EDITOR
Erin Gibson
OPINION
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Cliff Hicks
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BOARD
Nancy Christensen
Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
Jeff Randall
Bret Schulte
i-—-—
■ ■ '4
Our
VIEW
Paltry
prediction
Urban legends cured
with common sense
On Nov. 10, 1998, a rogue terrorist
group, in an attempt to gain attention to its
cause, will drop an unspecified toxic viral
agent into the ventilation system of Abel
Hall.
Nearly a thousand students will die with
in five hours and hundreds more will pass
away later from secondhand infection.
Sound ridiculous? It should, because tfe
just made it up.
Just like someone made up the urban
legend about the Little Bo Peep serial soror
ity killer, and look at how far that went.
The legend goes as thus - a psychic pre
dicted a massacre would happen in a sorori
ty house at a Big 12 school this Halloween
weekend. The killer would arrive dressed to
kill as Little Bo Peep. And the prediction
, was from a real live psychic. Not a 1-900
psychic, but die very same psychic who pre
dicted the Oklahoma City bombing.
li s ail iaxe, oi course.
But, as a result of the legend’s circula
tion, more than a couple sororities were at
less than full capacity Halloween night. This
didn’t just happen here at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, but across the Midwest.
Sorority members said they were simply
uncomfortable staying, fearing the very pos
sibility of such an event. ,
Urban legends, by their very definition,
are grounded in reality just enough to be
: believable,«no matterhow implausible they
sound, th^e usually started by one of two
creative people and last forever.
Everyone knows a few: The medical stu
dents who lure victims at Mardi Gras to a
hotel room and steal their kidneys. The guy
with the gerbil lodged somewhere very
uncomfortable. The python that comes up
from die toilet.
Whole Web sites are dedicated to the
collection, study and debunking of such leg
ends. While not all these legends are entire
ly untrue, all have been wildly exaggerated
^fey those %ho have retold the story.
Eventually, rational minds look into them,
and people’s so-called “proof” evaporates,
like the ghosts at haunted houses.
Urban legends prey on the naivete and
susceptibility of people. Almost all urban
legends urge you to tell your friends, hoping
to “prevent you from befalling the same
fate.” That’s how they thrive. Average people
retell them.
mey ve ratten 10 e-maii, ana raeir me
has been extended far beyond what anyone
could have thought. People forward diem on
to everyone they know, just on the off
chance they might be true.
And yet in looking at them, it’s a wonder
they even get anywhere at all. A mass mur
der predicted by a psychic? Dressed as Little
Bo Peep? People stealing kidneys? Pythons
in the sewers? Gerbils in... ahem.
Where’s good, old-fashioned common
sense when you need it?
-n si ujovriguoirfl oabmb uoy as 08 to
” Editorial Policy nw* *
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Spring 1998 Daily Nebraskan. They
do not necessarily reflect ttie views erf the
University of Nebraska-Lincoin, its
employees, its student body or the
Univereity of Nebraska Board of Regents.
A column is solely the opinion qf its author.
' The Board of Regents serves as pubfisher
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, responsit^ty for the editorial
content of the newspaper lies solely in
the hands of its student employees.
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[f ItCKAT MlClfrti'xi OJ b rtf bne I
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief
letters to the editor and guest columns,
but does not guarantee tneir publication.
The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to
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■ . ~ • ■ ■ V f . • - ,
Mook’s
VIEW
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■. I 1 - ,
Study hard
Education should be a college student's priority
TASHA KUXHAUSEN is a
sophomore news-editorial
major and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist.
Why are you here?
It’s a serious question. Have you
ever really thought about your inten
tions in college?
I don’t mean for you to ask your
self why you are at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln and not Arizona
State, Northwestern or another col
lege.. What I mean is, why are you in
college at all?
I’m here for a few reasons. Of
course I want to get a job in the
future, and most jobs these days want
employees who have more than a
high school diploma.
I’m also in college because of my
parents. They both went to college,
so they have instilled in me the Value
of a college degree.
Last but not least, I’m in college
because it’s paid for.
Unfortunately not with a scholar
ship, but by my wonderful mom and
dad. (Thanks, you guys.) I don’t want
to waste the money they so gracious
ly have given me by flunking out of
school, so I plan to work very hard
while I’m here.
When my parents were in col
lege, there were kids in school to
party or get away from home, and
there were students wanting to excel
in sports or academics.
m ms iraterwty or mose mmsci
es who had come to a small college
in Nebraska merely to avoid being
sent to war.
They had to take the 24 hours
required a year at a level of success
acceptable by their local draft boards.
In those times, many colleges
across this nation were founded to
. _
take in the money of those who were
so desperate to escape the fighting in
Vietnam.
Hiram Scott College, John J.
Pershing College and John F.
Kennedy College no longer exist, but
they did a lot of business in the late
1960s. Those students and those col
leges made no secret of why they
were there. ' ;j.. ^ ^
Survival, either physical or finan
cial, is a great motivator.
Who can blame the young men
who went to college to obtain a draft
deferment to avoid or postpone what
might have been the end of their lives
in the combat zones of Southeast
Asia?
But there are no excuses for the
students who come to college to
waste precious time and money
because they don’t have a respectable
reason to be here.
So how ’bout you? Why are you
really in college?
Are you one of those students
who came to college to escape your
overprotective parents? I know there
are students here for that reason.
There are some of you who don’t
Particularly like school, but finally
have an opportunity to free yourself
from your parents’ watchful eye, and
college seems like the perfect way to
/1a ca
One day you’ll finally realize that
you’ve actually been here for about
seven years, constantly avoiding all
opportunities to visit your parents,
and you’re not sure what your major
is.
' Or are you here at college
because going to parties is your
favorite hobby? I know kids who
take more time planning a party than
they do studying for a midterm.
With all the partying, studying
usually doesn’t get much attention.
These students often don’t last longer
than one semester. “ '
If they do happe^ uPift&KB it to
graduation, they can’tra^Smfer
anything they learned because they
killed a lot of their brain cells. What
a waste of money and time!
I’m not saying partying is bad;
That’d make me a hypocrite. All I’m
trying to point out is that your goal
here at college should be more com
plex than trying to chug six beers in a
couple of minutes.
As I mentioned before, there are
those we all know who can’t seem to
put down the Nintendo control or say
no to the daily temptation of “party
on, dude!” They end up wasting the
time and money the rest of us find so
vitally necessary for academic and
financial survival.
Every year the freshman class at
the university has met higher stan
dards of admissions, and it is suppos
edly more qualified for college level
studies than any class before.
Yet, we all know of qualified stu
dents who have a hard time either
finding their way to class or finding
the energy to put forth the studying
needed to remain in college.
The waste of time, money and
brain power of those who don’t put
an effort into succeeding in college,
though they are qualified, is ridicu
lous.
1 admire those students who
com! to the university for what 1 feel
are the “right reasons.”
Those who want to obtain a high
er education work hard in their class
es so they will have some knowledge
to show for their time spent in col
lege.
mere are also respectable stu
dents who work their butts off in
school and at part-time or full-time
jobs, just so they can stay at the uni
versity.
We all say we hate school at
times when we are stressed out with
tests or clueless as to which majors
to pursue.
But if we push ourselves to keejp
focused, in the end, the knowledge1
we have learned in college will be
one of our most sacred possessions.
It will takp us in directions we may
not have gone with only a high
school diploma. >
So those students with proper 1
* focus, i commend you-, ^balaaow
why you are here, and it is fcfeflWMy
an admirafc»<*8afe6fK>f> I) ^ oW
Those of little purpose and limit
ed motivation, you should seriously
reconsider your intentions for being i
at college.
If knowledge and preparation for
a career are your purposes, stay. If
your reasons are frivolous, hit the
road!