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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1993)
Small voice can play big role I remember when I was asked to write a column. I certainly didn ’t decide to do it for the money. Nor for the notoriety — good or bad, because if you toss your thoughts into the arena you’re sure to get both. I wrote because each time I scanned the pages of the Daily Nebraskan, I looked for a different perspective. A different voice. A voice I seldom found. So, with a bit of trepidation I’ll admit, I looked within myself for that missing voice. What would I say? How would I say it? I had no idea. But I did know I had something to say. Something different from what I read each day in the paper. Uneasy of what people may or may not have thought of my thoughts and my writing, 1 started lapping away at my first column. But why? What happened was that my fear of being silenced outweighed my fear of expressing myself. So I began to write of things I often ruminated about: education, death, apathy, discrimina tion, the weather, my family and most of all — myself. I live in a society whereeven though I am seen, to the majority culture I am practically non-existent. I don’t own any businesses. No land. No property. No other person. No clout. Yet, I do own a voice. A small one nonetheless, but still a voice. And if what I write about here each week or so goes unnoticed by most people on this campus, so what. I write anyway and shove my way into the public forum because I want those who assume I don’t exist to know that I am not only here, but I have something to say: I AM NOT WHO YOU ASS UME ME TO BE! Because I speak out from deep within myself about the inequities and injustices of this society, I am not I liv$ in a society whcte even though I am seen, to the majority culture I am practically non-existent. I don’t own any busi nesses. No land. No property. No other person. No clout. hateful, radical or bitter. Because I attend this university and my skin is black, I am not an athlete. Because I walk behind a white woman on a dimly lit street and she clutches her purse in terror, I am not a ihicf/mugger/rapisl/criminal. Because I stand in the lobby of a four-star hotel in shirt and lie, I am not a porter—as a while woman no doubt assumed once when she said to me, “Young man, my bags are in that red car there.” Because I speak in a vernacular full of rhythms and cultural meaning that docs not always mimic Standard English, I am still articulate. Merely assumptions. Too often and loo long, people of color have allowed others to speak for us and about us. To become theoreti cal experts on our plight and aspira tions. In effect, we’ve allowed our selves to be silenced. We all are constantly bombarded with messages from professors, poli ticians, pro-choicers, pro-lifers, envi ronmentalists, homosexuals, weed smokers, fundamentalist Christians, conservatives, liberals, non-smokers, etc... most of whom are white folks. Amid all this chatter, I often hear people complain about “the rag” and its homogenized contents. Most people of color are so disgusted with the paper they don’t even read it, but still , criticize the narrow perspective in its | pages. Instead, apply for a slot as acolum nist. Write for Diversions. Write let ters to the editor. Add your own per spective to the dialogue taking place around you and about you. As I said, this small column 1 write is no big deal in the scheme of things. But when I sit down to write and 1 think and feel deeply about what I write, I discover things about myself and people around me. What I write answers some of life’s elusive ques tions and that’s refreshing. Self-discovery is what I’ve been up to in these columns. So think about it. Before complaining about the lack of perspective in this newspaper, in discussions in classes or whoever, think deep and grab what it is inside that hurts or puzzles you, and speak out in whatever mode you choose — writing, music, art, etc. How you get it out is not so impor tant. What’s critical is that you don’t allow yourself to be silenced. If so, all the assumptions become us and we cease to ex i st as “indi v idual s” of color. Moss is a graduate student in anthropol ogy and • Daily Nebraskan columnist Kinsey report proven a sham Considering the slate of contem porary American politics, one might flirt with Plato’s sugges tion that artists be kept out of the Republic. Artists, Plato warned, were particularly dangerous to republics. Not because they questioned author ity — as simpleton artists might con gratulate themselves — but because they tended to lead the population down irrational paths. Maintaining the Republic required rational minds; artists conned people by lugging at their fickle hearts. But many hearts among America’s neo-left must have sunk this past month at some news that threatened to expose their con.. Sociologists began as early as the 1940s to inundate the United States with statistical “research" that chal lenged a number of assumptions basic to American culture at the time. For example, the data urged that Ameri cans were sexual hypocrites. Ameri cans considered marital fidelity to be a virtue, but poll-takers revealed that Americans had a very high incidence of adultery. Teen-agers — who were thought to be abstaining from sex until marriage —■ were in fact getting sexually active at earlier and earlier ages. In the most stunning claim, as early as 1948, the Kinsey report as serted that a full 10 percent of U.S. men were practicing homosexuals. The post-war left seized on these claims in order to press forward radi cal social change regarding sexuality. High adultery rates showed that mar riages were in shambles and required liberal divorce laws. Teen-age sexu ality was rampant, and thus they needed to be informed and protected. The high percentage of homosexuals proved their behavior was not abnor mal, but simply hidden. Building on the ‘reality’ that one in 10 men were gay, homosexual political organiza tions began to emerge, demanding 10 percent levels of political clout. * The argument of the new left was March for special attention in the political realm as they will, the gay community deserves as much political clout as, say, the Amish community. that the facts demanded shifts in atti tudes. Enlightened people would rec ognize the truth in the numbers and nod in approval at the policies these data implied. Those who questioned the sensibility of these policies were backward, uneducated Victorians; they hadn’t come to grips with con temporary, sexy, American life. Recent studies, however, have proven that these data were little more than a con. Common sensibilities about sexuality have proven correct over time. A full 45 taboo-overturn ing years after the Kinsey report’s release, it is exposed as a complete sham: Almost all of Kinsey’s central claims have been proven wildly wrong. Among the more interesting find ings of the Alan Guttmachcr Insti tutes survey on American sexuality is that teen-age white males lose their virginity, on the average, about the same time they become eligible to vote. Married men report that they have roughly one sexual partner. But of course most startling is the study’s correction on the numbers of homo sexuals. According to the Guttmacher Institute — the research arm of Planned Parenthood, mind you — a mere 1 out of 100 men is a practicing homosexual. Whatever the hype about everyone being surrounded by closet homosexuals, Planned Parenthood’s favored number-counters do not lie: 1 percent. March for special attention in the political realm as they will, the gay community deserves as much politi cal clout as, say, the Amish commu nity. In light of the empirical evidence that has surfaced only this week, ra tional minds can only wonder at the success of such bold sexual revolu tion — with its profound, well-de tailed social costs — built on such dubious claims. Bui remember Plato’s warning. Plato knew that hearts were much more vulnerable to con men — like the dubious sociology found in Kinsey —than minds. Thus, the risk in politi cal life: A cunning despot or class might co-opt the artists into its ruse and forge political support out of thin air. Artists—that is, anyone who con trols images, visual or otherwise — can play on common sympathies and viscera just enough to nurture people into following leaders or adopting policies they would otherwise shud der at. Rationality and reason need not inform such a leader — nor pose m uch threat to him. For where a man ’ s heart goes, his mind will soon follow. The success of the sexual con has proven Plato’s insight regarding the danger of image manipulators to de mocracy correct—if not necessarily his solution. Young is a first-year law student and a Daily Nebraskan columnist. I ggiS Sun., May 2 vs. Sat, May 8 vs. . §&«; Sun, May 9 vs. I . . • ..•:••• -■ • . V* ..'5 ; • Mon., May 10 vs. Northern Iowa, 4 ' y ’ ' ■ . . ** ' . Admission $2 - General Public Free r Students with LD. - -■ - — - Do you want to golf, but don't have any clubs? racque tennis badmii and much more! _ Hours: Monday-Friday 6:30am-11:00pm Saturday 9:00am-10:00pm Sunday 9:00am-11:00pm Equipment Rental & Check Out 472-4776 Room 34^J^j^Recreation Center