Editorial
xt ?Pailyi
Nebraskan
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Mike Rcillcy, Editor, 472 1761>
Diana Johnson, Editorial Page Editor
Jen Desclms, Managing Editor
Cun Wagner, Associate News Editor
Scott Harrah, Night News Editor
Joan Rczae, Copy Desk Chief
Joel Carlson, Columnist
No peace on earth
U.S.S.R., N. Korea called top violators
The U.S. State
Department’s annual
report on human rights
around the world is out, and it’s
not a pretty sight. And, peculiarly
enough, the United States is not
listed among the violators.
While there were positive
changes in South Korea, North
Korea continues to be the most
serious rights violator anywhere.
In its section on the Soviet
Union, the report states that
Soviet leader Mikiiail Gorbachev
has made superficial, cosmetic
changes, but fails to have made
progress in the fundamentals.
Although the number of So
viet emigrants has increased, and
films and movies more accu
rately depict the Soviet Union, its
prisons continue to be marked by
malnutrition, hard labor, beat
I ings, frequent illness and inade
quate medical care, the report
states.
The report also found:
• no progress toward respect
for human rights was made in
South Africa in 1987.
• Nicaragua’s government
was guilty of “significant human
rights abuses” last year and failed
to institute democratic refonus
required by a regional peace plan
signed last August. Charges of
abuse by U.S.-backed resistance
forces — as in previous years —
were dismissed as undocu
mented.
• Afghanistan and Chile were
other rights violators.
As in any report, its validity
and factual documentation must
be questioned, or at least given a
hard look. The situations de
scribed in the report could cither
be worse than they actually arc or
they could stand at a higher level.
Nonetheless, world peace is non
existent.
Holy teeth-rings, miraculous oils:
TV preacher likes business title
While taking a stroll, I saw the
Rev. Hallelujah Jones hur
rying along. I greeted him,
but he angrily grabbed my arm and
said: “I would appreciate it if you
would stop referring to me by that
title.”
You mean Reverend? But you’re a
TV clergyman.
He adjusted his red lie and said: “I
am much more than that. Remember,
I am also a businessman.”
That’s true. And how' arc your
glow-in-thc-dark, windup life-size
plastic front-lawn Nativity scenes
going?
“They did well during the Christ
mas season, thank you.”
And your personally blessed holy
teething rings, guaranteed to ease the
distress of infancy?
“They’re a steady seller, despite
the sinful efforts of family planners to
shrink my market.”
And how’s the demand for your
miraculous oil, which will cure aches,
pains, miseries as well as financial
and domestic worries.
“Splendid, especially since we
began pointing out that if simmered
with a touch of garlic, it also makes an
excellent blessed pasta sauce.”
All things considered, I have to
concede that you arc a businessman.
“And I would remind you that I am
also a religious broadcaster, a title I
also prefer.”
Yes, I’ve watched your “Hallelu
jah Happy Hour.” Does any other
clergyman broadcast live from a
sports theme bar?
“No, I was the first to recognize
and fill that spiritual void.”
I’ve noticed that many members of
your congregation nov speak in
longues.
“A few, but 1 must admit that some
of it is the result of the happy hour.”
Well, I’ve been impressed by the
miraculous cures you've performed
simply by laying hands on them. I’ve
seen people who had been suffering
terribly throwing aside their crutches
and canes and shouting “hallclijah”
because you’ve cured them of tennis
elbows, inflamed rotator cuffs,
lammed sottnall thumbs, jogger’s
shin splints, athlete’s foot and jock
itch.
“Did you happen to sec the football
player I cured of agonizing turf toe?”
Yes, but 1 was even more stunned
by the poor wretch who said that for
30 years, despite seeking help from
countless experts, he was still plagued
by achronic, incurable slice. Butalter
you laid hands on his golf hag, he has
been hitting the ball straight and long.
“Most people don’t realizc that the
slice is the work of Satan. By the way,
I’m planning an instructional tape
showing the relationship between
praying and one-putting.”
That should be a winner, bui I still
don’t understand why you no longer
want to he thought of as a TV
preacher.
“Unfortunately, it has taken on
certain negative connotations in re
cent years.”
Because of the fuss about Jimmy
and Tammy and Oral and some of the
others?
“Yr*s. And those in the media, most
of whom arc agents of the Beast,
would tar me wilh the same brush.”
© 1988 Chicago Tribune
Koyko is a columnist fur the Chicago
Tribune.
Readers speak out against anti-gay letter
Attitude toward gays
product of small mind
This is a response to Jon Dewsbury
(Letters, Feb. 16). I sense a bit of
prejudice in your letter concerning
homosexuality. Asking homosexuals
to go back into the closet is like asking
the blacks to go back to Africa be
cause you don’t like their color. Or
maybe you would ask all of the handi
capped people to stay home because
they disgust you.
There are many different ways of
life and relationships worldwide
other than homosexuality. So wake
up, Dewsbury, and open your eyes.
The world doesn’t revolve around
you. I’m not gay, but a few of my
friends are. Although I don’t neces
sarily approve of their lifestyle,
they’re still my friends. I also have a
brother who is confined to a wheel
chair, and he also has to endure many
narrow-minded altitudes such as
yours.
Everyone has a right to speak, and
if you don’t want to hear it, don’t
listen.
Jonathon Driscoll
senior
engineering
Lesbian gets calls
about ‘immorality’
This is a response to Jon
Dewsbury’s letter to the editor (Let
ters, Feb. 16). It is very plain that you
do not understand the nature of
homosexuality.
I did not choose to be a lesbian and
become an outcast of society. It is
extremely difficult to be a homosex
ual and to have to put up with con
stant messages from classmates,
teachers, family, the media and
more, telling us that we arc abnormal
and don’t belong in society.
If I could choose, I would choose
the easy way out and be a heterosex
ual . but I can ’ t choose. I am what I am
and lam... attracted to women.
I don’t understand how in a world
in which mass murder, rape, political
corruption, war and hunger are daily
realities, love between two people—
just because they happen to be of the
t , ... . , .
same sex — can be considered
immoral and wrong.
As for the issue of “natural,” do
you think that airplanes which enable
men (and women) to fly are “natu
ral?” One could say that if humans
were meant to fly, God would have
given us wings.
You might say that God gave
humans the intelligence to be able to
build such machines; therefore, they
are “natural,” and I say that God gave
some of us the special ability to love
members of the same sex, even
amidst tremendous social pressure
not to.
Pat Parker wrote a very poignant
poem entitled “To All the Straights
Who Don’t Mind Gays, But Wish
They Weren’t So Blatant.” In it, she
points out that the very heterosex uals
who object to the visibility of gays
and lesbians are the ones pushing
heterosexuality on us with public
shows of affection and constant talk
about their boyfriends and girl
friends.
I close by quoting Pat Parker: “So,
to all you straights, I’ll go back to the
closet, if you go too, but 1 ’m polite, so
after you.”
Vicki Jedlicka
senior
fine art
Ignorance, bigotry
leads to homophobia
We’re upset. We’re upset because
of the irrational fear and hale due to
ignorance and closed-mindedness
that was recently displayed by Jon
Dewsbury (Letters, Feb. 16) Unfor
tunately, such ignorance is not un
common.
It is not just his homophobia that
disturbs us, but also the realization of
what this entails.
First of all, such closed-minded
attitudes arc usually displayed in
other areas as well (such as prejudice
against other minorities in our own
society and any other culture which
one fails to understand) and serve to
perpetuate conflict. Let’s just hope
that people like Dewsbury do not
come into power; otherwise there
will never be peace even within our
own society.
Second, Dewsbury claims that
“the plain truth is that the vast major
ity do not like homosexuals” and
jumps to conclusions that homosexu
ality is both immoral and unnatural
and ought, therefore, to be sup
pressed.
Assuming that Dewsbury is the
authority he claims to be about the
opinion of the majority, we must ask
what conclusion is properly drawn
from this. Why ought we draw the
conclusion that Dewsbury does —
that homosexuals and, in general,
any disliked group of persons ought
to be suppressed — when history has
time and lime again verified the more
appropriate conclusion that “the
masses are asses.”
Nancy Slonncgcr
graduate
philosophy
Rob Revock
graduate
philosophy
Gays must determine
morality individually
In regard to die “enlightening”
letter presented by Jon Dewsbury
(Letters, Feb. 16): It is obvious that
Dewsbury and those who share his
attitude arc the ones that need en
lightening.
First, there is nothing unnatural
about being a homosexual. This is
documented by homosexual rela
tionships in the animal kingdom as
well as references to homosexual
relationships throughout written his
tory. No one yet knows the exact
determinants of sexual orientation,
but it is certain that having the same
sex orientation is definitely natural.
As for homosexuals being im
moral, I find it difficult to accept that
simply being what you are is im
moral. As for passing judgment on
what is or is not immoral, isn T that up
to the individual or on the grounds of
an universal morality? Isn’t that up to
one’s own definition of God?
As for the problems that arise of
which you spoke, their problems are
not coming from homosexuals, but
from people like yourself with your
ignorant, prejudicial and oppressive
attitudes. It must be beyond your
intellectual capacity to imagine and
to try to understand what it must be
like to live as someone different Irom
yourself. It takes very little intellec
tual effort to avoid and shun some
thing you do not understand.
Rodney Black
senior
psychology
Coming out of closet
requires determination
This is in response to the letter
written by Jon Dewsbury (Letters,
Feb. 16) concerning homosexuals
“coming out of the closet.”
Dewsbury, you write that you
would liketo“enlighten Rodney Bell
and other homosexuals on why prob
lems arise when they wish to go
public in any way.” I’d like to know
how you think you can “enlighten” a
group of people as to why they have
problems when you haven’t the laint
csi idea what their problems are?
Dewsbury, have you ever had to
find the courage to accept something
about yourself that was different
from other people?
Homosexuals are a minority and
must find the courage and determina
tion to simply be themselves. When
they “come out of the c losct,” they ’ re
not only accepting themselves for
what they are, they’re telling other
people 1 ike them that it is OK to be in
the minority. They arc telling other
homosexuals that they are not alone.
You stated that you do not under
stand why “homosexuals would
rather have immoral and unnatural
relationship with those of the same
sex.” You also stated that the “vast
majority docs not like homosexuals.”
Please do not speak for everyone
when you say that homosexual rela
tionships are “immoral” and “un
natural.” That is your opinion. Sec
ond, when you say that the “vast
majority’’does not like homosexuals,
who do you mean? Do you mean the
“majority ‘ of the people in this
country? Do you mean the “major
ity” of the people in Cercsco?
I have respect for people who have
the courage to stand up and say, “I’m
different.” Dewsbury, “different” is
not “bad”; it is simply “different.”
I commend you, Dewsbury. It
takes a lot of courage to admit that
you re a male, Ircshman business
major. I’m a surprised your last name
isn’t “Doc.”
Michelle L. Miller
junior
secondary education
I
l
Letter on gays shows
prejudiced undertones
I in responding lo Jon Dewsbury
(Leucis, Feb. 16) who wrote that
homosexuals should stay in the
closet. 1 seem to be a little contused
by this. It appears to me that Judging
from his harsh, prejudiced under
tones, he would like all homosexuals
to reveal their sexual preference to
him so he can avoid them at all costs.
I heartily sympathize with his posi
tion because, God forbid, he might
meet a homosexual on the University
of Ncbraska-Lincoln campus that he
would grow to know, likeand respect
as a human being and a friend.
Mary Pills
freshman
art
Returning to ‘closet'
won’t solve problem
I would like to respond to a num
ber of comments made by Jon
Dewsbury in his letter to the editor
(Letters, Feb. 16). Dewsbury’s letter
exhibits a lack of understanding
about homosexuality that, unfortu
nately, is not uncommon.
Dewsbury says he cannot under
stand why homosexuals want to have
“unnatural relationships with those
of the same sex.” The fact of the
matter is that there are many men and
women for whom a sexual relation
ship with someone of the opposite
sex is equally unnatural and undesir
able.
Dewsbury’s contention that
“things would be easier” if gays and
lesbians were to go “back to the
closet” ought to be disputed by both
heterosexuals and homosexuals
alike. The pain and dishonesty that
result from having to hide or deny
one's sexual orientation hinder our
relationships with our friends, our
families and our lovers.
Dewsbury claims, “The vast ma
jority do not like homosexuals.” I do
not doubt that his attitude is shared by
many. His antagonism is a reaction
typical of those whe arc threatened
by that which they have made no
attempt to understand.
Colleen Baade
graduate student
music
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