Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln J. Christopher Ha in.Editor, 472-1766 Doug Kouma.Managing Editor Doug Peters.Opinion Page Editor Sarah Scalet .Associate News Editor Matt Waite...Associate News Editor Michelle Garner...Wire Editor Jennifer Mapes.Columnist Jason Gildow Under the skin Playboy OK with a dose of reality In case you’ve ignored the letters to the editor section for the last \ week, we thought you might like to know that Playboy magazine is getting ready to pay another visit to Lincoln. Every year, the magazine runs a pictorial featuring women from one of the country’s college conferences. This year: the Big 12. The impending visit became a topic of conversation after Play boy placed an advertisement in the Daily Nebraskan, announcing its search for UNL women to appear in the issue. Soon after, the predictable arguments began to surface that Play boy is an evil, exploitative enemy of women. Opponents of the magazine paint the picture of Playboy as a magazine portraying women in a demeaning light — a magazine that is chock full of lewd, pornographic images. In truth, the content of Playboy magazine is largely editorial. Playboy magazine has served as a forum for some of this country’s most famous writers. “Roots” author Alex Haley was a regular con tributor before his death. In the most recent issue, pictorials accounted for 32 pages; ar ticles, ads and other assorted material made up the remaining 142 pages. What’s more, the photographs of women in Playboy magazine arc no more graphic than what a 17-year-old can sec in many R rated movies and art galleries. But that alone, of course, doesn’t necessarily make it OK. Part of what docs make it OK is that the U.S. Constitution says it is OK. Saying you don’t like Playboy and saying it shouldn’t exist are two completely different things. Another part of what makes Playboy OK comes from the human ability to reason. Almost every form of advertising or entertain ment plays upon some part of human nature—whether it is women huddling together to gawk at a shirtlcss construction worker in a diet Coke ad or an action-adventure movie filled with guns and violence. We don’t deny that these forms of entertainment play upon our baser instincts. Instead, we require rational people of both sexes to distinguish between the fantasy on the screen or in a magazine and the reality of their own lives. And most of us do — that’s why it’s OK. Editorial policy Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Spring 1996 Daily Ne braskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the university, its employees, the stu dents or the NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent the opin ion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL Publications Board to super vise 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. Letter policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity, originality, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all material submitted. Readers also are welcome to submit mate rial as guest opinions. The editor decides whether material should run as a guest opinion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be re turned. Anonymous submissions will not be pub lished. Letters should include the author’s name, year in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Re quests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. " H S>LI Catholicism revisited I have been observing the debate oyer the recent development in the Lincoln Catholic Church and, not being Catholic, there is something I don’t understand. There was a time when the Catholic Church (among others) felt it was proper to bum people who disagreed with the church. At some point, reform occurred within the church, and today that no longer happens. “Reform” came from within the church by individuals who didn’t agree with the idea of burning heretics. This meant that there were Catholics who disagreed with Catholic teaching, and eventually, the whole church came to agree with their new ideas. Why arc so many people certain that the people who belong to the banned groups don’t have ideas that will eventually be accepted? If there is popular condemnation of older church policies, isn’t it possible that some current policies need reform? Corey A. Becker senior computer engineering Catholicism revisited (again) The recent letters by many people stating that the teachings and practices of the Catholic Church haven’t changed since its origins have aroused my attention. While I am not Catholic, (I don’t practice any organized religion.) I am something of a student of the religions of the world, Catholicism included. I have been taught several instances when the Catholic Church has changed its views or practices. Jason Gildow Three come to mind right off. The first is the change from conducting the mass exclusively in Latin to conducting the mass in the language of the people as it is today. Latin was declared to be the official language of the church (the language in which all masses were to be conducted) at the Council of Trent, at which other changes (number of sacraments, the nature of the cucharist) were made in Catholic doctrine. They were made in response to the Protestant movement of the time, showing that the church does react to the times that it exists in. The next change occurred officially during Vatican II in the mid-1960s, when the Church no longer blamed the Jewish people for the death of Jesus. The final change is that in Vatican I, the concept of the infallibility of the Pope on moral issues and matters of faith. While the actual change is that the Pope is infallible and always should have been considered that way, it is still a change in the official stance of the Church. D. Nathan Hood graduate chemistry Playboy revisited Recently, the notice that Playboy wanted to revisit UNL and photo graph college students of the Big 12 has caused much controversy about the potential exploitation ofwdiiVen. There have been many rebuttals about this and that, the pornography issues, ethics, and more, but I would like to point out a few things. First of all, with all of the “magazines” of this type on the market, Playboy is known as the classiest of all. Consequently, it has the largest reader base in the country. Playboy also has been known to launch careers of models and other ladies looking for their break. For example, Vanna White’s career with Wheel of Fortune skyrocketed after her appearance in Playboy. Madonna tripled her media exposure after her appearance. The names go on and on, and the reason for it lies in the long history of Playboy. Also, Playboy is not purely a “skin” magazine. The artieles in the magazine are provocative, in forma live and flat out make you think. They cover a wide variety of topics, from business to trends to money to social and dating advice from licensed therapists. Let’s not condemn a magazine for one aspect we don’t like. We wouldn’t leave a football game because the Huskers blew one set of downs. Finally, I would like to know what the response would be from the ladies if Playgirl Magazine were to come to town. Would they still think that there were people being exploited? Or would that issue be the biggest selling issue, as the “Girls of the Big Eight” was? Mark Goldfedcr senior business management ' ; - Send your brief letters to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 111 C7 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., _ Lincoln, Neb. 68588, or Fax TV T 1 1 to (402)472-1761, or email l^l C |/”0 cletters @ unlinfo.unl.edu.> X JU/X CA,