page 4
Wednesday, October 14, 1981
daily nebraskan
PKIji)
Censors making Midlands seem like Moscow
It's getting harder to tell if some stories in
Nebraska newspapers are truly representative
of the "Good Life" in Nebraska or of life in
the Soviet Union.
In recent weeks, stories about record burn
ings in Grand Island and censorship of text
books in Omaha and Bellevue certainly seem
more suitable for Pravda than for any state
newspaper.
The- textbook censorship in Bellevue and
Omaha are the most recent cases of an
extremist mood that seems to be gaining
support throughout the country.
Two textbooks were censored because they
contained birth control information, according
to a story by the Associated Press.
The incident in Bellevue involved a college
level textbook used by 69 advanced students at
two Bellevue high schools. Two pages of the
book were glued together so students would
not be able to read about contraception,
sterilization or abortion.
The Omaha incident is even more shocking
because it occurred at the college level. The
Associated Press story said: "Seven pages of a
marketing textbook at UNO were cut out be
cause they contained a marketing case study
featuring a firm that sells contraceptive
devices."
Naturally, the two cases have civil libertar
ians and officials of the Nebraska Civil Libert
ies Union up in arms.
An official with the Bellevue School said the
material was deleted because it violated an
existing policy that prohibits the teaching of
techniques for sexual intercourse and birth
control.
It's obvious that the people running the
BeUevue schools have aoarpchial view of the
world. They view the dissemination of informa
tion on sexual relations and birth control as the
springboard from which students will hurl
themselves into the sexual revolution.
These parents fail to understand that the
sexual revolution wasn't even a skirmish. After
years of Victorian attitudes about sex, people
began discussing the subject in frank terms in
the 1970s, and suddenly, the war was on.
The Bellevue schools should have challenged
the archaic rule that prohibits the teachings of
techniques for sexual relations and birth
control when the subject arose.
Groups that allow information to be
withheld from students or the public should
not be allowed to alter important issues in edu
cation. Information on these sensitive issues should
not be allowed to be exaggerated by calling it
W5 fi
TOLERfifS
"teaching." The information contained is not
teaching and cannot be equated with advocacy
of the techniques.
If these people are successful in focusing
their narrow-minded views on schools and how
curriculum is chosen, then students may learn
about a world that doesn't really exist.
The Domino Theory many argued about
during the Vietnam War did not hold true and
neither will the "if-you-tell-them-about-it-then-they'll-do-it"
mentality apparent in Bellevue.
It is indeed sad to think that UNO would
allow such provincial thinking to interfere with
the education of its students. It is an insult to
the integrity of UNO students for someone on
their faculty to think college students aren't
mature enough to handle that kind of information.
Playoff schedule perfectly clear to baseball fan
I've been having a little trouble following the baseball
playoffs so far this year. The game itself is still the same,
of course; you sit and watch and scream for your team for
a couple of hours, then Reggie Jackson hits a home run in
the eighth and the Yankees win. The trouble comes when
I try to figure out how many individual games fit into the
overall playoff structure by which we are supposed to de
termine the best team in organized baseball.
pitf dark
Feeling just a little bit un-American because I was con
fused by the national pastime, I decided to call the office
of Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn to get a simple
explanation. At least I assumed it would be simple; after
all, how could they presume to make anything difficult
about a game that has been organized into leagues for six-year-old
kids?
I didn't get Bowie Kuhn himself on the line, of course;
I got an office lackey named Cosgrove who knew the
whole picture.
"It's really quite simple," Cosgrove said. Just what I
wanted to hear. "You start out with 14 teams in the
American League and 1 2 in the National League, same as
always, and divide each league into two divisions, right?"
"Right," I said.
"In each league the teams play two seasons, which we
call half-seasons, because it was actually one big season
cut in half by the strike," Cosgrove said.
"And the teams that win the most games go to the
playoffs," I said.
Numbers game
"Not exactly," Cosgrove said. "Not all of the teams
play the same number of games, so two teams could have
the same number of wins, but one team would have fewer
losses, so that team would go to the playoffs.
"However, the team with the best record under the
revised format that I just explained would not go to the
playoffs if it did not win one of the half-seasons, as we
saw with Cincinnati and St. Louis. In that case, you have
to go to the team in second place and see if it had the best
record, as we had to in the case of Kansas City. Of course,
this was only after Kansas City played a special playoff
with Cleveland to insure an upper-division finish in the
second half-season.
"Cincinnati and St. Louis finished second in their re
spective divisions, as did Detroit in the American League
E?n, but those teams did not advance and Kansas City did
because Oakland won both half-seasons in its division this
year.
"So to iiet into the playoffs, you have to advance
through .your half-seasor, in your division bracket as the
champion, except in the special cases I already mentioned.
The playoffs we are talking about now are the best three
out of five series, as opposed to the playoff series you are
used to, which is also best three out of five games."
Big difference
"What's the difference?" I asked, glad to wedge in a
question.
'The difference is that the World Series used to be in
mid-October, and now it is in late October and early Nov
ember," Cosgrove said, as though I would know what that
meant. "Of course, that could make for some incon
vemence. especially if the Montreal team stays in the play
offs all the way through, but you have to do things this
way to get a true champion from among all of the first
half champions and second half champions and divisional
champions, excluding, of course, the divisional champions
who were not first-half or second-half champions but were
the teams with the best records. After all, we don't want
any team sneaking in the back door. The integrity of base
ball is at stake," Cosgrove said.
"Now in the case of Montreal, it could get very cold up
there by November," Cosgrove said. "But they are one of
our potential champions coming out of the three games
out of five playoff, and they should be given as much
opportunity as anybody else to get to the World Series."
"World Series," I said. "I've heard of that. Is that the
part where Reggie Jackson hits a home run in the eighth
inning of the last game and the Yankees win?"
"Yes," said Cosgrove.
"Oh, well, I've got it figured out then," I said. "I
thought for a while there that they were tinkering with
the grand old game."
Never m a million years," Cosgrove said.
s to the editor
Views on meek different
Casey McCabe (Daily Nebraskan, Oct. 12) doesn't see
much hope for the meek. But the promise to the meek
about inheriting the earth is made within the context of
the world view of Jesus and of the New Testament. For
those who reject that viewpoint, the meek can only be
seen as impotent fools. The New Testament never sug
gests that "meekness" will be a successful political move.
The central image of Jesus' world view is the cross; an
image of service, patience, humility and an unshakable
trust in the ultimate vindication of that meek "lifestyle"
by a just, loving God. The image of those he opposed was
one of political savvy, power politics, and, indeed, an un
shakable faith that only the smart and strong survive.
And the choices haven't changed much. We can choose
Jesus image, and learn to serve each other. Or we can
choose other images, holding tenaciously to our bits of
land and spheres of power, trusting in our sly diplomacy
and the efficacy of our respective nuclear capabilities.
Terry Christlieb
Graduate student, Philosophy
Informed voters needed
Roger Nimps, Daily Nebraskan, Oct. 8 issue, pooh
poohs the notion that one should understand English
betore being allowed to vote, terming the idea "tainted"
and indicative of "the lie in our democratic ideals." Odd
- I had thought that the democratic ideal was to have in
formed voters who would understand the ballots put
before them.
nJiiPS TateS !h literac' requirement with "Buckley
hS, ti nil me,.h0ds of government. I would remind
Mwrnil t M yr haS. MM he W0U,d just 3S SOOn be
telen Zt li firSt tundrcd na,es the New York
S dlrcctory a the faculty at Yale (or was it
nk wi.1 n am SUre NlmPs wUI bc quick to observe that
- but uc h !f ;,U,a,f fa,Vr 0f thosc owni"8 te,eP,loneS
cratte ideal Ulty of m,Plcmenting the demo-
R.D. Stock
Professor of English