EDITOR
Paula Lavigne
OPINION
EDITOR
Joshua Gillin
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Brad Davis
Erin Gibson
Shannon Heffelfinger
Chad Lorenz
Jeff Randall
Our
VIEW
Smoke
this
Banning cigarettes
not a viable solution
This could mean the loss of more
than $31,000 for the Nebraska unions
and $17,000 for the residence halls, to
be made up by the people this ban
supposedly protects - the students.
In the same vein, if the unions were
to retain their moralistic ideals, the
university should close Amigo’s and
Burger King because their greasy
food may cause heart problems.
Or maybe some people could lobby
for the University of Nebraska
Lincoln to ban candy bars because of
their high fat content, while others
could advance the opinion that the
caffeine in soda pop is too much for
college students to bear.
Perhaps most controversial would
be a plan to ban football ticket sales
because studies might show that
watching the Cornhuskers in a tight
game can cause a student to experi
ence dangerous stress levels.
Never mind all of these things are
perfectly legal for people over 18;
what matters here is the university’s
mission to improve the morals and
^health of today’s youth.
Although most of these sugges
tions will never take effect, the ban
ning of cigarettes is very real - the
Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska’s Committee
for Fees Allocation will be voting on
the ban today.
CFA needs to listen to the students
it represents - they want cigarette
sales on campus.
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pie from smoking. People who will
pay $2.55 for a pack of cigs on cam
pus will certainly go elsewhere to
find their smokes.
That means money lost to the uni
versity amid cries of rising university
costs. Perhaps Daryl Swanson and
CFA need to weigh the importance of
raking in student dollars for cigarettes
over legislating morals.
Besides, CFA needs to realize stu
dents who don’t smoke will end up
with increased student fees because
of the ban.
Money is tight at UNL, especially
this year with the added student fees
for the Nebraska Union renovation,
and students should not foot the bill
for this misdirected moral crusade.
Editorial Pulley
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Spring 1998 Daily Nebraskan. They
do not necessarfly reflect the views of the
University of Nebraska-lincotn, its
employees, its student body or the
Univetky of Nebraska Board of Regents.
A oolumn is solely the opinion of its autwr.
The Board of Regents saves as pubisher
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the Dafly Nebraskan Editorial Board. Tr»
UNL PwtaSons Board, established by
the regents, supervises the production
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content of the newspaper les solely in
the hands of its student employees.
lottoff rtHcir
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The Daly Nebraskan retains toe right to
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Submitted matorial becomes property of
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Submit material to: Daly Nebraskan, 34
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Haney’s
VIEW
I
Money talks
Society unfair to disadvantaged
SHAWN MEYSENBURG is
a sophomore news-editori
al major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
Kill the poor. Or, at least, exploit
the hell out of them.
, These acts have been heavily
practiced since the dawn of recorded
history (and before, I’m sure).
Indeed, exploitation and mis
treatment of the poor takes place in
America every day. Yes, even in the
city of Lincoln, the practice of crap
ping on the poor takes place with
alarming regularity.
How do the poor suffer here?
What misdeeds are the businesses
(and people) of Lincoln guilty of?
Let me name just a few.
First of all, people of meager
financial means can’t get decent
housing in this town. The old house I
share with three roommates is a
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all condition can only be called poor.
The interior, once grand, I’m
sure, is in desperate need of renova
tion. Our living room carpet, for
instance, looks like it once resided
on the floor of a machine shop.
Furthermore, our stairs are rick
ety and beat-up. The house is poorly
insulated, so our heating bills are
always high and the temperature in
the house is always a bit on the chilly
side.
For the distinct pleasure of living
in this dwelling, we pay $800 a
month. That may not be too much,
but keep in mind that a more satis
factory house in a better part of town
could easily cost more than $1,000 a
month.
So, we'll be staying in die “thun
derdome” (our nickname for the
I--.•
house) for quite some time. Housing
that is both affordable and high-qual
ity does not exist in Lincoln. This
fact ensures that Lincoln’s poor folk
reside in a couple of slummy parts of
town, out of sight (and out of mind)
of the more prosperous citizens of
this fine city.
One of the most blatant
exploiters of Lincoln’s poor are those
rent-to-own places. These businesses
make millions buggering poor peo
ple. They offer various appliances
and pieces of furniture for “rent” at a
cost of a few dollars a week. After
making these payments for about a
decade, the customer owns the prod
uct.
This may not sound all that bad,
since the payments aren’t all that
high, but they add up. Have you ever
considered paying $600 for a cheap
VCR or washing machine? If you
ever decide to rent-to-own, you will.
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may very well need the products
being sold, but have no other way to
pay for them. These wicked busi
nesses exploit poor people’s tight
financial circumstances to make
huge profits.
The only thing more disgusting
than these places themselves is the
way they are tolerated by the inhabi
tants of Lincoln. There’s a couple of
them located on our main street, for
example. This should not be; we
should be ashamed.
Is genocide going on in Lincoln?
Of course. We aU know excessive
alcohol and tobacco consumption
can cause many health problems and,
eventually, premature death. With
this thought in mind, ask yourself;
Where are most of the vendors of
cheap alcohol and tobacco located?
That’s right, in the poor parts of
town.
This should come as no surprise.
Whether or not the poor suffer the ill
effects of substance abuse is of no
consequence to these merchants of
death. They're only out to make
money, and they couldn’t care less
about whom they have to hurt to do
it.
What about the rest of us? Are
. .
we guilty of cruelty to the poor? Are
those of us who are poor ourselves
guilty of mistreating our own kind?
You bet.
Ask yourself the following ques
tions:
Do I ever look down upon those
who can’t afford the “right” clothes?
When I see a beat-up car on the
road, what’s the first thing I think
about its driver?
When I see people in the super
market purchasing their food with
food stamps, what do I think of
them?
I’m willing to bet that you’ve
looked down upon these types of
people; I know I have. You may have,
at one time, even openly made fun of
those who couldn’t afford the things
you could. You see, we’re all guilty
of poor-bashing.
Why do we have such contempt
for the poor? Why are they such a
target for hatred and exploitation? In
the world, a person’s success is
judged bv how much money he or
she makes. Poor people are seen as
pathetic failures.
We need to remember that being
successful might not have anything
to do with a person’s income. Can a
poor person really be considered a
success? I think so.
Take Mother Teresa, for example.
She dedicated her life to helping
people in conditions more horrible
than we can probably imagine. She
was poor. Few people, though, doubt
her success.
There’s some obvious ways to
help the less fortunate, but I won’t
discuss them here. The greatest gift
we can give to any poor person is
respect. ^ <
They deserve to be treated like
everyone else. The worst part of
being poor is being looked down
upon or pitied. Be blind to a person’s
financial status - don’t let it affect
die way you treat him or her.
The world will always be full of
poor people. Indeed, most of us will
probably experience tight financial
circumstances if we haven’t already.
Let’s give the less fortunate the
respect they deserve.
11 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 IP St, Lincoln, | W
•2) 472-1761, or e-mail<lettera@uBlinfo.unl.edu.
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