Readers address abortion, meat, homophobia
Cultural diversity
not necessarily a
goal, student urges
In justifying the administration’s
large-scale recruiting efforts of mi
nority students Vice Chancellor for
Student Affairs James Griescn states
(DN, Oct. 23), “The majority stu
dents, just like the minority students,
need to learn to work in a multi
cultural world.”
This is a tired, old and meaning
less cliche. The fact is the world never
has been, and probably, the best ef
forts of the United Nations to the
contrary notwithstanding, never will
be, unicullural. The real question then
is are individual nations in general
becoming more multicultural or more
culturally rooted and homogeneous.
And the most cursory review of po
litical events over the past two years
has to show the world trend is toward
the latter. Large multi-cultural coun
tries like the Soviet Union are break
ing up and all the Nobel Peace prizes
and billion-dollar loans from the
capitalist nations cannot stem the shift
punvi a W ay IHJIII W. U.j.
power is also declining and even
Canada is threatening to crack up
along cultural fault lines. Where does
the vice chancellor sec the world
becoming more multicultural? Is it in
the economic success stories of Ger
many and Japan? But these arc among
the most notoriously ethnocentric
nations in the world.
This country of course historically
always has bencfiltcd from its cul
tural diversity but docs this mean we
have to go on a blind course of trying
to achieve ever more and more of it?
Chas Baylor
junior
arts and sciences
Student redefines
coming out stance,
denies homophobia
OK, one last time. It seems as if
people arc reading more into my let
ter (letter to the editor, DN, Oct. 12)
than was there, and then they go play
armchair psychologist. They try to
delve into my mind and figure me
out. What was this prognosis? Ac
cording to Mr. Keith Richter (letter to
the editor, DN, Oct. 24), I’m homo
phobic. Gee, isn’t that just the great
argument cndcr.
When I wrote my letter I wasn't
quesuonmg Nauonal Coming Out Day.
1 was simply putting into question the
act of support, “wear blue jeans."
That's like saying 'if you support
NCOD, wake up in the morning,” or
' 11 you support NCOD, dri vc your car
louay. iou can i use everyuay ue
currcnccs for signs of support, for it
proves nothing.
Now, to address the issue of Mr.
Richter’s name- calling. I feel the
term “homophobic" is being thrown
around too much. It seems as if the
situation revolves around the ques
tion: Do you support gays and lesbi
ans? If you don’t, you’re homopho
bic. Docs that mean if I don’t like
squash, I’m squashiphobic? Instead
ask the question: Do you understand
or accept that gays and lesbians arc a
part of our society? Non-support
doesn’t mean lack of understanding
or acceptance. Is my point of view not
making sense?
Dave Hint/,
senior
meteorology
UNL Police should
focus on repairs,
gas conservation
The 2 percent hd, abortion, the
ejection. Gosh, it seems that only one
subject has been left out of the Daily
Nebraskan letters to the editor section
recently — parking. Unfortunately, I
have a need to discuss the dreaded
“P” word. It appears that the U.S.
Postal Service isn’t working, or maybe
the parking police just don’t care about
student opinions. A few weeks ago I
wrote the director of the parking po
lice a letter which, among other things,
asked him two questions. First, in one
of the area three lots (near Harpcr
Schramm-Smith residence halls), there
is a rather large pothole. Campus
Recreation is thinking about using
this as a new mud volleyball pit, in
fact.
My second question to the director
dealt with the parking police them
selves. In this age of concern over the
environment and the SI.37 price lag
on a gallon of gas, why do the hard
working parking enforcement employ
ees get to drive around in nice cars? If
the university wants to save a few
dollars, make the parking police ride
bikes or walk.
Parking fees keep going up every
year, and maybe I’m crazy, but I
would prefer to have our parking
facilities kept in repair rather than
buying a new stereo for my favorite
needy parking police enforcement
officer’s car.
R. Dennis Rieke Jr.
junior
arcnneciure
Right to choose
belongs to women,
not bureaucrats
Andrew Meyer, intellectual dilet
tante extraordinaire, once again re
veals that he has a mind like a steel
colander. Mr. Meyer, your labyrin
thine logic concerning potential women
in the womb (letter to the editor, DN,
Oct. 30) only serves to trivialize an
important issue that already has been
hijacked by demagoguery and ex
ploited by people who needn’t fear
any responsibility for its outcome.
Abortion may very well be mor
ally wrong. (Then again, maybe not.
Morality is relative, something is moral
or immoral only if enough of us say
so.) However, whatever your beliefs
about abortion happen to be, they are
only one part of your argument. My
problem with your position is that
you wish to use the legal system to
enforce your beliefs. By enacting anti
abortion legislation, you do not elimi
nate choice, you are only abdicating
your right to choose (at the moment,
legally, it is a right) to someone else.
In fact, you are handing over that
right to a small group of opportunists
whose interest lies not in what is
morally right or wrong, but in that
which will further their political ca
Personally, I feel capable of polic
ing myself morally; I don’t need the
government to do it for me any more
than they already do. (And, since you
did ask, yes, we do have state-sanc
tioned murder of innocent human
beings. It’s called war. Our elected
officials have already managed to
dispatch at least a dozen innocent
people in the gull.)
As for your advocacy of absti
nence, that’s dandy. Please control
your junior-high logic for one mo
ment to look at another point of view.
Suppose 1 look your advice and went
home this afternoon and told my
husband that our sex life has gone the
way of the buffalo, because I don’t
desire to procreate at this particular
time. Can you say divorce, Mr. Meyer?
Can you say infidelity? (My guy isn’t
such a creep, but some arc.)
You tell me — w hat court in this
good old United States of America
would protect a woman’s emotional
and economic investment in her
marriage in a case like this? (Not to
mention her physical health!) You
tell me, please, why should she be
forced to defend herself in the first
place? You contend that control and
sell-restraint should be exercised before
exposing one’s body to pregnancy,
and you wish to impose this control
through legislation. How will sell*
restraint for men be legally enforced?
The consequences of an unwanted
pregnancy are ultimately borne by
the woman alone, and we do have a
light to decide.
Lauri Morris
junior
art
Let women retain
the few choices
they are allowed
We have been reading letters writ
ten by men about abortion. We find
this rather ridiculous, as the people
that his issue does affect, women,
have not had the same equal voice.
We would like to speak up as
members of that group. Many times,
a woman docs not have the choice of
whether to have sex or not. That choice
is unfairly taken from her. Isn’t she
allowed to retain the one choice she
still does have?
Our country is supposed to be
founded on the separation of church
and slate. Bringing God and Christi
anity into the legal dispute makes a
mockery of that principle, and is in
sulting to people with other beliefs.
The term pro-choice means ex
acuy whai u implies, the right ol
women to control their own bodies.
Each person has the right to make
their own decisions, and no one has
the right to force their own views
upon another. Many of those sup
posed facts about abortion arc actu
ally opinions.
For 200 years, our country has
been run by white males, who have
made laws affecting other groups of
people, of which they neither con
sulted nor seemed to care about. It is
lime for that to end, and for those
groups to make their own decisions.
Finally, we have yet one thing to
say. In the infamous words ot Dennis
Miller, “one penis, no vote.”
Beth Matschullai
freshman
international affairs
Misty Dishman
freshman
management
Tami Smith
freshman
fashion merchandising
Professor poses
abortion question
to letter-writer
“Apart from abortion,” asks An
drew Meyer (letter to the editor, DN,
Oct. 30), “where else may a woman .
. . have the legal right to kill an
innocent, defenseless human being?”
Let me propose an alternative
question for Mr. Meyer to consider:
Apart from the compulsory continu
ation of a pregnancy, where else may
a human being have the legal right to
use the various organs of another
person’s body against her will, thus
subjecting her to an extended period
of physical dysfunction, psychologi
-cal trauma and medical risk?
David Moshman
professor
educational psychology
Vegetarians: Leave
more meat for happy
student carnivore
Every day now, for the past couple
of weeks, 1 have been reading letters
from all of these people who arc never
going to cat meat because it is mor
ally, ethically, spiritually, and for
whatever other reasons, wrong. My
only response to these people is “Gotxl,
more meat for me!"
Hans Erickson
freshman
advertising
Raising meat is not
ethically, morally
correct for humans
This letter is in response to Cathy
Fries’ letter on veal production. 1 agree
that animals arc obviously less intel
ligent than man. Does this give us the
right to take them from their mothers
right after birth, ot to intentionally
feed them an inadequate diet? Docs
this give us the right to make them
stand for weeks on end in a pen too
small to move around in?
I
I am not discriminating against the
farmer when I say this is a cruel
practice. I am stating a fact.
Why does intelligence make us
superior? So far intelligence has
managed to damage the ozone layer,
wipe out thousands of species, de
stroy the majority of the rainforests,
and raise the carbon dioxide levels in
the atmosphere, causing global warm
ing. The list goes on.
Cathyclaimsthatanimalscanonly
feel physical pain or warmth. I see no
evidence indicating that animals can’t
feel a lot of the same feelings man
does. Psychological studies on ani
mals have shown that social depriva
tion hasavery advcrsecffeclonthem.
Ms. Fries says Ms. Noes’ com
ment, raising grain “takes less work
and miscry’isabsurd. Shealsoelaims
“Farmers don’t know' what a summer
vacation is because they spend 18
hours a day irrigating their grain.”
The sad part about the farmer using
all that water and time is the 80 per
cent of all agricultural water used in
this country is used for livestock
production. Of all the crops in this
country, 66 percent arc fed to live
stock. Ninety percent of all agricul
iiiicli lciuu i> uivuuu iu ^iain iui u>
livestock that its soil resources are
being rapidly depleted. This is a very
sad waste considering that very little
of the plant protein consumed is con
verted to animal protein.
Is it moral that we continue to use
such a large portion of our land and
water resources on such an ineffi
cient, luxurious food source when
thousands starve lodcalh daily on this
planet? Millions of people on this
planet live on healthy vegetarian diets,
despite the carnivorous teeth in their
mouths.
Why should I consume meat know
ing about its adverse effects on the
environment, its harmful effects on
my body, and the cruelty the animal
experiences? Because it tastes good?
Paul Kocstcr
sophomore
natural resources
-L
The Computing Resource Center is offering free micro
computers seminars to UNI. students. The seminars will
feature an introduction to Microsoft Word on the Macintosh
and WordPerfect on the IBM.
No reservations
Macintosh seminars will lx? held in the Andrews micro
computer lab.
Microsoft Word on the Macintosh
Tuesday , November 6 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Wed., November 7 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
IBM seminars will be held in the Sandoz microcom
puter lab.
WordPerfect on the IBM
Wed., November 7 8:00 - 9:00 a.m.
Wed., November 7 7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
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