EDITOR
Doug Kouma
OPINION
EDITOR
Anne Hjersman
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Doug Peters
Matt Waite
Paula Lavigne
Mitch Sherman
Anthony Nguyen
Lovers beware
AIDS claims lives,
cries for attention
The weekend after Thanksgiving is usu
ally observed as the first official days of
Christmas shopping. But there was another
observance crammed into the holiday week
end that might or might not have garnered
your attention.
World AIDS Day.
Observed across the globe, World AIDS
Day was marked by compassion and under
standing for all the victims of this pandemic.
It also brought to light some alarming
statistics.
A U.N. agency reported that nearly a
quarter of the 6.4 million AIDS deaths world
wide occurred within the past 12 months.
This year, 3.1 million people were in
fected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS,
bringing the total number of people with HIV
or AIDS to 22.6 million.
Too many people are infected with AIDS
each and every day.
We need to remember that the fight
against HIV and AIDS isn’t limited to one
day.
We ve heard and read enough about this
disease to be able to recite the information
in our sleep: how it attacks the body’s im
mune system, leaving it susceptible to infec
tions and cancer, until the host succumbs to
one of these secondary ailments.
We’ve seen and heard the stories of fami
lies and friends left behind to try and cope
with the loss of a loved one.
And whether we like it or not, AIDS is
now ingrained into our generation’s psyche
and culture. From the safe-sex ads to Trojan
man, HIV and AIDS have left their marks
on our daily lives.
No longer is treatment for a sexual dis
ease solely the province of medication and
health-care professionals.
Now there is a sexual disease with hardly
any physical manifestations — but it comes
with a sentence of death.
Attending a public university in the Mid
west, we might feel immune to the ravages
of this pandemic.
We shouldn t. And we can t.
AIDS is a disease that recognizes no na
tional boundaries. It doesn’t care if you’re
poor or rich, white or black, homosexual or
heterosexual. It doesn’t care about how many
degrees you have or don’t have. It doesn’t
care if you’re from a rural area or an urban
center.
Its sole purpose is to survive — even if
it means destroying its human host.
In this day and age, people should be
more prudent about their sexual activities.
The holiday season is marked with good
will and compassion for our fellow brothers
and sisters.
And that’s what World AIDS Day is all
about.
It attaches faces and names to statistics,
making us realize people are more than just
mere numbers. Compassion for victims of
AIDS isn’t a one day event — but a year
round endeavor.
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the
Fall 19% Daily Nebraskan. They do not nec
essarily reflect the views of the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its stu
dent body or the University of Nebraska
Board of Regents. A column is soley die
opinion of its author. The Board of Regents
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rial Board. The UNL Publications Board, es
tablished by die regents, supervises die pio
ducdon of the newspaper. According to
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the editorial content of die newspaper lies
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The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief let
ters to the editor and guest columns, but
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or reject any material submitted. Submit
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Sad commentary
Woe to the DN. During the two
years I have attended this university,
I have been an avid reader of your
editorial section. This semester you
have hit an all-time low. The collec
tive IQ of your contributors is
roughly comparable to that of a
carrot (a fact which Steve is no doubt
proud of).
Case and point: This Monday,
your first nauseating column read
like a diary excerpt from “My So
Called Life.” The second laughable
effort was — get this—a
biochemist’s view of the U.S. role in
foreign affairs!
The author, Anthony Nguyen, has
obviously been sampling his lab
materials.
In short, your columnists are now
number one on my top-10 list of
reasons to keep abortion legal.
All I ask from an editorial page is
that it evoke some kind of emotion
from its audience. Shock me. Piss me
off. Make me laugh, applaud or boo.
Just don’t make me cry from bore
dom.
Brent Hawkins
junior
political science
Dead Punk
I would like to thank Matt Ingle
for his humorous letter in the Dec. 2
DN. Punk a lifestyle? Matt, buddy,
you need to rent “The Great Rock
and Roll Swindle.” In this movie/
documentary, you will find out that
punk is no lifestyle, rather, it is a lie.
That’s right, Matt: a lie.
You will find out the whole punk
thing was used to give people a false
sense of individuality, and make
Malcolm McClaren lots of money.
Also, make sure to mark Feb. 2
down on your calendar. On this date
John Simon Richie (Sid Vicious)
n
Matt HaneWDN
died and took “real punk” with him.
You see, punk is dead. It’s been
dead for close to 18 years now.
That’s why bands like The Clash,
The Jam, The Buzzcocks and The
Damned began to change their
sound.
I really have to laugh every time I
hear people talk about how punk is
alive. These newer bands that
attempt to revive the spirit of the late
’70s (punk’s heyday) remind me of a
set of bad sequels: Newer casts,
usually better special effects to hide
behind, same tired plot, and, like all
sequels, a failure to measure up to
the original.
As for the guy at the Descendents
show who pulled down his pants,
that’s punk? Gagging yourself in
order to puke on someone is punk. At
least it used to be.
Craig Patak
KRNU music director
senior
broadcasting
Self-violation
In response to Nick Wiltgen’s
column in the Nov. 26 edition of the
Daily Nebraskan, I think he needs to
be slapped in the face with a head-on
car crash. I agreed with the first half
of the column in saying the govern
ment needs a moral base. I did not
agree when he stated that the
government has no business legislat
ing against acts that violate yourself.
He argued that the government
was not acting properly when it
punishes someone for drinking a beer
at age 20, because the drinker was
not treading on the rights of others. I
ask then, if breaking the law by
under-age drinking is OK, is it still
OK for a 5-year-old? Should this
child be allowed to take up smoking,
drinking, illegal drug use, etc.? He
would not be treading on others
rights as Nick stated! I suppose it
would be OK to allow an upstanding
member of the community to
construct a nuclear bomb in his
backyard. (As long as he did not
tread on others’ rights.) Or maybe
society should turn its cheek when
looking at parents who use illegal
drugs and abuse alcohol around their
children. After all, as long as the
parents don’t infringe on their
children’s rights, it’s OK! Oh yes,
don’t forget about allowing anyone
who wishes to carry an AK-47 on the
street to do so because they won’t be
hindering anyone's rights either.
As you can see, the government
constantly needs to put several
situations under a magnifying glass
and examine the potential of them to
violate other’s rights. Nick, I hope
you know that in your perfect world
the next time a drug user gets high
and walks by a police officer who
knows he’s wasted, the cop must
allow him to drive his vehicle away
and possibly introduce your body to
the windshield of his car.
Brett Otte
freshman
finance
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