•d . EDITOR Paula Lavigne OPINION EDITOR Matthew Waite EDITORIAL BOARD Erin Gibson Joshua Gillin Jeff Randall Julie Sobczyk Ryan Soderlin Our VIEW Advertising autocracy Government tobacco tyranny harmful Puff that cigarette. Chew that tobacco. Roll that smoke and spit that juice. The government can tell people that tobacco products are bad for their health, but it shouldn’t slap the tobacco compa- * nies with a “You sell a product that is bad for people, you can’t advertise it.” It this is the trend ot the federal govern ment, why is alcohol still able to advertise? Drunken drivers kill and maim thousands of people a year. But the companies that pro duce these products are still able to advertise. Smoking can give people lung cancer and drinking can give people a range of health problems. Either way, a person dies a slow, painful death. Why then are tobac co companies being singled out? It has also been suggested that eating too many fatty foods can clog people’s arteries and eventually kill them. But fatty foods are still advertised in this country on a daily basis. People, regardless of what the govern ment thinks, have the right to do bad things to themselves. Yes, it is a person’s God-given right in this country to smoke, drink, chew and eat fatty foods. People know that these things are bad for them. People have been made aware by the media, government and health pamphlets that these things can kill people. But people, of their own volition, do them anyway. It’s all about the Constitution, baby. There is freedom of speech in the United States. The First Amendment gives tobacco companies the right to advertise because advertising is a form of speech. If the government continues to kill advertis ing campaigns like the Marlboro Man and Joe Camel, what’s next? The Pillsbury Doughboy? If the federal government can control advertising, it can control other things as well. Without tobacco advertising, sports such as car racing, rodeo and drag racing might suffer or cease to exist. These sports would have to fill the hole left by the absence of the tobacco dollar. Some forms of entertainment could disappear. The federal government should get its nose out of tobacco advertising. It should worry more about the war on drugs than the war on tobacco. How tobacco companies advertise should be on a very low priority level of the federal government. Issues like home lessness, AIDS, gang violence, domestic policy, foreign trade, environmental pollu tion (for which funding was cut) and crowded prisons should take priority. It seems the government isn’t dealing with the issues that are really affecting the United States. Instead, they have been putting up a smoke screen. Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Fall 1997 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its student body or the Univerky 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 Editorial 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 editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student employees. Letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submitted material becomes property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will ' not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affiliation, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, NE. 68588-0448. E-mail: letters@unlinfo.unl.edu. Haney's VIEW . sTl F ,: STEVE CULLEN is a junior advertising major and Daily Nebraskan columnist. “Diet pills may hold the cure for obesity.” Sure. “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days.” Right. Sounds like another quick fix. In our society, pressures from culture and its fat-pocketed, demigod controllers have led many Americans to become obsessed with “health” and appearance. At the root of this unhealthy health rush of waist-whit tling wisdom is the worst illness I have seen: Quick-Fix Mentality. This mentality and the way it has gorged itself on our deep-fat-fried food-on-a-veggie-plate society will bloat us on a diet of falsehoods. It will kill you faster than an overdose of fen-phen. bhort- lived trends and tad fash ion play a huge role in this mind-set by idealizing images that are found in less than 1 percent of the popula tion, then digitally remastering them for mass-magazine distribution. No person on earth can attain those dimensions. We’re bursting at the buttons to look a certain, thin, way. We have lots of food freedom, and second helpings of overdone pressure about what to eat. The two have brought about an all-you-can eat buffet of fitness/nutrition infor mation. Unfortunately, we know many things about very little. Everyone has their own opinion of what is healthy. Just look around a GNC, the health store that is to health fads as drug dealers are to the crack epidemic. But GNC deals crash diets, metabolizers, L Carentine, ginseng, and even tea leaves that burn fat or “give you great abs in five minutes a day.” The Quick-Fix Mentality has led these “stay-puffed” health gurus to bail water instead of plugging the holes in the boat - they are standing the middle of the forest and just looking at all the trees. The result is fat-free everything, I----— Diet duplicity Slick shortcuts undermine health «-, j Well, I have Big News for everybody looking for the Big Secret: the killer ab workout or the diet that will give them their dream body. ...It doesn’t exist.” even fat. Remember Olestra? Its more akin to Turbo Lax than diet pills. Yeah, that’s healthy. The powers that be brainwash the masses into self-conscious delusions, then give ‘em what they want. All this for a price, if not the health they longed for. The American bottom-line spirit feeds the Quick-Fix epidemic; we end up judging success in terms of tangible, visible results. Here’s the irony: Americans embrace the work ethic, yet work amazingly hard and commit so much time to finding a shortcut. Or worse yet, an easier way to do it. Easy come, easy go, and often the shortcut falls short. With all these options, pressures and misinformation, fat fighters and weight watchers end up chasing a dream. Most either give up and wal low in their rotting fat, or are search ing for the Quick Fix: fooKs gold. And yet despite our go, go, go culture, 90 percent of the population can’t meet the American Medical Association’s pathetic definition of physically fit. Twenty percent of Americans are obese, and it’s not uncommon for people to hgve eating disorders. Well, I have Big News for every body looking for the Big Secret: the killer ab workout or the diet that will give them their dream body. There is no secret. It doesn’t exist. You won’t find it. Being fit is the way you live, not the size of your jeans. Washboard abs come with the lifestyle not the workout. Being proud of the way you look is just what happens when you are proud of who you are and how you live. Look at it this way: Slim waist does not equal being fit. Being fit equals slim waist. But I didn’t sink $5 million into an ad campaign, so you probably won’t listen. It's really simple: Don’t eat the second cheeseburger. Use your body, don’t abuse it. I run 70 miles a week, but I don’t recommend that to every body. You don’t have to live like a gym rat to stay in shape, but don't lay around and eat potato chips. See? Simple. This bottom line, Quick-Fix, GNC-wizard garbage is why diets never work. The focus is inaction and result - do nothing and get results - never deal with lifestyle and process. Same goes with smoking, drinking and anything else, even my running. What you are is how you view your self and life. Are you a Quick rix or a long haul - a Twinkie or a PowerBar? A fundamental flaw with diets is once you pursue a diet - and get on one - you have accomplished your goal. You are on a diet. Congratulations. Go home, eat a Twinkie. The only place to go is out of the diet. The one who commits to being more healthful is striving to be more healthy, not end up more healthy It’s a lifestyle, not a goal. It’s a funda mental change, not a temporary way point. Life doesn’t come with “miracle solutions,” and “secrets to better liv ing.” I know sometimes things go wrong and we have to do some dam age control, but the Quick Fix is a bandage solution. It doesn’t save you from being split in two by the cement mixer of cultural distress speeding at you everyday. If you don’t stop putting your hand under the hammer, it won’t stop getting whacked. Don’t get Quick Fixed. Be healthful. Be smart. They aren’t mutually exclusive. P.5. Write 1,11 ^fSena letters tfc uatiy Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 "R" St., Lincoln, NE 68568, or fax to (402) 472-1761, or e-mail