Opinion
Friday, October 14, 1994 I a8e ^
Daily
Nebraskan
Editorial Board
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jeff Zeleny.Editor, 472-1766
Kara Morrison. .Opinion Page Editor
Angie Brunkow.Managing Editor
Jeffrey Robb.Associate News Editor
Rainbow Rowell. .Columnist/Associate News Editor
Kiley Christian.Photography Director
Mike Lewis... -w.Copy Desk Chief
James Mehsling...Cartoonist
No Big Red
Soft drink, yanked from Manhattan
As the real Big Red comes to Manhattan, Kan., this weekend,
another Big Red is pulling out.
When the No. 2 Comhuskcrs travel to Kansas State University
to face the No. 16 Wildcats, there will be no Big Red — soda, that
is — on the shelves of six Manhattan grocery stores.
On Wednesday, Full Service Beverage Distributors of Colorado,
gave permission to pull “Big Red soda out of the Manhattan
grocery stores. Three Food 4 Less stores and three local supermar
kets participated in the pullout.
We find this amusing.
This could be a sign that the 4-0 Wildcats, who have silently
dubbed this as their game of the century, are running scared of the
real Big Red.
“My boss is from Colorado Springs, and when Nebraska came
out to play the Colorado Buffaloes they did the same thing," Russ
Simons, a beverage distribution employee, told The Associated
Press. “It went over real well. So my boss suggested I try it here."
It appears Colorado and now Kansas State are taking their
respective team spirit one step too far.
The soft drink, which is difficult, if not impossible to find in the
Comhusker State, actually is bottled in Texas.
No need to get worked up, Huskcrs After a big Huskcr victory,
all the ‘Cats will have to drown their sorrows in will be Purple
Passion.
“There is an allegiance side of us. Don’t miscon
strue what we are doing as anti-American.”
— Marty Ramirez, a counseling /psychologist at the University
Health Center, speaking about the outrage in the Hispanic commu
nity following the death of Francisco Renteria.
“Everyone on the team knows Matt can get the job
done. When we heard he was going in, we started
to get more pumped up."
— Abdul Muhammad, NU wingback, reacting to walk-on so/p/hp
more Malt Turman’s play against Oklahoma St.
“You don’t perform violence. You make it look like
violence. That’s what makes it hard.”
— Paul Steger, UNL theater professor, summing up his /performance
on the play “Sc apt no."
“John Joubert confessed and pleaded guilty to
brutally murdering two young boys in Nebraska.
John Joubert deserves the death penalty, and I
intend to vigorously pursue this case until the
sentence is carried out.”
— Nebraska Attorney> General Don Stenbetg on a U.S. District
Judge’s decision to overturn the death sentence of Joubert, who was
convicted of murdering ttvo Sarpy County boys.
“If you are white, you don’t have to graduate (from
college). All you white kids are wasting your time
here."
— State Sen. Ernie Chambers, a write-in candidate for governor.
Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Fall 1994 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
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t its students
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Apology
In Response to Jamie Karl's
column (DN, Oct.7, 1994):
The Daily Nebraskan for most
students on this campus provides a
way to pass the time between or
during classes. Friday, I didn't
expect to be told what type of
individual Karl falsely believes me
and other people to be. I sat in class
reading negative connotations about
a minority group I belong to.
Imagine if you were me.
Well, Jamie, the “culture war" of
National Coming Out Day has
come and gone. Did you feel that
your home here at UNL was
disturbed? NCOD is not an attempt
to “dcclosetizc” every queer person
in Lincoln; it is an opportunity for
any individual to express and
celebrate a part of themselves.
It is a chance for gays, lesbians,
bisexuals and transgendered people
to break down the stereotypes and
destroy the myths that ignorant
people like Karl believe. Many
people spend enormous amounts of
time and energy trying to lead a
dual life. It's not easy being gay
and trying to fit the molds of
today's dominant heterosexual
society. When individuals come out.
it gives them an opportunity to use
that energy in a positive way. by
helping to fulfill their dreams and
providing a support network for
individuals who arc still living in
their prison, otherwise known as
their closet.
wnai was most aisiuroing aoout
the article were the statistics
presented about “all” homosexuals.
They were so startling that I was
quickly on the phone investigating
this Family Research Council. I
discovered, not to my surprise, that
the council chairman, Paul
Cameron, is a “demonizer” of gays.
He has proposed that gay males
should be exterminated and that
people with AIDS should be
indcntifiably tattooed and quaran
tined.
Cameron was a psychology
professor at UNL until 1980, when
his teaching contract was not
renewed. After this, he founded the
Institute for the Scientific Investi
gation of Sexuality, which claimed
to be an expert on sexuality. During
the 1980s. Cameron published
numerous fictional pamphlets
saying gays were responsible for a
large number of serial killings,
child molestations and other
crimes.
After making his false claims,
several psychologists whose works
he cited and used as reference
sources charged Cameron with
distorting their studies to fit and
promote his anti-gay agenda.
According to the Oct. 3. 1994 The
New Republic, the American
Psychological Association investi
gated Cameron and found he not
only misrepresented others' work,
but he also used unsound methods
. v. -
JimM MMhling/DN
in his own studies. He was banned
from the APA in 1983.
For example, look at the 1993
report cited in Karl's column. For
this study. Cameron used as his
sample group only gay men
recruited from a venereal disease
clinic, instead of using a sample
group representative of the whole
population. The study is not
scientific because it ignores the use
of a random sampling technique.
Jamie's column also addressed
other VD’s, such as gay men are 14
percent more likely to have had
syphilis and lesbians were 19
percent more likely to have had
syphilis than heterosexuals. 1
contacted Tim Timmons, the
supervisor of public health nursing
with the Lincoln-Lancaster Health
Department, who said this informa
tion was false. He said that with the
educational surge after the outbreak
of AIDS, the gay community
responded by changing their sexual
behavior because they knew they
were a high-risk group.
The heterosexual community
who didn't see themselves linked to
any risk groups did not adjust their
sexual behaviors. This shows why
there has been a steady rise of
syphilis cases in the heterosexual
community since 1985. People have
to realize it is not the risk group
you belong to, it is the risky
behaviors that one person has.
I would like to give Karl the
honor of getting to know some of
my friends and myself after which I
would ask that he re-examine his
opinions on NCOD as a celebration
of sodomy, his views on homosexu
ality as an unprecedented health
crisis in this country and apologize
to Chancellor Graham Spanicr and
the university administration for
calling them blatant cowards.
Oh — I think every queer-person
also could use an apology. I know I
could.
Scott Roewer
senior
music
Liberal
I am extremely disappointed
with the Oct. 11 issue of the DN I
cannot understand why 3 out of ten
pages in the newspaper have
articles devoted to gay rights issues
It seems that the DN is taking quite
a liberal slant.
I don’t think that I should open
up the DN and find it plastered
with gay rights, feminist and
minority issues. And before
everyone cries “prejudice," let me
tell you something. I am a 20-ycar
old female who happens to have a
Native American heritage. That
would seem to be two strikes
against me. However. 1 believe in
“rugged individualism.” I believe
that you get out what you put in,
and no one is going to tell me what
I can and cannot do.
1 am tired of everyone crying
and whining about equal opportu
nity and being different and
“special.” 1 think everyone has a
fair chance, and with hard work,
dedication, and perseverance,
anything is possible. Be indepen
dent! You don’t deserve anything
unless you cam it.
Now everyone is steaming maa.
But before the mud slinging begins.
I’ll tell you something else. I have
attended the University of Arizona,
and that school had very liberal
traditions. I came to Lincoln
because I decided that the Univer
sity of Nebraska was the place for
me. I grew up here with the
trademark honest family values and
strong morals of the Midwest, and l
wanted to gel back to the place
where I shared the same beliefs
with people.
When I read the DN, or any
newspaper for that matter, I should
find the news, not the personal
thoughts and beliefs ot the writer.
Let’s keep the opinions on the
opinion page. What ever happened
to objective journalism?
Andrea Schmidt
Lincoln
