Pano4
Daily Nebraskan
Wednesday, August 31) 1833
Obligations come beiore loeaeiKS
3 j
It seems somewhat funny that some people think
they dont haw to follow the laws established by the
UU. government, yet still they think they should be
eligible for the benefits offered by that same govern
ment. But recent controversy over a Department of
Education regulation has shown there are some
college students who feel just that way.
The UJEL Supreme Court ruled thb summer that,
at least temporarily, the government can require
students to sln a statement disclosing their draft
registration status before being given any type of
federal aid.
The students who oppose the disclosure law are,
of course, the same ones who oppose draft
registration and the draft itself Being unprepared,
they reason, somehow prevents war.
That is nothing but twisted logic. There Is a good
purpose to having young men registered for the
draft It provides a pool cf names from which to
draw in an emergency. It does not increase the
chances of conflict
But the issue at hand, is not whether draft
registration is right or wrong. There already is a law
which provides for registration and it has been
upheld by the courts.
The real issue here is whether students who do
not follow the law still should be entitled-to the
benefits offered by the federal government
Fortunately, the issue will be a minor one here.
Nebraska has one of the highest registration
compliance rates in the nation so UNL students
probably wont be hesitant to comply with the
disclosure law. .
In fact, according to an article in the Aug. 31
edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education,
colleges around the country are finding surprisingly
little opposition to the new law.
We hope this fa a sfen of how young adults view
their obligations to society. We also hope it is a trend
that continues.
- Today's generation needs to realize that in order
tn rean the benefits cf society, it must fulfill seme
obligations. "
Those who chose not to fulfill their obligations
should be denied the privileges they now receive.
And that's what financial aid is a privilege, not a
right '
Those who oppose draft registration have every
rignt 10 auempi to gci me law ciumu, uui uity lire
obligated to follow the law until a change is made. If
they dp not, they should suffer the consequences.
J ast ; truths! tree in tk forest?
Reagan's' missile, plan
It's off to the races
Should the Reagan administration
follow through on its plan, to deploy
572 Pershing II and cruise missiles in
Western Europe, the Soviets
undoubtedly will respond in kind,
after which the United States will
respond in kind, and it's off to the
Christopher
Burbach
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races again (not that they ever
stopped).
Not only will that deployment
escalate the arms race, it will heat to a
fever pitch the already intense anti
American sentiment in, Western
Europe. West Germans in particular
view the proposed missiles as an
uninvited and unwelcome military
occupation of their country which
imperils, rather than enhances, their
national security. They're right
In spite of the obvious pitfalls of the
proposed deployment, President
Reagan and the Pentagon's dogged
'support for it and their apparent
determination to carry it out at any
cost may yet produce positive results.
Perhaps the Soviet government will
succumb to the threat of an escalation
of the arms race. Perhaps Soviet
President Yuri Andropov and
company will realize the danger of
raising the stakes in Western Europe
and make concessions in order to
avert the planned December
deployment
The rather primitive : negotiation
lever of threat fa one that fa hardly
, tried and true in East-West relations;
i though tried too often, it has rarely
succeeded. Indeed, threats and
response to them have been a major
impetus in the arms race. However,
the current United States threat may
well be working.
- Last Friday, Andropov cfTcred to
"liquidate" all Soviet medium-rar.se
missiles, including the modern S3-20's,
which would be removed from
Western Europe under a previous
Soviet offer.
The previous offer, contingent on
United States abandonment cf the
planned Pershing II deployment,
proposed the reduction of the Soviet
medium-range arsenal trained on
Western Europe to an equal level with
the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization arsenal in Britain and
France. ,
By offering to destroy the missiles he
would remove, and to include 3-20"s,
Andropov demonstrated flexibility in
order to queHU-S. negotiators' fears
that the Soviets simply would transfer
missiles to Asia and destroy only their
older weapons.
' Centred ca Pa3 5
Abstractions obscure
trams
Writing an editorial column usually
prompts one to think of certain subjects
worth propagandizing. What is seldom
discussed fa the influence the language
itself exerts 'in molding the minds of
both the writer and the reader.
Basically, language is the way in
which we commnieaie our sensations,
experiences, feelings and ideas. Good
languas fa that which leaves in the
.mind cf the listener a very close ap-
n cfv;hat fa m the nund cf
pn
theepsalr. - ;
It fa c-2 7 to achieve this axcx-
centre 2 cwc3l Fcr c-, t
vltZzt tl.e lIil Tcrrzf leaves tttla
fcl 3j ilw 2y T a 01
? a--
Th3 clre 1 an ctar.il-1 ur.icr' the
oak tree is being referred to. Even
though the word tree represents a
concrete object, it fa nevertheless an
abstraction a composite idea of all
the trees that one has seen or read
about
Evidently, the more one uses abstrac
tion, the more it will be possible to con
fuse the listener. Indeed, abstraction fa
often deliberately used with this pur
pose in mind.,
One can see this process at work in
vthe current debate on Central Amer
ica. The abstractian "cciamunia fa
repeated claifcycCIai'j in the adiaru
ctration. However, what fa the specific
u J) V ' a f " A fcJ k 1 m ill r
Fcr most people in the United States,
ccnjr.uri:ni ccrj-rcs up the fcaage cf
the Eaarian cicnur.aticn cf Eastern
m.'
that has this raeaniag fa certainly com-
. However, it fa easy fsr the aHrifa
tricn to exploit this well-founded
rc-jr.ar.ce ty ccscrwir.g as Ccmmu
r.Lt rn y gavcmrr.cr.ts and raove
rr.rrts xflh. trhich it dirrccx The
erably from the reality.
The reality as conveyed to us by
those U.S. citizens who ave "actually
visited Nicaragua - is that the society
there has very little in common with
that of Eastern Europe.
If this is' true, we are justified in
being extremely skeptical of what our
officials say. We should also be skepti
cal cf what news reporters and column
ists have to sajt Even journalists tend
to unquestioningly use the words
and thus the ideological framework
of important cfUcials.
It taies a lot cfeffort to be alert, but
the public should nevertheless net take
forpranted the assumptbns and world
view upen which journats often build
their ctcrias.
f As students, we can cany this ques
tioning attitude into our ciaoorocras.
Although our prcfooscrs do not doiib
eratcy intend to deceive us, moot cf
them present a mixture cf tenths, half
truths end faloohoods.
ims is erpeciaTy true in the social
;r.ec3 ana arts. Here, the Tacts pre-
trco czn to ccrr.'.:i::g. 'il.o ll:t
seated by a prcfooocr 'often fcocc:
xii-iruias ana cutri:;t lies because
rt-y ret lry vrttllizT a lirch cr an ' it crzzzzi cn Lr.r.-3 thr.t vrrios ccrsid- ' these facts' are pieaaatci""
at:'rv...:;ils the Ui. cato fcocause
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