Opinion
Nebraskan
Thursday, Octobar 21,1993
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jeremy Fitzpatrick . . .
Kcthy Steinauer.
Wendy Mott.
Todd Cooper.
Chris Hopfensperger.
Kim Spurlock.
Kiley Timperley.
I hi mm vl
. Editor, 472-1766
Opinion Page Editor
.., Managing Editor
...... Sports Editor
,. . .Copy Desk Chief
.Sower Editor
Senior Photographer
In view
U.S. needs more visible role in Russia
The United States was right to stand behind the democratic
government of Boris Yeltsin during the recent clash be
tween Yeltsin and hard-line protestors in Russia. But now
the United States needs to push Yeltsin to not forget his commit
ment to democracy.
Nicholas Daniloff, a former Moscow correspondent for United
Press International, spoke at the Lied Center for Performing Arts
Wednesday. Daniloff covered the conflict in Moscow, including
the assault on the Russian White House to force opposition
lawmakers to surrender.
Daniloff said the United States needed to be a more visible
force in the aftermath of the conflict.
“Russia needs to be gently nudged, gently pushed into democ
racy,” he said. “Because, as we’ve seen, they can backslide
easily.”
Yeltsin has been a critical ally in the new friendship between
the United States and Russia. That friendship has allowed the
United States to turn its focus inward to domestic challenges.
But the friendship has been based on Yeltsin’s decision to
embrace democracy. President Clinton was right to support
Yeltsin during the recent strife in Moscow. But now Clinton
needs to push him to return Russia to an open and democratic
government.
Wrong channel
TV violence highlights real-life problems
■
Attorney General Janet Reno told senators Wednesday she
opposed immediate legislation to curb violence on televi
sion. The Associated Press reported that Reno said she
instead favored action by the television industry to develop shows
that repudiated violence.
Reno said entertainment officials had told her they would not
argue any more about whether television caused violence in
society. She said the officials promised to change programming.
But if they don’t act, the government will have to, Reno told
the Senate Commerce Committee.
Several anti-TV violence bills are being considered by the
committee. They propose restrictions on the time violent pro
gramming can be aired and warning labels on violent shows.
The United States has become a violent society, and that reality
is reflected in television programming. Undoubtedly, violent
television has some impact on viewers.
But the answer to the problem of violence in the United States
is not to remove it from television and hope it will go away.
While TV violence must be reduced, real violence must be
reduced as well. And to do that, the United States will have to
address real social issues much more complex than television.
If Congress is truly interested in solving the problem of vio
lence in the United States, it will consider legislation to address
the economic problems that arc a breeding ground for violence
and crime. Perhaps if the United States was a less violent society,
its television would be less violent as well.
I M MHO \l IN >1 l< \
Staff editorials represent the ofTiciml policy of the Fall 1993 Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by
the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the
university, its employees, the students or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent
the opinion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan.. They establish the UNL
Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper According to policy set by
the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of
its students.
1,1 I 11 K l‘OM< \
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‘Gay rights’
I think, as far as the term ‘gay
rights’ is concerned, Mr. Bcinckc
should be sick of hearing it (DN, Oct.
18). This is because we are talking
about not specifically gay rights but
human rights. Anyone who loses his
job because of what he does in his
personal life should be no concern to
an employer, so long as it does not
keep him from performing his con
tractual duties as an employee.
People who can’t get this through
their thick skulls have not truly been
discriminated against in their place of
work because of race, creed, sex or
sexual orientation. I challenge any
white heterosexual male to come for
ward and say he lost his job for being
masculine.
I not only applaud Sean Bolte for
fighting back, on behalf of himself
and the gay community, but for all of
us who may have been turned away
from work for unfair reasons. For that,
Mr. Beineke, I think he is twice the
man you will ever be.
Pamela J. Hagman
freshman
fine arts
Stickers
Thank you, Mark Baldridge (DN,
Oct. 20) for bringing some sense to
this ongoing discussion of the pink
triangles. But you have failed to see
the underlying idiocy to all of this.
Why hasn’t the Office of Affirma
tive Action distributed “safe place”
stickers to “care” more for our other
minorities on campus — or others
who may feel discriminated against?
Perhaps we could have pink X’s
for our African-American students,
pink wheelchairs for our handicapped
students and pink feathers for those of
Native American descent.
If the Office of Affirmative Action
is serious about “caring,” it shouldn’t
put the interests of one group over and
above others.
Mark Voss
junior
business administration
Green space
Chancel lor Spanier states (DN, Oct.
18) the $198,000 budgeted for the
North Plaza Park would come from
funds left over from last year’s bud
get. He alleged, “It will not take away
from any other program.” If this mon
ey wasn’t to be spend on the green
space, what would it be spent on?
Does money that remains unspent from
last year’s budget simply disappear?
Of course it is being taken away from
other programs. There are numbers of
programs that could use an extra few
thousand dollars, not to mention pro
grams that have been slashed for bud
getary reasons.
Spanier also erroneously states that
it would not displace student parking
“whatsoever." I do seem to remember
parking in that very lot more than a
few times after 4 p.m. I believe that is
why 1 bought a night permit. Despite
my best efforts, I am still a student
here and I suspect that I’m not the only
student who uses that lot at night.
Spanier conveniently fails to ad
dress the fact that there are a number
of faculty and staff who have pur
chased permits for that lot through
August 1994.1 can only assume that
since construction commences in
April, there is a plan to reimburse
those people who will not be allowed
access to central parking for which
they paid hundreds of dollars. .
Michael Bergstrom
junior
music theater
Brian Shetttto/DN
Assault
After reading the article about a
number of African Americans brutal
ly assaulting an innocent man (DN,
Oct. 19), it made me think about the
level of ignorance, hatred and stupid
ity on this campus. As a black female,
it made me ashamed to have a number
of my black brothers credited on the
front page with assaulting somebody
worse than the police officers did
Rodney King. It seems like the only
time that most black men get public
ity for doing something is if they’ve
done something violent or they’ve
scored a touchdown on this campus,
and it’s mostly their fault! The sad
thing is that most of these people
don’t have enough true pride for the
rest of the positive black race to care
about the message they are sending
out to (he public. Why do some of you
have to go and try to make the stereo
types true!
It’s unfair that the rest of the black
student population has to Day the con
sequences for a group or people that
are just here to make it to the pros in
whatever sport they’re in because they
could care less about uplifting the
race. We’re not here to pick up our
fists, we’re here to pick up a book, and
some of you seem to be greatly con
fused.
I’m really tired of having to fight a
losing battle with the university sys
tem for funding, against discrimina
tion and for racial equality and repre
sentation. If we can't get it together,
we don’t deserve extra funding. We
deserve to be discriminated against
because of our action and we do not
deserve to be represented as a student
body because we arc making a joke
out of the black race.
I would like to make a formal
apology to the international and Asian
students from the rest of the African
American student body, who encour
aged me to write this letter, because
we are truly embarrassed by the ac
tionsofourpeoplc. Ido know that this
entire campus would have been turned
into a serious race riot if five or 10
white or Asian students would have
victimized one of the brothers or sis
ters on this campus, Jf we can come
together for violence, we ought to be
able to come together for peace.
April Patrick
junior
broadcasting/international business
‘Baywatch’
I found Anne Steyer’s article, “TV
beach conquers the world” (DN, Oct.
7), to be funny but mostly irritating.
You seem worried that our pre
cious American image will be tar
nished by the seemingly tameless tele
vision show “Baywatch.” Your gen
eral concern is admirable for our na
tion's image, but 1 do believe that if I
was in a country other than the United
States and having never been there, I
would want to maybe get to know
more about the United States after
seeing tanned people running around
the beach looking as though they’re
having a good time, rather than seeing
Capt. Kirk fight some alien.
I found the article amusing up until
the remarks about the importance of
the lifeguards. Steyer said, “Our big
gest entertainment and cultural ex
port is bodacious lifeguards frolick
ing on the beach pretending to save
lives.” By this statement you have
clearly expressed your unfortunate
isolation in this landlocked state. 1
spent five years as an ocean lifeguard
at Huntington Beach, Calif., 20 miles
from where “Baywatch” takes place.
These bodacious lifeguards really do
work out there. We don’t just sit
around.
“Baywatch” can be a bit farfetched
in the stories portrayed, but I do feel
the show does have some redeeming
qualities. It is simply doing for beach
lifeguards what “Adam 12” did for
police and “Emergency 911 ” did for
paramedics. It’s letting people know
what it is like to work in that environ
ment.
j- .* _ Patrick S. Ryan
senior
teachers college
