EDITOR
Josh Funk
OPINION
EDITOR
Mark Baldridge
EDITORIAL
BOARD
Lindsay Young
Jessica Fargen
Samuel McKewon
Cliff Hicks
Kimberly Sweet.
Our
VIEW
Web
wars
Parents, not laws,
should decide rules
It’s over, censors. The war over the
Internet is done. You lost. Get over it. You lis
tening, Virginia?
A few years back, Congress passed a law
called the Communications Decency Act. It
basically said that anyone caught posting
something “illicit, indecent or immoral” on
the Internet where children could have
access to it would be guilty of a crime.
The Supreme Court laughed it out of
existence. The law took far too many liber
ties and infringed on the First Amendment
far too much. -
It also just doesn’t work practically. The
Internet doesn’t know how to discriminate
✓✓- between one per
rrii r . son who’s 15 and
The Internet one who’s 85.
doesn *t know , A blggf prob_
lem is that the
HOW tO Internet is a global
j. . force, not a local
discriminate one. Laws such as
between one these drive busi"
ueiween urie ness out of the
person who S United States and
into foreign coun
15 and one tries. The problem
wUn V. O ' doesn’t go away.
WnU A OJ. InJuly,Virginia
passed a law that
would bring back the CDA. Except, of
course, that the Supreme Court’s already said
the CDA is unconstitutional. Yet, Virginia is
adamant that its law has a good purpose
behind it.
What makes Virginia’s law any different
from the CDA?
Nothing, really.
The law makes it illegal to “knowingly
display” Web content deemed “harmful to
juveniles.” It also makes it illegal to display
this material “for (a) commercial purpose
(and) in a manner whereby juveniles may
examine or peruse” the material.
The burdens this places on Internet
providers alone is enormous. Under this law,
' the state can go after the service provider and
the person who made the Web site. It’s the
equivalent of suing a landlord for what a ten
ant hangs in an apartment window.
Laws such as Virginia’s and the CDA
seem appealing on the surface but sink much
lower into much less-wanted effects.
Censorship gives people a chance to
screen out what they don’t like, but the law
says people always have the right to talk, so
censorship is, for the most part, illegal.
In several of the Supreme Court justices’
writings about the CDA, many of them
stressed that parental supervision is the solu
tion, not censorship that infringes on the
rights of millions.
We couldn’t agree more.
Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of
the Fall 1999 Daily Nebraskan. They do
not necessarily reflect the views of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its
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University of Nebraska Board of Regents.
A column is solely the opinion of its author.
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Obermeyer’s
VIEW
''APPARENTLY VoiO
DON’T UNDERSTAND
WHo V&J'RE PEfrLIHGr
DN
LETTERS
Love Letter
Trevor, I just wanted to take the
time to thank you for your column,
“Love from a distance” (DN,
Wednesday).
It really hit home. The key to my
girlfriend’s future dreams lie at the
University of Findlay in Ohio ... more
than 800 miles away.
Being on campus and watching
couples walking to classes hand in
hand can be torture to a person when
his or her love is so far out of reach.
Knowing and hearing from people
who share in my torture makes it a lit
tle easier to handle.
Jesse Koepke
freshman
computer science
Get it Right
In response to Betsy Severin (DN
Letters, Wednesday): To call Jessica
Flanagain’s blatant lies “The Truth” is
an outrage to me as a Christian, a stu
dent and a human being.
The fact is: Being gay is not the
same as being a pedophile. Ms.
Flanagain keeps writing about agen
das - the Women’s Studies agenda,
the gay agenda - but I question hers.
Keep praying, Ms. Severin. The
Truth is still out there.
Jane Wright
senior
English
No Justice
I would like to respond to the col
umn by Daniel Justice, “Fight against
history: Columbus Day a celebration
of racism and savagery in ‘White’
America” (DN, Wednesday).
I genuinely dislike the term
“white.” I come from an Irish,
German and Swedish background.
This does not make me a drunken,
Nazi, neutral.
I am not a European-American
but an American. I was bom here, not
in another country. I guess I have to
apologize for being bom “white.”
Where exactly do you get off
blaming the problems of America on
the “white” population? I personally
wasn’t around in 1492, and I’ll
assume that Daniel, and other com
plainers, weren’t either.
I have some advice: Stop com
plaining, and do as Gandhi said: “Be
the change you want to see in the
world.”
Nicole Walden
freshman
broadcasting
Hysterical Events
I’d like to express a rebuttal to
Daniel Justice’s comments about
Columbus Day.
One thing I resent is the modem
tendency to put 20th century stan
dards on historical events.
In regards to racism, I believe it
was simply a matter of a superior
force overcoming a lesser force.
In regards to genocide by disease,
explorers didn’t know the peoples
they would meet would not have the
ability to fight the bacteria they
brought.
In regards to slavery, although it is
abhorrent, it was an accepted trade in
its day.
There are several instances where
cultures bought and sold their own
kind, and they were just as cruel to
their kinsmen.
Keep historical events in the con
text of their time, not ours.
Steve Hunt
BA in history
1997 UNO
Arts and Entertainment
I’m pleased to read an article
about Jim Thompson in the DN. He is,
after all, “one of our own.”
His brilliant, twisted noirs are
known, imitated and routinely appro
priated.
His work resulted in such classic
films as “After Dark, My Sweet” and
“The Getaway,” and more recently an
unpredictable, well-directed post
modern noir, “This Life, Then the
Fireworks,” which stars Gina Gershon
and Billy Zane.
Few people know that Thompson
attended the University of Nebraska.
A recent issue of “Bomb” published
one of Thompson’s previously unpub
lished short stories, “Sympathy,”
which was written during Thompson’s
sophomore year in the College of
Agriculture.
His attitude toward women is
sometimes misogynist, but he was
equally misandrist. He seemed to
loathe the human race, even as he
empathized with it.
To some degree, he shares his mis
anthropy with the brilliant Nebraska
author Weldon Kees.
I’m glad to see that Thompson’s
finally getting some attention here in
the Midwest.
Check out his work sometime, and
check out the films based on his work.
Gwendolyn Foster
assistant professor of Him studies
Department of English
The Greek Disease
Attention: All those sorority
members who feel they have been
violated by Panhellenic and Greek
Affairs: GET USED TO IT.
The disease called Greek Affairs
has already infected many fraterni
ties, leaving them stripped of their
independent pasts. And now, the dis
ease is spreading to you, the sorori
ties, promising to bring you to your
knees, screaming for Panhellenic for
giveness.
As a greek member, you give up
most of your personal rights (such as
moderate drinking before a game),
and you receive an ultimatum:
Comply, or get the hell out.
I can guarantee that you will be
promised independence, leadership,
a “clean slate” if you will, by comply
ing with every proposed agreement.
BEWARE.
Once your house passively rolls
over for any greek governing body,
you will begin to feel the reins of con
trol slip through your fingertips -
until decision-making is nothing
more than a distant memory.
I respect the strong voice of
Melissa Gonnion (DN, Thursday).
Her words convey sincerity and
concern for her sorority. At the same
time, the article in which her words
appear, “Drinking accord sparks dis
cord,” leaves me shaking my head in
disappointment:
Certain members, leaders of the
sororities nonetheless, failed to speak
out because they “feared punish
ment.” What kind of communist orga
nization do you belong to?
Well, sorority girls, I see two
options for you: Stand up for your
selves and speak out like Melissa
Gonnion, or grab your ankles again,
and again, and...
Ben Novotny
junior
environmental studies
