EDITOR
Erin Gibson
OPINION
EDITOR
Cliff Hicks
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Nancy Christensen
Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
Jeff Randall
Bret Schulte
Our
VIEW
Web
of deceit
Internet shoppers need
to be wary of scams
With the rise of users on the
Internet, more and more people are
shopping at home. While it <>nce
seemed that QVC was destined to
take over America’s shopping habits,
the Internet has rapidly become
America’s shopping center of
choice. Consumers are going digital
for dozens of reasons - convenience,
accessibility and, most of all, the
ability to get away from the crowds.
But every brave new world has a
few brave new criminals.
Credit card companies are adver
tising about how easy it is to shop at
home. They advertise how much
time a person saves shopping at
home, pointing out people can avoid
the mall, avoid the lines and get what
they want from a La-Z-Boy, while
they sip a beer with one hand and
peruse the wares with their mouse in
the other.
Is it safe, though?
Internet crime has risen 24 per
cent, CNN’s Web site reported
Sunday. The criminals are out there -
the question is how to avoid them
and stay protected.
More often than not, the crimi
nals aren’t high-tech hijackers, com
mandeering credit card numbers by
splicing into connections. They
aren’t digital code monkeys who can
peel open encryption with their
teeth. They aren’t using their pro
gramming skills to find new ways to
“acquire” money.
They’re into the tactics of old.
Like those who commit mail
order fraud, these criminals are peo
ple who are reliant on trust. They say
they’ve got great deals. They say
they’ve got hot items. Send them a
check, they say. Trust them, they say.
It’s also the last thing they say
before they vanish into the ether of
the Internet.
All it takes to stay safe on the
Internet is a little common sense.
Don’t send checks to unreliable
sources, especially P.O. boxes. While
a lot of legitimate Internet business
es work out of P.O. boxes, they are
also the most common place to get
short-changed. Sending credit card
numbers through the Web should be
done only through encrypted
sources. They aren’t impossible to
break, but they’re better than noth
ing.
In the end, it’s a simply question
of reason. Any deal that sounds too
good to be true usually is, whether it
be by mail or by Web. Better to be
cautious than to be taken.
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the Fall 1998 Daily Nebraskan. They do
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University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its
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VIEW
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Looking back
True history learned by study of all viewpoints
GRAHAM EVAN JOHNSON
is a graduate student in
German and environmental
social studies and a Daily
Nebraskan columnist
Never forget that we are here today
because of our ancestors.
Some of our ancestors lived here
for hundreds, maybe thousands, of
years before any other human had
walked these plains. These ancestors
were virtually annihilated by many
later-generation European Americans.
The Anglo-Americans destroyed
the buffalo, decimated the multitudes
of different tribal societies and forced
the remaining few to abandon their
heritage.
Many of the later-generation
European Americans also harnessed
the blood and sweat of enslaved races
of people. The African Americans,
Mexican and Latino Americans and
the Asian Americans built up, excavat
ed and sustained the agricultural and
industrial machine of die United
States over the last 150 years.
Other ancestors continued to
arrive for one reason or another over
the past 100 years, and now we have
all oi us.
Colonization, genocide and slav
ery aren’t unique to this country - they
have happened many times in many
different countries during many differ
ent decades, some more recent than
others.
But this column isn’t about colo
nization, genocide or slavery specifi
cally - rather, it is about understanding
and respecting the past, so that
progress can be made in the present
for the future.
Many times, the topics of the past
are brought up only to explain when
and where something happened, but
few times do we understand why or
how historical events happened and
how they were perceived by the losers.
Much of the secondary education
al system in the United States seems to
concern itself with covering up the
truth of the past by socializing youths
under a blanket of “democratic” pride
and Anglo-national heritage.
I find much more prick and
•i .
national heritage in knowing that the
inhabitants of this country have a big
ger variety of ethnic, religious and tra
ditional backgrounds than anywhere
in the world.
However, I think the overwhelm
ing differences force many in power to
perpetuate the “melting pot” mentali
ty, without really examining critical
times in the history of this land. And
this can lead to severe problems.
Usually a thorough history is not
obtained in part because winners write
history, and the losers’ perspectives are
lost. Another reason is that by evading
the depth of certain issues, it is easy to
pacify the masses without stepping on
any toes or instigating any uprising in
historically marginalized groups of
people.
Well, times have changed, and die
past must become a useful tool for
those who are forging a future. Only a
thorough understanding of past histo
ries can allow individuals to reckon
with past activities and pursue a better
future.
For ©cample, the Germany of
today is much different than die Nazi
Germany that threatened Europe with
military takeover and exterminated
almost an entire ethnic population.
One reason is because Germany was
completely bombed into rubble, and
the elders still remember those incred
ibly horrible times.
^vnuuici icitsuu is uiai me yuuuis
spend two full years studying the
dynamics that created the second
world war; the society before and dur
ing Nazi Germany, the extremely terri
ble events that took place during the
war and the rebuilding afterward
We need to recognize and under
stand the good and die bad of our
national history as well, so that it may
be reconciled and progress. I believe
that many of today’s problems are a
carryover from improperly reconciling
past events.
For example, we need to under
stand the American Indian societies
and destruction of them and why, to
this day, reservations are impoverished
with a variety of social problems such
as alcoholism and illiteracy.
We need to understand the slave
trade, “liberation” of Africans in the
United States, the civil rights move
ment and why members of the black
population are still impoverished by
poverty, discrimination, violence and
ill health.
We need to understand the social
movements of the 1960s and the key
figures who preached nonviolence and
understanding but nevertheless were
■t- • '• - '
systematically assassinated. We need
to know why we still haven’t learned
the truth about those assassinations.
There are ways to break the barri
ers of past ignorance and pursue a bet
ter future. The most important issue is
that die schools and all individuals
must internalize the truths and situa
tions in our history. We also must
understand the many other viewpoints
than the Anglo-American.
Another important way we can
dismantle some of the barriers we find
with rectifying the past is by partici
pating in cross-cultural events that
bring a better understanding through
experience. Such opportunities as liv
ing in other countries or enjoying festi
vals like the UNTIE Pow-Wow very
effectively destroy stereotypes and
develop appreciation.
While I became incredibly enlight
ened about certain American Indian
traditions at the powwow, I was com
pletely disappointed that, in a universi
ty that has almost 20,000 individuals
within its community, there were
maybe only 50 people present who
weren’t of Native American descent
Does this fact represent a general
disinterest and apathy by the majority
of Lincoln’s “academic” community?
Or does it perhaps express a fear of the
unknown and a misunderstanding by
individuals who had no part in creat
ing a history that they can not recon
cile, but can do something about the
piCKUI.'
Reality is sometimes a difficult
pill to swallow, bait it is far more
important to take the medicine than to
let the wounds continue to fester,
becoming increasingly swollen and
irritated.
The past is not something to for
get, ever. Past situations need to be
respected for what they were and the
circumstances that surrounded them.
Then situations can be can be under
stood and properly rectified, so that
the future does not drown in a sea of
discontent, misunderstanding, igno
rance, prejudice inequality and injus
tice.
Apologies are a token, not a sym
bol.
The great spirit is within us all, for
we are the living descendants and
society of all of our ancestors. Let us
learn deeply from the histories of
humanity, so that we may use these
useful keys and open the doors to the
nation’s pillar of strength.
There we wall find that prosperity
and equality for the future are embed
ded in understanding what has already
happened.
