and schools, which are supposedly for the stu dents, end up being anything else as test scores are brought out to impress parents, business people and educators. They would do better by seeing that each student had a built-in crap detector with the ability to spot a phony poli tician or a lie a mile off without necessarily being able to spell it. The best way of learning is the discovery method, but its results are hardest to measure. Just as the man who is taught to fish will be able to feed himself, so the student who discovers how to recognize truth, what his own stan dards of morality are and how to communicate in writing has learned more than a few trite principles to apply t language. A mistake is made when we discern between good English from understandable English. There is a difference between , "Leave the bird be, Chester," and "I hope y don t mind the heat, such as it isn't" One is English, although some people would criticize the word usage, whue the other is nonsense; there is a flaw in the bgic. If we teach people how to us the language so that they don t twist it to be or confuse or say nonsense, then in appreciation of language study and the many facets of linguistics might be gained. We might finally dispense with images of the archetypal schoolmarm, Miss Fiddttch, who stands behind the errant l,J?n witil birch rod and a dog-eared copy of the McGuffey reader.
