Tuesday, February 14, 1984
Pago 4
Daily Ncbraskan
M m
nnri
( i 1
I've heard two arguments from wom
en who want to keep their lounge in
the Nebraska Union.
One says the women's lounge is a
quiet, private place where women can
escape the pressures of frenzied cam
pus life.
The other says the lounge is a place
where women can feel safe pro
, tected from some of the harsher reali
ties of UNL's campus.
The first argument is prejudicial If
women need a quiet place, then men
also need one. If locating computers in
the lounge simply would displace wom
en who need a quiet place, I wouldn't
object.
The second argument illustrates the
Ricoh pitchman turns
capitalist pig dog red
It had been coming for a long time, but last week it
exploded. A once-proud American and aspiring
capitalist pig dog fell to the dark side.
Oh, it wasn't the exploitation of lower class citi
zens for the benefit of Big White Rich Daddies, nor
was it so much the killing of third world peasants
who threatened national interests.
No, those lower class citizens, as the so very astute
Paul Harvey has informed us, are exploited because
fact that many women feel unsafe on
campus. The rapes and assaults that
occur on campus fuel that fear, which
is real, and justified. Some women say
it's still a "man's world," hence not
always safe or comfortable for women.
The second argument is the most
powerful reason to keep the lounge. If
women don't feel safe on campus, and
evidence indicates they aren't always
safe, then the lounge is essential
Computers certainly would be a
great addition to the union, and UNL
students need them desperately. Any
computer science major can tell you
about the problems in their depart
ment: outdated computers and limit
ed access. New computers and 24
hour access would be two severe blows
to those problems.
There is no doubt, though, that until
women can feel safe anywhere on
campus, the lounge is necessary. May
be Just maybe, someday there won't be
need for a women's lounge.
The Student Watch group is one step
in the right direction. Bob Fey of the
UNL Police Department said Monday
the watch group is fulfilling need in
our community.
He said they are serving as a deter
rent to crime, but that he could not
make any correlations between the
group and the number of sexual as
saults; it's too early to tell any effect
they may have had.-
. Ultimately, attitudes have to change.
Until women stop feeling they live in a
"man's world," which is often unsafe
for them, they will need a secure place
like the lounge for a place to relax. A
place where one doesn't have to keep
looking over one's shoulder.
Both needs are reaL
But because the computers aren't
settled anywhere yet, and the women
who use the lounge are, it would be
easier to put the computers some
where else until the lounge isn't need
ed. That could be a long time.
Cl.ru Wckch
Christopher
Burbach
they want to be exploited. Those crazy peasants
can't read or write; furthermore, they don't even
speak English.
It wasn't the discovery that only rich folk can
become legislators and rulers or the realization that ,
wojnen and people with dark-colored skinj are
markedly less equal than white men. "
Even fear created by a military-industrial-government
complex, whose interchangeable leaders' greedi
ness renders the pursuit of peace by lesser beings
futile, wasn't enough to convince me.
What finally severed the umbilical cord between
me and Mother Capitalism and left me in a basket on .
the doorstep of the Old Sea Hag Communism were
two advertisements Ricoh copiers and a cable
television spot. '
Five times in half an hour, the obnoxious Ricoh
man pointed his finger at me and said, "Ricoh's
bigger!" Then the television screen praised Albert
Einstein as the greatest marketer ever, (something
like "excitement equals more cable"). I cracked
under pressure of the Ricoh man's personal affront
and the public disgrace of Einstein's memory.
Advertising is a necessary evil in a free market
system, which is based on competition. In a com
munist system, however, the people own all raw
materials, means of production and finished pro
ducts. There is no need for advertising.
That is why I've chosen to endorse Gus Hall, the
Communist Party's candidate for United States
President.
I'm willing to sacrifice my religious freedom, my
freedom to say or read what I want, my freedom to
own two cars and a color television set.
IH eat black bread, swallow propaganda whole,
worship the State"; inform on my neighbors, wear
homespun gunnysacks in midwinter. All this and
more will I do to see my country wiped clean of the
scourge of advertising.
No private enterprise equals no advertising. No
advertising equals peace of mind. What matter the
ideology of my rulers when peace of mind is in ques
tion? Go Gus!
I " ' : ' '
r 1 " - 1 ; ' 1 : - : ' - : -- ' -
'4la . Le'cters.
' ';: Editorial
Policy
Unsigned editorials represent of2cial policy of the
spring 1034 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.
Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of
the university, its employees, the students or the NU
Board of Regents.
The Daily Nebraskan's publishers are the regents,
who established the UNL Publications Board to
supervise the 'daily production of the newspaper.'"
According to policy set by the regents, the content
of the newspaper lies solely in the" hands of its stu-.
dent editors.
World unity sought
I would like to thank Krishna Madan for present
ing a very well written and thought-provoking
column (Daily Nebraskan, Feb. 10). "
I feel he correctly defined the problem we face
today and what must be done if our species is to
progress to a more spiritual understanding of life on
this planet. What this transformation must entail, of
course, is a more enlightened approach toward the
creation of more positive values in our relationships
with one another and with all life on this planet.
Indeed, I find it very ironic that many religious
doctrines of today preach world unity, while criticiz
ing others for their seemingly divergent beliEfs.
Many people are so busy criticizing others that they
don't take the time to actually practice what they
profes3 to believe in.
Jim Anderson
Lincoln
Lib&ralviews obsolete
Eric Peterson's column (Daily Nebraskan, Feb. 9)
is a masterpiece in anachronistic rhetoric. Although
the purpose of the article is obscured in a swirling
eddy of fashionable liberal double-talk, I think
Peterson intended to decry the growing conserva
tism of the nation and college campuses in particu
lar. . . v ; r-"v .:...:;r'-
For some reason, he is trying to make us feel guilty
that, the early 197Cs hsve become nothing more
than an unfortunate footnote in American history.
If liberal and leftist activity has disappeared from
the campus, perhaps it is due to a realization that
times have changed and that the empty promises of
the left can no longer be taken seriously. Perhaps
the recent parade of Soviet-inspired perversions of
Marxist ideology spreading across the globe like so
many festering sores on the body politic has made
us a bit more cautious in our criticism of democracy.
I am tired of silly assertions that political conser
vatism leads to cultural mediocrity. Peterson's rose
colored years of political activism brought us such
monumental cultural achievements as Warhol's
glorification of a soup can on canvas and the torch
ing of university buildings as avant-garde theater of
the macabre. Mozart, El Greco and Shakespeare
hardly came from the most liberal of societies yet
their work is of a quality unparalleled in recent
years. It could easily be argued that the trivializa
tion and vulgarization of American culture can be
traced to the sorry trends toward liberalism charac
teristic of the late 20th century.
Maybe I'm just trying to say that we want to work
through the system now, not around it. Maybe we
want our children and professors in the classroom,
not in the streets like a swarming mob of deluded
lemmings. Maybe we are tired of the violent excesses
of pampered children playing at social revolution
because it is the "in" thing to do. Maybe we are sick of
the pitiable self-loathing that characterizes liberal
ideology. Maybe the debasement cf traditional values
by those with no solutions has kft us unimpressed.
Maybe we are proud cf ourselves and our nation and
the time for guilt is over. Maybe we just. want this
country conservative.
; - ' Daniel A. Zariski
senior
. . ' political science
'denes has limits
I expected creationist response to Krishna Ma
dan. I am surprised, however, to see a reply from a
s physics student. It b always 'disappointing to realize
that students can pass through modern science
; curricula without understand;.-; that scier.ee deals
only with natural phenomena. Creation is, of course
. a supernatural phenomenon, and consequently it is
outside the realm of science. ",: :
. Les Lane
associate professor
plant pathology