OPINION
Page 4
Wednesday, April 16, 1986
The Michigan Daily
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i
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Eating Disorders explained
Vol. XCVI, No. 134
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board
All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
Vengeance and violence
HE United States' attack on
Libya will not reduce inter-
national terrorism, but escalate it.
Mr. Reagan, himself,
acknowledges that the attack will
not "bring down the curtain on
Khadafy's reign of terror," but
hopes it will send a signal to
Xhadafy and other terrorists that
the United States "can bring closer
a safer and more secure world for
decent men and women." By this
aggressive act, the United States
meets Khadafy on his own terrorist
terms.
While not the focus of the attack,
many innocents were killed by U.S.
force. Reagan expresses no verbal
animosity toward the Libyan
people, claiming that they are
"decent people caught in the grip of
a tyrant." But he defends last
night's action as retaliation and
says he would do it again if
necessary. Though many among
the Arab nations have condemned
Khadafy's actions, the attack com-
pels them to support Libya against
the strength of the United States.
The attack increases hostility and
anti-American sentiment in an
already unstable environment.
This action undermines past U.S.
efforts to negotiate and preserve
peace in the region.
Mr. Reagan swears he has
"irrefutable evidence" that Libya
was responsible for the bombing,
but with the exception of Canada,
England and Israel, the United
States has been unable to garner
allied support. Both Spain and
France refused to grant airspace to
the United States, forcing 18 F-111
bombers launched from England to
travel 2800 nautical miles. West
Germany, which is home to the
discotheque supposedly bombed
under Khadafy's orders, refused
the U.S. request to impose san-
ctions against Libya. The only
evidence provided up to this point
is a message intercepted between
Tripoli and East Germany by the
CIA. There has been no indepen-
dent confirmation and the CIA is an
unreliable source. Only yester-
day, reports were released that the
CIA had been smuggling millions of
dollars of aid to the Nicaraguan
Contras. Further, the ad-
ministration has trumped up
enemy action before to justify
military involvement or aid. This
was the case in the Gulf of Tonkin,
which prompted the Vietnam war,
and in the failed attempt to charge
Managua with accepting Soviet
MIGs into their harbor after the
1984 Nicaraguan elections.
U.S. military action will not solve
the problem of terrorism in the
Middle East. The strike against
Libya increases the incentive for
aggression against Americans and
their allies, sends a message to
terrorists that they will receive
broad scale international attention
for their causes, and destroys
United States credibility in the
region.
By Katie Gentile
The study being conducted by Professor
Drewnowski is one of the many studies that
are continually attempting to neatly
categorize the personalities of Eating
Disorders (E.D.) in hopes of finding a
panacea for the "disease." Numerous
behavioral characteristics are commonly
found in E.D. cases, serving to simplify this
orderly process. Neglected in these studies
however, is the fact that over 95% of all E.D.
are female. This horrifying statistic is
rarely seen as anything more than the
female segment of the population's constant
struggle with weight and the attainment of
the perfect body. This poor excuse is a
blatant attempt to ignore the real core of the
disease - society.
Most women in this society are not raised
to have self-confidence in themselves, they
are raised to have self-confidence in their
appearance only, and if this falls short of
society's ideal, they have little support for
developing any self-confidence. This at-
titude pervades every facet of the media to
the point where even children raised by the
Gentile, an LSA sophomore, writes
music reviewsffor the Daily.
most liberal of parents are bombarded by
society's ideals. In light of this, it follows
that females develop some defense to these
rigidly impossible standards put upon them,
and this response is in many cases an E.D.
For many women this defense does not
come into full practice until college, but this
by no means is an indication that the
behavior was not previously present, for it is
used as a defense-mechanism, and as such
its extremes are proportional to the amount
of stress put upon the person. This stress
also is responsible for the degree of destruc-
tion of the body. In bulimia, this destruction
is much more varied than just binging and
throwing-up. By definition bulimia means the
process of binging and purging, and these
purges can take the form of throwing-up,
laxative, diuretic, or diet pill abuse, fasting
or excessive dieting. For some women the
effect of these purges on the body may take
years to develop into serious health
problems, or they might not at all. Im-
mediate problems such as heartbeat fluc-
tuations, delayed healing of scabs,
dehydration, and dizziness are common
symptoms and are warning signs from the
body, and when unheeded can lead to death.-
As to the surprisingly low statistical
results from the surveys at various colleges,
these can easily be explained by the fact the
majority of E.D. value privacy, and are
ashamed of their behavior, so therefore
would in most cases not fill out the survey,
or at least not give the correct data. It is no
wonder that these women feel the shame of
their behavior, for Prof. Drewnowski's ex-
planation of E.D. epitomized these attitudes
of society which often lead women to
develop E.D. in the first place. The
professor claims that these women have
"poor reactions to stress," and "a desire to
stay thin." These excuses point a judgemen-
tal finger directly toward the women,
claiming it is their lack of ability to deal
with life which is their problem, when in
reality it is society's lack of acceptance of
women as intelligent, beautiful (not only
aesthetically), and worthwhile people,
regardless of the packaging. This acceptan-
ce is granted much more often to men, as is
shown in the low percent of male E.D., but
women are still continually expected to be
perfect in every way, shape, and form, and
while doing so, are not to wound the egos of
men. It is this unjust expectation that often
leads women to develop such self-
destructive defense mechanisms as Eating
Disorders.
Chassy
(
REAO N5 AP S CG TLPOLICY
K" ARFY it~'
co TESS TRO, "- j'
NUKE E1i
"'04' @Is"
Dennis Brutus
ENNIS Brutus's life as an
exiled South African poet em-
bodies a number of realities about
South Africa and the United States'
relationship to it. Thursday at 8:00
p.m. in Angell Hall auditorium B,
Dennis Brutus will speak with the
sponsorship of the Daily Opinion
Page, the Vice-President of
Academic Affairs and the Kappa
Alpha Psi Fraternity.
For organizing a sports boycott
of South Africa from within South
Africa, and perhaps for gaining
notoriety as a black poet, Brutus
.was shot by police and sentenced
for 18 months to Robben Island.
There he rubbed shoulders with the
legendary political prisoners of the
early 1960s, including both the Pan-
Africanist Congress (PAC) and
African National Congress (ANC)
leaders, Robert Sobukwe and
Nelson Mandela. Some of Brutus'
mpost famous poetry, including
.Letters to Martha, comes from his
prison experience.
Upon completion of his eighteen
month sentence, Brutus received a
passport out of South Africa to
Zimbabwe. The authorities told
him that if he should return, he
would be put to death.
Eventually, Brutus made his way
o the United States, where he
received tenure as a professor of
African literature at Northwestern
University in 1971. Over the years,
his efforts to isolate South Africa in
sports have been well rewarded.
Brutus is responsible for South
Africa's exclusion from the Olym-
pics. Its racist standards in society
and sport can not be tolerated.
While in the United States,
Brutus has worked to cut every
possible tie between this country
and South Africa. In the final mon-
ths of Carter's administration, the
United States finally moved to
deport Brutus. For the first three
years of Reagan's administration,
Brutus fought to stay in the United
States. At the time, the United
States was not embroiled in the
South Africa issue the way it is
now. Yet during the relatively un-
challenged heyday of "construc-
tive engagement," Brutus con-
tinued to speak for divestiture and
every kind of boycott of South
Africa that was possible such as
athletics, academics, art and
tourism. According to the now
defunct Bureau of State Security,
(BOSS), Brutus is one of apar-
theid's top twenty opponents
because of his work to cut foreign
ties to South Africa.
Today, Brutus is more well
known than ever thanks to the
favorable publicity from his depor-
tation case. On Thursday, Ann Ar-
borites have a rare opportunity to
see and hear someone who has
made sacrifices in both the United
States and South Africa so that one
day apartheid might crumble. j
LETTERS:
Kemp misrepresented in Daily edit
To the Daily:
Well, it was only a matter of
time. Once again you felt it
necessary to editorialize against
a campus speaker of a conser-
vative nature. I refer specifically
to your piece "Piercing rhetoric"
(Daily, April 11) about
Congressman Jack Kemp.
Your editorial was very ap-
propriately titled in thatit was it-
self a piece of piercing rhetoric
filled with generalizations and
false charges. It truly lived up to
the Daily's reputation for
hypocrisy. You condemn "red-
baiting," rascism, sexism, and
the use of broad generalizations
to stereotype and then turn
around and broadly label Kemp
as "right-wing." What's more,
you then attack him on the basis
of your stereotyping.
Your statement "University
students who value their finan-
cial aid clearly would not benefit
from a Kemp presidency" is total
absurdity. Congressman Kemp
was at the forefront of the fight
against cutting financial aid.
Rather thantresearching Kemp's
stands on issues and making your
evaluation in an informed man-
should be done. His dream is not,
as you assert, "available only to
those with enough money to in-
vest," but for every individual;
man, woman and child; black,
white, hispanic...
John Kennedy once stated that
"a rising tide lifts all boats."
Well, this is the heart of Jack
Kemp's message.
Perhaps before you condemn
Congressman Kemp and "other
right-wing candidates" you
should do a little research first.'
After all, the other editorial of the
day stated your displeasure with
the Associated Press for sending
out a story which was "inac-
curate and misleading" - yod
wouldn't want to do the same.
-Jeffrey Evans
Executive Director;
College Republicans
April 1.
S. C.R.E.A .Mprotests student reputatior6
To the Daily:
We're really tired of people
telling us that "Michigan ain't
what it used to be." The instruc-
tors at the U. will be the first to
spout criticism of current studen-
ts: "Where's the enthusiasm, the
excitement, the shouts and
screams, that used to rever-
berate out of the Diag, and
marked the Ann Arbor Campus
as a place of great spirit and im-
mense energy?"
Even student publications
report this negative feeling, with
stories and entire magazines
(Gargoyle) suggesting an
epidemic of apathy on our Cam-
pus. InterestaGroups are constan-
tly complaining that students
never listen to them. And studen-
Excitement About Michigan. And
on April 23, at 12:05 p.m. sharp,
all students can be a part of the
biggest event to hit this campus
since the 60's. The loudest, most
incredible SCREAM will be
voiced by all students, to show
that we do, indeed, have ex-
citement and energy. The
SCREAM will center on the Diag,
but no matter where you are, you
can participate, by screaming as
loud as you can, for about 3Q
secs., for whatever reasons you
may have. Whether it's because
the 23rd is the last day of classes,
or you hate nuclear weapons, or
because that pimple on your face
has finally disappeared;
whatever! Just SCREAM, at
12:05 p.m., on April 23, and be a
part of history!
-The Members of S.C.R.E.A.M.
April 10
Respect rights of grads
a,
To the Daily:
University of Michigan ad-
ministratorshave decided that
graduation ceremonies are too
long. One measure they have
tnken to correct this dubious dif-
the traditional recognition due
them for all their years of effort
and dedication. For whom are
commencements intended if not
for students? Are the regents
and other officials unable to sit.
1