OPINION Page 4 Saturday, September 22, 1984 The Michigan Daily Campus conservatives learn rag trade -t By Matthew Kopka One of the ideas central to our notion of education is that it should provide the criteria to make more intelligent and rational choices. Indeed, although we have an idea of intelligence as something static (you either have it or, you don't), no one would ever try to educate him or herself without believing that in doing so he or she would become more intelligent. Another old, cherished and very American idea of education is that it strengthens democracy, that it is something to which all are entitled, and that once equipped with it one is better able to take an active role in society. AND SO IT is our very good luck as students to be in a position to do just that. And perhaps it is not only our privilege but our duty - especially to those who do not share our good fortune - to take advantage of it, especially in examining and trying to understand how our country is run and how it is changing. A strong conservatism, for example, currently holds sway in much of the nation. Though some would argue that it is not new but the same conservatism of old, and that it is not as powerful or as broad-based as we are often led to believe, no one would argue that it doesn't exist.{ As future architects of this society we will have to come to our own con- clusions as to how we feel about this phenomenon, whether we will embrace it, resist it, or perhaps even attempt to combat it. One way to do so might be to examine it as it manifests itself here in our midst, at the University itself, in the shape of the Michigan Review, a two-year old attempt to capture the hearts and minds of Michigan students made possible by some very powerful people and organizations. WHO ARE those people and in- stitutions? Gerald Ford, Mobil Oil, C. William Colburn, Irving Kristol, with .'Special Thanks' to the Heritage Foun- dation, funded by the racist Joseph Coors, and Sun Oil, the Mellon family, and 87 of the corporations of the For- tune 500. The general tone? . One of open hostility toward unions, taxes (any taxes whatsoever, apparently), and the Soviet Union, as well as a more thinly veiled hostility toward ecumenicism (the ideal of tolerance between religions). Deciding what some of the articles are trying to say may be a little dif- ficult. One article, on "Drugs and A Free Market", sets out to prove that "independent of any moral judgement" drugs should be legalized, all drugs ap- parently, because its author is a great opponent of government intervention in free trade. But it is so strangely written and so full of wishful thinking that the tenses get a little mixed up, and it's very difficult to see the point. Among the more incredible statements con- tained in it are, "Bashing someone on the head is an involuntary action from the victim's point of view. . . and not consistent with the free market," and "if drugs were not so expensive crime. would fail." BUT THESE people have money - plenty enough to come up with an im- pressive product - and the paper will probably serve as a kind of training ground for future authors and jour- nalists. One can imagine that it will improve. I urge you, pick up a copy, read bet- tising or directly, and try to decide just what it is they want to persuade you of. CONSIDER THE bias inherent in the cartoon on page six, a clever attack against the auto unions and part of a general and careful preparation of public sentiment against the auto workers in the event of a strike (which has since come to pass). The cartoon depicts a "UAW-HAUL" truck, labelled "CONTRACT DEMAN- DS", so weighed down that the car to which it is attached (labelled "US 'Are the editors of the Michigan Review more Machiavellian than Jeffersonian? .. . Just what do these people want you to think, if indeed they want you to think at all?' fairness of such an implication, however, should be made plain by the fact that the thrust of the UAW's demands in its talks with automakers has not been more money, but better benefits, job security, and - looking toward the future - assurance that younger autoworkers will find jobs; that Americans will find jobs, not workers in other countries where the automakers continue to move in search of cheaper, more easily exploited labor. The paper's editorial attacking the MSA makes the assembly sound like a subversive left-wing group rather than a democratically elected body of University students. It attacks the student government for its majority stand against the Regents' proposed Non-Academic Code, calling the assembly 'irrelevant' and seemingly wishing to wrest it of any relevance whatsoever, concluding that MSA should deny itself a voice in represen- ting the students on the question.. William Smith's "Commentary" on the same theme, entitled "Yell If You Can't Think" seems to urge you to remain silent if you can, and goes on to liken protests against the proposed Code to demonstrations against the Vietnam War. Forgetting repeatedly that the MSA represents the University student body, he says that "preventing the recurrence of such a violent climate is the true purpose of the Code", in- dicating that removing Vietnam-style radicals from "such groups" as the Michigan Assembly is exactly what the code would make possible. And having been the first to try and sentence the MSA under the Code for a "violence"-it- has not committed, he closes with 'an elegy to Mahatma Gandhi, someh6w- trying to create a contrast between th6- great thinker and champion of his people (who must be doing back somer- saults in his grave) and the overt or covert violence and fierce hatred he ac- cuses the MSA of wishing to rekindle. There is a quotation from Machiavelli on the letters page. It says, "Men in general judge more from appearances, than from reality," which is an unfor- tunate truth. It continues, "All men have eyes, but few have the gift of penetration." Untrue. Penetration is a virtue that one develops, through study and the acquisition of, knowledge, something a great univetk sity tries to aid its students i'a acquiring. Machiavelli was a man who believed that his high birth and wealth made him somehow superior, gave him4 the right to make decisions and control the lives of others - not a particularly American ideal. He was not a man we now study because of his great love for the development of the democratic ideal. Are the editors of the Michigan Review more Machiavellian than Jef- fersonian? Pick up a copy, decide for yourself. Just what do these people want you to think, if indeed they want you to think at all? ween the lines, examine it carefully. It may take more than a quick read to realize that an article about George Orwell, for example, may be a well- timed attempt to offset any (potentially dangerous) notions students might derive from reading him during the centenary of his birth when he is naturally getting a little attention. Remember the connections that the makers of this very professional- looking publication have, who gives them money, either through adver- AUTO RECOVERY") cannot move, while a man outside urges the driver to "Floor it!" Clearly, the implication is that UAW salary demands will ruin the recovery not only of the auto industry, but by extension, our general economic recovery as well. Will the autoworkers be one of the eventual scapegoats should the economy go into another- tailspin in the middle of a Reagan second term? We may want to wait and see. The outcome of the strike will of course be a deciding factor. The un- 4 Kopka is a senior in the Residen- tial College. i Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Sinclair [EW~S Iirt4: RE IICAIJS FV1D NW Sa~ ON CP+aMQ &0SC Vol. XCV No. 15 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI148109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Reasonably free speech. l4 v 1 VICAR, MYVSBER, MY GIRLM, AN MY ES(PEFNT.::. 4 4 ARVARD UNIVERSITY President Derek Bok gave some wise words of advice Thursday to a campus audience. Bok said: "No one has the right to decide for others which speakers are fit to be heard or which public discussions deserve to take place. Because the right to speak freely and the opportunity to enjoy an open forum for debate are so closely related to these central purposes, the university has a stake in free speech that goes beyond the interests of its members." Bok also went on to say that the in- tegrity of an educational institution is diminished each time an individual is denied the right to speak his mind. Officials from the University of Michigan, Dearborn would do well to listen to Bok's words. Officials from that campus banned 43-year-old John Belisle from buildings and properties, allegedly because he had harassed female University officials by talking with them for hours. But Belisle claims that when he was asked to stop talking with the employees he did so, and claims he is guilty of harassing no one. Belisle believes the real reason for the officials' decision to bar him from the campus is his political activism and continual questioning of authority. In 1982, Belisle protested a reduction in the University's library hours - of- ficials said the move was necessary to cut costs. He ended up passing out 1,500 leaflets to students proposing other ways to save the school money. This included a suggestion that the University lay off one administrator and let the rest punch time clocks. President Bok's words on the value of allowing individuals to express themselves came in reference to the heckling of speakers invited to the Harvard campus. This incident is similar to the heckling of Gen. Alexan- der Haig on this campus last year. Bok's words could very well apply to the Dearborn officials' criticism of Belisle. Though Belisle's speech may seem unworthy of protection, this University thrives on a free flow of ideas. As university students should avoid heckling speakers invited to this cam- pus to express their views. University officials should avoid trampling on the free speech rights of students, or non- students, with whom they disagree. j