OPINION,
fage 4 Thursday, September 11, 1980 The Michigan Daily
1
E edmebtan t ofMa n
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Vol. XCI, No. 7
'420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of The Daily's Editorial Board
Activism is back in vogue,
anld this time i ok
OULD IT REALLY be true?
C Could student activism and
student power really be enjoying a
resurgence on campus-and during the
first week of the term, at that?
Within twenty-four hours this week,
student pressure and suggestions per-
suaded administrators to back down on
two bad decisions-the moves to close
ithe Undergraduate Library at mid-
night each night and to eliminate late
bus service from Central to North
Campus.
Now, we don't mean to get too ex-
cited. After all, the University has not
yet agreed to end its indirect support of
South African apartheid by divesting
itself of certain financial holdings; we
do not yet have voting representation
} on most college executive committees;
and we do not have a student member
of the Board of Regents.
But the bus issue demonstrates
massive student mobilization and sen-
sibly-offered alternatives can have
impressive effects upon the Univer-
sity's decision-makers.
And the library issue demonstrates
It's time
LAWA . ZV fV V j AIL .kJ
that even the threat of student
mobilization, combined with sensible
suggestions, can have similar im-
pressive effects.
The key element in both of this
week's successes was the sensible
suggestions offered by students to
alleviate severe budget problems. The
North Campus coalition suggested
running a few buses on longer routes to
avoid wholesale elimination of late bus
service to North Campus. The open
library advocates suggested opening
the library later several mornings
each week to keep the building open
until 2 a.m. each night.
We areAhappy to see that students
have been able to mobilize at an
especially difficult time of year, and
beyond that, to add real meaning to
their protests by making viable
suggestions for change. We are en-
couraged to see the administration
react favorably to those student
suggestions.
Who knows? This could be the begin-
ning of a productive relationship. We
hope so.
omosexuals
A suggestion
painful cheer
"The performers jiggled. They giggiea.
They jumped up and down, smiling, smiling, ByA
smiling. Chests thrust forward, bottoms
thrust outward. They thrusted teasingly." Make sure t
Howard Witt, in his "Witticisms" column in because eve
Tuesday's Daily (Sept. 9), called their...em
cheerleading "the. most worthless and I mean, if3
degrading of human activities." In the same expect it to b
breath, he attributed to cheerleaders the It's a wond
ability to mesmerize "several drooling men." on their sho
He even considered them powerful enough to countering a
constitute "the American wet dream." normal day,
IT MUST HAVE been hellish last summer can get.
for all the poor, hopeless, helpless fellas who AN IMAG
happened to walk within seven city blocks of able to pro
the high school cheerleading clinic being held powers. Aft
on campus. shorts andI
They heard a faint sound in the distance: course, a l
"Go team, go!" Their feet started stumbling dozens of dro
toward the noise. They didn't realize what Imagine t
was happending, and all of a sud- men, gluedt
den-WHAM! There they were, within sight cheerleader
of hundreds of mesmerizers-uh, If one we
cheerleaders. in each of th
The men, breathing heavily, were glued to more imagin
the spot, unable to unstick their eyes from the some watch
jiggling breasts before them. Nary a one was The really b
left with the ability to move one foot ahead of slave marke
the other to set in motion the act of walking ALL AN E
away. do is keep(
DAMN THOSE CHEERLEADERS! Those the continen
little demigods-who can reduce the dancing nev
Almighty Male to a shimmering pool of drool. up and sold(
It's all their fault. happy, the o
What is the just and honorable solution to a few cheerl
restore men's dignity (or at least functioning Not only w
ability)? Witt suggests it is obvious: Banish a lucrative
the cheerleaders. Off with their heads. socially be
to alleviate the
leading
?Maureen Fleming
here are no temptations around
ryone knows men can't control
otions-you know, that thing.
you leave the keys in the car you
e ripped off, right?
der men have a hot water fixture
wers. With the possibility of en-
n ex-cheerleader at any point in a
men need all the cold water they
INATIVE PERSON should be
fit from cheerleaders' sirenic
er all, it only takes the short-
t-shirts Witt refers to-and of
ittle "prancing"-to hypnotize
ooling men.
he situation. Dozens of slavering
to a spot, unable to move until the
s free them.
re a simple thief, a few cents
e men's pockets could be stolen. A
native hustler might be able to get
es along with the loose change.
big-time thief could even start a
et.
ENTREPRENEUR would have to
cheerleaders "prancing" across
ntal United States. As long as the
er stopped, men could be rounded
off at auction. To keep the slaves
owners would merely have to hire
eaders to "prance" for the men.
would the slave market scheme be
business deal, but it would be
neficial, too. The high umem-
problem
would be considerably reduced.
Women's dissatisfaction with being depic-
ted as "second-class citizens" would fade
also, since they would rise to the most power-
ful positions in American corporate structure
(remember, all the big-timers would be
slaves). And even the greatest impossibility, a
woman as president of the United States,
could be realized.
SINCE NO ONE has yet carried forth this
logical scheme, it might be beneficial to set it
aside and develop a tolerance for the
precarious situation in which men find them-
selves. And try to help them out as much as
possible.
So cheerleaders, cool it. This is all your
fault.
Ever since junior high you have been for-
cing men to believe that you are the almighty
authority, a sex object. The ever-increasing
number of rapes are all your fault.
Women, every obscenity shouted at you
from a travelling car is due to cheerleaders.
They made men the way they are. Those poor
men, they musn't be blamed-it's not their
fault.
To Witt, and all other suffering men, a word
of advice. Cheerleaders will have to go
through years of bureaucratic struggle and
mounds of red tape before they can come up
with a civil rights act for men. In the mean-
time, to lessen the agony, repeat or write one-
thousand times per day, '"An unwilling cock is
never teased. An unwilling cock is never
teased. An unwilling .
Daily staff writer Maureen Fleming
covers the Ann A rhor Police De artment
were grantei
HE U.S. JUSTICE Department
has charitably announced that its
former policy of bairing homosexual
immigrants has been modified
somewhat. Now only those who volun-
tarily confess to being of the "wrong"
sexual persuasion will be victimized by
discrimination.
This is somewhat akin to a restricted
country club agreeing to liberalize its
admissions policy by denying ad-
mission only to those who voluntarily
admit being Jewish. It doesn't solve
the problem.
The idea that gay people are all right
so long as they don't declare them-
selves as such is barbaric and totally
out of line with the freedoms guaran-
teed by our Constitution.
Certainly, the problem is not the
government's alone. Homophobic at-
titudes are a shameful national
tradition and show little sign of
abating.
But what are we afraid of? That
homosexuals will molest our children?
Experts on sex crimes agree that the
vast majority of those crimes are
committed by heterosexuals. That gay
immigrants will make homosexuality
seem more appealing to native-born
youth? Influences outside the family
rights, too
have little to do with adult sexuality,
according to most psychologists.
Heterosexual Americans' objections
to homosexuals are not really founded
in fear of what might happen to their
children. It is the adults who exhibit a
sense of mistrust and dislike for those
of the other sexual orientation, not their
offspring.
The variations on the homophobic
theme are many. The better-educated
complain that the more homosexuals
society tolerates, the quicker our family
values will erode. The ignorant simply
contend that homosexuals disgust them,
and that "normal" people shouldn't
have to put up with them.
Neither argument has a place in the
body of law. Adherence to strict and
traditional codes of ethics are the
prerogative of those who favor them,
but should not be imposed on those who
peacefully dissent.
We look forward to the day when
sexual proclivity is purged from the
consideration of a person's worth. We
can see no reason that gays should not
be as free to practice their lifestyle as
are this nation's many different ethnic,
religious, and national groups free to
practice theirs.
Whatever, just get those cheerleaders away.
LETTEoRS O Hews andObLver
Oq A by LA. TxnmaSyndicate
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
ployment the U.S. is currently suffering p....... G
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Rlgh -to-lers tout the path of misery
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To The Daily:
Having grown up in the 1960s
when abortion was illegal, I have
seen horrendous things happen to
the lives of young women (and
their men friends) who were
driven to seek illegal abortions.
Women have been maimed,
poisoned, left sterile and even
killed trying to terminate their
pregnancies. Contrary to the rosy
predictions of "right-to-lifers,"
making abortions illegal did not
result in social compassion. Like
prohibition, it went hand-in-hand
with mass hypocrisy, deceit,
crime, and human misery.
We are far from the ideal
society pictured by right-to-lifers
with their "shoulds" and
"oughts." A pregnant woman
"should" be surrounded by
loving and supportive people, she
"ought" to have the help of her
community in caring for and
raising her child. Anyone who has
suffered through or watched
another suffer through an unwan-
ted pregnancy knows this is sim-
ply not the case. The rising in-
cidence of child abuse and mental
illness among single parents are
properly is at least a twenty-year
commitment.
Until a right-to-lifer stands at
the bedside of every birthing
woman to personally assist in the
job of raising to maturity every
single unwanted child, it is the
pregnant woman's duty-not just
her right-to decide whether to
carry the pregnancy full term.
Right-to-lifers can lead by exam-
ple. There are plenty of poor,
neglected, and abused children
all over America and the world
on whom to bestow real care, not.
empty rhetoric. And these
children are not always the cute
rosy-faced infants the right-to-
lifers are so fond of calling to
mind.
But it's so much easier to tell
other people what they "should"
do than to live up to one's own
ideals, isn't it?
The human spirit can
sometimes rise to great heights
under the burdens of poverty,
disease, mental anxiety, and
stress. If a right-to-lifer feels
called upon to choose such a life
for herself, so be it. But to force
others less strong or less for-
hm.tn to in Ac n AnPnot wmnw a
poned childbearing to pursue
careers. Many of the young
women who would feel the effects
of anti-abortion legislation are
hardly more than children them-
selves. Can society's exacting
such a price from them be called
compassionate?
Outlawing abortion will not
right any of the many social
inequities and injustices that
plague our country. It will not
stop women from seeking to ter-
minate unwanted pregnancies. It
is not a morally defensible way of
providing children to the
childless. Its primary result will
be more back alley butchery.
Like it or not, the answers to the
problems facing our society
today must be found by moving
forward, not back to the Vic-*
torian age.
-Jennifer Noyon
September 9
Review misses mark
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To The Daily:
I am writing to complain about
the poor quality of your paper's
film reviews. Take as an example
Dennis Harvey's review of
Dressed To Kill in last Friday's
edition (Daily, Sept. 5).
Did Mr. Harvey enjoy
Dressed To Kill? Will readers of
The Daily enjoy Dressed to Kill?
The review in question leaves
these simple, primary queries
unanswered. Mr. Harvey ap-
pears to spend this time at the
theatre thinking up new ex-
pressions to deride the move. A
press any of the author's likes or
dislikes of films in general and
Dressed To Kill in particular. Mr.
Harvey spends most of his time
straining to attack the film in
heavy-handed language. To
paraphrase the review's lastU
paragraph:
"Dennis Harvey's review is
awful, and readers who expect a
straight guide and criticism to
the film end up feeling cheated by
its foolery. When Harvey stops
straying from his points and
trying to see how much idiocy he
can get away with, he may
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