Thursday, April 24, 1986
Daily Nebraskan
Page 5
Opieiomi.
Officer applauded for arrest
RQYKO from Page 4
of jabberers, and instances of rudeness
in movie theaters would be sharply
reduced.
But the law protects jabberers.
Strangle one and you'll probably wind
up in prison instead of being treated to
a ticker tape parade, which would be
your due.
Anyway, the five teenagers were
sitting there jabbering. And every few
minutes, they would fling some popcorn
in the direction of the screen.
There was a time, in the pre-TVdays,
when this wouldn't have been tolerated.
Ushers would have swooped down the
aisles, shone their flashlights in their
faces, and told them to knock it off. If
they didn't, they would have been
shown the door.
And if they resisted? When I was an
. usher at a theater on the West Side of
Chicago, we were issued big, heavy
duty industrial flashlights. The sweet
sound of flashlight against skull was
like a melon being thumped for ripe
ness. But today's theater owners are too
cheap or timid to hire ushers. If you go
to the lobby to complain, all you'll find
is some wimp of a ticket-taker who will
go hide in a stall of the men's room.
This night in Chattanooga, though,
something rare and wonderful happen
ed. A man came from the lobby and told
them to stop jabbering and throwing
popcorn.
Naturally, they giggled. And in a few
minutes, they were jabbering again.
Then the man again appeared. And
this time he told them that they were
being ejected.
They refused to go, so he grabbed the
nearest one a female creature
and hauled her bodily from the audi
torium. Even better, when he had her and
her friends in the lobby, he informed
them that he was a cop off-duty and
working for the theater and the little
obscenities were under arrest.
And they were. They were bundled
off to the police station and charged
with disorderly conduct and, in the
case of the girl, with resisting arrest.
Unfortunately, they didn't try to
escape, so he couldn't shoot them. But
you can't have everything.
As evidence that jerkism isn't neces
sarily the result of social conditioning
but might be genetic, the girl's family
has been raising a terrible howl.
Brimming with indignation, they've
gone to City Hall in Chattanooga and
demanded . that the policeman be
suspended and that the theater be
closed down.
Both demands have been denied, as
they should be. If anything, the police
man should be promoted and a street
named in his honor.
Some time soon, the crew of jabberers
will appear in Juvenile Court and a trial
will be held, if they can shut up long
enough for anyone to be heard.
I know what the proper punishment
should be. But it probably won't be
imposed. Some wimpy appeals court
would probably rule that it's cruel and
unusual punishment to order the re
moval of five tongues. .
1986 By the Chicago Tribune
Distributed by
Tribune Media Services, Inc.
Royko is a Pulitzer Prize-winning col
umnist for the Chicago Tribune.
Reagan met Khadafy on desert terms
I was impressed by Chris Welsch's
article, (Daily Nebraskan, April
21), refuting the major argu
ments in favor of the raid on Libya.
He echoed a now fashionable and
substantive opinion that Amer
ica's "blind alliance with Israel,"
indeed Israel's existence itself, is at
the root of the violence emanating
from the Arab world. But there are a
few more kinks in this line of logic
than he acknowledges. While it may
ultimately lead to the same con
clusion, for the sake of t horoughness
I would like to make some points
concerning the Arab situation. They
are not irrefutable, but they do give
a person pause.
Guest Opinion
To borrow from Porgy and Bess,
Arab nationalism "is a sometime
thing." Palestinian refugee camps
have become permanent fixtures on
the landscape. We're not talking
tent cities here. There are concrete
buildings, water lines, and market
days. But the Palestinians, in
Welsch's own words "are used to
poverty and have nothing they don't
mind losing." Contrast this with
America's generous, open-armed treat
ment of refugees from every corner
of the world, people not even related
to her by color or historic origin.
Nationalism questionable
True, the Palestinians have not
been given a homeland, and for this
perhaps Israel, and by extension
America, is to blame, but neither
have they been given a home in the
countries to which they fled, and
the responsibility for this must be
laid squarely at the feet of their
Arab brethren. This is where Arab
nationalism falls to pieces. Show
me the statistics on how many
former Palestinians are now prosper
ing in Riyadh, Amman, Cairo or
Kuwait, and I'll show you the figures
on the number of third world
refugees or children of refugees who
now own their own businesses in
the mainstream of American life.
Indeed, Welsch, why is the Pale
stinian question a major issue in
every Arab nation? For all their
rhetoric and crocodile tears cannot
hide the simple fact that the Arabs
themselves have made no significant
effort to assimilate them, nor allevi
ate their condition. The "major
issue" amounts to a continuous
round of buck-passing, treating
refugees like hot potatoes. I just
hope the refugees themselves aren't
deluded into believing too much in
Arab nationalismThe saddest argu
ment in favor of a Palestinian home
land is that nobody else wants
them.
Desert values
There is still another underap
preciated aspect to the Mideast
situation that Welsch treats select
ively. The Arab people, for all their
oil money and modern appearance,
still draw significantly on desert
values. Certainly "an eye for an eye"
is one of these. But those critics who
dwell on the call to revenge alone,
among all the desert values the
Arabs bring to their modern world,
are discarding many equally viable
forces in their heritage. You don't
call an Arab a liar, a thief, and a
woman (reading weakling) without
expecting a reprisal.
And if he doesn't come through
with a suitable one, then you are
justified in continuing to insult
him, as he has shown you to be right.
If he does retaliate, in a degree
suitable to the size of the insult,
then you are still entitled to your
revenge, but his retaliation has
added an important dimension to
the struggle: respect for one's enemy.
You and your enemy, despite every
thing, are of one mind. You under
stand each other.
Uncharacteristic silence
"An eye for an eye" amounts to
more than "speaking to Khadafy in
the only language he can under
stand," as Reagan has put it. It lets
him know that we can deal with him
on his terms desert terms. Kha
dafy knows this now. Note his un
characteristic silence. The other
Arab nations know it too. Their
governments' actions since the raid
have been non-committal and at
best, doing the minimum they can
do not to lose face. They may not
change their rhetoric, but there will
be a significant though almost in
tangible difference in their attitudes.
It would seem that President Reagan
managed to mesh desert values and
American ones into a single action
that does some justice to each.
Welsch's article dealt well with
the obvious intricacies of the con
flict, but we dare not underestimate
the viability of certain forces simply
because they cannot be measured.
Terrorism is psychological war, and
one in which the terrorists have had
the advantage for too long.
Our president recognized this,
and at great cost, while the allies
quiver in their corner, Reagan has
paid the fiddler himself.
Elizabeth Cannon
undeclared
graduate student
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