EDITOR
Paula Lavigne
OPINION
EDITOR
Kasey Kerber
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Brad Davis
Erin Gibson
Shannon Heffelfinger
Chad Lorenz
Jeff Randall
Our
VIEW
The price
of peace
Northern Ireland accord
is a lesson for everyone
After almost 30 years of violence, failed
cease fires and extinguished peace accords,
diligence finally paid off for those committed
to a lasting peace in Northern Ireland.
Many Americans misunderstand the con
flict in the British-ruled province north of the
Republic of Ireland. Though more of an eco
nomic rather than religious fight, the dispute
pitted the mainly Protestant majority unionists
against the primarily Catholic minority nation
alists over a variety of issues, especially over
who would rule the province.
It may have been a mere political debate
had the long-held hatred not been so intense
and the refusal to negotiate so strong. For the
noof flnroo if Vioo Viaon o rvn**w"*_
tuated by violence.
On Friday, there was hope.
A peace accord was signed by England and
Ireland’s prime ministers and leaders of the
nationalist and unionist parties in Northern
Ireland. Many people in Northern Ireland are
skeptical of the agreement, as peace has always
been just a delusion to them.
But before they reject it, the citizens of
Northern Ireland - and of the world at large -
must see something in the document before
they toss it out. And then they must learn from
it before they decide to accept or reject its pro
posal.
It is important fo| the world to learn from
how Northern Ireland handled this long, slow
crawl through a marathon. It’s even important
for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to
learn how opposition must come together for
compromise and how they can’t do that in a
half-hour lunch meeting or a fluffy and vague
condemnation buned m a handbook.
The peace accord is 67 pages and more
than 10,000 words long. It breaks issues down
into specifics. It is not afraid to address the
controversial issues. It came upon a lot of road
blocks, but it didn’t take a permanent detour.
, What it took was 22 months of debate and
patience with everyone’s concerns and
demands. It didn’t try to come up with blanket
statements, and it didn’t claim to know every
answer for the future.
And its most important feature was compro
mise. The unionists wanted a British-ruled
province, and the nationalists wanted to be part of
the Republic of Ireland. The agreement creates a
Northern Ireland Assembly, creating a formal
link between Northern Ireland and the Republic
but remaining under British jurisdiction.
The details are numerous, as they should
be. And while the document’s prominence is
for the province, it should be a lesson to every
one trying to solve a conflict whether in
Northern Ireland, North Dakota or north
Lincoln.
No one gets everything he wants, but at
least everyone gets something.
Peace.
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Haney’s
VIEW
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Sexual smarts
Higher IQs can't help men understand women
strides in the^e areas and advance the
amount of knowledge in this world.
The one subject that men have
been studying longer than any of
these is women. After all of the
studying on the subject of women,
men are probably five steps further
back then they started. •
Men can listen to women, we can
empathize with them, we can even 1
act like gentlemen to them, but we
will never be able to understand
them. We can pretend like mothers,
but the true understanding will
always be beyond our grasp.
A man’s life is simple. He hides
his feelings, thinks about sex, drinks
a beer, plays sports and thinks about
sex.
At the age of 13 girls and boys
are separated and shown a film about
puberty. Women learn about men
struation, feelings, physical develop
ment and issues of maturity.
Men see a film about a guy
drinking beer in a recliner while
watching the Chicago Bears play
football. Oh yeah, there’s also a copy
of Playboy on the coffee table.
Women have access to a wealth
of emotions and feelings that give
them an unfair advantage in the
world of dating and relationships.
They have the ability of knowing
their opponent mid his weakness. Let
me show you an example of the
advantage that Women possess over
men.
' (Dramatic scene change) We are
at a dance club. Men and women
dance to the flashing lights and the
pounding base of a Snoop Dogg
song. At the completion of the song a
young man stops dancing with his
friends and the ladies they are with.
He’s tired and thirsty and leaves
to get a drink. On his way off the
dance floor, a very attractive young
lady stops him.
“Why are you leaving die dance
floor?”
“I’m going to get a drink and to
catch my breath.”
“That’s too bad; this is a really
good song. It’s great to dance to.”
“Would you like to dance?”
“With you?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
With this last word, the woman
turns around and walks away. A
laugh resembling Satan’s is heard
echoing through the club.
The man in that story was me and
the woman, she was evil.
* Women control social interac
tions. A woman is the final v/ord in a*
situation as basic as flirting. She
determines which men get to speak,
how long they get to speak and what
the end of the conversation leads to.
Why is that?
To quote from a guide to flirting
I found on the World Wide Web, “It
is the woman who is the gatekeeper
of each escalation point, so to speak.
For a variety of reasons (which I will
be happy to explore elsewhere), it is
the female side of the flirting couple
who determines what the appropriate
response to each overture will be.”
The reasons to be explored else
where never were. Maybe there is a
secret connecting site that only
women know about.
We are supposed to be smarter
than women; why can’t we take the
upper hand in this situation? Why
does the presence of a woman
change a man’s IQ level? -
Are all of you guys ready for the
answer? Well, so am L
I think we are going to be waiting
for a long time. I’m guessing it has
something to do with sex, but I’m
sure I’ll never know.
For those of you out there who
think I’m neglecting the issue of
power involved in male-female rela
tionships, let me say one thing.
Men do have a physical superior
ity to most women. Men who use
this advantage for rape or spouse
abuse are not real men, and they -
don’t deserve to ever know the beau
ty a woman can possess. That said,
on to the conclusion. «
This column has been entirely
opinionated with no real facts to
back it up, and I know this.
How can I make such huge gen
eralizations about men and women?
I’m a guy, and I don’t know bet
ter.
MARK ZMARZLY is a
senior English and speech
communications major
and a Daily Nebraskan
columnist.
Last semester I learned a valu
able piece of information. I learned
that men are smarter than women.
Before all of the women out there
start digging out their rustiest pair of
scissors and looking up my address,
allow me to explain that statement
Last semester I was sitting in my
social psychology class when this
statement was made.
My professor told us that there
are more men in the highest IQ
bracket than women. If men are
smarter than women then why do we
act like such idiots around diem?
The answer to that question was
Derng narrowed aown oy my protes
sor.
“While men may have more of a
representation in the higher end of
the intelligence deviation, men and
women average out at the same intel
ligence.”
OK, so on average, we’re just as
smart as women, but that still doesn’t
explain male behavior. My professor
finally dropped the bomb that
cleared everything up for me.
, “While there are more men in the
higher end of intelligence, there are
» also more men who are mentally
retarded.”
My professor was stating facts
- that have statistical backing. I’m
stating opinion, and I have only my
own experiences and observations to
back me up.
Men have excelled in physics,
engineering, architecture, psycholo
gy, English, mathematics and chem
istry. Research and studying have
allowed men to make enormous