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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1991)
ANDY FREDERICK I Despite pain, we know nothing I £ £ ticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” Funny, isn’t it? It’s funny because anyone who has watched any part of the Clarence Thomas hearings or has read of them in the newspaper or has heard of them from others knows that it just isn’t true. Thomas has been hurt by the alle gations that he sexually harassed Anita Hill. Hill has been hurt by the opinion of some that everything she has been saying about Thomas is a lie. The men on the Senate Judiciary Committee have been hurt by the accusations of many people that they arc insensitive to the hurt of victims of sexual harassment. The press has been hurt by the charge that it has acted appallingly by making leaked information public. Thomas’ confirmation hearings have caused a great deal of hurt to a great number of people in the past week. But has it been worth it? What do we now know that we didn’t be fore? We know that a person cannot prove that he didn’t say what he’s accused of saying 10 years ago. We know that another person cannot prove that he did say what he’s accused of saying 10 years ago. We know that all Americans are concerned about sexual harassment. We know that no one knows exactly what sexual harassment is. We know that senators have a hard time agreeing on how to treat evi dence in such a unique and difficult situation as this. We know that Tho mas will continue to deny the allega tions of sexual harassment and that Hill will continue to insist that they, arc true, regardless of which evidence is admitted and which isn’t. We know that Hill has a great number of friends who support her and believe she is telling the truth. We know that Thomas has a great ■ ■■■■■ ■■ I No one knows who is telling the truth and who. isnlL number of friends who support him and believe he is telling the truth. We know nothing. No one knows who is telling the truth and who isn’t. No one knows whether Thomas likes pornographic movies or whether Hill fantasizes about relationships with men or whether Thomas asked Hill out for a date. We are no closer to the answer than we were before. But the ordeal hasn’t been a com plete loss. Some lessons have been learned along the way. Unfortunately, not all have been positive. We have learned that the days of the Red Scare are not over. Even today, a person can avoid the crimi nal justice system and, by making unsupported allegations in front of the entire country, absolutely demol ish another person’s reputation. During the Red Scare, such char acter bashing was justified with communism. Today it is justified with sexual harassment. But what is sexual harassment? In the case of Thomas, it is not demands for sex, it is not improper physical contact, it is not indecent exposure, it is not threats to a woman’s job security for refusing to satisfy sexual demands. It is alleged to be crude speech, 10 years ago, before ■ the 1986 Supreme Court ruling that | sexual harassment was in violation of ■ the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Is it necessary to destroy a man for | doing something improper even though § there is no evidence to indicate that * he continues such behavior to this | day? I In fact, there is much testimony to * the contrary, that he absolutely ab- | hors sexual harassment. If Thomas ■ was once a man of low morality, all j evidence indicates that he has changed. | We also have learned that much ■ needs to be done to refine the defini- J tion of and to increase the under- f standing of sexual harassment. ■ Victims of sexual harassment are * forced to choose between career and | conscience. Often a person must go r through a lot of pain to end the illegal •> behavior of another, but such is the ' price of justice. Both men and women must give * priority to having respect for others. When a person’s words or actions i. bother another person, he or she should ! care enough about the other person’s feelings to change the bothersome behavior. And finally, we have learned that most Americans only care about the affairs of their government when scandal is involved. Does anyone know or care about * what went on during Thomas’ confir mation hearings before the allega tions of sexual harassment were made public? Did anyone rush home to their television sets to find out how Thomas had answered questions about abortion? It’s just a shame that neither the committee, Thomas nor Hill, all of whom are indirectly responsible for the events of the past week, have gained anything despite all of the pain they have been put through. Frederick is a senior news-editorial jour nalism major and a Daily Nebraskan colum nist and photographer. JAMES ZANK Wild remnants need protection Only to the white man was na ture a wilderness and only to him was the land infested with wild animals and savage people. To us it was tame. Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery. — Luther Standing Bear of the Oglala Sioux Because I was bom and raised in Lincoln, my experiences in the wil derness have been few but varied. The first time I experienced the wilderness was during my family’s journey to Yellowstone National Park. Other than the tourist trap of Old Faithful, the most memorable por tions of this trip were terrible meals at the Yellowstone Hotel restaurant, shoddy beds in a cramped cabin and waking up briclly to hear a man scream ing for his friend in the middle of the night. Somewhere along the way I picked up the idea that his cries were bear related. That fascinated me, far more than souvenir shops and hikes on trails by hot springs. My next intense wilderness expe rience came two years ago when I went tree-planting with friends at Fort Robinson Slate Park over Easter weekend. I found this far closer to being wild than the manicured tourist areas of Yellowstone. Our tree-planting was done in Smiley Canyon, which a couple of years prior had been burned by forest fire. People think forest fires arc inher ently bad. When people are raised with the propaganda of Smokcy the Bear and the intellectual insight into forest fire provided by the film “Bambi," it is easy to sec why. Actually, fire can be considered part of a forest’s ongoing natural cycle. It rids the forest of undergrowth and keeps a check on overpopulation by single species. It provides the forest a chance for renewal. That was part of the message that Smiley Canyon provided. Among the black charred tree trunks, toppled over and dying, birds hunted for food, and As many treaties as were broken b\ the invaders o f North America, it comes as little surprise that the Forest Service sells ranchers the ODDortUz nitv to yraze their cattle on protected lands* the forest floor was beginning to come to life as a new green carpet spread from the decaying trees. Regardless of whether we planted trees, the forest would live. That was indisputable. We were helping to speed the process, trying to restore some of what was lost. Still, we were able to recognize that this process would not be accom plished solely by a bunch of college kids on a weekend expedition. That is a lesson that many still need to learn. Even as I write this, logging roads arc being made to bet ter serve timber companies’ lust for raw materials in the Nebraska pine ridge. The Forest Service aids in the road construction, thus helping the timber companies in this process. The trees of the state’s forest are, or should be, considered the property of the stale. The maintenance of these areas is provided with our tax dollars. The Forest Service aids the timber companies in harvesting trees from our forest. What or whom docs the Forest Service serve? It docs an incredible disservice to the forest, opening it to rape by the limber industry. It doesn’t seem to be doing too great a job for the taxpay ers, unless selling off the forest is to be considered good, management. The forests are there for another purpose as well. They provide refuge for animals that do not survive in areas encroached upon by humanity. The forests that remain in Amer ica are survivors of generations of man’s ignorance and indifference. Wild places have suffered by the hands of man since the Columbus ended his botched voyage to the Far East. As the Europeans advanced in the New World, they encountered many “wild” creatures. They treated them in much same way that the indige nous people were treated. If not slain outright by the white Europeans, many members of the Native American tribes were put on reservations. There is littlediffcrcncc between a refuge and a reservation when your way of life is made impos sible by foreign invasions. As many treaties as were broken by the invaders of North America, it comes as little surprise that the Forest Service sells ranchers the opportunity to graze their cattle on protected lands. Much of the deforestation done to the North American Continent in the past 500 years was done to make room for cattle grazing. Many spe cies, such as the grizzly and the coy ote, have been hunted nearly to ex tinction by ranchers trying to protect their cattle. This is, of course, not an unusual situation in the American way of life. Our Forest Service gives big tim ber corporations permission and help in ravaging the forests of the North west states. Americans, humans in general, need to keep some of their wilderness, if only to remind them of what the world was like before they wrecked it. '/junk Is a junior art and Knglish major and a Daily Nebraskan columnist. j -JMiam'CL MITSUBISHI SERVICE TEAM | | Courtesy vehicle to take you to and from your destination | il !■ Includes up to 5 qts. of oil, oil filter, gt* g^ mm> chassis lube and topping off all fluids. Zp I U zJ J Good on all makes & models, import & ■ (Reg. $23.60) I domestic, light trucks & vans. Expires 11/15/91 FAST & EFFICIENT SERVICE-WHILE YOU WAIT! ■ —— —i .Mm Mm mm mm ^ | • Drain old anti-freeze, completely flush system and RFCM II ARI Y $51 75 3 refill with up to two gallons of new anti-freeze • mtua/ v ’ ^ Pressure test system for leaks • Check all belts, hoses INCJW UINLY and clamps • Check heater/defroster operation. g\ j—> Good on all makes & models, import & ^ domestic, light trucks & vans. 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