EDITOR
Doug Kouma
OPINION
EDITOR
Anthony Nguyen
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Paula Lavigne
Joshua Gillin
Jessica Kenne<fy
Jeff Randall
Erin Gibson
Guest
VIEW
Civic failing
Lack of attention paid
to the Oval Office
From the Independent Florida Alligator
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (U-WIRE) —
There’s another development in the
Whitewater case, but chances are very few
Americans even know or care enough to be
interested. To bring everyone up to speed,
James McDougal — one of President
Clinton’s close friends and up to this point,
one of his staunchest defenders in the
Whitewater investigation—has decided to
recant testimony from his criminal trial last
year and has tried to implicate Clinton for
an illegal loan.
To Clinton and those close to
Whitewater, McDougal’s change of heart
might be important, or it might be insig
nificant. It may have no effect on the
Whitewater investigation.
And it’s a safe bet that most people will
pay little attention to McDougal’s actions
or be able to proficiently explain the basics
of the investigation.
Regardless of whether Clinton is guilty
of any of the allegations in Whitewater,
people should pay more than passing atten
tion to the story. It’s an important story, one
that bears noticing by more people than just
members of the national press.
Clinton is the leader of this country. If
he is involved in something that may put
his ethics in question, it should be the obli
gation of eveiy citizen to be as informed as
possible of the developments.
While the investigation probably will
not have any kind of bearing on Clinton’s
presidency — since election time already
has come and gone — a little more atten
tion by our nation’s citizens could have
made the difference in who was sworn in
at January’s inauguration ceremony.
Look at what happened in another
Washington scandal. The Wateigate scan
dal of the Nixon presidency opened the eyes
of many to the importance of keeping close
watch on the Oval Office and stressed the
reasons why even the president is not above
reproach.
Had people paid more attention to the
Wateigate stories before the 1972 election,
the nation might not have had to suffer the
embarrassment of the scandal or watch its
leader resign in shame.
By resisting the uige to turn the page
to the advice columns and comic strips ev
ery time some mention of presidential poli
tics is made, Nixon may not have been re
elected. We’re not questioning Clinton’s
ethics, nor drawing any real comparisons
between Nixon and Clinton. We’re not im
plying that Clinton has committed any
wrongdoing.
However, we do believe that his actions
could tell volumes about how he performs
as president. When the people choose to
ignore these actions, they have ceased per
forming their duties as citizens.
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 solely the
opinion of its author. The Board of Regents
serves as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan;
policy 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 the newspaper lies solely
in die hands of its student employees.
Letter Policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief let
ters to die editor and guest columns, but
does not guarantee their publication. The
Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit
or reject any material submitted. Sub
mitted material becomes the property of
the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be re
turned. Anonymous submissions will not
be published. Those who submit letters
must identify themselves by name, year
in school, major and/or group affilia
tion, if any. Submit material to: Daily
Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R
St Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. E-anil:
letters@unlinfaunl.edu.
Mehsling’s
VIEW
Guest
VIEW
Single ‘X’ rated
Cleavage, guns not enough to save movies that ‘suck hard9
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (U-WIRE)
—“Picking out a rental movie can be
a Herculean task, even for the
brightest couple.”—P.J. O’Rourke.
Few things provide more insight
into the schism between male and
female tastes as movies. Most of the
time, gender differences are subdued
and subtle: an upraised toilet seat
here, a closet full of identical black
shoes there.
As a species we are pretty good at
ignoring the fact that men and
women are so fundamentally
opposite that not rally is the hetero
sexual union a marvel, but a miracle
on the order of Tori Spelling’s
continuing television career.
I feel sorry for women. To them,
our taste in films must seem not only
repugnant, but bafflingly illogical.
My parents have stopped going to the
video store together, realizing that an
eye-to-eye agreement on a film is
nearly impossible across the gender
gap.
People of our age and experience
must find the problem even harder to
deal with. So as a public service to
all the women of the university
(although this will be less useful than
my leaving town), I will try to
delineate, as clearly as possible, the
rules and methods fra understanding
what constitutes a good “guy film”
and how to reach some kind of truce
in the movie wars.
No. 1: Ladies, please, realize that
every body has stupid tastes. When a
guy watches, say, a “Conan” movie,
usually he is aware that what he is
watching is crap. Crap that he likes,
but crap nonetheless. If sent to the
video store to select a movie for him
and his woman, he will usually know
better than to bring home the latest
Jean-Claude Van Damme flick lest he
find himself in die middle of a U.N.
sponsored nookie embargo.
This having been said, STOP
MAKING US WATCH SACCHA
RIN, TEAR-JERKING TREACLES
LIKE “FRIED GREEN TOMA
TOES” AND “WAITING TO
EXHALE.” Please. We know you
like it, but, Jesus, we hate it.
No. 2: Why guys hate chick flicks.
Hmm, this one is a little tough. See,
guys like movies that have something
interesting. This is a deceptively easy
concept. By ‘‘something,” I mean _
interesting character development,
good cinematography or an intrigu
ing story that probably would never
happen in the real world. The whole
point of going to the movies is to see
things that never happen to you in
real life. That’s why they call it
entertainment. If I wanted boring,
drab, motionless and stupid, I’d stay
home.
Films like “Mermaids,” “Thelma
and Louise” and the aforementioned
“Fried Green Tomatoes” consist of
an hour-and-a-half pity party that
either leaves you feeling like you
haven’t seen anything at all or feeling
like you should have a sense of guilt
over your ownership of a penis.
And while we’re on the subject of
“Thelma and Louise,” let’s put this
one to bed for good. The movie
sucks, and sucks hard. 1 don’t buy the
line that men hate it because it shows
women doing things that men usually
do in action movies and that threat
ens us. Hogwash. You call that an
action movie? One stolen car, one car
chase, one blown-up truck and only
three deaths (two of which arc not
pictured) do not an action movie
make.
Clint Eastwood after a bottle of
bourbon and a handful of Quaaludes
could make a more exciting movie.
Either make them right, or don’t
make them at all.
No. 3: Debunking the “shoot ‘em
up” myth. There is a fallacy in
common circulation that a guy movie
must only contain breasts (mere
cleavage would be acceptable), guns,
blood and casual, meaningless sex.
Not true. While all of these things are
important, movies with all of these
things are typically of the Dolph
Lundgren, made-for-Showtime
variety and suck almost as hard as
“Thelma and Louise.”
This is similar to the myth that all
women think Robert James Waller
*
novels are the end-all be-all of
seduction and that the sun rises and
sets in Brad Pitt’s pants. It’s basically
a lot of nonsense propagated by
Oprah, Ricki, Sally and that emascu
lated yahoo who wrote “Men Are
From Mars, Women Are From
Venus.”
No. 4: The list. The following is a
short list of films, actors and direc
tors that have a strong command of
the guy sensibility: “The Hustler,”
“Butch Cassidy and The Sundance
Kid,” “Full Metal Jacket,” “Apoca
lypse Now,” “The Blues Brothers,”
“Shaft,” “Magnum Force,” “Animal
House,” “Airplane,” “Caddyshack,”
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,”
“Robocop,” “Basic Instinct” (we
were all 14 once), “Blade Runner,”
“Easy Rider,” “The Adventures of
Ford Fairlanc,” “Delirious,” “Strange
Brew,” Bogart, DeNiro and Pacino
(double word score for a movie with
both of them), Nicholson, Chan,
Wayne, Connery, Palmanteri, pre
1992 Schwartzenegger, Cheech,
Chong, Eastwood, Woo and Leone.
Fellas, practice guy culture. Our
way of life is dying out.
— Jam Milter
The Michigan Daily
