Eighty-three years of editorial freedom
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
__ __
The
INTER VIE W:
Once (gulp) more
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, Mi. 48104
News Phone: 764-0552
THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1974
An unfortunate defeat
GENERAL ECONOMIC problems facing
the country and the usual voter re-
luctance to increase their own taxes
seem to have taken their toll in yester-
day's unfortunate defeat of a proposal
for an area-wide vocational training cen-
ter for Washtenaw County.
Unfortunate is the word, for the pro-
posed center would have filled a gap in
the education of high school students in
the county, especially those who do not
plan to go to college.
Various studies of high school gradu-
ates throughout the nation and locally
have concluded that many, if not most,
high school students not planning on
college graduate with few saleable skills.
It is just such training, in a number of
areas from business to transportation,
that the center would have provided to a
degree that the more academically-ori-
ented high schools cannot offer alone,
largely because of lack of funds and fa-
cilities.
As IS OFTEN the case in such elections,
only a tiny minority of voters turned
out to express their opinion, which may
have helped bring about this rejection
of the center for the third time since
1968.
Even the support of nine of the ten
county school districts, the League of
Women Voters, the city Chamber of Com-
merce and many local political leaders
did not bring the voters out.
Despite the rejection voiced yesterday,
support is growing nationwide for such
vocational centers, which provide in-
creased specialized educational opportu-
nities at a lower cost by pooling the re-
sources of a larger area than just one
school district.
Until voters see fit sometime in the
future to approve such a vocational cen-
ter and the necessary funding the brunt
of the effort will have to remain with the
local school districts, who will have to
seek increased funding from the state
and federal governments to meet these
needs.
THOSE MOST HURT by yesterday's
vote are those students who find
that the emphasis on academic subjects
in traditional high schools does not ade-
quately meet their needs and interests.
Hopefully it will only be a short timeI
before the public recognizes that demand
for such educational services will only
increase.
By GORDON ATCHESON
T SLOWLY PUT on the chocolate colored
tie. Each motion was meticulously per-
formed. No unnecessary wrinkles. Nice,
tight knot. OK. So what if it took me five
tries to get the thing perfect - finally
it was perfect.
Then I slipped on a brand -new-never-been
sweated-in- tan sports jacket. Instant young
executive. The only times I ever got this
dressed up before were for ceremonies of
life - marriages, funerals, and bar mitz-
vahs. But I guess the first big job inter-
view is something like a ceremony of life.
Trying to hustle a summer job as a news-
paper reporter isn't easy. The field is glut-
ted with eager young journalists who have
new suits and what they think must be
near Pulitzer Prize winning articles from
the college newspapers. I was no exception.
Still I wondered if the others were scared
shitless before the INTERVIEW.
Doing my homework seemed to be the
key to beating the confrontation. Or at
least not losing to it. Cause if I lost now
all those dreams of the New York Times,
the Washington Post, editor in chief would
remain dreams forever.
FIRST SELECT the stories to show the
grand inquisitor. Poring over the articles
done during my brief career - they were
all flawed in one way or another - may-
be it will be a while before a Pulitzer drops
in my lap. No matter.
After picking a couple of the "goodies"
I mounted them on stiff, off-white card-
board, carefully lettered with the publica-
tion date. Make them LOOK impressive if
nothing else.
Then I cornered several of the Daily old
salts - veterans who had gone through a
couple interviews - w h a t kind of ques-
tions did they ask? Did they badger and
scream at the trembling victims?
The only thing apparent from these quer-
ies was that no two interviews are the same.
Great. Like going into a Howard Johnson's
and ordering chef's surprise.
THE NIGHT BEFORE, I slept fitfully for
several hours - haunted by dreams of ogre-
like city editors who dined on inexperienc-
ed reporters coming hat in hand looking
for summer jobs. They casually tossed the
bones aside and smiled a smile of satisfac-
tion - revealing slime covered fang.
Finally the homework, the dreams, and
the tie tying were behind me - I entered
the newspaper office. Reporters - attach-
ed to desks - hammered at typewriters.
Copy spelled out faster than I ever imag-
ined it could. Massive intimidation factor.
I tried to glide coolly across the room
to the managing editors office. Pretend the
s~hrt collar isn't chafing. Look loose. But
I knew my entire appearance actually look-
ed as if a mischievous gnome had jammed
a broom handle up my ass.
Reaching out to shake the man's hand,
he didn't look imposing. Just old. Like he
might have been around to hear Horace
Greeley say "go west young man" or
something.
HE SMILED NOT a smile of satisfaction
but of fatherly concern as if reflecting on
his first attempt to get a summer job and
the trials of going through the INTER-
VIEW.
His hand was as old as the rest of him.
Just skin and bone. When people get old the
muscle and veins must deteriorate leaving
just skin stretched across bones. If the
hand weren't warm, I would've bet it be-
longed to a corpse.
My hand did feel like a corpse's. Cold.
Clammy. Sweat almost dripping off it. The
thought crossed my mind to ask the guy
if he ever shook hands with a dead body.
But that might sound weird and would even
seem stranger if I tried to explain. The
--, stion remained unasked.
We sat. He smiled and nodded. I smiled
and nodded back. Wonder if my tie was
on cock-eyed. Maybe there was some mus-
tard on my nose. I don't know. He smiled
and nodded some more. Chat. Chat. Chat.
Very low key. No tough questions. He didn't
scream or badger. The chef's surprise turn-
ed out to be palatable.
HE SAID - I know what you can do but
- we would like you to take a little writing
test. The logic escaped me. If he already
knew .
Finished the test easy enough. Not a
great job, not a complete wash out either.
Left .the papers on his desk.
He said "thank you very much for corn-
We'll let you know sometime next
nth if we have a place for you this
summer." OK. I walked out. Took off the
tie. I wonder if I won or lost during the
INTERVIEW? Bet he already knew.
Myth America
Daily Photo by TOM GOTTLIEB
Gordon A/cheson is a staff
The Michigan Daily.
uvriter for
ACCORDING TO A U. N. report issued
yesterday, advertising is responsible
for perpetuating images of women that
are degrading and artificial.
Perhaps this information will surprise
some people.
But anyone who carefully watches TV
commercials or looks closely at magazine
Editoriai Staff
CHRISTOPHER PARKS and EUGENE ROBINSON
Co-Editors in Chief
TONY SCHWARTZ....... .. ........ Sunday Editor
DIANE LEVICK......................Arts Editor
MARTIN PORTER.................. Sunday Editor
MARILYN RILEY........ Associate Managing Editor
ZACHARY SCRILLER............EditorialDirector
ERIC SCHOCH..................Editorial Director
CHARL3S STEIN....................City Editor
TED STEIN......................!Executive Editor
ROLP'E TESSEM ............Managing Editor
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS: Manie Heyn, Chuck
Wilbur, David Yalowitz
STAFF WRITERS: Prakash Aswani, Gordon Atcheson,
Dan Biddle, Penny Blank. Dan Blugerman, Howard
Brick, Dave Burheun, Bonnie Carnes, Charles 4Vole-
man, Mike Duweck. Ted Evanoff, Deborah Good,
William Heenan, Cindy Hill, Jack Krost, Jean Love-
Josephine Marcotty, Cheryl Pilate, Judy Ruskin,
Ann Rauma, Bob Seidenstein, Stephen Selbst, Jeff
Sorensen, Sue 6ttephenson, David Stoll, Rebecca
Warner
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Prakash Aswani, Sue Stephenson,
Della DiPietro, Mike Duweck, G e n e
Robinson, Jeff Sorensen, Ted Stein,
Rolfe Tessem
Editorial Page: Clifford Brown, Ted Hart-
zell, Marnie Heyn
Arts Page: Diane Levick
Photo Technician: Thomas Gottlieb
and newspaper ads knows that most roles
Madison Avenue conceives of for women
are the amoral, rather stupid jet set
swinger, or alternately, the well-scrub-
bed; rather stupid mother/wife of a man
who'll "keep her."
Sexism in advertising is aimed at two
distinct markets: women are used as
status objects in pitches directed at men,
and competent, glamorous - but passive
-females push convenient household
gadgets and vitamin products to the
housewife/working woman set.
While advertising exploits such derog-
atory stereotypes, it certainly did not
create the myths behind those stereo-
types.
AS LONG AS people continue to take
the bait, to buy products on the basis
of the number of women and/or the de-
gree of husbandly adoration promised,
marketing executives will pump out
Geritol and Winchester ads and snicker
all the way to the bank.
It would be simplistic to imagine that
any legislative sanction or pronounce-
ment of the U. N. will prevent the con-
tinued, and continuous, flow of exploita-
tive advertising, especially since the so-
cialization implicit in that advertising is
echoed everywhere in our society.
The possibility of ending sexist adver-
tising lies, then, in rejecting the myths
behind the advertising, and further, in
refusing to support organizations that
use such advertising in the only lan-
guage that they understand-stop giving
them money for their products, and write
them a letter explaining why.
It's
OOL REFLECTION is required
in the face of the controversy
elicited by the advertisement
"Arab Racism, Anti-Semitism" and
the "Response to 'Arab Racism'
ad" by Ahmad Beshareh (Daily,
December 6, 12, 1973).
Many Israelis and observers sym-
pathetic to Israel were sorry to
read the ad. While its facts were
painfully correct - particularly the
activities of Nazis in Egypt and
Syria, and the de facto black slav-
ery in six Arab oil states - the
emotional tone of the ad defeated
its purpose. ,
Yet nothing can be gained by
publishing replies filled with his-
torical errors and conceptual sub-
terfuge. It would have been bet-
ter had Ahmed Beshareh refuted
the facts cited, which of couse he
cannot. His response even upheld
the very principle he sought to
condemn in the ad, for his own re-
ference to "Arabs as a people and
collectively" confirms the proprie-
ty of speaking about collectivities in
history without being racist.
The ad attempted to characterize
the behavior of a nationality inso-
far as its historical relations with
minority groups such as Jews are
concerned. This is neither slander
nor racism, simply one area of
truth. If the ad had generalized its
statements to include Arab be-
havior vis-a-vis other nations, or
if it had spoken in terms of broad
ethnic activity, that would indeed
have been racism. But the ad
merely confined itself to Arab-
Jewish relations.
ITS TONE was unfortunate,
granted, but the propagandistic re-
action it provoked in Mr. Beshar-
eh is more deeply disturbing. His
expert use of slogans suggests that
we may well be dealing with the
insincerity of the current Arab po-
sition.
Take the major concept in re-
cent Arab propaganda: the myth
of the Golden Age when Arab and
Jew lived happily tokether in Mos-
em Spain. Given this model of
time for
capricious fortune (good and bad)
which buffetted Jews under Arab
rule 711 to 1300, only the D o n
Quixotes among Israelis would risk
living under an Arab government
today. In the year 1012 Jewish
prosperity under the Moslem Urn-
maiyad rulers was shaken by the
Moslem Berber sacking of Cor-
dova and by.the slaughter of Jews
in Granada in 1066.
Later in the 11th and 12th Cen-
turies Jewish culture flourished de-
spite the Kakhihs' religious intol-
erance under the first Almoravides.
After a period of recovery from
these events, Jews in 1146 were
told by the Almohades to choose
between emigration or conversion
to Islam.
Therefore to state that Jewish
self-expression developed during
many periods of Moslem Spain is
to place ONE truth in the context
Df other omitted truths.
Jews also enjoyed prosperous
times, though less spectacularly
and less often, in Christian Spain
prior to 1350. The point is that
both Moslem and Christian r e -
gimes subjected the Jewish minor-
ity to varying degrees of hard-
ship. If there is any lesson to be
learned from the "Golden Age"
history, it is that in stabilizing zhe
lestiny of a people, there is no
substitute for a state and govern-
ment of its own.
IN MODERN TIMES one wond-
ers how well Israeli Jews would
fare under Arab rule. It is trivial
for Mr. Beshareh to note that
'Arab Jews worked together with
other Arabs" to fight the British
:olonialists. No such coexistence
occurred in 1929 during the mas-
sacre of religious Jews in Hebron.
These events, in any case, occur-
red prior to independent A r a b
rule. Once the Arabs gained poli-
.tical power, the treatment of mi-
norities hardened. The Kurdish
minority in Syria today suffers a
harsh persecution, and the Jewish
Iraqis continue as hostages in a
hostile environment.
Neither situation inspires confi-
dence in the ability of an Arab
government to rule a Jewish minor-
ity with justice. These are histori-
c-al judgments, not racism.
Noteworthy too are those Jewish
refugees from Arab countries set-
tIed in Israel. Poverty and protest
notwithstanding, neither they nor
the Jewish Black Panthers show
any sign of wishing to return to
their country or origin. In con-
trast, 250 Russian Jews (about 25
per cent of recent Jews immigrat-
ing from Russia) won emigration
rights to Israel, only to request
return to their native Russia sub-
sequently.
THE MYTH of a Golden Age,
however misleading, is at least a
form of wishful thinking. Not so
the devices of propagandistic my.-
tification. Mr. Besharen resorts to
such a device when he strains to
see a distinction between J e w s
and Zionists. In this view, Jews
are good but Zionists are colonial-
ists and fascist supremacists. Arabs
are hospitable to their Jewish bre-
thren at home while fighting op-
pressiive Zionists abroad.
This distinction is sophistry for
several reasons. The issue is not
non-Israeli Jews but the Jews of
Israel. Virtually everyone Jewish
in Israel is a Zionist and these
two elements are inseparable. Is-
raeli Jews believe in the ideology
of their national liberation, a con-
cept formed during their historic
oppression as a minority in foreign
countries.
That is what makes the Israeli
Jew different from his kinsmen
abroad. Zionism is for Israeli Jews
what Arab nationalism is for
Arabs. It certifies the legitimate
national aspirations of a people by
validating statehood as the best
guarantor against oppression by
a hostile majority. If this inde-
pendence is safeguarded for the
Arab people by fifteen states, then
one Jewish state is a meager tok-
en to maintain for an independent
Jewish people.
YET SUPPOSING the dismantle-
ment of Israel were achieved, in
defiance of international law. The
fibers of Arab hatred would not
dissolve easily after twenty five
years of growth. Concepts I i k e
holy war (Jihad), pushing the Jews
into the sea, and insane random
murder by terrorists are rooted
into the consciousness of the mo-
dern Arab political mind.
Note that the Yom Kippur war
was declared on the official Cairo
radio as a "Jihad" and that the
murders of defenseless Israeli ath-
letes at the Munich Olympics was
hailed by virtually the entire Arab
press. This is not to say that heal-
thy roots are absent. But in view
of traditional Arab insensitivity to
ethnic and religious minorities, how
can the Jewish-Israeli population
believe in the subtleties of being
exterminated as Zionists but soar-
ed as Jews?
This leads to a final slogan which
stems from as ostensibly healthy
root. Arabs currently speak of a
'secular democratic state''.
The concept has an appealing
ring, but the reality behind t h i s
ring is another matter. The idea
would carry plausibility if the cour-
ageous, but minute, band of Arab
intellectuals enjoyed some influ-
ence in political power.
But the most casual observer can
see that the most secular demo-
cratic state in the Middle East is
Israel, despite its faults. None of
the Arab states, revolutionary as
they claim to be, provides as much
freedom and welfare as Israel does
to all its citizens (including Arabs).
Imperfect as the modern world
may be, political alternatives must
be judged realistically. To s a y
"secular democratic Palestine,"
therefore, is to speak a coded lang-
uage. Decoded, the slogan means
one more undemocratic Islamic
state. From the fundamentalist
Moslem regime in Lybia to the
feudal system in Saudi Arabia,
and from the Syrian or Egyptian
dictatorships to the monarchy of
Jordan, the Jewish minority would
suffer the same fate as the minor-
ities cited by the advertisement.
MR. BESHARE unfortunately
spent only a few words on the real
issue - his plan for an Arab State
of Palestine to replace the State
of Israel.
Whether such a Palestinian state
will be democratic and secular in-
deed is an academic question. That
it will have to be erected over the
dead bodies of 90 per cent of the
Israelis is a fact well established.
This plan of a Palestinian state
was also adopted in the recent
(Dec. 1973) Algiers meeting of the
Arab heads of state. It does not
call for a peace with Israel. It
galls instead for the forced expul-
sion of al Israelis who came there
in the last 26 years (75 per cent
of the present population) - back
to Russia, back to Germany, back
to .Lybia, back to Iraq and back
to Syria.
When nevertheless now Egpytian
President Sadat mentions "peace
with Israel" we do not know whe-
ther to trust him. We trust more
the words of Arab students on this
campus.
Unfortunately, they still demand
a peace "over" Israel. As Israeli
students we would like to see them
change their minds and adopt a
line calling for the coexistence of
the State of Israel and a Palestin-
ian State. This is our line.
Hebrew is not spoken today in
Spain, or Russia or Lybia. We
feel that the Hebrew speaking Is-
raelis have as much a right for
self determination as have the 15
or so Arab nations. Once we agree
on this basis the rest becomes a
matter of detail, to be hammered
out in a friendly dialog.
Can we start this dialog maybe
soon?
Shim on Nof submitted this ar-
ticle for The Israeli Student Or-
ganization.
A ra b-Israeli dia log
., .. ..
Letters:
Indian democracy a myth
To The Daily:
I MUST CONGRATULATE YOU
for your timely publication of Ms.
Gail Omvedt's article entiled "In-
dia: Feminist power from below"
(Jan. 22). As an Indian I ought to
be ashamed at the plight of my
country after almost twenty-seven
years of independence.
While a neighboring country,
which attained freedom from the
shackles of foreign imperialism
two years later than ours, became
the third most powerful nation of
the world overcoming seemingly
insurmountable barriers, we boast-
ed of the largest "democracy" and
allowed ourselves to land in the
present quagmire.
I believe, however, that it is nec-
PlOOr% t o -tnf. -AMPf a tha
or, in the American way of say-
ing, the "mess."
SINCE THE INDEPENDENCE
in 1947 India has been ruled by a
single party-the Congress, which
split into two a few years ago.
Mrs. Gandhi heads what is called
New Congress. In spite of the mas-
sive foreign aid the country re-
ceived during the last quarter cen-
tury the development and progress
have heen little.
Promises have been made before
every election and they have been
quietly forgotten after the parlia-
mentary ritual was over. In the
meanwhile mountaining struggles
of the masses have been ruthlessly
suppressed.
Several democraticallyelsected
ment and most of the state as-
semblies.
BUT THE EUPHORIA over the
victory in the war or socialistic
phraseology of the Congress lead-
ership like Garibi Hathao (means
"eradicate poverty") did not help
solve the chronic problems like in-
flation, unemployment or food
shortage which assumed colossal
magnitudes and thus resulted in
the massive outburst of the un-
surpassed grievances.
During the list few years al-
though there have been struggles
in certain parts of the country like
West Bengal, Kerala, Anthra, etc.,
the' Iyave not been so widespread.
But right now it seems the whole
country is in a state of siege. A
nou topia, but . .
To The Daily:
MAY AN OLD history professor
trespass on your column long
enough to comment on Mr. Haarz's
indictment that we Americans are
"the most selfish, the most prejud-
iced, the least cultured people in
the world"? Doubtless his letter
was well meant as a deflation of
spread-eagle self-glorification. But
a misstatement on one side of the
question does not balance a mis-
statement on the other side
Some of his "facts" are just not
so. For example, "my country
burned people as witches." Witches
were hanged in Salem: not burned,
as in Scotland and Germany at
freedom of speech, of the press,
of assembly, of organization, of
open opposition to the government
in power?
If you compare us with Utopia
we show very badly; if you com-
pare us with other times and other
countries, pretty well. In half the
world Mr. Haarz's letter could
not have been printed.
IT IS TRUE that some countries
have done better than we in some
respects; for instance, Northwest-
grn Europe has less crime. It is
true that we have had many ad-
vantages, such as an uncrowded
country with vast natural resourc-
es.
It is true that we might have
Ann ..tta,- thanw A have. Buttha
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