Credit offers dubious acceptance
LORI ROBISON is a senior
news-editorial major and a
Daily Nebraskan colum
nist
It’s nice to be accepted. It’s one of
those things that just gives a person a
warm fuzzy feeling and fills the heart
with the kind of contentment that
makes others sick to their stomachs.
The opportunities for acceptance
abound in this day and age. Almost
every day, mail carriers all over die
country deliver affirmations of this
most basic need in die form of mil
lions of caring letters from various
corporations that selflessly spend mil
lions in mail fees just to let us know
they care.
And, sometimes, if we’re real
lucky, we’ll receive die grandest affir
mation of all in the form of PRE
approved acceptance by these same
companies!
What a great concept Imagine
strolling into any social setting know
ing you’ve been accepted before even
introducing yourself. No more sleep
less nights before the first big meeting
with the future in-laws... no more
nail-biting and floor-pacing before
that big date... no more anxious hours
waiting for the job interview.
What a wonderful world it would
be if everyone were pre-approved!
Perhaps the concept could be worked
into future legislation. Perhaps we
could even start a social revolution
based on this profound idea.
After all, what else but the most
charitable of organizations would lend
someone credit at a measly 18 percent
a year?
It’s for our own good. You see, that
way we can enjoy years and years of
correspondence with die credit card
companies as our interest accrues, tak
ing more than 18 years of minimum
payments to pay off a $5,000 debt
And the fact that we end up paying
twice die amount of everything we
charged on die card is, after all, a small
price to pay for such undying accep
tance and loyalty.
And what’s more, these companies
do it for millions of people a year! I
also understand they absolutely LOVE
to shower this acceptance on college
students. (It must be the charitable
streak running through the business.)
In fact, credit card companies have
spread this philosophy of pre-accep
tance like a new religion, and the
American people just can’t get
enough. According to the Bankcard
Holders of America, the average con
sumo* has eight to 10 credit cards and
about $1,700 worth of debt for each
one of them. Sure, 10 cards could hurt
our credit ratings, but VISA,
MasterCard and the rest will take care
of us (especially if they want their
money back). After all, we can just
transfer debt to another card, right?
Now, these passports to accep
tance can help out when used respon
sibly. It’s comforting to know there’s
resources available for emergencies
and big purchases when carrying cash
would be awkward.
But, alas, some of us have fallen
prey and gone off the deep end from
all that attention and acceptance. We
would probably be better off if making
a purchase were more like finishing
the Iditerod. And in their zeal to
spread this wonderful pre-approval
philosophy, credit card companies
make it too damn easy for us to
indulge in our weaknesses.
Because after a while, we begin to
yearn for that acceptance more and
more. Like a drug problem, one pur
chase soon just doesn’t cut it anymore.
We’ve come to love the ease of whip
ping out the plastic card to Nirvana
and that instant gratification of a pur
chase costing no more than the month
ly minimum payment (for the next 20
years).
The impulse to buy and wallow in
the great American tradition of materi
al gratification and pre-approval con
tinues to consume us, and our spend
ing goes unchecked again and again as
we crave for more and more, until...
there we are, after a night of spending
intoxication, discarded cards thrown
about the room as we stumble into
consciousness. Then comes the famil
iar cycle, beginning with the shame,
then denial, then excuse making. And
before we know it, we’re aching for
that sense of pre-approval again.
We postdate our checks and play
the bouncing game with our bank, we
don’t add up our bills so we can avoid
the painful truth and the shattering of
our pre-approval high, we borrow
from one credit source to pay for
another. Forget savings. Where’s the
sense of acceptance in that? And some
even come to revel in living on the
edge, skillfully eluding collection
agents on their heels like blood
hounds.
Oh sure, there are the weirdoes out
there, the financial advisers and those
bothersome pests who don’t see the
value in pre-approval. They speak of
using the credit cards only when you
can afford it, of making prompt pay
ments and paying off the balance each
month. i
These perverse, financially
responsible cyborgs say the problem
with pre-approval looms large in our
country. They point out that the
national debt more than quadrupled
from less than a trillion dollars in the
early ’80s to about $4.5 trillion by
early 1995. And nearly a million peo
ple a year wrae filing for bankruptcy
during that same period.
But, although our beloved credit
card companies live in fear of the pos
sibility of their customers filing bank
ruptcy, I also hear that they HATE
responsible financial planning. Paying
off balances promptly and consistently
robs them of the chance to tell us how
much we mean to them, year after
year. And if we insist on responsible
financial behavior, it could even jeop
ardize our pre-approval!
Surely avoiding that lonely sce
nario is worth several thousand dollars
and years of indebtedness, isn’t it?
Sex ed should include masturbation
JIM VANCE is a senior
physical and health educa
tion major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
Pee-Wee Herman once said,
“When masturbation is outlawed, we’ll
all be outlaws.”
As a future health educator in this
country, I have heard a lot about die
abstinence-based sex education plan.
But what does that mean exactly?
Do I have a nun come in and talk
about what it’s like to “not get any”? Or
tell diem, “This is sex.” (Use of visual
aids.) “Don’t do it Any questions?” Ch
am I going to tell kids the risks
involved with sexual activity at a young
age and without proper planning?
Some think it is a means of strictly
making people aware of risk and risk
reduction. I agree this negates the
moral argument against sex education,
but look at cigarette smoking and alco
hol use and abuse. People know all
about the problems caused by both, but
how many people still smoke? How
many people are still near-alcoholics?
So what do we do about these lads hav
ing sex? They just won’t listen to us.
.. Well of course they won’t We
haven’t made not having sex appealing
to them. Kids love sex.
Let me rephrase that: People love
sex. It’s everywhere. It’s damn enjoy
able to experience orgasms. It’s Mother
Nature’s little insurance policy. She
made sex fun so we would be sure to
reproduce. So how do we find the
happy medium?
Does the name Jocelyn Elders ring
abell? She was the surgeon general a
few years back who was fired since she
believed masturbation should be part of
a national sex education curriculum.
She said “masturbation is a part of
human sexuality.”
It’s too bad everyone was just a lit
tle too anal retentive to stand to hear the
fact that people will have sex if you
don’t occupy diem with something
else.
I liked Elders because she didn’t
sugarcoat the issues. Comparing driver
education to sex education, she said,
“We taught them what to do in the front
seat, why don’t we teach them what to
do in die back seat?”
She was a resource for statistics
people didn’t want to hear “Eighty
percent of women masturbate, and 90
percent of men masturbate, and the rest
lie.”
She proved the need for masturba
tion-inclusive curriculum in sex educa
tion when she said a lack of education
and available birth control causes 62
percent of pregnancies to be
unplanned.
I sure hope we are a long way from
the days when we condemned mastur
bation simply because it would not
result in conception.
According to the Official Duke
University Health Issues Web site, cur
rent research shows masturbating does
NOT cause insanity, perversions,
impotence, poor athletic performance
or infertility, and does NOT prevent
people from developing positive social
and sexual relationships.
I’m living proof of this. None of
these adjectives apply to me, and I’ve
even had an impressive collegiate ath
letic career at Nebraska. I also get
along well with most people.
Let’s look at some benefits to this
masturbation-inclusive sex education
curriculum, shall we? Planned
Parenthood reports 6 million abortions
each yean Could this number drop? It’s
very probable.
Guys, you don’t have to deal with
the sickness you feel when you see her
the morning after.
Girls, you don’t have to worry
about the guilt
I also find it helps in relationships
where your partner is not too keen on
premarital room rodeo.
So how do we teach it? This is
important-we have to be tactful with
this part We have to be adult about it
and say the word Say it out loud, right
now, as practice: “masturbation.”
Good. I knew you could do it. (If
you can’t, that’s the problem - you’re
not educated.) If we take an adult
approach, maybe people will be more
adult about it.
So what about descriptions? Do we
demonstrate? I think the answer to that
is simple. People can figure it out for
themselves. Besides, that’s half the
challenge, and I don’t think as a health
educator I could do seven or eight
demonstrations a day. Thatlsaiot of
pressure!
The bottom line is people are hav
ing sex, they will continue to have sex,
and the problems will not cease. Things
don’t get better on their own. We need a
change, not moral arguments. We need
to look at the core issue.
This is a possible solution to many
problems caused by the sexual activity
of young kids. What’s a worse thought
for you? Your children masturbating, or
them getting pregnant, having an abor
tion, or even getting AIDS.
It’s a no-brainer.
SOME THINGS ABE MEANT
TO BE CLOSED
YOUR MIND ISN’T ONE OP THEM.
For decades, MDA has shown
how valuable people with
disabilities are to society. We
believe talent, ability and desire
are more important than
strength of a person’s muscles.
The one barrier these people
oaa’t overcome Is a closed mind.
Keep yours open.
MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY ASSOCIATION
TZijJIaI
1- 800-878-1717
The Chancellor^ Commission on the Status of People of Color is
a committee comprised of students,staff, and faculty of color at
UNL. Our mission includes: collecting information from all
areas of the UNL community; directly advising the
Chancellor’s Commission; and advocating for action on behalf
of all People of Color. Currently, there are new openings for
students, staff, and faculty Commission members. Applications
are easily obtained from Aidis Holland at 472-5401.
| j
Goodwill
February 26,1998
Grand Opening at 4555 Vine
Teresita Aguilar
Associate Professor, Center for Curriculum and
Instruction
Teaching from the Margin - Teaching from the
Heart:
Voices of Three Grassroots Activists
in Search of Social Justice
3:30 p.m., Wednesday, February 25, Andrews Hall Lounge