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EDITOR
DougKouma
OPINION
EDITOR
Anthony Nguyen
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Anne Hjersman
Paula Lavigne
Joshua Gillin
Jessica Kennedy
Jeff Randall
Guest
VIEW
Water babies
Age of Aquarius is
so out there, man
From The Sacramento, Calif., Bee
On Jan. 23, at 12:56 p.m., three of the
outer planets — Jupiter, Uranus and Nep
tune —moved into position near a familiar
constellation, l raced
alongside the positions 66
of Mars, Earth, Saturn
and Pluto, the result- r* "
ing astrological chart ^OTHC Of US
forms a dramatic, six- nrrkUnh1\t
sided star — and the Prooaoiy
long awaited Age of thought
Aquarius dawned.
Some of us prob- Aquarius
ably thought Aquarius
was ushered in with WCLS
that song from “Hair,” , , .
a musical celebration USHCrCCl ITl
of the age, which de- f
buted 30 years ago. WllH lrial
Not so. The bell-bot- onrin frnrn
tom, tie-dyed perform- bUri& lrurrL
ers who sang of “har- ‘Hair\ ’ a
mony and peace
abounding” were sim- musical
ply ahead of their time,
mired — as we all CClCOratiOH
were in 1967—in the - ,
Age of Pisces. Of ttlQ agG,
In fact, not until i . i
about the year 2100 WHICH
Will Ear* folly enter debuted 30
the golden Age of
Aquarius, but astrolo- yon re nan ”
gers and acolytes are J ®
celebrating the emer- _____
gence of the six-siaea
star talisman as harbinger of the dawning.
“It’s a bit of a miracle that this whole
thing lines up the way it does,” a noted star
charter reports. “You’d have to go back to
1475 to find this particular star pattern.”
Although 1475 was a pretty good year
—roughly halfway through that other great
awakening, the Renaissance—astronomers
and other skeptics note that star positions
relative to Earth have no discernible effect
on events below.
“It’s utter nonsense,” the former direc
tor of the Astronomical Society of the Pa
cific pronounced.
Still, the hunger for astrological signifi
cance seems deeply ingrained, and groups
in Brazil, Sweden, Israel, France, Thailand
and the Czech Republic are on-line with San
Francisco Bay-area devotees for a giant
meditation to take note of the planetary
alignment to die tune of Tibetan bowl and
bell sounds.
If Aquarius is indeed at hand, could it
be that other elements of the ’60s are re
turning? In some respects at least, that can
not be. Whatever their attachment to the star
charts or the soaring lyrics of “Aquarius,”
a lot of male flower children who once sang
along with the musical, “Give me a head
with hair... long, beautiful hair,” can now
only wistfully recall that what they then cel
ebrated is but a memory.
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the
' Spring 1997 Daily Nebraskan. They do not
necessarily reflect the views of the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its
student body or the University of Nebraska
Board of Regents. A column is soley the
opinion of its author. The Board of Regents
serves as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan:
polky is set by the Daily Nebraskan Edito
rial Board. The UNL Publications Board,
established by the regents, supervises the
production of the paper According to policy
set by the regents, responsibility for the edi
torial content of die newspaper lies solely
in the hands of its student employees.
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ters to the editor and guest columns, but
does not guarantee their publication. The
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Mehsling’s
"VIEW '
DN_ f
LETTERS
PC Power
As I read J.J. Harder’s column
“...and discrimination for all,”(DN,
Wednesday), it became clear to me
that freedom of speech sometimes
means freedom of nonsense.
With practically no comprehen
sion of history, economy and
politics, Harder’s column simulta
neously denounces racism and
political correctness in America.
Specifically, he argues that although
racism is a historical reality, the
“majority” has decided to stand up
and “not discriminate against others
based on their respective racial and
gender differences.1"
But Harder tells us this supposed
charge of the masses to rid them
selves of their racist threads is
blocked by political correctness,
which, he thinks, demands that
“everyone... analyze each situation
until we have a nation of individuals
What the argument lacks is the
basic recognition that simple
differences between people and
groups are not racism. Racism
occurs when personal characteristics
associate with varying levels of
power — i.e. when some differences
are formally considered superior to
others.
For instance, acknowledging that
people of European descent and
African descent represent different
phenotypes and cultures is not racist.
It’s racist, however, when one
group’s characteristics bulwark a
society’s moral and social structure
in a way that systematically disad
vantages other groups.
But most attempts to recognize
and remedy America’s racist history
meet strong opposition. This is
confusing to me because many
Americans apparently recognize our
discriminatory past — as Harder
does in his column—but many of
them do not think they should have
to do something about it.
PC is not about splintering
Americans in every possible way;
instead it is but one method of
addressing a racist national biogra
phy — that is why we don’t condone
cross burning or derogatory lan
guage, etc. — and it usually involves
minimal personal investment — i.e.
Aaron Steckelberg/DN
is referring to females as “women”
or blacks as “African-Americans”
really so distasteful?
Symbols, stereotypes, language
and policies that are rooted in
inequality should not be acceptable
to American people who allegedly
can’t get enough freedom and
equality. But, as Harder’s column
demonstrated, in America we dislike
racism because we believe in
equality and we dislike political
correctness because it forces us to
recognize our racist history and
what we have to do to correct it —
apparently being racist and sexist is
worth more than the “inconve
nience” of political correctness. So
much for Americans as personally
responsible citizens!
Brett Walter
graduate student
sociology
Code for Life
I would like to take this opportu
nity to respond to some of the
cynical arguments presented by
Michael Donley in his column “Chi a
High Horse,” (DN, Tuesday).
The idea that a Code of Ethics is
not needed in any situation today is
absurd. One need only pick up the
newspaper to see that ethics—
common ethics — are needed in our
society today. A mother is charged
with smothering her baby to death.
A 13-year-old boy shoots and kills a
14-year-old because he owes him
$40. President Clinton is charged
with sexual harassment and admits
having smoked pot.
Open your eyes, Mike. Do you
honestly think these problems are
just going to go away? Don’t you
think that a university is the most
appropriate place to address these
concerns? Neither I nor anyone else |
is imposing anything upon anybody.
But if common concerns about
respect, self-discipline and integrity
— all common ethics — are not
addressed, we just might be facing
the demise of a society the likes of
which have never been seen.
Furthermore, this is not even on
the same plane as the Code of
Conduct. Students will not be judged
based upon how they carry out the
code. Instead, it will be a list of
goals that all persons can strive
towards. And not just in college —
throughout a person’s life.
Eric Marintzer
ASUN president
In Defense
Perhaps the Daily Nebraskan staff
should look further into the issue of
racism within Sigma Chi before
making sweeping generalizations
about the members of the fraternity
or their ritual. The cross is the
symbol of the fraternity, and the
burning of it does not signify racism,
nor is it intended to be involved with
racist attitudes.
The Revs. Jessie Myles and John
Carter will come to find while
“researching this to death” that
Sigma Qii fraternity currently has
African-Americans within its
fraternity house, and have also had
them in the past. I understand that
the ritual in question seems to reflect
racial overtones and bigotry, but I do
not believe this to be the case.
I wish the press as a whole would
have investigated this issue further
before printing the libel about the 1
fraternity which will continue to
permanently damage Sigma Chi and
the rest of die greek system's image.
Dan Massara
senior
broadcasting
__
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T ^ “J 72-176L or e-maiMetteraeualinfeunLgdtr
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