EDITOR
Erin Gibson
OPINION
EDITOR
Cliff Hicks
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Nancy Christensen
Brad Davis
Sam McKewon
Jeff Randall
Bret Schulte
Our
VIEW
Rage at the
machines
Video games not
responsible for murders
What’s their next excuse - the gun
made them do it?
On Dec. 1, 1997, 14-year-old Michael
Carneal shot and killed three students in
the lobby of Heath High School in
Paducah, Ky., as they were breaking up
from their prayer group. Five other stu
dents were also wounded. Carneal later
pleaded guilty, but also claimed he was
mentally ill. He was sentenced to life in
prison.
Then, on Tuesday, the families of the
three students who were killed filed suit *
against all sorts of people. When the
smoke cleared, there were over two dozen
entities/people being sued for $ 130 mil
lion dollars.
The targets? Time Warner Inc.,
Polygram Film Distribution Inc., Palm
Pictures, Island Pictures, New Line
Cinema, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, id software
inc., Interplay Productions Inc. Network
Authentication Systems Inc. and Meow
Media Inc. and others.
These parents are also appealing to
have 24 former defendants - 19 adminis
trators and teachers, as well as five stu
dents - reinstated as defendants after a
judge dismissed a previous lawsuit.
These parents blame video games, the
Internet and Hollywood for the shooter’s
actions.
It hearkens back to the days where par
ents blamed Judas Priest and Dungeons &
Dragons for the violent acts of their chil
dren.
Rather than address the issue or mental
illness, these parents are seeking to profit
on their children’s deaths by blaming the
people with the most money.
“We intend to hurt Hollywood. We
intend to hurt the video game industry. We
intend to hurt the sex pom sites,” the fami
lies’ attorney Jack Thompson said.
They claim Cameal honed his shooting
skills on violent video games like “Doom”
and “Quake.” They claim that a dream
sequence in “The Basketball Diaries”
influenced him to do it. They claim that
violent pornography on the Internet
enhanced those feelings.
All of the lawsuit, however, disregards
the fact that Carneal admitted to being
mentally ill. They seek to blame everyone
except the person who actually pulled the
trigger.
It is our hope that the courts will soon
send a message to attorneys who believe
the ambulance-chaser ideal is still alive
and well, and strike down this suit not only
bluntly, but painfully.
Otherwise the day may come where a
parent decides that their kid went on a vio
lent shooting because he saw a report
about a violent shooting on the news.
Whefe does it stop?
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Spring 1999 Daily Nebraskan. 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.
The Board of Regents serves as publisher
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, responsibility for the editorial
content of the newspaper lies solely in
the hands of its student employees. -
Letter Policy
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief
letters to the editor and guest columns,
but does not guarantee their publication.
The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to
edit or reject any material submitted.
Submitted material beconr\g$ property of
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Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34
Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln,
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letters@unlinfo.unl.edu.
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DN
LETTERS
From the editor...
Tuesday, in my column “Six
pack of controversy,” I noted that
UNL’s $700,000 grant to fight binge
drinking included targeting alcohol
advertisements in student media.
Project leaders responded by
saying they support this newspaper’s
First Amendment rights, and that,
under the grant, they will never
demand the removal of all alcohol
advertising. Instead, they will ask
advertisers not to place ads promot
ing high-risk drinking - ads like
penny pitchers, huge-portion drinks,
all-you-can-drink specials and
ladies nights, where women drink
for free.
On a similar note, I learned
through the Daily Kansan that the
national Higher Education Act
includes a provision that says uni
versities should adopt policies limit
ing the advertisement of alcoholic
beverages on campus.
As long as the Daily Nebraskan
continues to follow its own stan
dards of acceptable advertising,
alcohol advertising as it now exists
should continue.
Erin Gibson
DN editor
Armageddon aside
I am writing in response to Cliff
Hicks’ column (4/9), “Apocalypse
later.” Being in my first year at UNL,
I have had many encounters like the
woman depicted in the column.
Personally, I hate it when people
shove their beliefs down my throat,
namely when it comes to religion.
The problem with people and reli
gion is that many people don’t want
to hear anything else; they think
they’re an expert. Earlier in the year,
I was walking to class, and I heard
someone shouting their fool head off
in the distance. I decided to head that
way to see what the fuss was about,
and to my surprise, there stood
Brother Jed, standing on a bench,
screaming like he owned the joint,
and calling people all sorts of nasty
names, most of them offensive and
derogatory. Now, I don’t care who
you are - the pope, the president or
Brother Jed’s unlucky relative - you
don’t have the right to publicly
humiliate people, especially if
you’re claiming to be a saint. Not
that the president has room to criti
cize anyway.
I take a unique position with reli
gion. Yes, I do believe in God, but I
don’t feel I need to go to church
every Sunday, go to bible camp or go
to youth group. Those things are
fine, don’t get me wrong, in fact I’ve
been to some youth groups that had
pretty cool people at them. It’s just
not my thing, I guess. Someone wise
told me that they would like to
believe that getting into heaven
doesn’t rely on an attendance record,
but rather how good of a person you
are. I’d like to believe that too. Some
of the biggest hypocrites I know sit
in the front row of church every
Sunday, and why? So they can look
good to the community. Does that
mean they’re better people than I
am? No, not really.
As for the end of the millennium
apocalypse, I’m not sweating it. The
end of the world has been coming
for thousands of years to all kinds of
people from all over the world. The
fact is, nobody knows for sure.
Period. We can’t live in fear of it for
ever; it’s going to happen regardless.
Whether it be today or billions of
years from now when our sun will
supernova and consume most of
Earth, we can’t tell. Really, there’s
no need to “duck and cover” on Dec.
31. For all we know, Jesus could be
on Earth as we speak, watching us,
and then one day he’s gonna bring
the hammer down. Hey, the Lord
works in mysterious ways, I’m told.
In the great words of the Mean
Farmer, only two things are certain
in life: death and taxes. When the
apocalypse does come, I’ll be confi
dent that the fact that I lived as a
pretty decentperson and that I
accept Jesus as my savior will be
taken into consideration, rather than
I didn’t abide by what some crazy
loon like Brother Jed told me.
Mitch Leaders
junior
journalism
Duck and cover
Tornado??!!
Whenever a tornado warning is
issued, the university (especially the
Residence Halls) forces everyone go
into the basement for cover. I think
students should have an option to
take cover or leave campus.
Tornado warnings are issued
very conservatively, which I think is
a good idea for people to be on alert
as early as possible. On Thursday
around one o’clock, warnings were
issued and everyone in the residence
halls was forced to go into the base
ment.
I feel that if someone wants to
leave the building instead of taking
cover, it should be their option.
Some people realize tornado warn
ings are extremely conservative and
know theirjudgment is better. The
university would be free of any lia
bility if a student chose to leave the
campus. I realize and appreciate the
university’s caring intentions, but
college is about choices. If we wish
to leave the university during a tor
nado warning, I feel we should have
a right to make this choice.
Matt Johnson
junior
accounting
If you have opinions and the ability to write, we might
publish them, tfyoucanlwrit^byt&eiodrawpictures, we
might publish those too.
stxeredUhours and maintain a 2.0 SPA or higher.
Prospective columnists or cartoonists must complete an
application, MMbte in $1 Nebraska Union, and submit two
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