T Editorial aSs
Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraaka-Uncoln
Amy Edwards, Editor, 472-J 766
Lee Rood, Editorial Page Editor
Jane Hirt, Managing Editor
Brandon Loomis, Associate News Editor
Brian Svoboda, Columnist
Bob Nelson, Columnist
Jerry Guenther, Senior Reporter
Get on the ball
Time running out for ASUN Senate
Put your boots on folks; it’s getting a little deep in
the Association of Students of the University of
Nebraska office.
After one of the weakest performances of ASUN
senates in recent history, ASUN senators and executives
have the gall to pat themselves on the back for a job well
done.
ASUN President Bryan Hill said he thinks the attitude
of this year’s senate has been more progressive and less
conservative than previous senates.
Hill used as an example the fact that this year’s senate
passed an amendment to add discrimination on the basis
of sexual orientation to the anti-discrimination clause of
its bylaws.
While the move was commendable, it was long over
due. ASUN didn’t pass the anti-discrimination amend
ment until Wednesday. And the amendment was one of
the very few worthwhile actions ASUN has taken all
semester.
Only 20 ASUN bills have been introduced during this
semester. Out of that 20, nine bills were approvals of
student organizations. Of the remaining 11 bills, only four
were worthwhile: the aforementioned anti-discrimination
amendment; two bills encouraging AIDS education and
an AIDS support group; and one establishing the ASUN
Parking Task Force.
A few senators are putting forth an effort. But even
those senators are working at the minimum required for a
successful year.
ASUN has only a few more weeks during second
semester to redeem itself. In order to escape this year with
even a mediocre rating, senators need to get on the ball.
- Lee Rood
/or the Daily Ntbraskan
.. ... ■ « mnniniMii pi i Bwcaaran—at—————wm—
God is the real solution
The introduction of these “new”
relaxation and imagery techniques
into the public schools is just another
slice of bologna added to the educa
tional diet of today’s student. These
ideas claim to help the student cope in
today ’ s society but don t seem to help
the student at all.
Instead of dealing with the goal a
hand, the student is taught to visual
i/.e himself reaching a goal in hi:
mind so he can feel more confiden
about himself. What happens whei
the student becomes so dependent 01
these imaginary victories that he gel
nothing accomplished in real life
What will his self-image be then?
They also claim that the rclaxatioi
techniques help to relieve stress
What happens when the sluden
comes out of his perfect fantas
world and is faced with the realil
that the paper is still due or that hi
parents are still fighting? The medita
lion doesn’t do away with the situ
ations, it merely postpones them.
It seems that the only secular wa1
to relieve stress is to concentrate oi
real goals. Only when these goals an
reached will you be rid of stress. Thi
problem with this is that when oni
thing is finished, another present
itself.
Apparently, there is just on<
proven way to relieve stress: realizi
that God is in control of everythin]
and that he has a plan for you. Yoi
can cither accept this and fall into lim
with his plan, or you can reject it am
try to find peace in something else.
* Another slice of fantasy beinj
served by public schools deals with
Christmas. It seems highly hypocriti
cal for the schools to celebrate a holi
day but forbid the teachers from
teaching the true meaning of the cele
bration. Children now grow up be
lieving that they get a week off from
school to worship an overweight,
unshaven man who comes down a
chimney and a man with a corncob
: pipe, a button nose and two eyes
l made out of coal.
1 Why arc the schools afraid ol
i teaching the proven historical fact ol
:> the birth of Jesus Christ? Aren’t
? schools supposed to teach facts and
not myths? It can’t be considered
i “pushing your beliefs” on someone
. if you’re merely presenting the facts
t The schools seem to be worried that il
1 they reveal the fact that Jesus wa>
1 born, it might lead to the revelation ol
* the fact that he died as a sacrifice foi
• the sins of the world. As a result
■ some students might realize thcii
sinful nature and that their cterna
f salvation is through Jesus Christ am
) that faith in anything else is futile.
^ I’m not trying to force my “rcli
' gious values” on anyone, but I an
i asking you to have an open mint
» aboutan old concept: the Bible. Whj
is it that they say you have an oper
5 mind if you look toward anything bu
; God; but they say you have a closet
5 mind if you look toward God?
i Merry Christmas UNL.
1 James McIntyre
junior
> political science
Signed staff editorials represent
the official policy of the fall 1989
Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the
Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its
members arc Amy Edwards, editor;
Lee Rood, editorial page editor; Jane
Hirt, managing editor; Brandon
Loomis, associate news editor; Jerry
uuenihcr, senior reporter; Bob Ncl
son, columnist; and Brian Svoboda
columnist.
Editorial columns represent the
opinion of the author.
According to policy set by the re
genus, responsibility for the editoriai
content of the newspaper lies solely ir
the hands of its student editors.
‘Superstar’ needs to be defined
Sitcoms, silly movies, Pepsi ads don’t add up to superstardom
In an excited voice, the TV
announcer urged us to stay
tuned for the news show be
cause we would be treated to a live
interview by Gene Siskel with
“superstar Michael J. Fox.”
Suddenly my mind was a blank. I
couldn’t place someone named Mi
chael J. Fox. So I asked the blond if
she could refresh my memory as to
the identity of this superstar. I rely on
her in such matters because she occa
sionally reads People magazine.
“He’s a young actor,’’ she said.
To my embarrassment, that infor
mation didn’t help. I still drew a
mental blank. So I asked if we had
ever seen superstar Michael J. Fox
perform.
“Sure,” she said, “he was in
‘Back to the Future.’”
Ah, yes, now I remembered. It was
a silly but entertaining movie, al
though 1 don’t remember if he was
going forward or backward.
“A sequel to that just came out,"
she said. “And he is in some Pepsi
commercials.”
And that’s why he is a superstar?
“1 guess so. He used to be in a
sitcom, and now he’s on the cover of
People.”
How about that? Michael J. Fox,
superstar, and 1 didn’t even know. I’ll
have to pick up more supermarket
newspapers.
Not to take anything away from a
• young man who has been Back to the
I Future twice, and is in soda-pop
I commercials, but it seems to me that
bestowing the title of “superstar” on
him may be premature,
i I’m not sure what the precise
I guidelines are to become a “super
- star,” but when I hear that word,
i some show business names come to
L mind: Fred Astaire, Humphrey Bog
I art, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer
Tracy, Clark Gable, Marilyn
Monroe, Marlon Brando, Bette
Davis, John Wayne, Cary Grant,
Gary Cooper, Paul Newman, Robert
Redford, Frank Sinatra, Robert
DeNiro, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and
Bill Cosby.
Some of them have been dead for
many years. But just about everyone
still recognizes their names and tal
ents.
So if Michael J. Fox is suddenly a
“superstar,” what do we call Sinatra,
who has been a world famous singer
actor since the 1940s? A super
dooper-star? A galaxy-star?
Actually, most of them were never
called “superstars.” They were sim
ply “stars.” You were cither a star,
which meant you were very famous,
or you were just him or her, whosis or
whalchamacallit.
I-:-1
I’m not sure when the title of
“superstar” came along, or who
decides when someone goes from
being a “star” to a “superstar.”
Siskcl and Ebert? People magazine?
Is it based on how many Oscars you
win or how much money your agent
can demand?
Maybe the measure is how many
limes your name appears in the na
tion’s gossip columns or you arc in
vited on the Johnny Carson show. If
that’s the case, Zsa Zsa Gabor is a
superstar but Laurence Olivier
wasn’t.
It might have started in sports,
possibly when what used to be known
simply as the professional football
championship game became the su
per-inflated Super Bowl.
That always struck me as pre
sumptuous of football. Baseball, our
national pastime, doesn’t call its
championship the Super Series. Bas
ketball doesn tcall it the Super Hoop.
In fairness, the bowling champion
ship would be more justified in call
ing itself the Super Bowl, since that’s
what the sport does. Football should
call its big game the Super Foot.
My guess is that the “superstar”
designation was originated by sports i
announcers, Earth’s most excitable
creatures.
There was a time when an athlete
had to be of Hall of Fame stature to be
known as a mere “star.’’ Anyone else
was called a “good player.”
This last baseball season, Will
Clark had a year that would have
made a Babe Ruth consider retire
ment, caused Ted Williams to check
into the Mayo Clinic for observation,
and humiliated Hank Aaron. But
Clark was elevated to “superstar”
status by the broadcasting hysterics.
Or could it be that it’s a side effect
of inflation, that in those decades
when new cars jumped from S2.(KX)
to $20,(XX), a .240 hitter was inllated
from mope to star, and .280 hitters
were promoted from being “good
players” to superstars?
And now' a young actor w ho does a
TV sitcom, a couple of silly but
commercially successful movies and
a Pepsi commercial becomes a super
star.
Can this be part of the decline of
our once-grcat nation? Does history
show that mediocre chariot drivers*
and cowardly gladiators were hailed*
as “superstars” before the fall of the*
Roman Empire? *
If so, to prevent further decline,*
we should create some national stan-B
dards for superstardom. We must*
clearly establish the difference be-*
tween a superstar and a star, and a star*
and a whosis and whasis. Jg
I would not take on the job, my®
self. It should be done by a panel of*
experts - possibly the nation’s gossip®
columnists, disc jockeys, sports hah-*
biers, gate crashers, talk-show host!®
and champion couch potatoes. jj|
Until this is done, though, I hav<®
my own standard. H
(C) IVJW by the Chicago Tribune
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