The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, April 06, 1983, Page 4, Image 4
Daily Nebraskan Wednesday, April 6, 1983 P J n I lLUJU ILOll 0 (510 IL. 1 LisM of scientific ivmh n n n n (DJninrainniecQJ ioy ultio seeixeirs In the 17th century, Rene Descartes wanted to find a "method of rightly con ducting the reason and discovering truth in the sciences." Since then, the "scientific method" has reigned as the closest we measly human beinss can come to finding "truth." Lately, however, there have been a num ber of controversies in the scientific com munity that call into question this scienti fic method as used by certain individuals. It appears that what science tells us may not always be so "true" after all. The most widely discussed of the con troversies involves antliropologist Derek Freeman and his book "Margaret Mead and Samoa: The Making and Unmaking of an Antliropological Myth." In his book, Freeman attempts to show that Mead's most famous book, "Coming of Age in Samoa," is, in his words, "as tronomically wrong." Mead's book is based on nine months of study in Samoa in 1925 and 1926. The book is filled with her observations that the Samoan people are very relaxed and casual about family relationships and sex. This carefree attitude, Mead believed, has made the Samoans better adjusted than people of Western cultures, where guilt and tension among families and sexual partners are very common. Freeman has spent more than six years in Samoa and claims that Mead wrote a very inaccurate account of Samoan cul ture because of faulty research methods. Mead, who died four years ago, could not be reached for comment. Freeman's view of Samoan culture is quite different from Mead's. In his eyes, sexual tension, rape, violence and jealousy run rampant in the culture. This conflict is very important when one considers the impact that Mead's re search has had on American society. It is largely due to work like hers that educa tion and child-raising in America have be come much less structured and authoritar ian in the last few decades. It is startling to ponder that some of the research that motivated such vast changes in our culture may inordinately have been influenced by the opinions of a researcher and by the weakness of her methods. There is another anthropologist who is involved in a struggle with his colleagues, and tliis one is alive to see his methods questioned. Anthropologist Steven Mosh er was recently dismissed from the depart ment of anthropology at Stanford Univer sity. The reason for Mosher's dismissal in volves some doctoral research he did in a rural Cluncse village. During his stay there, Mosher made some troubling observations, including abortions forced on women up to nine months pregnant as a means of birth control. In an attempt to draw attention to what he felt was a seiious problem, Mosher pub lished his findings in a popular magazine in Taiwan. The Chinese government protest ed, and Mosher was dismissed from Stan ford for unprofessional behavior. The Chinese government has since sharply reduced the number of social sci entists allowed in the country. Political concerns have stepped into the scientific realm and obscured our view of the "truth." Yet another conflict involved Dr. John Darsee. Darsee had achieved success after success in the field of medical research un til, just after he had been offered an ap pointment to Harvard Medical School's faculty, it was discovered in 19S1 that some of the data collected in his research had been faked. Darsee had cheated on research tests ranging from measuring the effect of drugs used to treat heart attacks to testing the effects of radioactive substances on dogs. It was discovered that the dogs in the lat ter test were never exposed to the sub stance. Thus, all the published results were lies. According to Time magazine, similar cases of scientific fraud have appeared at other research facilities at Yale, Cornell and Boston University. Some, scientists feel that the intense pressure on scientists to continually pro duce new research may be the reason for Darsee's transgressions. In other words, we have cases where the collection of scientific knowledge has been influenced by the personality of the scientist, by the political restrictions on the area under observation and by the pressures of the scientific world itself. This is not meant to say that now we can't trust science anymore than we can trust anything else as a source of "truth." The continual rigors of testing hypotheses are still the most effective way of weeding out inaccuracies and falsities. But no place is safe from the possibil ity of error or dishonesty. The mists of hu man frailty seep into the farthest corners. Sorry, Rene, but it had to be said. o (f) v, tmaamutk aMaW. Mini inn i m We need to realize that the finality of the scientific research that will be added to the knowledge humankind lias accumulat ed rests as much with the integrity of the scientist as it does with the "truth" he hopes to find. - David Thompson Letter I Policy J I II III -I j f I' ' ' ' ' ' , ' ' The Daily Nebraskan encouraaes brief letters to the editor from all readers and 'interested others. Letters sent to the newspaper for publi cation become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. The Daily Nebraskan reserves the right to edit and condense all letters submitted. Readers are also welcome to submit material as guest opinions, subject to the editor's decision to print or not to print the material, either as a letter or a guest opinion. Anonymous submissions will not be considered for publication, and requests to withhold names will be granted only in ex ceptional circumstances. Submit all material to the Daily Nebras kan, Room 34, Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588. N: ti Daily EDITOR MarfliaHoni GENERAL MANAGER Danial M. Shattil ADVERTISING MANAGER Jarry Scott PRODUCTION MANAGER Kitty Policky MANAGING EDITOR Michiala Thuman NEWS EDITOR Sua Japwi ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS Mary Bahna Duana Ratilaff GRAPHICS EDITOR John G. GoacVa NIGHT NEWS EDITOR David Wood ASSISTANT NIGHT NEWS EDITOR Ltslit Boallstorff ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Patty Pryor SPORTS EDITOR Bob Aamumn ART DIRECTOR David Lutbk ' PHOTO CHIEF DavaBanti ASSSISTANT ADVERTISING MANAGER Carol Fahr PUBLICATIONS BOARD CHAIRMAN Doug Natl, 472 2454 PROFESSIONAL ADVISER Don Walton, 473 7301 COPY EDITORS Kirk Brown Jaff Buattnar Barb Caldwall Tarry Hyland Mark Krausa Dulcia Shoanar Lori Sullivan Ward W. Tr.plutt III Chrn Wlcn THE DAILY NEBRASKAN USPS 144 0801 IS PUB LISHED BY THE UNL PUBLICATIONS BOARD MON DAY THROUGH FRIDAY DURING THE FALL AND SPRING SEMESTERS. EXCEPT DURING VACATIONS. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO THE DAILY NEBRASKAN. RM. 34 NEBRASKA UNION, 68588 SUBSCRIPTIONS: H3SEMESTER. $25 YEAR. SECOND CLASS POSTAGE PAID AT LINCOLN, NE BRASKA ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT I983DAILY NEBRASKAN Real heroes iraoiraejMeinrfl: Dim a wmld ilmt mieecfe them Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed 15 years ago Monday. A high-powered rifle picked him off a motel balcony while he was in Memphis, Tenn., supporting a sanitation workers' strike. In the weeks that followed, cities around the country exploded into rioting and racial violence out of grief, anger, frustration. King, one of " - ! Dave Milo Mumgaard history's staunchest advocates of non-violence, was "blessed" with a violent ending. I don't remember all this very well, yet I do remember leafing through LIFE magazine and seeing the famous picture of the balcony assassination, the burning cities, the funeral with everyone dressed in black. These scenes swim in and out of my mind with those of Bobby Kennedy's assassination two months later. I remember this better because my mother woke all of us kids, gathered us around the TV set, and had us watch the news of the violence which man can impress upon man. I still can see Kennedy lying on the hotel kitchen floor, bleeding, with confusion reigning about him. The reason I remember more about Kennedy's death than King's is simple: I'm white. King was a black man fighting for people's rights, and I knew, even though I was only 7, I already had mine. Even today, I cannot totally empathize with blacks and other minorities for the same simple reason: when you're not it, you don't know what it's like. But I do know what a hero is, and I do know what inspiration is. I can recognize that euphoric feeling when my spine feels as if little fingers are dancing up and down it: my face flushes and I can feel hot tears welling up in my eyes. I know what it means when I take my fist and hit it into my other hand, and lowly but firmly say "yes!" I still feel this way whenever I hear King's recorded speeches, when he says strongly "I have a dream," or when he states "I've been to the mountaintop!" and especially when he cries out "Free atjast, free at last, thank God almighty, I'm free at last!" King was a genuine hero. He was also a genuine Christian who believed that social protest, when people are being wrongly mistreated, is thoroughly compatible with Christian doctrine. Yet, and not so surprisingly, the FBI went to great lengths to try to brand him a Communist. As people lament almost continually, our society has no heroes today. In almost universal agreement, people feel we need heroes, but some people's ideas as to what constitutes a hero are totally wrong. Astronauts, for instance, aren't heroes. They're just baldly brave, thrill- seeking adventurers, businessmen aren't heroes, because much of what they do verges on immorality. Military leaders, as in the Eisenhower vein, cannot be heroes, since all they do is push papers and lives; and as for those who in a war save other people's lives, they're just heroes by necessity: the war shouldn't have been fought in the first place. Politicians are least able to be heroes, since most seek only glory and have limited concern about less advantaged people's lives. A perfect example of this is Ron Reagan, who once said that "the time has come to stop being our brother's keeper and start being his brother - and I think he'll keep himself." Martin Luther King Jr. devoted and gave his life not just fpr racial equality but for justice for all people. He not only cared about blacks, but the poor and the op pressed as well. How sad he would probably be if he came back today and saw the Chicago mayoral race, with a white Republican inching up in the polls on a black Democrat simply because of racial prejudice. How sad he would be to see that black teenagers today have a 60 percent unemployment rate, while the entire 'nation reels from 10.3 percent unemployment. How sad he would be to see that today, we have no heroes inspiring the people to cast aside prejudice and ambition to work together for a better society. Fifteen years hav? passed, and we still stand in the stench of an unjust world. But maybe if we all just hang on to that dream . . .