0 F OPINION The,.. chigan Lll w Friday, October 10, 1980 The Michigan ©oily -'l r r Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Weasel by Robert Lence r Vol. XCI, No. 32 0 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor,;MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of The Daily's Editorial Board Death as entertainment AK~jm t HEY! WHY PONY YOU ;9w SHUT UP OVER TNERE 50, x CAW STUDY! WI-lAT? 014, 141 PROFMSOKR. 6AI. 1NA4AT A-COINCIVEKCE,. t WAs 3r STUPON1r FOR TVAeT TEST IN YO~UR GLASS TOMoRZ2W. t~ YOU MEAN THF- oW- yoURE GOING To FAIL? . v f: r' " / '(I (1'4 r F OR YEARS social critics have warned the American public against its increasing acceptance of violence as a way of life. Horror stories illustrating how desensitized to violence we have become abound; people are raped, beaten, abducted, and mur- dered in broad daylight, and no one gives a damn. In the last decade this most repugnant aspect of the human character has taken a sadistic twist as violence has become a major source of entertainment. Fans flock to hockey games with visions of bloody stick fights in their heads and encourage violence in other sports, while others are content to watch brutal murders and beatings on television detective shows. it is in this context that we must view Wednesday's death of Stanley Sim- mons on the subway tracks of Chicago. Simmons, whose arm was in a sling, apparently fell off the platform and on- to the tracks and was vainly trying to climb out when he was crushed by the train. That none of the 60-70 onlookers, would reach out a hand while Simmons was frantically grabbing for the plat- form borders on criminal negligence. But that somber fact pales in light of the depraved vocal response of the onlookers, who were laughing and jeering while Simmons fought desperately to save his life. It is, perhaps, only a human respon- se to dissociate oneself from acts of in- different cruelty like that of the people who watched Simmons die. The reality, however, is that those people are indeed like many people we know, maybe even like ourselves. Is-the en- tertainment factor of Simmons' grisly death so different from the enjoyment we get out of watching brutal sporting events and television shows? Consider, for example, the hit TV show "That's Incredible." Millions of "normal" viewers watched a man get his fingers burned off while attempting to run through a tunnel of fire, and another spit blood after attempting to catch a bullet with his teeth. Soon we may be treated to footage of a man who was crippled recently while.trying to vault over moving cars-all in the name of entertainment. It has often been said that real life is funnier than fiction, and it would ap- pear that it is far sicker, too. We can only wonder in horror what the ratings would be if footage of Simmons' death were shown on television-millions, not 60 or 70, would laugh and jeer. And is there any reason to think those millions would hold out their hands to the next Stanley Simmons? .. ._ - ------ Begin policies show ugliest, fascist aspects of Zionism S By H. Scott Prosterman Coming out of the gutter t t 1 t t 1 I l EVEN JIMMY CARTER himself had to say he had been unreasonable on this one: His statement that a Ronald Reagan presidency would lead to divisions of "black from white, Jew from Christian, North from South, rural from urban" was not merely ."ill- advised," as the president said Wed- nesday, it was ridiculous. The absurd image of dozens of minor civil wars erupting on'January 21 pointed up more poignantly than ever the dank depths to which the incumbent's cam- paign has sunk. Indeed, for every bit of misinfor- mation issued by the Republican can- didate, Carter has come up with a Georgia-brand irrelevancy of his own. It was the Carter people-not the Reagan camp, as is commonly believed-who first brought the in- flammatory issue of the Ku Klux Klan into the campaign. Patricia Harris, Carter's secretary of Health and Human Services, baited Reagan by noting in a speech that the Klan had endorsed him. It was only then that Reagan jumped in and knocked Car- ter's choice of "the birthplace of the Klan" as a speech site. In response to criticism of the baseness of his attacks on Reagan, Carter has now conceded that some of his comments have been "mistakes." Further, he has pledged to focus on the issues and on the bona fide differences between him and Reagan. That's a campaign promise it would be easy to keep; we only hope Reagan responds in kind. There has been much angry rebuke recen- tly of American Jews who "dare" to express their opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin's policies. From the reac- tion of Israel's defenders, one would think the goal of the Americans is the very elimination of the Jewish state. How unfortunate it is that many American and Israeli Jews choose to read any criticism of Israeli policy as an indication of anti- Semitism or as a betrayal of the Jewish heritage. Such a posture ignores the fact that the recent criticisms of the Begin government have been motivated largely by humanitarian concerns. Evento casual observers, the policies of the current Israeli government have shown the most ugly aspects of Zionism: The obscene violation of a people's basic human rights "justified" by a situation of self-created insecurity. WHILESOME have pointed out that the in- timidation and harassment tactics of the military government are themselves the most immediate threat to Israeli security, the Begin government has gone even farther with the recent passage of two controversial laws. One moves the Prime Minister's office to oc- cupied East Jerusalem, the other ipakes any expression of Palestinian nationalist sym- pathies a criminal offense. Such laws, labeled as "fascist" by both Arabs and Jews, were cited as evidence that the present government is dying in a statement last August by Meir Vilner, a member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament). Vilner suggested that Begin has instituted these measures as a last-resort, a futile at- tempt to save himself. Vilner's contention was perhaps better ar- ticulated in an editorial in the English language edition of the Palestinian newspaper al-Fajr which stated: "By playing on national fear and pride, the government wants to radicalize the voter and leave him no, choice, either to vote for its policy, or to ap- pear to be lacking in his devotion to the state." WHILE A GREAT number of Israeli voters will certainly succumb to the attempt "to radicalize the voter," many others are seeing the dangerous implications of these laws for the future, and are beginning to sympathize with the oppression felt by the Palestinian nationals. One anti-Begin student leader has stated that "the anti-democratic movement in Israel has brought many - Jews to 'our side."' He called this phenomenon a corner- stone of the Palestinian struggle. Until recently, Jewish sympathy for the Palestinian cause has been largely limited to the leftist factions of Israeli politics. But as the fascist tendencies of the ruling establish- ment become more apparent, traditional supporters of Israel are beginning to question the prudence of oppression for the sake of security. Even a non-Marxist (such as this writer) begins to appreciate the Marxist axiom that "any people who oppress another can not be free." AS AN OCCASIONAL contributor to The Daily, which has a significant Jewish reader- ship, I have come under heavy criticism for writing: "The Jews seem to have forgotten one of the most important lessons of the Holocaust: that no race of people can assert supremacy over another and oppress it as a manifestation of its own ideals." As I qualified my position to make a judgement by AP Photo Menachem Begin r _ - l #: s _ f 1 ti \ , z . ., _, i s .r_ _ , S I C .. t s S r pointing'out that I come from a Jewish family in which there are many survivors of the Holocaust, I earned the label of "self-hating Jew, among other, less kind remarks from The Daily's readers. In my visit to Israel, more than one Israeli has tried to cure me of my "self-hate," in- cluding a member of my own family. I've been told that until someone plants a bomb in my briefcase, I can never understand the politics of the Mideast. I've been told that un- til I seve in the Israeli army, I can never un- derstand the constant fear of death that Israelis live with. And I've been told that as long as I criticize Israeli policies from afar, I can never consider myself to be a Jew. To this I must ask how many Israeli and American Jews make statements criticizing the human rights policies of the Soviet Union or of South Africa? How many of these self- appointed critics have visited either country? HAVING WITNESSED the miserable op- pression of the Palestine people, I can no longer be accused of idle criticism based on mere historical research and second-hand in- formation. And having witnessed the profound waste of money on the Israeli military and the rampant inflation caused by a situation of self-created insecurity, I must ask how many American Jews, who give so generously to the United Jewish Appeal, ac- tually know where their money is going? - Many supporters of Israel, Jewish and otherwise, point to the great achievements in development by the Jewish state when asked to justify the right of Israel to expand in an imperialist fashion. Yet I must ask, what right does a Jew from New York have to bulldoze the land of a man whose family has farmed it for countless generations, destroy his crops, and steal his water?, What right has he to build a new home on the site, thereby contributing, to the Begin policy of "strengthening the Jewish presence in the oc- cupied areas?" Israeli and American Jews freely and righteously point to Biblical passages to just- ify their- usurpation of non-Jewish land and their violent infringement on the basic human- rights of an oppressed people. HOW IRONIC it is that many Israeli Jews who justify the violent physical abuse of the Palestinians on religipus grounds don't even respect the sanctity of the holy places. They curse the observant Jews for forcing their practice on the non-observant and snicker at the visitors who weep at the Western Wall. Yt they call for security. They justify their policies on religious claims and on grounds of security. But as an Arab shopowner in East Jerusalem told me: "After gaiping the trust of your neighbor, why do you need security? What greater security could there be?" That man's "old eyes" havn't seen as many wars* as Begin's have, but they have seen the op- pression and misery that the Prime Minister has been blind to H. Scott Prosterman is a graduate stu- dent in the University's Center for Near .East and North African Studies. A ver- sion of this article appeared last summer in al-Fajr and in the Jordan Times. 'ChrisO. aren't so want to pursue any of them. "I favors for d6n't want to do anything out of 's with a haste. I married out of haste, and lom. I had a child out of haste," she house for says. She believes the Spirit will where she move her when it is time to do e doesn't something. about. My Perhaps she will move to LETTERS TO THE DAILY: The To The Daily: Chris O. is on the road, pregnant, parentlest, without money, and without a home. But just eight months ago she was just like you and I; a student in a respiratory therapy with a part time job at a school in Florida. drifting 5' Christians whom she believes to be modern manifestations of the saints. "I just kind of did some wit- nessing. Afterwards I didn't know whether I was in the future or in the past," she said. After spending four days with the foryo people-some who a generous. "I don't give my means," she say determined tone of wisd She is welcome at our a couple of days, but' will go from here sh seem to be worried a