Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1991)
Opinion -LETTERS^ EDITOR Satanism no more immoral than regular Christianity I would like to respond to the comments made by Jon Rittenhouse, lecturer on Satanism for Campus Crusade for Christ (“Lecturer says Satanism rising,” DN, Oct 31). Rittenhouse stated that the rise in Satanism is because of a decline in morals in America. Satanism is nei ther immoral nor illicit, but is given a bad name because some of the things associated with it are against many people’s morals. These immoral acts take place after brainwashing an indi vidual, much like is done with Chris tianity and people losing vast sums of money because they think they will be better people and have a clearer conscience if they donate money to “God.” Satanism is simply the dark side of ■w 1 Christianity. If a person committed several murders after reading ihc Bible and related them to Christianity in some way, is that any reason to out law the Bible and Christianity? I am not a Satanist because I find that it is just as lost a cause as Christianity or any other major religion. Rittcnhouse said that the only way to cure Satan ism was to find God. Using this logic, could one also say that the only way to cure Christianity is through Satan? If Rittcnhouse was not so Bible-bi ased, I might to start to consider some of his ideas. Scott Steffens freshman undeclared -LETTER POLICY 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, origi nality, timeliness and space avail able. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit all material submit ted. Readers also are welcome to sub mit 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 of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be considered for publication. Let ters should include the author’s name, year in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Requests tc withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to the Daily Ne braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 H St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. ’— -_ PAUL DOMEIER TV executives abusing power i For facts, watch CNN and C SPAN. For opinion with facts, watch “The McLaughlin Group” and “Crossfire.” For opinion without fact, watch “Designing Women” and MTV. That’s probably a little harsh. Actually, they might have one fact for every two or three opinions. Television is one of my favorite vices, but I may have to find a new vice. I used to be able to turn on my set, flick around to a sitcom or a video and escape harmlessly for a few minutes. Not any longer. I can never tell now when I’ll be slipped a little brain washing from a “non-political” source. MTV “news” has always been a farce. Many issues irrelevant to Music Television, such as the homeless and voter registration, arc included and treated with much bias. When abortion issues are couched in statements such as, “Thirty anti abortion fanatics were refuted by 3,000 people supporting a woman’s inal ienable right to choose,” my televi sion takes such a large tilt I’m afraid it will fall off the stand. Recently, MTV sprang the Save The Woods contest. The contest is supposed to help Don Henley rescue Walden Woods from accursed devel opers. The area is, as Henley has been saying for months, “the cradle of the American environmental movement” because Henry David Thorcau wrote his famous book there. We are left with the obvious assumption that if tKru'n /4rvt»tl rvtvkn' mit /4rviim n »\/.rv v»v » ii V/^V« J VUI UV ttii u IVTf U V.A. .1, environmentalism will die. Makes sense to me. Henley and numerous other musi cians were outraged when those crazy capitalists first bought the area. So what did these great environ mentalists do? They held a big, loud, well-lit, energy-devouring benefit concert, with fans driving their oil guzzling cars from miles around to attend. MTV dutifully reported this cru sade. Then came related commer cials. Now the contest. If it means so much to Henley, he can quit meddling with other people’s perfectly legal business, stop buying mansions that some other devil-oper built and buy Walden Woods. Walden Woods is nowhere near as important an environmental issue as conserving wetlands or reducing oil consumption, but we don’t have Save The Swamps or Kill The Corvette Walden Woods is nowhere wear as important an envi ronmental issue as conserving wetlands at reducing oil con sumption. but we don’t lum. Save The Swamps or Kill The Corvette contests. contests. No pinhead stupid enough to enter Save The Woods could grasp actual concepts. One pointless, irra tional cause works better. And then Monday night, “Design ing Women.” The show has been an occasional political vehicle for producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason since its in rpnlirvn Usually these episodes are included with some semblance of a debate of ideas. Julia Sugarbaker always closes with an impassioned, eloquent and unchallenged statement summing up Bloodworth-Thomason’s views, but until then, the discussion is pretty even. Fairness was absent Monday night. The plot was simple: Characters watch Clarence Tho mas-Anita Hill hearings. Throw in a few jokes to keep up the comedy facade. Side heavily with Bloodworth Thomason’s pro-Hill, anti-Thomas opinions at the end. After Dan Quayle announces that Thomas has been confirmed, the characters stand around in stunned silence. About half the real world would have applauded. I don’t think Blood worth-Thomason likes that half, so it wasn’t included. The closing moments included shots of senators criticizing Hill. At the end, frozen poignantly on screen was the holy face of the shunned St. Hill. Ho-ho. Ha-ha. That’s sooooo funny. What a sitcom. I’m glad I watched this instead of something enjoyable, i I’ve seen the definitive judgment on the hearings. I can feel free to align my views with Bloodworth-Thoma son’s correct views. What makes MTV honchos and Bloodworth-Thomason think they are best serving their audiences with these slants? Only rampant egotism could make them be so sly and condescend ing. We’ve been suckercd. MTV ex ecutives know they have millions of viewers ages 15 to 25 waiting to see Nirvana. Bloodworth-Thomason’s comedies have millions of viewers waiting to laugh. From this, they think they have the right to decide policy for the country, including policy under the guise of entertainment or news or a contest. Not quite. Debate and commentary arc ac ceptable. “All in the Family” made this famous. That was the point of the show. Norman Lear had the decency to deal with attitudes and stereotypes, not real-life judicial hearings and environmental specifics. Each week, the viewer knew exactly what to expect. The new vein of policy-driven television doesn’t work this way. It • •__ *,n/\mt tries 10 trap peopic uuu a » without offering enough information or alternate arguments. This is inexcusable. Using Wilhc Horton as a campaign crutch in 1988 may have been cheap, but at least Horton was never a guest star on “Matlock.” t .. A better technique has been dis covered: use famous names to get a point across; just don’t tell anyone what you’re doing. Liberal or conservative, these tai tics are in poor taste and a misuse o power. Even if these tactics happen to nit a favorable nerve for some, Uicy don’t belong on television. The ultimate brain-dead entertain ment network squeezes environmental ideology between Naughty By n lure and Guns ‘N Roses. A grea comedy temporarily is replaced bv 30-minute political commercial. Now I know what to expect, l ne next time I turn on my set, I won so trusting. Domeier is a senior newvedltorial nalism major, the Daily Nebrarimiu'«»P. chief and a columnist.
