4 OPINION Page 4 Thursday, October 3, 1985 The Michigan Daily Toast on a stick Channel 4 desecrates comedy'sfinest hour It's an outrage. You would think, as affluent pseudo- intellectual Ann Arborites, that we would have a cultural edge over Ohio, a place where tipping cows is considered a rowdy night out. But because of some money- grubbing capitalists, Ann Arbor trails Toledo in class. Apparently, the folks over at WDIV, an Eric Mattson NBC affiliate in Detroit, believe that Hal Linden is more important than David Let- terman. That would explain their programming schedule. Instead of showing "Late Night with David Letterman" at 12:30 a.m., as all decent, God-fearing television stations do, David is pre-empted by reruns of "Barney Mattson is a Daily reporter. His column appears on alternate Thursdays. Miller." That's not the way they do things in Toledo, a town made famous by a man who wears a dress. Even in Ohio, they understand the importance of comedy. It's possible to get the Letterman show on Toledo's channel 13, but it's just not the same. The reception is awful, and for some reason, the Fugitive Guy loses his impact when you can't see his great hair-do. Those of you who have never seen Let- terman-and your number is few-may not realize the audio-visual implications of this. "Late Night" is a comedy mecca, a haven of humor, the one bright spot in the cultural wasteland of television. It's also very, very. funny. Both the general manager and program-, ming director at WDIV failed to return my phone calls, so their motivation for pushing back Letterman is unclear. My guess is that they're late-night fun-haters with poor hygiene, but a spokesman for NBC in New York offered another explanation: By showing reruns at 12:30, the station makes more money because it doesn't have to share any ad revenue with the network. The spokesman said the network prefers its affiliates to run the Letterman show at 12:30, but "there's not a thing the show can do about it" because the stations are in- dependently owned. Some of you may be thinking that a half- hour is really not that long to wait for a show like Letterman's. You're absolutely right. I know some Letterman fans who would get up at 5 a.m. to watch Viewer Mail. But what about David's followers who have 9 a.m. classes? Should they have to wait an extra half-hour just so WDIV can make more money? Let's face it, capitalism only goes so far. Go ahead and exploit the masses. Send unwed mothers to work in coal mines-it won't bother me. I just can't stand to see good TV raped and pillaged. But the atrocities don't end there. Becuase WDIV can't tape the show and air it simultaneously, we are fed a diet of day-old Letterman. We have to wait 24 hours longer than the rest of the country to see Dave drop stuff off a five-story building. If ever there was a case for bloody revolution, this is it. If I stand alone, my feelings on this won't change anything. I can write letters to WDIV General Manger Amy Micone until my fingers fall off, but she won't care. She would probably laugh contemptuously and say, "You miserable fun-lover. You ignorant, pathetic peon. I make the decisions around here." Then she would cackle insidiously and fly away on her broom. But you-yes, you, reading the newspaper - can make a difference. You can put David, Paul, and Larry "Bud" Melman in their proper places. The answer is as simple as Amy Micone's mind: toast on a stick. All you have to do is find a stick-a pencil will do-and spear a piece of bread with it. Toast it to a delicious golden brown, then smear it with gobs of honey or jelly. Put it in an envelope, along with a polite note suggesting that the Letterman show be .aired at 12:30,not 1 a.m., and send it to Amy Micone, WDIV-TV, 550 W. Lafayette, Detroit, 48226. This is an issue all college students can embrace with pride. The College Republicans and Progressive Student Net- work will join as one. The staffs of the Michigan Review and The Michigan Daily will link arms and chant, "Hey, hey, ho, ho Barney Miller has got to go." It's not hopeless. At Louisiana State University, a few hopeful students made a difference. Cyril Vetter, who owns the NBC affiliate in Baton Rouge, was going to put on "All in the Family" instead of Letterman last year because Dave's ratings weren't too hot. Vetter didn't realize what he had done. "The students at LSU just went berserk," he said recently. They sent letters, they held rallies, they staged a terrorist raid on the station. And it worked. Vetter put the show back on the air. That's the sort of action we, as students of the University of Michigan and citizens of the United States of America, must take. If you want to join the cause, call me at 76- DAILY. Make out your contribution checks to "Operation SAVE DAVE" and send them to me at 420 Maynard, Ann Arbor, 48109. Phone the neighbors, wake the kids. And give Dave a chance. 1. +rw 31E11441U 1aUT1 Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCVI, No. 21 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Dismantling the machine 1W Y C EAd TW;SOVIE.TS T41 Y CAN NEVR BF SURD TN~y'QE S CUR0 1 r ThCAUW - Y"I IT'LL SENDTHEM INTO A~N NB~L4JT- FPNIC e J~1 ' USJ IF TN~y KNOW WG CAN 1RLINIDT1{GAA DoESN'T THAT MRKE $ you 'E 1SA iM D i1m 4 4 n a quiet move two weeks ago, the student government at the University of California, Berkeley instituted a boycott of IBM per- sonal computers because of that company's operations in Africa. According to a- representative at the Investor Responsibility Research Center, this will cost IBM millions in sales. Since then similar initiatives have been presented. The echo of Berkeley's boycott is being heard in speeches at Swar- thmore, the University of Massachusetts at Boston and Har- vard. IBM views itself as a thinking person's company-a company of the future. At the same time, IBM professes to stand for development of all countries with its aid in com- puter technology. In the past, IBM has defended its operation in South Africa by pointing to its own em- ployment practices there and its programs for Black Education. However, in South Africa it becomes clear that high-tech development is not automatically salutory. South Africa's pass-book system operates with the use of IBM mainframe computers. True, IBM no longer sells directly to the apartheid government, but the fact remains that high-tech in the hand of South Africa's white settler regime creates more than a few chilling reminders of George Or- well's 1984. 1984 is past, but apartheid seems bent on going beyond Orwell's wildest fantasies of repression. Is this the future that IBM is showing us? Students have a special relation- ship to IBM and the whole com- puter industry. Employment op- portunities are increasingly tied to the information revolution and no student in 1985 can exnect to escape puter companies are willing to give price breaks to younger users who will develop brand loyalties in their initial years of computer use. Students cannot simply abandon their tools to protest corporate in- volvement in South Africa. Never- theless, they are able to hit IBM at its most vulnerable spot. Recent months have seen IBM cancel production of the PCjr; Ap- ple lay off a fifth of its workers and close half its plants; Wang shut its factories for two weeks and all the personal computer companies face a disappointing market where there is cut-throat competition. IBM and the other companies desperately need a smooth Christ- mas season. Surely, IBM cannot afford to lose the University for its pesonal computers. Neither Apple or Zenith, which are sold through the University, operate in South Africa. Indeed, Michigan-based Zenith's personal computer is IBM compatible and less expensive than IBM'S. The University has also just started repair services for faculty, staff, and students. The attack on IBM's bottom line is especially timely. In addition to its vulnerability at home, IBM is already uncomfortable with its situation in S. Africa. The New York Times reported last month that IBM is "very discouraged' by the 'rapidly deteriorating' conditions" and that it is considering departure. The Boycott of IBM personal computers will do nothing to salve anyone's conscience since so many American companies do the same or worse as IBM. Rather the boycott of IBM is a temporary and opportunist measure to hasten apartheid's inevitable collapse and American corporate withdrawal 4 LETTERS Regents should reconsider SDI vote To the Daily: Last Friday, the University Regents approved a resolution of- fered one day earlier by Revent Deane Baker, that "scholars who wish to participate in Strategic Defense Initiative ("Star Wars") Research are encouraged to un- dertake that research." Because the Regents made the decision in great haste, without benefit of open discussion, I suggest they reconsider their vote and post- pone making any statement on this extremely important issue until they and the University community have had the oppor- tunity to educate themselves and to engage in public debate. The regents seem to view their vote as a simple stand in favor of academic freedom. But academic freedon is a complex issue, especially when it is linked to questions about research on the campus and the appropriate role of a university. If academic freedom involves the right of scholars to engage in the resear- ch of their choice, then the Regents should, in dealing with the subject, examine all the con- straints that might impinge upon that freedom. If billions of dollars are available for "Star Wars" freedom? Initiative On October 4 and 5, the Univer- hope to s sity will host a national conferen- well as ce on "The Strategic Defense Universit Author wrong to To the Daily mediocr Mr. Honigman's essay, and juni "Stifling the middle student," tinue to (Daily, Sept. 10) stands as a cellence disgraceful exercise in the scholarly modern habit of eulogizing This h mediocrity. remain Combining his misguided views with a dishonest attempt at p scholarly analysis ("Somethingl sAi c like this happened in medicine te until doctors of osteopathy broke To the Da the AMA's monopoly."), Mr. Michae Honigman is convinced that the on the discouraging incompetence and "pARTy laziness is the high price we pay diverse for one of the finest academic 20) was systems in the world. Need he be one of ti reminded that there can only be a passing4 handful of superstars and that, tivities, a "there is room at the top for only written. a few," by the very definition of The ev4 these terms? The obvious solution is not for Lett our professorial role models to step down into the ranks of the spaced e and Universities." I ee the Regents there, as other members of the 1y community alerted eulogize e but rather for students ior professionals to con- strive to achieve ex- in their chosen fields of y activity. atter achievement must the mission of any .R Ty story aily : el Drongowski's article Art Association and " ("Street party offers activities," Daily, Sept. wonderful. I think it is ;he best articles encom- our history, current ac- nd so forth that has been ent was a grand success now by the Regents vote to the importance of this issue. -Helen Isaacson September 22 mediocrity' university. Mr. Honigman's imn- plicit belief that high standardsof excellence have a "crippling ef- fect" on higher education are contrary to this mission. -Ramesh A. Shivdasani September 11 hit the mark for us, and we thank you for the interest and enthusiasm your ar- ticle generated. -Marsha Chamberlin September Chamberlin is executive director of the Ann Arbor Art Association. v ers to the Daily should by typed, triple- , and signed by the individual authors. ifv? geugt.& UsatheAd