EDITOR
Erin Gibson
OPINION
EDITOR
Cliff Hicks
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Nancy Christensen
Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
Jeff Randall
Bret Schulte
I
Our
VIEW
Quitting
time
United States should
back off Iraq attacks
As internal and external tensions continue
to boil in the post-Cold War United States, the
government has made it clear that it enforces
a zero-tolerance policy on terrorism.
Timothy McVeigh will get the death
penalty for the Oklahoma City bombing,
millionaire Osama bin Laden earned himself
a private missile attack for his alleged partici
pation in the destruction of two U.S.
embassies in Africa, and President Clinton,
distracted with impeachment proceedings,
continues to work for peace in Israel.
And when you are the strongest, richest
and loudest proponent of peace on the block,
you get to make your own rules.
Such is the case in the current conflict
with Iraq, possibly the most blatant and
enduring episode of American hypocrisy in
recent years. While U.S. politicians denounce
terrorism and condemn extremists, our mili
tary forces are waging a nondescript war
against a third-world nation.
On Saturday, U.S. forces launched the
first of two weekend attacks against anti-air
craft Iraqi military installations. According to
the Pentagon, those installations were
promptly “suppressed” by U.S. missiles.
Lately, our U.S. missiles have been sup
pressing a lot of things - such as Iraqi sover
eignty, basic human rights and international
will opposing armed conflict against Iraq.
With the ongoing aggression against Iraq,
the United States is gaining a global reputa
tion as a bully, a hypocrite and even a terrorist
- fueled not by religion or politics, but viscer
al greed.
We want this oil-rich nation to play ball
and we will use our might until it does. This
means defying international opinion, aban
doning the United Nations and waging a war
without a final goal or objective.
In response to the Dec. 16 U.S. strike on
Iraq, the French foreign ministry declared,
“France deplores the escalation which led to
American military strikes against Iraq and the
grave human consequences they could have
for the Iraqi people.”
Russia responded with a harsh indictment
of U.S. policy, particularly the decision to
ignore the U.N. Security Council’s vote
against military action toward Iraq.
Boris Yeltsin personally criticized the
strikes saying, “By taking unprovoked mili
tary action, the United States and Britain have
crudely violated the U.N. charter... and the
norms and rules of responsible behavior of
states.”
The result of our militant attitude is
becoming clear now as Arab nations met yes
terday to contemplate a condemnation of U.S.
actions. It is a landmark meeting for Iraq,
which has been relatively isolated by the
Middle Eastern community.
It’s time the United States starts living
what it preaches about terrorism, or U.S. citi
zens around the world and at home may be the
final victims of our government’s aggression.
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Spring 1999 Daily Nebraska^. They
do not necessarily reflect the views of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its
employees, its student body or the
University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
A column is solely the opinion of its author.
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Babin’s
VIEW
-
f
DN
LETTERS
Who’s slanted?
Jessica Flanagain makes asser
tions in her column (“Slanted agen
da,” 1/21/99) about the UNL
Women’s Studies Program that cause
me to doubt her credibility, and won
der about her “slanted agenda.”
" I believe mine was the 20th
Century Women Writers class in
which she says that at least 70 percent
of the reading material was “lesbian
literature.” Looking back at the syl
labus for that class, I count 4Q women
writers, eight of whom are lesbians.
That doesn’t add up to “at least 70
percent,” but I didn’t count pages.
All but two of the writers are
included in the latest edition of the
Norton Anthology of Literature by
Women. They include Adrienne Rich,
Audre Lorde, Amy Lowell, Djuna
Barnes, May Sarton, Dorothy
Allison, Gloria Anzaldua and Robin
Becker. Leslie Feinberg is transsexu
al. Even if theirs had been the only
poems, stories, and essays we had
read, they nevertheless represent
great diversity in women’s experi
ences, perspectives and literary tal
ents and could not be read as promot
ing anv single “agenda.”
In her focus only on sexual orien
tation, Jessica seems to have missed
all that these women represent about
20th-century women’s lives. They
write about being mothers, sisters,
daughters, friends and lovers; they
challenge readers to think about aes
thetics, spirituality, personal and
social responsibility, about love,
truth, justice, beauty and ethics.
Occasionally some write about the
pain of living in a homophobic cul
ture. _
By implication, Jessica asserts
that my class is part of a sinister “les
bian political campaign” in Women’s
Studies. I challenge her (and others)
to reread the work of these and other
lesbian writers to determine just what
agenda is being advanced.
Joy Ritchie
associate professor
English and women’s studies /
Who’s worthy?
Jessica Flanagain’s premise j
is fundamentally flawed. If we ■ ?
deem subjects worthy of study
based only upon the propor
tion of the population they
refer to directly, then entire '
courses in, say, Western
Civilization, Art History,
Renaissance Literature or
Philosophy would have to be
scrapped because men represent only
50 percent of the population. The
Black Women Authors class that
Flanagain praises would also have to
go, because according to Flanagain’s
reasoning, the percentage of black
women in the U.S. population is
clearly not large enough to warrant
such a course.
The whole point of Women’s
Studies is to redress some of these
discrepancies in representation, and
to question why and how some repre
sentations have taken precedence in
our culture. To suggest that lesbian
literature is over-represented in the
academy or elsewhere is quite simply
delusional - and despite Flanagain’s
protests, obviously homophobic.
Dr. Suzy Beemer
assistant professor
English
Whose List?
I was disappointed that Jessica
Flanagain’s list of “renowned les
bians” that the Women’s Studies
Program teaches about was so short.
We also teach about the work, lives
and accomplishments of the
renowned lesbians and bisexuals, all
women who loved
women: Willa
Cather, Sarah
Orne Jewett,
Eleanor
Roosevelt,
Virgini
Woolf
Bessie
Smith,
Adrienne
Rich,
Lorraine
Hansberry,
A 1 i c
Walker,
Emil
Dickinson, Jane Addams, Carson
McCullers, Gertrude Stein, Louise
Pound and many others.
Come to think of it, I hope that
other departments are teaching about
the work, lives and accomplishments
of men who loved men, such as Walt
Whitman, Michelangelo, E.M.
Forster, Plato, Herman Melville,
Henry James, Peter Ilich
Tchaikovsky, James Baldwin,
Tennessee Williams, Bayard Rustin,
Lord Byron, George Gershwin and
others. X
I could go on, but I won’t.
Barbara DiBernard
professor
English and women’s studies
Who knew?
After reading Jessica Flanagain’s
column (1/21 ;99), I was filled with a
warm sense of gratitude that I had
chosen the UNL English Department
to conduct my graduate studies. The
university is simply unparalleled in
its opportunities for knowledge - for
example, neither I nor any of my
friends would have noticed that the
* ... stronghold of the lesbian politi
"‘Sk' cal wing is headquartered in
Lincoln, Neb.! And all this
time. I had no idea that all
my class work was merely
going toward the creation
of a lesbo-fascist night
mare, rather than gaining a
masters degree.
I would like to take this
opportunity to thank one
alert columnist of the Daily
Nebraskan for alerting me
to this heinous situation. I
would change my course
load, but since the otherwise
admirably sagacious Ms.
Flanagain suggests no altema
llves me currcui ics
V\V bian-centered curricu
lum, I must conclude
that all my courses
are therefore fouled
with the taint of les
bianism, leaving me
no choice but to drop
out of graduate
school and seek my
career in another
field. I have heard
that medical
research pays well
for test subjects....
Paul Ward
graduate
student
English
J. ' ipr'
MeunieFalk/DN