Editorial
( -Daily
Nebraskan
University of Nstatska-Uncotn
Curt Wagner, Editor, 472-1766
Mike Reilley, Editorial Page Editor
Diana Johnson, Managing Editor
Lee Rood, Associate News Editor
Bob Nelson, Wire Page Editor
Andy Pollock, Columnist
Micki Haller, Entertainment Editor
What others think
Virus gives sniffles to ISU computer
Editor’s note: Computer viruses and behavior of
football fans have been topics of conversation on the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. These issues
also have surfaced on other campuses.
• According to an Associated Press article, an Iowa
State research computer caught the “sniffles” from a
computer “virus” that has invaded hundreds of systems
across the country, but no data was destroyed since the
I electronic infection never took hold.
No outbreaks of the virus surfaced at the University ot
Iowa. (A computer virus is a mischievous little program
that infiltrates systems via disk or electronic bulletin
boards). .
It s probably no more or less rrustraung tnan any sou
of vandalism,” said Lee Shope, director of the computing
center at the University of Iowa “It’s difficult to protect
yourself because you’re in a relatively open environ
ment.”
* Although the West Virginia football team gained the
nation’s respect after its 51-30 win against Penn State last
weekend in Morgantown, W. Va., its fans destroyed the
moment and drew the ire of both coaches.
With 1:26 remaining in the game, a West Virginia fan
tossed a smoke bomb onto the field, spewing yellow
smoke into fans’ faces and forcing both teams to the
sidelines. With 49 seconds left in the game, thousands of
fans poured onto the field, screaming and dancing for the
benefit of the CBS cameras and the entire nation.
— The Collegian
Penn State University
State College. Pa.
opigj^T
Neal says 402 facts misquoted
Nell Eckersley’s letter (Daily
Nebraskan, Nov. - 7) contained a
number of errors about the recently
defeated Initiative 402. US Ecology
would like to correct these errors.
Eckcrsley unfairly blasted DN
columnist James Scnnctt for not de
voting more space to discussing the
issue in an editorial. As a fonner
School of Journalism (now the Col
lege of Journalism) student, I am
interested in what the DN offers its
readers on this issue as I am in any
other news source in the state. The DN
has dealt with the issue fairly through
several news stories, guest editorials
and by publication of letters to the
editor.
Eckcrsley, on the other hand, isn’t
even being fair to herself, considering
the number of misconceptions she
relics upon to support her position.
To begin with, Initiative 402 did
indeed contain language requiring
that Nebraska withdraw from the
compact, contrary to Eckcrslcy‘s
understanding.
Further, Congress did not arbitrar
ily divide states into compacts, as
Eckeisley has been led to believe.
Stales negotiated with each other,
worked out their own compacts, and
then went to Congress for compact
ratification. Nebraska elected to loin
with four other states back in 1983,
through unanimous passage of
LB200.
Eckcrsley incorrectly identified
Missouri as being in the Central Inter
state Compact and failed to identify
Kansas as a member. Missouri, by the
way, generates more low-level radio
acuve waste than does Kansas.
Eckerslcy also incorrectly stated
that the Central Interstate Compact,
by virtue of selecting Nebraska as the
host stale, is ahead of other compacts.
California is a year ahead of all other
compacts, having already selected
the preferred Site. All compacts were
to have identified their respective
host states by January 1988.
Other compacts can’t simply
“pay” our compact to take waste.
First, any decision to accept oul-of
region waste requires the assenting
vote by the Nebraska commissioner,
as well as a majority vote of the
commission. Second, the design life
and capacity of the site (30 years, or 5
million cubic feet, whichever comes
first) will be specified in the license,
making it impossible to accept the
rest of the nation’s waste.
Eckcrslcy accused organizations
that disagree with her of categorizing
all of the waste as medical and said
that, “low-level doesn’t mean it’s
much safer than high-level waste.” I
know of no organization that has said
that all the waste is medical. The
majority of the waste in this region
does come from n uclcar power plants.
However, there is a vast difference in
hazard between low-level and high
level radioactive waste. Low-level
waste in our region from 1985 to 1987
averaged 0.13 curies per cubic foot.
By comparison, spent fuel and other
high-level wastes have radioactivity
levels that measure closer to
20,000,000 curies per cubic fool.
Eckcrslcy confused the federal
government’s self-regulation of fed
eral waste sites with state govern
ments contracting with private devel
opers. Keep in mind that it is always
easier to enforce tough restrictions
placed on a third parly.
1 have never held to the concept of
using a few carefully selected facts at
all. Eckerslcy undoubtedly has made
up her mind, but she owes it to the
people she discusses the issue with to
become belter educated.
James W. Neal
director
public assistance
US Ecology
v*"*"'"--—..
‘Last Temptation’ is sympathetic movie
Longsine compares current controversy to ‘Hail Mary’ epidemic
"The Good News has carefully
reviewed what is known about 'The
Last Temptation of Christ.' We con
clude that the film is sacrilegious."
— The UNL Good News,
September 1988
hat is known? They sound
like they’re hunting for
Nessic. I have seen the
movie. 1 have not seen the Loch Ness
Monster.
“The Last Tcmpta lion of Christ” is
the most sympathetic treatment of
Jesus of Nazareth ever filmed. Those
who object on grounds that it is an
attack upon their Christian beliefs do
not understand the very religion that
they claim as their own.
A few years ago another contro
versial movie played in Lincoln —
‘‘Hail Mary.” I saw it in the Nebraska
Union with 499 other people seated in
folding chairs. Had it not been once
stricken from the Sheldon film sched
ule under threats from an overweight
and undereducated Nebraska legisla
tor, I would have seen it with 30 or 40
people in the comfort of the Sheldon
Theater.
‘ Hail Mary” was heavily laden
with symbolism. Every scene, indeed
every frame, was carefully mapped lo
invoke thoughts of Bible verses, well
known and obscure, as well as a host
of theologians, writers, and artists
who have become intertwined with
Christianity and its symbols. The
result was a dizzy sensation for
people who had read enough of this
stuff lo realize that they were being
taunted.
Where “Hail Mary” explored the
layered shroud of the 2,000 years of
mythology, theology and politics that
is Christianity, “The Last Temptation
of Christ” strips it away. It brings
Jesus lo the audience as a man we
could have walked and talked with,
had we lived in his lime.
In the film, Jesus says, “Lucifer is
inside me. He tells me: You arc not the
son of David, you arc the son of Man
and more, you arc the son of God and
more, God.”
Was he God or man? If one looks
to the Gospels, it seems that Jesus
m usl have been undcc ided, or perhaps
changed his mind — assuming ol
course that they arc an accurate re
flection of events, if not the actual
word of God.
In Mark 10:18 he clearly discour
ages a man from thinking of him as the
same as God: “And Jesus said untc
him. Why callest thou me good'
There is none good but one, that is
God.”
“The Last Temptation of Christ” is
drenched in blood. So is Christianity.
Sacrificial animals bleed. So did all
those tortured and killed in the name
of Christ throughout the long san
guine history of the Crusades and the
Inquisition. Each time the sacrament
is performed, there is to some, the
symbolism, and to others the actual
miracle of becoming one with the
blood and body of Christ.
Nothing in Marlin Scorsese’s film
attempts to defile the sacrament. As a
disciple drinks of the cup at the last
supper and takes a drop of the red
liquid from his mouth with his finger,
he is obviously contemplating the
meaning of what they have shared
with their master, who speaks ohly in
parables.
When Jesus returns from the tribu
lations of the desert, he finds his dis
ciples arguing amongst themselves.
Jesus was constantly chastising his
disciples in the Bible, for they had
eyes, but didn’t see.
In Mark 16:14: “He appeared unio
the eleven as they sal at meat, and
upbraided ihcm with ihcir unbelief
and hardness of heart, because they
believed nol them which had seen him
after he was risen.” In the movie,
Jesus holds out his heart for them to
see. This is to show that even the faith
of the disciples had to be buttressed
with miracles.
“Every day you have a new plan.
First it was love. Then it was the ax.
Now you have to die on the cross,”
Judas complains to Jesus. The film
accurately reflects the three separate
messages found in the Gospels. The
message of love and the message of
ctcmallife arc separate and distinct in
the gospels and in this film. Between
them is the ax: revolution.
This is an important and often
ignored aspect of Jesus of Nazareth.
Jesus was politically aware. He knew
of the oppression of the Roman
Empire and the unrest of the people
subject to it. He wanted the people to
be free, and the people wanted him as
. weir Messiah — not the God who
would bring eternal life, but the man
■ who would break the shackles of
Rome. Jesus knew in his heart that
there could be no true freedom until
the soul was free.
In “Last Temptation,” Jesus
pleads with Judas to betray him. so
that he can die on the cross. Judas says
“If you were me, could you betray
your master?”
And Jesus responds, “No, that’s
why God gave you the more difficult
role.”
This exchange may be closer to
what actually transpired 2,(XX) years
ago in an insignificant province ol the
Roman Empire than any of us might
like to admit.
If we consider the political unrest
of the time, and the revolutionary
aspect of his movement (not merely
against Rome, but the entire estab
lishment, as the talc of the money
changers in the temple shows) then it
is quite possible that Jesus set himscll
up as a martyr. He probably did it
believing that it was what God wanted
of him, and he didn’t enjoy it.
I cannot ignore tnc scene wnun
gives the movie its name. At the rool
of this alleged blasphemy is a very
basic misunderstanding of Jesus and
of the significance of temptation —
on the part of the self-proclaimed
guardians of the Word.
Christ, they say, cannot even think
about sinning, for if he did, he would
be imperfect
We arc all familiar with tempta
lion. In order to be tempted there must
be an element of free will and some
desire to yield to the temptation. For
example, I am not, could not be
tempted to jump into a vat of boiling
oil.
In order for Christ to be tempted to
come down from the cross, he must
have had at least an inkling of desire
to do it—steadfastly resisting some
thing that one has absolutely no desire
to do is a meaningless act.
The most interesting part of the
film is the exchange between Jesus
and Pilate. In the film’s most signifi
cant departure from the New Testa
ment, Scorsese’s Pilate also under
stands the political significance ol
Jesus and his movement
Pilate knows that Jesus is even
more dangerous than the zealots. But
unlike Jesus, he does not foresee the
strength that will be embodied in his
movement after the beloved master is
executed by Rome for being King ol
the Jews; a threat to the unity of the
Roman Empire.
Longsine Ik a senior economics and Inter -
national affairs major and b a DN editorial
columnist.