Who's to blame

Eighty years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

for the drug problem?

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News Phone: 764-0552

Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1970

NIGHT EDITOR: ROBERT KRAFTOWITZ

J. Edgar Hoover's polemics

EDGAR H O O V E R simultaneously
dropped a bomb and laid an egg last
Friday with his claim that there was a
plot to kidnap a White House staff mem-
ber. According to the 76-year-old direct-
or of the Federal Bureau of Investiga-
tion, a group called the "East Coast Con-
spiracy to Save Lives" would have snatch-
ed the unnamed staff member, demand-
ing an end to bombing in Vietnam and
the release of all political prisoners in
Sputheast Asia.
As an added treat, Hoover s a i d the
Black Panthers might attempt to hijack
airplanes to force the release of Bobby
Seale and other political prisoners. Claim-
ing that the Panthers might "seek to ape
Arabs tactics," Hoover pointed to the in-
ternational office run by Eldridge Cleav-
er in Algiers, "another Black Panther fu-
gitive," as evidence that Arab guerrillas
are heavily subsidizing the Panthers.
Hoover also said he had information of
plans to bomb underground steam lines
and electrical conduits in Washington in
an attempt to disrupt the city.
In connection with the alleged kidnap
plot, Hoover named Phillip a n d Daniel
Berrigan, brothers and Catholic priests
currently serving sentences in a federal
prison in Danbury, Conn. for destroying
draft records in Baltimore in 1968.
ALTHOUGH Hoover's allegations before
the subcommittee contain certain ech-
oes of the Joe McCarthy era, there is at
least one major difference and that dif-
ference is in his target. Hoover, like the
former junior senator from Wisconsin,
used his position to make allegations with
no substantiation, with his a i m being
conviction by calumny - a tactic per-
fected by Sen. McCarthy.,
The Berrigans' lawyers, William Kunst-
ler and the Rev. William Cunningham,
put it well, saying, "If Mr. Hoover had the
evidence he claims to have, then it would
be his sworn duty to see that the Berri-
gans a n d their alleged co-conspirators
are prosecuted for serious crimes." They
have not been prosecuted, a n d so far,
there has been no indication that they
will be.

After all, both of them are already in
prison, and Hoover could have no motive
in that direction (unless he is more se-
nile than is already suspected). In addi-
tion, the Berrigans have disavowed any
formal. connection with the Conspiracy,
a group of Catholic priests, nuns, teach-
ers and students. And to add the final
absurdity, Father Joe Wenderoth, a mem-
ber of the Conspiracy, said of such plot-
ting, "our philosophy and our tactics
would not allow it."
What Hoover's action suggests is an es-
calating campaign against what has been
called, "The New Menace" - students
and/or "radicals." Just as McCarthy used
his position and Senate subcommittee to
carry on a campaign against Commun-
ists, so has Hoover evidenced a growing
tendency to use the same methods against
the Left.
SINCE THE BERRIGANS, the only ones
named, are already in prison and no
prosecution a p p e a r s forthcoming, it
seems most likely that Hoover only made
his disclosures with the intent of strik-
ing fear into the hearts of the American
public. This conclusion appears especial-
ly likely when the purpose of Hoover's
appearance before the Senate Appropria-
tions Subcommittee is t a k e n into ac-
count. He was there to ask an additional
$14.1 million to pay for 1,000 new agents
and 702 clerks, many of whom are being
added to work in the areas of airplane
hijacking, bombings, and campus unrest.
In addition to noting the sort of scare
tactics Hoover is using, it is also impor-
tant to realize the increased power which
the man will wield with additional agents
and new duties. Turning again to Kunst-
ler and Cunningham, one finds a suc-
cinct summation of what it all means.
Hoover, they said, "has once more stoop-
ed to use his immense powers for the ag-
grandizement of his own office and to
carry on vendettas against his critics."
-ROB BIER
Associate Managing Editor

By NICHOLAS JOHNSON
VICE PRESIDENT Agnew has
revealed that even he has been
listening to rock music. I don't
think this should be a cause for
panic - even though he does. I
think it holds out some promise.
The Administration may just find
out what's happening in the coun-
try.
Mr. Agnew now seems to think
that music is the cause of (rather
than the relief from) the pres-
sures that lead people to use hard
drugs. Perhaps we can under-
stand and excuse this rather fun-
damental error as he came down
from his first trip, but I think we
can fairly hold him to a higher
standard in the future.
The Vice President has asked
us to "Consider ... the influence
of the drug culture in the field
of music . . . [In] too many of
the lyrics the message of the drug
culture is purveyed." That's w'- "e
he makes his mistake. No t ig
writer I know of is urging as a
utopia a society in which the
junkie's life is a rational option.
Most would agree with his sugges-
tion that dependence on hard
drugs is "a depressing lifestyle of
conformity that has neither life
nor style."
Listen to the music:
Your mind might think it's flying
On those little pills
But you ought to know it's dying
Because... Speed kills.
That's Caned Heat in "Ampheta-
mine Annie." Here's Steppenwolf,
singing about "The Pusher":
You know I've seen a lot of people
walkin' around
with tombstones in their eyes
But the pusher don't care
If you live or if you die
If I were the President of this land
I'd declare total war on the Pusher
Man.
God Damn the Pusher
Or listen to the Rolling Stone's
"Mother's Little Helper," because
they're really trying to help you
understand what your generation's
problem is, as well as giving the
kids some good advice:
Mother needs something to calm
her down
And though she's not really ill
There's a little yellow pill
She goes running for the shelter
Of her "Mother's Little Helper"
And it helps her on her way
Gets her through her busy day
And if you take more of those
You will get an overdose
No more running for the shelter
Of a "Mother's Little Helper"
They just help you on your way
Through your busy dying day.
There is coomparable advice in
Love's "Signed, D. C.," "Crystal
Blues" by Country Joe and the
Fish, and The Who's "Tommy." .
No, the real issue, Mr. Vice Pre-
sident, is not the desirability of
hard drugs. The issue is whether

you, and the rest of the Admin-
istration, are-to borrow Eldridge
Cleaver's (and VISTA's) phrase-
part of the solution, or part of the
problem. The question is whether
you have done anything to alter
the repressive, absurd and unjust
forces in our society that drive
people to drugs. Since you've sug-
gested that "we should listen more
carefully to popular music," and
quoted from "With a Little Help
From My Friends," I'd like to lay
a few more lyrics on you.
Listen to Steppenwolf's "Mon-
ster," written by Jerry Edmonton,
John Day and Nick St. Nicholas
no relation)

America, Louis Lundborg, said re-
cently, "What [young people] ..-..
say they want doesn't sound so
different, you know, from what
our Founding Fathers said they
wanted - the men who wrote our
Declaration of Independence, our
Mayflower Compact, the Bill of
Rights, the other early documents
that laid the foundation for the
American Dream. They said they
wanted the freedom to be their,
own man, the freedom of self-
realization. We have lost sight of
that a bit in this century - but
the young people are prodding us
and saying, "Look, Dad - this is
what it's all about."

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Spiro Agnew says song lyrics are
corrupting our populace; Nick
Johnson says the problem is Spiro

"If you're interested
third to one-half of all

in 'law and order' one-
arrests by police in the

Perhaps the critical point is that
young song writers aid performers
don't make political campaign con-
tributions, but that Ford, TWA,
and other drug-image merchandis-
ers do.
THE VICE PRESIDENT might
better turn his attention to the
corporate campaign contributors
(of both parties) who finance
their fat campaign donations with
the profits they make from worth-
less or harmful drugs, and from
cigarettes and alcohol that first
"addict" and then kill hundreds of
thousands of Americans a year.
The Vice President has urged
each of us to do our own part, to
"set an example" within our own
families. How about the "political
families" of the major political
parties? To what extent is the
Vice President's own party pre-
pared to refuse to accept contribu-
tions to refuse to accept contri-
butions from (or do special favors
for) those politically influential
corporate interests that feed, and
feed upon, the artificially-induced
thirst for drugs, pep pills, tran-
quilizers, alcohol, cigarettes, and
other contemporary commercial
"panaceas"?
The Vice President has pointed
with pride to what the Admin-
istration has done to crack down'
on "drugs." But what has it done
to deal with our number one drug
problem, alcoholism? It is, per-
haps, symbolic of the basic hypo-
crisy in government today that he
choose Las Vegas as the battle-
field to attack drugs. For the only
thing that flows faster than the
gambler's money in Las Vegas is
alcohol. There are estimated to
be at least five million alcoholics

young with a vengeance, as if
they were criminals, without even
providing them adequate treat-
ment centers, and ignore the far
more serious problem of the hard-
drug pushers (of alcohol and cig-
arettes) who are respectable, rich
and middle-aged. Let's stop ac-
cepting the campaign contribu-
tions of the "respectable" ribqu-o r
manufacturers with one hand
while we're imprisoning some of
our finest young people with t h e
other.
If we really want to do some-
thing about drugs, let's do some-
thing about life. Because if we
make an effort to strike at the
real causes of addiction to alcohol
and other less prevalent and dan-
gerous drugs, we will find that we
have also made a big dent in men-
tal ilness, divorce and suicide rat-
es, and the other statistical in-
dicia of social disintegration. Let's
get on with the job of giving peo-
ple the physical, mental and
spiritual environment they need
in order to grow closer to their
full potential.
That means more money (no t
vetoes of appropriations) for re-
building our cities, education, food
programs, urban transportation,
welfare, job training, and health
care. It means more meaningful
job opportunity for all Americans
-white and black; a meaningful
attack on the problems of under-
employment and meaningless em-
ployment as well as unemploy-
ment. It means appropriations for
the Corporation for Public Broad-
casting, for parks, libraries, a n d
beautification programs.
The song writers are trying
to help us understand our plight
and deal with it. It's about the
only leadership we're getting.
They're not really urging you to
adopt a heroin distribution pro-
gram, Mr. Vice President. In fact
they don't think that you can
"spray it with cologne and the
whole world smells sweet" either.

United States are for chronic drunkenness. More
Americans are killed by drunk drivers every
year than are killed by murderers and the war in
Southeast Asia combined."
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Once the religious, the haunted
and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and
hope
Came to this country to build a
new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom
and pope
The spirit it was freedom and
justice
Its keepers seemed generous and
kind
Its leaders were supposed to serve
the country
But now they don't pay it no mind
Cause the people grew fat and
got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless
joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo they've
been told
The cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is strangling the
land
The police force is watching the
people
And the people just can't
understand.
@Copyright 1969 by
Trousdale Music Publishers, Inc.
I can understand why some
wouldn't like lyrics like those.
You see, Mr. Vice President,
somebody's tryirng to tell you
something-"And you don't know
what it is . . . do you, Mr. Jones?"
(To quote Bob Dylan.) These
music people aren't really urging
death through drugs; they are
urging life through democracy.
As the Chairman of the Bank of

BUT THIS is not all. It's not just
that corporate, governmental and
other institutions have turned away .
from our original goals, and that
they have created conditions that
stimulate the desire to escape.
They are actually encouraging the
drug life and profiting from it.
Senator Frank Moss has observed
that: "The drug culture finds it
fullest flowering in the portrait
of American society which can be
pieced together out of the hund-.
reds of thousands of advertise-
ments and commercials. It is ad-,

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"Our entire consumer-manipulating economy
destructive exploitation of human emotions and
teaches-with continuous air-hammer effectiveness

is based on a dishonest
motivations. Television
- the dangerous, debil-

itative lie that the solution to all life's problems and nagging anxieties can
be found in a product, preferably one that is applied to the skin or taken
into the body."
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vertising which mounts so graph-
ically the message that pills turn
rain to sunshine, gloom to joy,
depression to euphoria, solve prob-
lems and dispel doubt."
And the former Chairman of
this Administration's Federal
Trade Commission, Caspar W.
Weinberger, has noted that, "Ad-,
vertisements for over-the-counter
medicines may be a contributing
factor in drug abuse problems in
the United States." (TV ran al-
most $20-million worth of ads for
sleeping aids alone in 1969).
Our entire consumer-manipulat-
ing economy is based on a dis-
honest, destructive exploitation of
human emotions and motivations.
Television teaches - with con-
tinuous, air-hammer effectiveness
- the dangerous and debilitative
lie that the solution to all life's
problems and nagging anxieties
can be found in a product, prefer-
ably one that is applied to the
skin or taken into the body. It has
so distorted and demeaned the role
of women as to make it almost
impossible for either men or wo-
men to relate to each other in
other than a sex-object, manipu-
lative way. It has educated our
children to go for the quick solu-
tion, to grow impatient and dis-
interested in developing skills and
solutions requiring discipline and
training. And it has urged us all
to seek "better living through
chemistry."
The Vice President is going after
the song writers. One cannot help
but wonder how he overlooked
Ford's urging, "blow your mind,"
TWA's taking us "up, up and
away," the honey company that
suggests we "get high on honey,"
the motor bike company that ad-
vertises "a trip on this one is
legal," or the Washington, D.C.,
television station that promotes its-
programming as great "turn-on's."

in this country. There are more
alcoholics in San Francisco. alone
than there are narcotics addicts in
the entire country.
If you're interested in "law and
order," one-third to ' one-half of
all arrests by police in the Unit-
ed States are for chronic drunken-
ness. More Americans are killed
by drunk drivers every year than
are killed by murderers and the
war in Southeast Asia combined.
And, of course, the economic loss
through absenteeism, the physical
damage to the body (cirrhosis is
the sixth leading cause of death;
psychosis due to alcoholic brain
damage is irreversible), and t h e
impact upon family and friends,
are far more severe from alcohol-
ism than from all other hard
drugs combined.
OR HOW about nicotine addic-
tion? There are 300,000 deaths a
year related to cigarette smoking.
What is the Vice President doing
to cut down on these pushers? One
recent survey found that of seven-
th graders, only 30 per cent of.
the boys and 40 per cent of the
girls had never tried tobacco.
There are a lot more kids who are
being exposed to drugs because of
the deliberate efforts of greedy,
immoral television and tobacco
company executives to hook 'em
on nicotine - executives who are
revered as the pillars of our so-
ciety, and whose activities are
sanctioned by the Federal Gov-
ernment -- than there are those
who get pot "with a little help
from their friends."
So who's kidding whom? If
we're really serious about doing
something to alter the drug cul-
ture in America, let's get on with
the work and stop worrying about
the music. Let's not indulge the
hypocrisy of going after the drug
users who are poor, black and

It stinks. They want us to help
them clean it up.
The song you quoted, "With a
Little Help From My Friends," is
not a joyful pitch for drugs. It
contains the lines,
Do you need anybody
I need somebody to love
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love.
How many Americans seek in
drugs the the solace from a vicious
cruel world they did not create,
but cannot escape? What are you
doing to change that world?
Some song writers are hopeful.
Mama Cass sings,
Yes, a new world's coming
The one we've had visions of
And It's growing stronger with each
day that passes by
Con ing in peace, coming in joy,
coming in love.
By Barry Mann and
Cynthia Weil. ©Copyright 1970 by
Screen Gems-Columbia Music Inc.
SHE'S HOLDING out optimism.
She's giving you a little more time,
Mr. Vice President. But we can't
wait much longer if history is not
to record our presiding over the
decline and fall of the American
empire - complete with words,
music, and a drug culture sold to
the American people by large con-
tributors to Presidential cam-
paigns.
(Nicholas Johnson is a mem-
ber of the Federal Communica-o
tions Commission. This article is
drawn from his remarks at a re-
cent United States Information
Agency symposium.)
The Editorial Page of The
Michigan Daily is open to any-
one who wishes to submit
articles. Generally speaking, all
articles should be less than
1,000 words.

A
A*

.5
~7Th'

4


Letters to

The Daily: More comment on sexism in ads

To the Daily:
I WOULD LIKE to reply to An-
drew Thorburn's editorial (Daily,
Nov. 25). Attempting to justify
the running of L it t le Caesar's
"pickups a r e cheaper" ad, Mr.
Thorburn says, "Although certain
women on the business staff here
had voiced their objections before
Sunday's insertion it was felt that
these people did not necessarily
represent t h e community at
large."
Mr. Thorburn, the point here is
that many women, and, hopefully,
many men, do object to this ad as
sexist. If some women do not ob-
ject to this ad, it is very likely

sition to point out which adver-
tisements are offensive. Should a
newspaper run "Aunt Jemimah"
type ads, simply because the
"community at large" still has a
racist consciousness?
No, Mr. Thorburn, we who ob-
ject to this ad are not, as you sug-
gest, "overreacting," or becoming
"very picky" because our feelings
are running high. We are simply
sick and tired of seeing human
beings degraded and exploited by
other human beings, for any pur-
pose whatsoever. In a culture
which exploits and degrades wo-
men, neither women nor men can
fully realize their humanity.
?.A. PM&I ,an

ively for the sake of sexual activi-
ties. Each man is an individual,
where his being of the male sex is
but a minor attribute.
I demand that The Daily re-
fuse to accept advertisements
which emphasize men's sexual na-
ture and that it refuse to prrt-
references to men as anything
but man or male, such as guy,
fellow, kid, dude. stud, profes-
sor, student, brother, or tenant.
All of these are based on dehu-
manizing stereotypes.
-Dan Kalish-
Nov. 25
4-fL .-.-

irrational action (reminiscent of
Nazi Germany) - perhaps what
the audience was expecting.
Rather, by providing a sound
philosophical basis, he sought to
instill a revolutionary conscious-
ness, which would prevent react-
ionary violence, while preparing
the people for the revolutionary
struggle.
The apparent lack of rapport
between the speaker and the au-
dience was due, in part, to New-
ton's inability to communicate
effectively the philosophical pro-
gression leading to his revolution-
ary platform (for which a thor-
ough background was necessary),
a well sn to the fact that his rev-

24 and which was based on a per-
sonal interview conducted s o m e
time during the month of October.
Disregarding the "tone" of the ar-
ticle - which was somewhat more
abrasive than I had anticipated
and reflected its author's selection
of information from the relatively
large quantity provided - I must
take exception to the lead sen-
tence.
The sentence states that, "The
computer system at the Univer-
sity's computer center is grossly
inadequate according to the stu-
dents who use it." If that is the
case, I would appreciate an indi-
cation of your source of informa-
tion; evidence available to me in-

Northwood
To the Daily:
WOMEN in the University com-
munity m u s t once again suffer
further indignities from the 'Uni-
versity administration. In recent
years the original plans for each
new married student housing com-
plex on North Campus always in-
clude a child care facility. How-
ever, in the long a n d torturous
road from plans to reality t h e
child care center always disap-
pears. This occurs despite letters
from President Fleming to con-
cerned parents that he "thinks
this is a good idea and will sug-
gest it to the planning people."

Ai