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OPINION____
Page 4 Wednesday, November 26, 1980 The Michigan Daily


Edie idganiverit Mcig
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

,Higgins
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Vol. XCI, No. 72

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, Ml 48109

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Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board

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It's

Thanksgiving-you're

going to study, right?

T HANKSGIVING-that most
dreaded of holidays-is upon us
once again. It means death to millions
of innocent turkeys. It means that
same old Andre champagne commer-
cial will once again zip across our TV
screens (you know the one: "Ring out
the old, ring in the new"). It means an-
swering "So, how's school?" a dozen
times when a dozen family members
ask.
And it means finals are only about
two weeks away.
'So, just like before every other
Thanksgiving break since you've been
at college, you'll pack up your over-
night bag (don't forget your toothbrush
and contact lens disinfector) and cut
your one o'clock class. And you'll bring
home nine books you just have to read
for the three papers you just have to
write.
Tonight you'll blow off. Maybe a lit-
tle TV, maybe a party. After all, it's
the first night of a four-day vacation.
No need to spoil things by studying.
Tomorrow you'll blow off. You'll sit

down to study, smellsomething good in
the kitchen, go in and see, call up a
friend, and eventually manage to frit-
ter away the day until dinnertime. Af-
ter dinner, you'll relax, talk with your
parents over coffee, and soon it'll be
time for bed. But that's okay-you've
still got three days.
Friday you'll blow off. You'll sleep
late, take a leisurely shower, eat a
leisurely brunch, and before you know
it, it'll be 3 p.m. Just enough time to
start planning what you'll do in the
evening-probably a movie.
Saturday you'll blow off. You'll sleep
late again, start to do some reading,
and suddenly remember you wanted to
do some shopping-that will effec-
tively take you through to dinner, after
which you will party.
Sunday you'll do something. You'll
do all the laundry you brought home,
pack everything up, and come back to
campus, cursing yourself all the while
for not having done any studying.
Happy Thanksgiving.

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".6.. And I have my list of demands, too, you little twit."
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Women will not tolerate brutality

Young Reagan marries,
but not like dear old dad

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THE GROOM WORE a sweatshirt,
-blue jeans, and sneakers. The
bride wore cowboy boots, a black
sweater, and. suhcks. The couple had
been happily living together for some
time before the ceremony, so they
didn't really see it as a big deal. In
fact, the groom only remembered to
call his* parents to tell them the good
news a few hours before he pronounced
his vows.
His parents, Ronald and Nancy
Reagan, were not entirely pleased.
Nancy reportedly looked a little sub-
dued, though the president-elect said
he was "happily" surprised. Con-
sidering the dim view Reagan's crowd
probably takes of unmarried folk
living together the older Reagan's joy
(or relief, maybe) is understandable.
The groom's name is also Ronald,
but his name seems to be about the
only thing he has in common with his
sire. A Yale University dropout, he
decided to go into a rather unconven-
tional field-dancing-where he
quickly rose to become a member of
the Joffrey Ballet corps in New York.
Reagan the elder doesn't took to be
quite so untraditional. Though he
climbed to the top of the political scene
through an extraordinary route-a

film career-his current business of
staffing the new executive branch is an
act we've seen before. The names sur-
facing in the media are not the fresh
young Republican blood some had
hoped for: They are the same tired old
sorts who filled the Washington social
register under Presidents Ford and
Nixon-and a few from as long ago as
Eisenhower's presidency, during
which Reagan was a sprightly young
man in his forties.
Alexander Haig, who replaced Bob
Haldeman in the final days of the
Nixon tenure, is one possibility to lead
the Department of Defense. Sen. John
Tower of Texas, a long-time headache
to Washington's dovish faction, ~ is
another. And William Simon, who so
brilliantly managed the economy un-
der the last Republican regime, may
be returned to his post at the top of the
federal treasury.
It must have taken some courage for
the younger Reagan to adopt the
distinctively non-Republican lifestyle
he did: art instead of finance, Green-
wich Village instead of 5th Avenue. It's
gratifying to see that one member of
the first family, at least, doesn't play
by the rules and do strictly what is ex-
pected. It's just too bad the old adage
doesn't read, "Like son, like father."

To the Daily:
Last night, at approximately
7:30 p.m., I was walking down the
street near my house when a big,
burly 6-foot white male came out
of the darkness and walked me
off of the sidewalk onto the grass
and into the street. He then
laughed loudly and was cheered
on by two other big, burly white
men.
As a black woman, this is not
the first time that I have encoun-
tered this same situation. In fact,
according to many of my friends,

this is beginning to be a common
occurrence. The men who are in-
volved do not look like Klansmen.
They are fairly normal-looking
white male University of
Michigan students. They do not
always come out of the dark
either. They do it any time of the
day.
Many of us see this as a further
extension of the current rise in
violence against blacks, women
in general, and Jews throughout
the United States and the world.
It baffles our minds, though, that

in a university town students who
get through the admissions
procedures would have Klan
mentalities. It especially
frightens me that a big, burly-
assed motherfucker would, in or-
der to lay any type of claim to
manhood, run into and harass
women-black women.
I am sure that if I had asked
such a person why he does it, he
would say that black women are
trying to take a job from him. He
would probably run some rap
about women staying at home, in
bed, or on a floor mopping. Well, I
would like to say that, even if
they took away civil rights
legislation, killed ERA, and
made all colleges the turfs of
white males only, it would not
help characters like this. Who

would they harass then, with
nothing to give them a claim to
manhood?
Affirmative action programs
are not the reason such men are
not making it as they like. It is
because they have mental
problems which can only begin to
be cured through therapy.
Black women, however, and
other women who are victims of
male brutality are not going to.
wait for them to be cured. We are
going to start self-defense
measures to -protect ourselves.
We have already notified the
police department that a problem
exists. So, to those of you who are
playing this game, expect your
lights to go out unexpectedly very
soon! -Linda Robinson
November 21

Sparing pigeons deadly

To the Daily:
I am writing to see if I can say
anything to be helpful in referen-
ce to the pigeon problems at the
University. I read an article
about it in the Evening
Philadelphia Bulletin and could
not let this go without a warning
to all concerned.
I received histoplasmosis (the
disease caused by pigeon drop-
pings) in 1965 and spent three
months in the National Institute
of Health. As a result of the
disease, I am legally blind, butat
least I can see well enough with
my right eye to write, if I work
one inch from the paper. I had to
go on disability in 1965 at age 49
with three sons and a mentally
retarded daughter.t k
My wife had to go to work and

needless to say, I lost my driver's
license. Histoplasmosis. is a
horrible disease with no cure, and
I am lucky it didn't settle in my
lungs or I would not be here.
I do not mean to lecture, but
only want to try to be helpful and
maybe make those who want to
protect the pigeons realize what a
mistake they are making.
The disease has partially
ruined my life and income and I
hope people can take heed and
remember thatrpigeons are the
enemy. To spare them is to be
responsible for people going blind
and even dying from a lung
disease.
Thank you for listening.
-P. v. Slawter
Havertown, PA
November 18

A bortion contradictions

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To the Daily:
I was reading your paper when
a comment incidental to the story
in which it appeared caught my
eye. It described a group of
judges as "pro-death penalty,
pro-life (such a marvelous
paradox)" (Daily, November
16).
I would certainly agree that
such a position is blatantly self-
contradictory, but doesn't it
follow that the opposing
position, anti-death penalty,
pro-abortion-a position shared
by your paper and apparently the
majority of "free-thinkers"-is
just as contradictory?
It's never easy to say what is
right or what is wrong, but it
seems to me that there is nothing
less right or more wrong than
taking a human life in a situation
where there are alternatives. I
share the belief that execution of
a convicted criminal is morally
execrable when incarceration
or rehabilitation are as good or
better solutions to the problem.
Similarly, to take the life of an
unborn child because it is incon-

venient to carry that child to term
can only be justified by blurring
the obvious. I won't even attempt to
deal with the question of whether
or not the fetus is "human": I
recognize that I am unable to
make that decision, and as long
as doubtaremains, abortion is
unacceptable.
I'm not advocating the
legislation of morality (a favorite
catch phrase: Why don't we say
what we mean instead of hiding
behind words like "pro-choice,"
''pro-life,' and "legislation of
morality"?) in that I'm not
trying to tell people how to think.
I do think that it is my respon-
sibility and the responsibility of
the legal system to defend those
being wronged-that is what4
society is all about. Abortion in
all but the most extreme cases is
ethical turpitude, and I have no
difficulty reconciling that
position with a general belief that
if there is a moral absolute, it is
the protection of human life.
-James St. Paul
November 20

....U

AAA

CRILDREN, ME U. EUPREME COURT
HAS RULED TAT KENTIJCK9 PUBLIC
SCHOOLS ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED1O
KEEP THE TEN COMMANPMENT6
P051ED IN EVERY CLASSROOM!r


A real moral rape

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To the Daily:
My GOD, what barbaric, nay,
atheistic values Joshua Peck
covets! ("You don't even have to
be Catholic," Daily, November
23). Should we remove him from
the Daily staff, or would
crucifixion perhaps be more ap-
propriate in light- of his
sacrilegious attitude?
Why, to criticize religion as an
outgrowth of superstition is no
less than blasphemous. I, for one,
attend a church every Sunday,
find great comfort in its friendly
confines, and believe that no
more good can be achieved than
by donating half my (gross) in-
come to the Christian cause.
The pope, who may someday

achieve sainthood, is a guiding
light for the humble and
groveling multitudes. The world
is troubled; the opportunity with
which Christian folk are presen-
ted-that is, to escape the harsh
realities and the cruel and
secular ways of those of the dark
and ignorant non-Christian
faiths-is a solace to me and my
brethren.
To equate horrible, mastur-
bating Onan with the cherished
mores perpetuated by the pope's
teachings is to commit a moral
rape, to emulate the drinking of
mud by filthy swine.
How dare you, Joshua Peck,
pronounce judgement on a
theological matter of which you
have no understanding, when in-
finitely more experienced and
wise men have deliberated cen-
turies to come un with the tenets

Photo invaded privacy

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4CWIR NOT 'f
OgIEACt.

THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL

To the Daily:
I am disgusted and disappoin-
ted that you felt it necessary to
run the picture of the husband
grieving over his wife's burned
body in connection with the MGM
fire (Daily, November 22). The
invasion of that man's grief by
the photographer is bad enough;

call the "audience's" taste for
horror. You are a student
newspaper, supposedly writing
for a sensitive and intelligent
audience. What's your excuse?
-Sue'Higby
Joanne Wagner
November 22
= T 1 ".

Mahler

sexy

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