Tuesday, January 22,1935 Dally Nebraskan Pago 3
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V n 1033. 5.625 Nebraska women had abortions ir.cst for
1 social end economic reasons. In the United States in 1933,
i 1.5 r.illicn abortions were performed.
To combat the increasing number of abortions, the Reagan
administration is expected to propose a constitutional amend
ment fc.r.nir.'? abortion.
The idea behind the ban is commendable abortion is
murder, and it should be used only in extreme cases, such as rope,
incest or to protect the lif e of the mother.
Cut a constitutional amendment won't stop abortion. Even if
the operations were illegal, unscrupulous doctors and other peo
ple still would perform them. People would resort to isslni coat
hangers, as they did before abortion was tea!i;ed. More women
would die during these illegal operations, thus defeating the right
to life ideal.
In the late 1920s, a constitutional amendment was passed
banning alcohol. The Prohibition amendment is the only amend
ment ever to be repealed. The law could not be enforced because
people found ways to get liquor, just as people would find ways to
get abortions. Social customs are sometimes mere powerful than
the law.
The Nebraska women' who had abortions in I9S3wcre required
to list their reasons for having the operation. According to the
Nebraska Bureau of Vital Statistics, the results were:
O 5,472 women said they had abortions because of social and
economic reasons.
119 said they had abortions because their physical health
was poor.
O 1 0 said they had abortions because their lives would be in
imminent danger if they had a baby.
. O 233 said they had abortions because of mental health.
O three said they had abortions because they were raped.
1,658 listed "other" as the reason for the abortion.
The figures show women are abusing abortion. Most use the
operation as a convenient form of birth control, rather than the
last resort it should be.
But an absolute ban cannot solve the abortion problem. Deci
sions must be made on a case by case basis. If a woman is a victim
of rape or incest, of if a woman's life is in danger, the abortion
should be performed as soon as possible definitely within the
first trimester before the fetU3 is fully developed,
i The 'soluticn'to the abortion problem is responsibility; Men, as";
well as women, 'must be taught to take responsibility for their
actions. In elementary end high schools, students should be
taught about birth control and also about abortion.
By learning about abortion procedures and human develop
ment, people might realize that a fetus is a human being with
fingers, toss and most importantly, a brain. '
Abortion procedures also should be stressed Children and
young adults should know that a vacuum device sucks the child
out of the womb arm by arm and leg by leg. They also should know
of other methods, such as injecting saline solution into the womb
to bum the fetus, kill it and eventually induce labor.
Peer pressure also must be used to decrease the number of
abortions. If society took abortions more seriously, people would
be more cautious and try to avoid them. .
Abortion is wrong, but an absolute ban is not the answer.
tt H Daily n '
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-fO.13.31C
ast week, while driving to school, I
.was struck by a song played on the
I radio. My radio wa3 tuned to KUCV,
"Lincoln's classical music station," and
the Grand March from Verdi's rather fam
ous opera, "Aida," was bcir. broadcast. A
large passage of this march is taken up by
a trumpet solo accompanied by the or
chestra. As I was listening, ar.d driving,
what struck me so about the passage
could be summed up in one word: tasteful.
The passage was simply incredibly t
Jim
s
As I reflected upon the passage as it
was played, I grew somewhat sad; tasteful
music seems to-be something of a rarity
today. More saddening, thought, was that
probably only several hundred other peo
ple, maybe a thousand tops, were listening
to this example of tasteful music. The
reason, I believe, so few other people were
probably listening with me is because
insular groups within society require music
to serve some other end than that of the
truly beautiful. Two views of music seem
to predominate in popular society. .
The first view is the most outrageous. It
is outrageous 'because narrowness on the
part of the popular mind is typically the
least informed, as well as because arro
gance on the part of the strong in this
case those who dominate the music mar
ket rests solely upon the strength of
.numbers rather than any claim 'to truth,,
justice or, most relevant to this discus
sion, any claim to advance the truly
beautiful.
An essxapls of this view occurred
last year when a Daily Nebraskan reader
wrote to the arts and entertainment sec-"
ilea of the paper complaining about a .
consistent bias against a certain type of
music ia the reviews. In the midst of this
person's letter was inserted a most in
sightful comment. "Now, so you don't
tbir.k I'n eced-mird;;!: I have a wide
varLty eft: " slcal lactcs. I love the Rolling
20t
Stones and R & B. I like southern rock,
Bruce Springsteen, Prince . . . I even like
David Bowie!" Because the criteria for
good music, according to this view, is the
pleasure it provides to the person. We
shall call this the hedonist view of music.
The other predominate non-beauty-based
criteria for the worth of music is found
primarily amongst evangelical Christians.
Dutch theologian Gerardus van der Leeuw
described the typically parochial attitude
toward music and art in general
-.found amongst many Christians:. "There,
are Christians for whom the question of
the relationship between the beautiful
and the holy is exhausted by the question
of the moral and pedagogical demands
that must be made of a work of art.
"For them, a 'Christian' book is a book
in which there is no swearing, but preach-.
ing; 'Christian' music is composition free
from the blemishes which infect opera and
dance; a 'Christian picture is a work of art
in which everyone is decently dressed,
preferably representing' biblical figures."
We shall call the view outlined by van der
Leeuw (but not subscribed to by him) the
propagandists view of music because the
standard of the worth of music i3 limited
essentially to the words associated with
the themes.
TIis aesthetic absolutist
seems to trace a rather precarious line .
'. 'around both the hedonist and propagan
dists views.' Yet it seems that his view
alone is able to assert that it is the beauti
ful in music that makes it worthwhile.
Plato encompasses my objection to the
hedonist view of music in his dialogue
"the Laws" when he notes that "it is com
monly said that the standard of rightness
in music is its pleasure-giving effect. That,
however, is an intolerable sentiment; in
fact, 'tis a piece of - flat blasphemy."
Instead, Plato posits that music, which "is
an art of producing likenesses or repres
entations" is good not when it is produc
tive of pleasure but rather when it "retains'
its likeness to the model of the noble." '
Plato concludes that the opinion worthy .
. of being heeded regarding the worthiness
of a selection of music is that of the person
who excels in excellence: "We may take it
that the finest music is that which delights
the best men, the properly educated, that,
above all, which pleases the one man who
is supreme in goodness and education."
My difficulty with Plato's view, however,
is that ultimately it reduces to simply a
version of the propagandists view of
music. Thus he , rejects the divorce of
"melody and rhythm from words" because
"it is the hardest of tasks to discover what
such wordless rhythm and tune signify"
and thus easily lends itself to "unmusical
legerdemain."
Tlieclogian vsa der Leeuw
rejects Plato's view and instead asserts
that great music can be much, much more
than merely propagandists. He sets forth
the example of J.S. Bach as almost para
digmatic and concludes that Bach most
appropriately "performed the awesome
miracle of combining his service to the
(church) congregation with his service to
art, the liturgical structure of his work
with its aesthetic structure. The artist is
priest, is himself a theologian. A miracle
was developed by him. Here art has
become in truth a holy action."
Thus it does seem as though the posi
tion of aesthetic absolutism does have
some rudimentary beginning point in the
modern world with which to build a cogent
popular position as against the artistic
hedonist and propagandist.
I fear that, all in all, my meandering
musical musings may smack all too much
of a post hoc attempt to merely rationalize
my own musical prejudices. However, such
is not my goal. My desire is to see more
careful reflection about the role and
power of music in culture on the part of
ail.
Too often, it seems, the musical hedo
nist is all too willing to unimaginatively
embrace whatever music the crcsswinds
of popular appetite blow his way; On the
other hand, the musical propagandist is
usually too quick to flatly condemn any
music not verbally containing a message
of which he approves. Neither was proba-
' bSylisteaing to the Grand March from "Aida"
with me tlie other day. And if either were
listening, neither were probably enjoying
the performance because of their respec
tive prejudices. Tasteful music deserves
. better.
Ad policy deserves
mmi) look-by boari
ft
On Wedr.esdsy, I tried to place a room- -mXt
sdvertisensntia the Daily Nebras
ka. It re "Gsy male nssds rocramiie.
I111S7 rer.t, oas-tMrd uiiiaks. Call Hike
lit., WfVMf v .va
asked the general manager if the ad could
be printed. He told me the ad could not be
printed because of a new Publications
Board policy, which finds such ads dis
criminatory. So I tried to pisce o ad stat
- ing, "Eocsisste wanted, no racking, no
." pets,' oust be interested in ho-acpMia
' coscsms, etc," (I find it ctrsr.g2 thst peo
' pie da net vis restricticrj trst psts
-. . When the new board takes eSce, it
should take a serious look at the "new
policy" to decide whether it represents
the entire hmM. I also would Mis to zm
all the members cfths pulUcoss board
be present so that student cpirisa Till
