tuesday, december 4, 1979
daily nebraskan
page 5
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Continued from Page 4
There is one other thing that bothers me
about the Iranian crisis. For weeks now,
Iranian students in America have been
complaining that Americans do not under
stand the plight of the Iranians and why
the shah is so important to them that they
feel they must take this stand. It is impos
sible to understand what issues the Iranians
feel are important and for what reasons,
because when they are interviewed by the
media, they usually say 1) very little, or 2)
their argument has very little logic behind
it but much emotion. I know that Iranian
students on the UNL campus have their
own bulletin board in the Union which I'm
sure deals with this very thing and
probably uses logic to back up views and
opinions. It's too bad that I, an American,
like many of the 22,000 UNL students,
can't read Persian.
There don't happen to be any classes on
this campus that teach Persian, nor do I see
a personal need to learn the language at
this time. I suggest to Iranian students who
wish to give their political and religious
views, to let everyone understand them,
not just the people of their country who
are not the target of this last action.
Denise Andersen
Senior, Journalism
Speech out of context
This letter arose out of my reaction to.
the Daily Nebraskan's coverage of the
international journalist Gerry Foley's
speech, which appeared in Thursday's
(Noy. Zv ) edition.
Keep Red Cross
ready.
I was one of the people who listened to
Mr. Foley, who incidentally had just come
from Iran. Not only did he give us first
hand information about what is happening
over there, but he also tried to explain to
the audience how and what the Irnaian
people were feeling when they took over,
the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Which brings
me to the purpose of this letter.
In their coverage of this speech, the
Daily Nebraskan quoted parts of the
speech, which out of context seemed to
emphasize the point that the Iranian
people are lusting for American blood. On
the contrary, Mr, Foley emphasized the
fact that the people' in Iran are human
beings with feelings and emotions like our
selves. The fact that the U.S. foreign policy in
Iran, using the CIA as a tool, put the shah
in power and helped him stay in power
until his dictatorship was toppled, and the
fact that the U.S. government let the shah
in our country afterwards, did not help
matters over there. The Iranian people are
demonstrating against U.S. foreign policy,
and not, I repeat not, against the U.S.
people, the only way they know how, I
may not approve of the Embassy takeover,
but I beg you tq try to understand the
motives and feelings behind it, and not to
let the biased coverage of the world press
affect your thinking and lead to misrepre
sentation, It is only with better under
standing that we can honestly interpret
world affairs, and the effect they have on
our own lives here.
In my opinion, the Daily Nebraskan
should take! the lead in representing the
views of the people hey cover and inter
view accurately, Unless tle Daily Nebra
skan itself takes this responsibility to faith
fully present the news, the confusion that .
now exists on this campus cannot be
cleared up. Thank you.
Editor's note: The above letter was
written by an Iranian student who request
ed that his name be withheld, The writer
said he fears for his safety if his name is
published, , ., ,
Libertarians go too far
in striking regulations
Anyone walking on Union Mall lately
probably has been accosted by someone
with a clipboard, asking; "Are you a
registered voter?"
These Rood folks are members of the
libertarian Party who are trying to get
their candidate tor president, Ed Clark,
on the ballot next year.
The Libertarian Party is an interesting
exception to the rule in American
politics, a party based on an ideal, not a
party designed just to get people .
elected. Their ideal calls for the dis
mantling of most government by ending
its regulatory functions,
Specifically, that means ending laws
against drugs, pornography, owning
guns and sex betwen consenting adults.
It also menas the end of compulsory
education, public utilities, and all
government regulatory agencies - the
Civil Areonautics Board, the Federal
Communications Commission, the
Interstate Commerce Commission, et al,
The government will protect the
coasts and carry the mail,
Admittedly, that, sounds like a great
idea, As the men's room graffiti says,
'When drugs are outlawed, only outlaws
will have drugs," And the spectre of
Dade County's anti-homosexual law is a
national disgrace, .
But the rub comes when they
propose to do away with the govern
ment's power to regulate business, The
idea of laissez-faire has been around since
Adam Smith realized the economic
activity of a nation can be studied and
changed, But laissez-faire, in giving
businesses complete freedom, has never
worked in the past and would be
disastrous in the future.
- Almost . every federal regulatory
agency was set up in response to abuses
by the business sector it regulates. The
Food and Drug Administration came
into being because there was an outcry
against food that caused .diptheria
epidemics and patent medicines laced
with addicitive opiates. The Interstate
Commerce Commission was created to
combat monopolistic practices.
The Libertarians explain that such
abuses won't happen under their system
because competition will j force
companies to be fair and honest. But
companies loathe competition and are
quite adept at getting rid of it.
The monopolies of the late 19th
century are the historical example, For
a while there was a real danger that the
entire national economy would be
controlled by and belong to a dozen
companies. The, power they exercised,
both in government and in the country
as a whole, was completely out of pro.
portion to their usefulness,
The Libertarians say the monopolies
were caused by old monied families
using the government to prevent new
companies from forming, But John D,
Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie
weren't old money, and they created
two of the biggest and most powerful
companies in history,
The truth is, power, especially
economic power, tends to gravitate to
the least number of hands and unless
something like an elected government
prevents it, a nation's economy will end
up in the control of a handful of
business executives,
The Libertarians have a beautiful
ideal-people, if allowed to be good, will
be good, But when money comes into
any situation, look for the lowest and
most disgusting behavior imaginable,
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