Friday, February 10, 1934
Pago 4
Daily Nobraskan
Marine withdrawal
the wisest choice
but not conclusion
Americans finally are getting some good news
about the crisis in Lebanon.
No one, of course, should welcome the news that
the government of Lebanese President Amin Ge
mayel is on the brink of collapse. Nor should anyone
welcome the news that control of this strategically
located nation soon may be in the hands of Syrian
backed forces.
But President Reagan's decision to gradually
withdraw our 1,G00 troops from Beirut Interna
tional Airport and station them in ships offshore
was a wise move. Considering our stated mission in
that war-torn country, the decision should have
been made a long time ago before 264 Americans
were killed.
U.S. Marines were deployed to Lebanon in Sep
tember 1982 as part of a multi-national peacekeep
ing force. Buc recent events, especially those of the
past week, make it abundantly clear that our pres
ence was doing nothing to keep the peace.
For Americans stationed in Beirut, the situation
has been hopeless from the start. Security has been
so lax that the Marines, in danger of attack by ter
rorists and Moslem and Druse militiamen, have
been taken hostage by their own environment. Such
a situation is unacceptable and should have been
corrected long ago.
What kind of developments can now be expected
in Lebanon? Reagan administration officials pre
dicted Wednesday that redeployment of the U.S,
forces may enhance chances for a negotiated set
tlement, but don't count on it. The sad reality is that
the Gemayel government, lacking any real military
support, probably won't last much longer.
Whatever the case, America's involvement is far
from over. Reports by The Associated Press indicate
only about 500 troops will be redeployed to ships
within the next 30 days. The remainder will be with
drawn gradually on a yet-to-be-determined sche
dule. Even when the Marines have been moved, the U.S.
"warships probably will remain just off the Lebanese
coast. They have already fired on several targets in
Syrian-controlled territory and there are no signs of
a let up in the shelling.
Some officials have even hinted that, if conditions
are right, troops could re-enter Beirut at a later
time. But in a presidential election year, it seems a
safe bet that our involvement in Lebanon will grad
ually come to an end.
That is news we can all cherish. Regardless of
what effect our withdrawl will have, it's time to
realize that our presence in Lebanon has been a
disaster.
And it's time for us to come home.
Unsigned editorials represent official policy of
the spring 1984 Daily Nebraskan. They are written
by this semester's editor in chief, Larry Sparks.
Other staff members will write editorials through
out the semester. They will carry the author's name
after the final sentence.
Black students ' role examined
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Human beings are faced with two basic problems
in life. The first is the struggle for existence, and the
second is the need to make some sense out of exist
ence. All living creatures experience the first problem.
However, only human beings experience the second
;s
) Krishna Madan
because we are the only living creatures who pos
sess self-consciousness and the ability to reason.
Throughout most of human history, the struggle
for existence has been painful and torturous. We
have had to eke out a living with underdeveloped
technology and under unjust social conditions.
The human society of misery obviously has influ
enced the way we find a meaning in life. Basically,
humans try to achieve this by transcending their
individual suffering.
Art is an example of this. When a song touches us,
we experience some of the sadness or joy of the
person who wrote it. If we listen to the song with
other people, our experience can become a com
munion of emotion that is almost spiritual.
Art, music and dance help us to rise out of our
individual experience to achieve a communion with
other people. Throughout history, the highest form
of this transcendence has been religion.
Religion is the anguished search of the human
consciousness for a meaning in this tortured, cruel
life. As such, it has touched upon numerous funda
mental truths of human existence which should not
be ignored.
The problem with religion as with any other
human invention is that up to this point, it has
been produced by societies in which human self
consciousness has not fully matured.
This is because human culture is still in the pro
cess of building links between the various peoples of
humanity who still retain a provincial and there
fore limited understanding of the human expe
rience. In addition, humans have still not assumed
total control over their society.
A prime example of the latter is the economy,
which relates back to the struggle for existence.
Economic matters are still left to chance to the
so-called "invisible hand."
Until human beings take control over this most
basic aspect of their" existence in a unified, unterna
tional, democratic manner, human existence and
therefore human self-consciousness will con
tinue to lack its full potential.
Continued on Page 5
UNL's blacks face interpersonal obstacles
Editor's Note: This is the second
part of a three-part series examining
the role of Mack students at UNL.
The trilogy addresses three compo
nents of stnile that, in the opinion
of the author, can effectively be util
ized on campus. Today's column will
discuss the interpersonal aspects of
that stnijsle. The series is being
presented in recognition of Black
History Month.
Opinion by Matthew Stelly
The most basic of the interpersonal
issues are our relations with one
another, but the most pressing and vis
ible issue is that of black maleblack
female relationships and the impact
these relationships have on our social,
cultural and political perceptions of
issues on campus.
Our concerns go deeper than, "you
are what you sleep with" although this
statement certainly has validity. How
ever, if our meetings are nothing more
than extensions of our social relations,
it is no wonder that the same "sophisti
cliquishness that we practice socially
extends into our political activities. It
is no wonder that we have problems
being serious about important politi
cal issues when the thrust of our polit
ical behavior has a basis in a disco, a
bar or some other unreal or irrelevant
place.
For the sake of brevity, let it suffice
to say that the black male, in most
cases on this campus, has free sexual
choice a reality that exists in society
as well. This basically means that
options that most black males pursue
are options that, for a variety of rea
sons, black women will not pursue.
Add this to the female-male ratio and
this is enough to create problems
among any group of people that were
in a similar position.
However, this has to be put aside
and qualified by facing some very im
portant points: 1. It is hoped you did
not come here to fall in love and get
married, so don't put yourself in that
position; 2. Separate the social from
the political, because combining the
two will only complicate matters in the
face of the male-female ratio which
exists and 3. Don't put yourself in a
position where you feel you have to
fight for someone's attention. If you
were meant to have that attention, it
would have come to you naturally.
Another interpersonal obstacle is
that of what I call intellect-envy. This is
a problem for everyone, but when it
afflicts an oppressed group, its magni
tude is often uncontrollable. My re
search has shown that this envy is par
ticularly prevalent as it relates to males
being envious over intelligent females.
Whether it's sexist or emotive, the
point is that it exists. Since a dispro
portionate number of the athletes here
are males and since there are very few
black male academic scholarship re
cipients, our situation is one where we
have to use whatever we can in order
to organize. If black males opt for
athletics over political organization, it
is not necessarily an indicator that this
is what they want to do.
In any case, there will be more fe
males on campus who are organization-minded
than males. Thu is a real
ity that we should accept and deal
with. If we want things to be otherwise,
our recruitment efforts will reflect this.
We have other interpersonal obsta
cles, particularly as they relate to black
staff, faculty and administrators. A
study by Penn State University in 1982
fdund that only 5.4 peroent of the
nation's top-level college and univer
sity administrators were black. On this
campus, there is but a handful of black
full-time instructors with doctorates.
It can impact our interpersonal re
lations when we lack relevant role
models and when the few who do
appear have questionable commit
ment to the community. Until we, as
black students, organize, it is ques
tionable if the minority staff and faculty
members chosen are going to seek to
serve our best interests. Evidence of
this is in abundance.
Overcoming obstacles on an inter
personal basis -7 some of which I
have briefly touched upon certainly
gives us enough issues to work on,
therebyjustifying our involvement. But
practice without understanding is a
counterproductive as great theories
with no followup. And this is the time
when the issue of organization, which
will be presented Monday, comes into
play." ;. .