Obituary for individuality
Cable television is at the heart of the evil that is conformity
AX. FORKNER is a junior
news-editorial major and
a Daily Nebraskan colum
nist.
I was conducting research on the
effects of sunshine and fresh air on
the sleeping habits of the typical
adult male last week. So, as I was
sleeping on a bench in front of Avery
Hall, I overheard a disturbing fact.
The Spice Girls have a video
game coming out (shiver).
However, I also heard something
else that got me thinking (no small
feat, mind you).
This girl was talking to a class
mate. She was wearing platform
shoes, black stretchy pants and a
Gadzooks top.
Basically, she looked straight out
of a Monica video.
No, not that Monica - the pop
singer. Sickos.
No big deal, right? However, she
was telling her friend that she was
going home for the weekend to
Bassett.
Which leads me to my gripe of
the week.
How can we make fun of small
town hicks when they don’t look like
small-town hicks?
As painful as this is, I have to
blame cable television. (I’m sorry,
girl, I really am. Can we still be
friends? I’ll still watch you.)
Cable TV and its most evil agent,
MTV, are slowly killing all of the
regional foibles that make this the
melting pot.
Maybe I’m just nostalgic, but I
liked the days when East Coast peo
ple acted and dressed like they were
better than us.
I miss small farm towns filled
with coveralls and work boots. Real
work boots, not the $200 Dr.
Martens.
How I miss the days of West
Coast people having the newest
“thing” in clothing. I vaguely remem
ber it looking like a shower curtain
with glitter and a denim belt.
Thank God, Southerners are still
painfully behind. Whee ha!
With MTV telling us what to
wear, what to say and what is in, the
country is becoming one large bland
piece of paper.
I hate paper.
Last Sunday the Lincoln 7*
Journal Star - that’s the paper with
the easier crossword - ran a photo _
question asking teen-agers who
decided what they wore. LfT 1
In exact words, the students
credited MTV for influencing
their tastes.
In one case a girl replied ,
that she wore military
fatigues because the group
No Fear does.
I shudder to see what
Marilyn Manson fans chose
to wear to the prom.
Don’t get me wrong, I
can understand the pressure
to be wearing the
“right” things or
saying the “right”
things.
I went to grade school.
See, when I was a kid
... I didn’t just say that,
did I? I did? Boy, do I need
a drink. ?
Anyway, when I was
younger we followed trends
too. Hey, I wore one batting
glove in Little League; I was
with it.
But I was 7 years old. Seven.
I don’t think a 7-year-old could
afford to be trendy today. Hell, I can’t
afford to be trendy today.
The great beast MTV needs to be
stopped. The country is losing its
regional identities.
Do you realize how dull the song
“California Girls” would be if it were
written today?
“Well, East Coast girls are hip, I
really dig those styles they wear. And
everyone else looks just like them,
from their clothes right to their hair.
“I wish they all could be Music
TV girls.”
It’s not just females either. Men
are just as guilty. Let me just give you
one example.
1 .. I . ( 'Jit mii in it ii
The commercial states that these
jeans are so hard that when you fall
down, they will scrape your skin.
Oh, I hope they make underwear
available too.
I wear Levi jeans, but the plain
ol’ ordinary ones. Oh yeah. They fit
too.
Of course, I really shouldn’t put
all the blame on MTV Again, it’s
painful, but all TV shares the blame.
(Honest, honey, I don’t want to fight
with you. It’s just the truth. Please try
to understand.)
Need an example? Monica
Lewinsky is now sporting the
“Rachel” haircut, for goodness’ sake.
Remember Paula Jones? After her
makeover she had braces and a hair
n-MlVv. - '1 • - \ \V**i
Matt Haney/DN \
cut styled after a certain cast member
of “Friends.” And it’s not Chandler.
Remember Linda Tripp? Tell me
she doesn’t look like John Goodman
in drag.
See, it’s all due to TV’s influence.
You might ask, “So Mr. Big Shot
Columnist Dude, if you’re so anti
trend what do you wear?”
You might ask. I might not
answer.
But in this case I will. “Mr.
Forkner is sporting the classic Levi
blue jeans. Notice they aren’t hard,
and they are the proper size for his
svelte figure.
“He is also wearing a lovely
Jimmy Buffett T-shirt. Forkner’s cap
is a giveaway from his favorite taclde
shop.
“He finishes off the
ensemble with a pair of
- ' $4 99 flip-flops that he
I bought at a K-Mart in
W Miami.”
^ You think you have me,
don’t you? A Jimmy Buffett T
' ||/} shirt? He’s a musician. Aren’t I
Jjlj' being influenced by the pop
Mm culture?
Hey, name me one song
p Buffett’s done except
jj\ “Margaritaville” and “Come
| \ Monday.” Pop culture, my shiny
/ butt.
■ I also will guarantee you that he
f will not be seen anytime soon on
' MTV
I don’t know why the death of
individuality scares me. Maybe I’m
just afraid that someday there will
only be four cliques to choose from.
Baby.
Posh.
Scary.
Sporty.
If you’ll excuse me. I need to
go into the living room and make up
with an old friend, if she’ll listen to
me.
3 Now where’s that damn remote
»control at?
Cast your vote
Students must respond to Initiative 413 to avoid expensive mistake
ADAM KLINKER is a
sophomore English and
history major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
Within the 3,500 words of the
newly introduced Initiative 413 is a
government spending limit that is a
dangerous proposition, detrimental
to the citizens and future citizens of
this state.
Basically, the initiative, if passed,
would make up roughly 11 percent
of the Nebraska Constitution - that’s
a lot of legalese.
As a writer, I know that not much
clarity or understanding can come
from 3,500 words of legislative ban
ter.
But the concern lies in the frame
work of that language and the dan
gers inherent in its presence in the
constitution.
On the surface, Initiative 413
looks inviting to the average
Nebraskan. Lower taxes, less of that
wretched government spending and,
on the whole, less government.
But in the fantasy world created
by Citizens for Nebraska’s Future,
the proponents and originators of the
proposed tax lid of Initiative 413,
despite lower taxes and revenues, the
state still will be able to maintain its
I , > ‘ ' '
programs.
Let’s take a random survey. For
all its heat in summer, its cold in
winter, its mosquitoes and horseflies;
for all its wide open spaces and lim
ited urban areas and flat fields of
com and rolling city streets; for its
universities, for its people - raise
your hands if you like Nebraska.
Let’s make it easier - raise your
hands if you like higher fees for fish
ing and hunting licenses. Raise your
hands for paying more to get into a
state park.
For students, raise your hands if
you want to pay higher tuition to
attend state universities.
If Initiative 413 should pass in
the Nov. 3 election, Nebraskans can
expect an increase in all of the above
- and cutbacks in areas such as rural
development and in the State Patrol.
out at the University ot
Nebraska-Lincoln, the latter survey
question is the focus for most stu
dents on campus - the tuition.
It’s obvious to most that this par
ticular piece of legislation, if passed,
would be injurious to students, staff
and faculty members alike.
Not only would it affect the
learning community at UNL, but the
entire population of the University of
Nebraska System. Staff salaries
would be decreased, staff members
could be more easily released and
whole curriculum areas could be cut
entirely.
Higher tuition for less education?
In May, the university reported a
budget cut of $ 14,949,598 for the
fiscal year 1999-2000 should
Initiative 413 pass.
Citizens for Nebraska’s Future,
the business leaders of the state who
have proposed the amendment, stat
ed that the directive in its amend
ment is to “slow the growth of gov
ernment spending and cut taxes in
Nebraska.”
Its numbers regarding the situa
tion offered a contradiction to what
they propose - a wash of double
talk.
The pro-tax lid group said the
state budget would continue to
increase as a result of growing tax
revenues from inflation and a growth
in state population.
It claims that $52.7 million (tax
revenue increased by inflation and
population growth) will go into the
general fund, thereby making it eligi
ble for allocation to the universities
by the legislature.
What about fees, State Patrol
protection and other important state
supported resources? All types of
programs need to be carefully
inspected by the legislature.
Suddenly the universities would
become less of a priority.
Citizens for Nebraska’s Future
has implemented some suspicious
fail-safes in its amendment.
Members say neither tax revenues
nor spending is cut or capped, but
they are limited.
What is the difference?
Citizens for Nebraska’s Future
thinks it can sustain the current state
supported programs and still cut
taxes. Any powerful body that can do
that would already have every high
office in the nation.
What Citizens for Nebraska’s
Future should say is that it plans on
slowing the growth of Nebraska as a
whole and cutting the ties that stu
dents have made to this state, all the
while putting a stranglehold on edu
cation.
How can Citizens for Nebraska’s
Future proclaim itself as such if it is
against the very thing that is any
state’s future - its students?
The passage of this amendment
would ensure an increase in tuition.
An increase in tuition would ensure a
decrease in admission to the state
universities. A decrease in admission
equals a decrease in graduation.
A decrease in graduation means
fewer students remaining in this
state.
The cycle would eat away at the
composite population of this state.
Certainly, capping taxes would
entice more businesses and people,
but the majority of those operations
would be from places other than
Nebraska.
I praise Gov. Ben Nelson for
standing fast to the idea of keeping
Nebraskans in Nebraska to do
Nebraska’s business.
With passage of Initiative 413,
Gov. Nelson’s proposition would die
along with any chance of keeping a
state connection with its best and
brightest young minds.
For the student, if it’s the only
political thing you ever do in your
life, you should be voting on Nov. 3.
Vote to lower your taxes or vote to
maintain a reasonable tuition bill. It’s
your choice.
Register to vote. You’ll have no
excuse on Oct. 5 when the Nebraska
Election Commission will be at UNL
to register students.
If you can’t make that, drive
home and register and drive home
and vote if you want to avoid the per
ceived hassle of absentee balloting.
What if you live so far away that
a trip isn’t practical? You can vote
absentee - no problem. Just clip out
or copy down the following, and
send it to the courthouse in your
home county, filling out the name of
your county seat or hometown:
To the Election Commissioner of
_County.
I-1
I Dear Sir or Madam: I
I would like to come home and J
j vote in the Nov. 3 election j
| because I am a hard-working col- |
I lege student concerned about the I
[ real future of Nebraska.
However, because of the \
I extensive journey between I
• Lincoln and_, and my •
J busy class schedule and other j
I activities, I am unable to make \
I this trip. I
It would be greatly appreciat- J
j ed if you would send me the inf or- a
I motion and registration for voting \
I on the absentee ballot. Thank you I
J very much.
I I
I I
I I
I_I
Be sure to sign this letter and
include your return address at
school. !
Do your part by voting against
Initiative 413 if you feel Nebraska
needs a bright future to look forward
to - a future provided by its stu
dents.
_j