Page 1“» 1 • g • 1 NelSralskan |
4 Ml JL IIM JL CL A Thursday, February 8,1990
(Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Uncoln
Amy Edwards, Editor, 472-1766
Bob Nelson, Editorial Page Editor
Ryan Steeves, Managing Editor
Eric Pfanner, Associate News Editor
Lisa Donovan, Associate News Editor
Brandon Loomis, Wire Editor
Jana Pedersen, Night News Editor
Focus on DuBose
Give addicts support,.not condemnation
Stop it. Stop it, right now.
Don’t take the recent Doug DuBose revelations
and say, “I told you so. The football players are all
a bunch of pampered druggies.”
And don’t attack the ex-Comhusker as a disloyal
wretch who screwed himself up and is out to get misdi
rected revenge against the sacred Nebraska program.
DuBose is not an example of the unchecked evils of
college football, and he is not an example of a traitorous
trend to betray Dear Old Nebraska U. He came to Lin
coln, became involved with drugs and messed up his
career and his life.
That makes him representative of one group only:
Human beings. College students. Us.
Drugs pervade our culture. The University of Ne
braska-Lincoln has about 25,000 students. About 100 of
those students play varsity football for the Nebraska
Comhuskers each year, so a few hundred have worn the
Scarlet and Cream during the last decade. Figure it out.
Of course some footb5l players used drugs. This is not
I remarkable; DuBose’s story is only news because he used
spend a lot of time in Memorial Stadium.
The former Husker star’s decision to let us in on his
personal trauma gives us an example of human beings,
over-confident and imperfect, succumbing to drugs.
If we attack DuBose as a genetically deficient traitor.or
absolve him of all blame and focus instead on the system,
he should have kept his problems to himself. Both argu
ments arc too simple, ignoring the addict
The individual must stay the focus. DuBose is an
individual who needs help because he is a cocaine addict
We need to recognize that X number of All-Americans
will be messed up as long as we have drugs, and we need
to use DuBose’s revelations to help the other addicts we
don’t know about They need help, not because they arc
football players, but because they arc addicts.
If we offer compassion, not crucifixion, to DuBose and
other admitted abusers, maybe the star athletes across the
country who have been silent about their own drug prob
lems will say, “Coach, I need help.**'
Don’t draw sides and lose Doug DuBose in the constant
struggle for and against big-time football. Save your Vklue
judgments for the next story on greed and recruiting
violations.
Support DuBose, support the next great talent who
reveals his personal difficulties, and join the side that is
drawn against drug abuse. That side will be fighting long
after the DuBose headlines are gone.
' - Paul Domckr
for the Daily Nebraskan
opiafgs
Women just as capable of fighting
To those who believe that women
should be “banned” from combat
because they arc not as capable or as
strong as men, please remember:
Trieu Au, a 23-year-old Vietnam
ese woman who led a thousand men
into battle against China in 248 A.D.
after the collapse of the Han dynasty.
Ilagaki, a woman of 13th century
Japan who led 3,000 warriors of the
Taira clan against 10,000 warriors of
the Hojo clan.
Tomoc Gozen, another Japanese
woman of the same era, was so skilled
a warrior she was reputed to be a
match for a hundred opponents.
Joan of Arc, who was counseled
by voices to raise the siege of Orleans
and with a small army forced the
English to withdraw and changed the
trend of the war. She was brutally
murdered by French ecclesiastics at
age 19.
Ncdc/.hda Durova, who served
nearly 10 years in the Russian light
cavalry during the Napoleonic wars.
She was buried with full military
honors.
Therese Figucur, who served and
fought in the cavalry during the Na
poleonic era on the side of France.
Maria Bochkorcva, who fought for
two years as a common soldier in
World War I, was commissioned af
ter the March 1917 revolution and
formed a troop of women called the
“Death Battalion.”
Fa Mu Lan, a young woman who
look her father’s place in battle in
sixth century China. Her heroism is
still retold in legends today.
Etc., etc., etc., shall I go on? We,
as women, always have been in combat
situations. We have displayed cour
age, skill, intelligence and convic
tion. To believe dial we do not pos
sess these qualities or that men pos
sess more is lying to oneself. Quali
fied women deserve the right to choose
their own destiny. If that destiny in
cludes fighting for this country’s
business interests in foreign lands, so
be it.
Jayne Stratton
graduate student
food science and technology
1^
DO VOU. CORPORATION TAKE THIS
ENVIRONMENT, TO BE LAWFOLlV
WED...TO EXPLO\T... AH...X
MEAN ...TO LCNE AND CHERISH
^HVIROn MEWt
A
Hypocrites fill Pro-Life ranks
Fanatics claim they act out of love, but movement stirs up hate
An ugly scene.
Fanatics on the loose in the
streets carrying sticks, sing
ing songs and denouncing “murder
ers” besiege the capital.
It sounds like a mob scene from a
medieval fairy talc. Actually, it was
real life in downtown Lincoln as the
anti-abortion clan mobilized its forces.
People showed their solidarity by
hoisting fetus posters. It makes me
think of Vlad Temps the Impalcr,
which was the point, of course. It was
a strange celebration of mangled flesh
from dedicated right-to-Iifcrs.
But just how ugly was it?
Were there tens of thousands of
fetus saviors crawling through the
city like pestilential locusts?
Were there a couple giant hand
fuls of rabble rousers who sounded
like 15 or so thousand?
The anti -abortion forces c lai med a
15,000-person following on the 27th
for their “Walk for Life.”
Lincoln and Omaha news accounts
gave other figures as low as 2,000.
Quite a discrepancy, that one.
There arc a few big, nasty prob
lems with the anti-abortion holy war.'
The problems come from the pitiful
attitudes and actions of anti-abortion
proponents. Fudging figures is a
symptom of one of those problems.
Where were those 12,000-odd
people the anti-abortion crusaders fell
were behind them? They weren’t there.
And they not only were absent at the
march but also in the general popu
lace.
“Stand up and be counted” was
the anti-abortion cry. What could the
crusaders do but sec a swarm of sup
porters around them frenzied with
self-righteousness as they were? Those
oh-so-good people looked around them
and every friendly face counted as
four, a ghost army of supporters.
It must be very difficult to stand
alone against many, especially when
you claim right is on your side. It also
must be very difficult not to feel silly
when you throw a party, buy a lot of
balloons, party hats and posters to
spice things up, then have to dance
alone to your own tune.
Battistoni
The anti-abortion folks certainly
must know that feeling. They have
been braying for years, braying that
popular support is theirs, braying that
their opponents arc the minority.
They have raised a ruckus so loud
and for so long that some people have
been duped into believing that anti-,
abortion advocates wait behind every
door.
This deception, a result of false
claims like that of the huge Walk
turnout, has shaken a few politicians
and gained anti-abortion proponents
minor victories in their cause.
Another irksome aspect of the anti
abortion war is its lack of productive
activity in supporting life after birth.
It must be far more exciting to shout
foul epithets at pregnant women than
give assistance to welfare programs.
Otherwise a Walk for Welfare would
be planned to coincide with social
legislation.
It is contradictory that people who
possess self-proclaimed boundless love
would demand a birth, while aban
doning the unwanted child later to the
chances of life without sufficient
support.
Many an unwanted child is des
tined to need community assistance.
Where arc the loving crusaders when
assistance is before the Legislature?
They must be having trouble afford
ing their love of humanity.
How many of them, thinking deep
in their hearts that they arc saving
lives by fighting abortion, adopt
unwanted infants?
Or even perform a bit of charily
work to help a pregnant teenager who
has been kicked out of her parents’
home?
The most appalling aspect of the
holy war is its lawlessness, its terror
ism and its fundamental lack of feel
ing for women in times of distress.
In the past, clinics have been
bombed or burned to prevent women
from terminating an unwanted preg
nancy.
Today, anti-abortion forces circle
women who try to enter abortion clin
ics. The loving crusaders call them
“whores” and “murderers.” Their if
goal is not only to degrade one person ■
by creating a public spectacle, but to ■
hold all others in fear. *
Such actions make me question®
the “voices of reason” within the®
movement itself when leaders are®
willing to ignore their criminal sup- ®
porters' offenses, ®
These terrorist tactics arc directly®
opposed to our system of government*
which allows for the peaceful settle-®
merit ol disputes and establishment of
laws. H
Through terror and lies, one scg-Bj§
ment of tne population is attempting®
to steal the rights of the rest of us to®
decide the abortion issue. pi
An end to abortion would be aB
wonderful event R
An end to unwanted pregnancies*
would be even better. §f
But the hate and fanaticism of anti-1
abortion proponents do nothing to®
solve the problems of abortion. Rather,*
they whip up more hale and violence ■
and prolong the national suffering. ]
Battistoni Is a senior F.ngllsh major and a ■
Daily \ebraskan columnist.
let! CfanrYi
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes
brief letters to the editor from all
readers and interested others.
Letters will be selected for publi
cation on the basis of clarity, original
ity. timeliness and space available.
The Daily Nebraskan retains the right
to edit all material submitted.
Readers also arc welcome to sub
mil material as guest opinions.
Whether material should run as a let
ter or guest opinion, or not to run, is
left to the editor’s discretion.
Letters and guest opinions sent to
the newspaper become the property
ol the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be
returned. Letters should be typewrit
ten.
Anonymous submissions will not*
be considered for publication. Letters*
should include the author s name^*
year in schooi, major and group an
alion, if any. Requests to withhokM
names will not be granted. I
Submit material to the Daily Ne«|
braskan, 34 Nebraska Union. 14(X>
St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.