thursday, february 7, 1980
page 4
daily nebraskan
pDnMnJ
M
No one wants to go to war.
The word conjures up images of past days,
most notably the Vietnam era and its mandatory
draft.
But President Carter shocked the nation Jan.
23 with a proposal to reinstate selective service
registration. In the aftermath, the shock may turn
into a quake if Carter's decision, to be made by
Saturday includes women.
.Since the military became volunteer, the
opportunities for women have extended to all
sectors except armed combat. Even though that
would leave a large sector of the services unopen
to women during a war, in peacetime they have
proven competent in non-combat jobs. This says
much for the Equal Rights Amendment.
Some women have claimed they may get
pregnant to evade the draft. The threat of a baby
boom would appear to be as much a problem as
draft evasion itself.
Attitudes of students and other eligible
draftees today, though, are different than in the
days of massive evasion. There is resistance to any
kind of draft, but most say they will back the
United States in war because the threat is more
direct than in Vietnam.
Women can support a war effort as well as
men.
Admittedly, there are physical differences be-,
tween the sexes. Most men are physically stronger
than most women. Logically, a country will put
its best physical offensive forward, and in the case
of humans, that weapon is men.
However, other differences between the sexes
are not as clear, and there is much agreement that
the two can serve equally in- positions requiring
intelligence and emotional stability.
To include women in registration almost would
ensure the passage of ERA by its 1983 deadline.
Women's equality would be proven in an area that
affects the soul of a nation and its unity .
But Congress probably will not and should not
go a step further and call on women to fight. That
issue rises above women's rights and duties to the
greater concern about building the strongest
possible national defense.
Although none of us want a war, we must not
be blind to its possibility. We must also make
rational decisions about how to fight it. Women
do have a voice.
' Alice Hrnicek
f mI2'
Suicidal pair of seekers
cleans up on ritual of life
It's a long way to Tipperary when
you can't see straight. Another raucous
evening on the wires, and Im being re
minded that it's a long, long way to
Tipperary even when you can see
straight. Standing in an alley with our
hands jammed tightly into less than
adequate coats, it occurs to me that this
is not the time ,to discuss the
metaphoric possibilities of melancholy
World War 1 songs.
0ML
Jason is opposite me-and in more
ways than one. More often than not he
has played a stunning Neal Cassidy to
my poor attempts at a Jack Kerouc. He
is screamingly drunk, I am passively
squished. He keeps yelling rude
comments at the women passing by, and
I am extremely embarassed. He enjoys
seeing me embarassed, but I don't parti
cularly like seeing him this drunk.
We've both "been terminal cases all
month -moody, angry; standing off to'
the side taking everything in with a
typically cynical eye.
Anyway, the wizard is dead. At least
that's what Jason has been saying all
night. Long live the wizard. The wizard
is dead. It s his response to any inquiry
about his health, wealth, or plans for
the week.
It's as good an answer as any, but it
doesn't quite answer the hour's pressing
question, 'What do we do now?"
Jason gets an evil glint in his eye. I'm
all too familiar with those eyes, and I
instinctively know that f have less than
a minute to head home before I do
something 111 regret in the morning.
"It's time we formed an all new ,
Bushido code," he begins, "to clarify
our purpose in this basketball town, and
to confront our hereditary enemies
head-on. Sancho Panza,:my sword."
"I think you have your traditions a
little mixed up...."
'This is no time to bicker about past
perfects," he says, "behold." He points
a shaking finger at a small, over-stuffed
trash' can against the far wall. "Unsheath
your tool Partrocio!".
"I'm really confused now". .
"There lies the garbage that has des
poiled your weekend. The filth that has
, made you a stranger among men. Don't
forget what it did to your mother!" He
lunges head long at the can, and with
some effort manages to raise it above his
head. Before I can stop him, he dashes it
to the ground, and begins kicking the
contents in every direction. Flushed and
panting great clouds of condensed
moisture, he looks like Puff the Magic
Dragon.
"You look like Puff the Magic
Dragon,' I say. Suddenly concerned, I
add, "You feeling a little better now?"
"Yep.
Who am I to question the healing
qualities of destroying a trash can? I
throw a feeble token kick at the trash,
and feel much better. "Son of a gun," I
say.
'The only problem is that it still
stinks, he says.
"That is very true, Jason, but what is
left to do?
"Ritual suicide," he says.
'We've been commiting ritual suicide
all night," I say.
"All month, he sighs.
Together we pick up the garbage in
the alley. We also pick up the smell, and
unfortunately are unable to shake it.
Fight for women's rights
has lost sight of 'equality'
As a long-time supporter of various
"Women's Rights" movements, it pains me
more- than a little to find myself holding
the view that the world is pushing on me. I
am a near 27-year -old and, being a veteran
of the upheavals of the 60s, and wondering
whatever happened to those lovely goals of
equality that my female friends used to
espouse. -
Note the word "equality". It has eight
letters and comes from the root word
"equal." Its idea is (or so I always thought)
the same as that indicated by the ""
symbol in mathematical equations.
Believe it or not, the male of the species
will not simply vanish because women
bond together in various ways. The answer
to a problem is not to ignore it (this is call
ed 'suppression' in psychological parlance
a word right-wing female activists seem
very fond of using and whose real meaning
they might do well to ponder) but rather
.to deal with it. The devaluation of a human
being because of sex is suppression, which.
ever gender happens to be performing it. In
That many women are unhappy and un
fulfilled is doubtless true. That many men
find .themselves equally unhappy and
unfulfilled is equally true. And that no
single group, male or female, sat down one
day and plotted new and imaginative ways
to ruin the other groups' lives should be
obvious. - '
If you, the reader are at this point
nodding your head and thinking, "I know,
I know"; congratulations. If however, you
are mentally mouthing the words ". . .male
chauvinist pig", "silly male" or some such
gibberish, then it is to you, precisely, that I
am addressing this letter.
Let me speak to you directly if you find
all of what I have said obviously untrue.
Please leave me alone. If your object is to
create more of your "enemy", let me tell
you that you're doing a fine job. You
should remember that if you tell someone
almost anything often enough, they'll
begin to believe it. I only wish that you'd
go off somewhere by yourselves and find
mat un so perfect society without men"
short, I and a growing number of males are that you seem to believe in and leave the
rest of us in peace.
If, however, you sincerely wan t to solve
the problem of male-female relations and
or women's social and economic status, I
think you're blowing it. There is a very
large, and very real, reaction to extremist
women's rights movements hovering in the
wings. Several men I know have given up
sex almost entirely because of boredom
wkh the "lib" rhetoric. Male homosexu-
is on the increase, and there are
sick of the title of
growing very
'chauvinist .
To me, and to many other men, it is a
self-evident fact that woman is man's caual
in all ways, and that the reverse also holds auty
true. If women's riehts movements are to people like myself who are auite hetcro-
be, and stay, successful, it is about time to sexual, but quite bored. We like intelligent
drop the catchword of 'chauvinist' (a word women but don't need . any more
applied to any male who has the temerity repetitious "lib" rhetoric,
to differ with female activists and in any If you happen to be a woman, and find
way) as well as the boringly repetitive yourself somewhat offended by this letter,
classification of all men as insensitive to GOOD. And if you don't enjoy this feel-
the needs of women and incapable of ing, perhaps you now realize how little I
understanding their problems. enjoy my tax and tuition dollars being used
Such statements seem to me to reflect t0 finance institutions and events whose
the assumption that men have no problems purpose, it sometimes seems, it to spread
and, since we all know women are not out the gospel of sexism of the female variety,
to hurt men's feelings, that men have none Exactly why is the very concept so
to worry about. Well, surprise! We do. The foreign?
word "equality," by its very nature, There is a definite problem here which
implies differences but sameness and as j i . . , .
Maurice Chevalier used to say, 'Viva la 4nLeeds Pnly be looked at properly. That
difference!'. tnere 1S a difference between men and
I think a bit of caution regarding the women is quite obvious' This however, is
type and scope of coverage of the progress not. neressarily a hindrance to communi-
of women's rights groups is in order Tout- catlon Qlc the reverse is true. According
ing female sensitivity in the face of men's t0 most systems of logic, objectivity is
brutishness is not the best way to get our neccssary a problem is to be clearly
(men's) cooperation toward women's goals defined Arid rce properly defined, the
of equality. And such cooperation is answer to a problem can be arrived at.
necessary. So how about using this difference
If the preceding statement seems an between men and women, rather than
exaggeration to anyone reading this letter "fbling aout it? Being too closed, too
think for a moment how many news stories' subjective with problem-solving has been
on television, in magazines, newspapers cause many a ridiculous mistake,
etc., you have seen in which men are re' Tat women face problems in our
presented, directly or indirectly, as evil gar- sciety ,s self-evident. The question is, are
goyles brandishing the whips and chains of ese Pr0Dlcms to be solved, or exploited?
the oppressor. And oh, the poor suiTerinff . a
housewives who, by defmition. are so v5 . Jick ? A"dc"on
unsatisfied hnth .yiik, ..rJ .ry Junior. Teachers College
rawnionauy. Enclish Maior
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