OPINION Page 4 Friday, November 7, 1986 The Michigan Daily i -----"-- I 'I Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Witnessing rape Vol. XCVII, No. 47 420 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. Issues versus popularity INSTEAD OF CONCENTRATING on the issues which are hurting and worrying the electorate, most U.S. Senate candidates underestimated voters by relying on negative campaigning and massive ad spending. The Republicans put their faith into the appeal of Ronald Reagan, the individual. An unprecedented $300 million in a non-presidential election year was spent on packaging the candidates. Reagan seemed to be operating as if it were 1984 again by pleading with voters to vicariously vote for him through his party's candidates. The Democrats finally realized the immense personal appeal of the President and were smart enough to avoid criticizing him. The inability of the Republicans to transfer Reagan's personal appeal to the candidates, who are more identified with the President's unpopular policies, is illustrated by the fact that only one-third of those who consider themselves Reagan supporters voted Republican. For example, Christopher Bond, a candidate for the Senate from Missouri, resorted to pulling his Reagan-endorsement commercials off television as his ratings in the polls dipped in proportion to Reagan's campaigning for him. Finally, Reagan's 64 percent approval rating in Florida and intense campaigning did little to help freshman Sen. Paula Hawkins who lost to Democrat Bob Graham. Reagan campaigned in the seven crucial Senate contests and his party lost in five of those, swhich demonstrates that the most popular of personalities cannot sway voters where real issues are at stake. While neither major party focused on the issues, the voters who live with the harsh realities of the farm crisis and unemployment caused by foreign competition, clearly voiced their disappointment in Reagan's policies. The Dakotas, where farmers have been devastated by Reagan's policies, rejected Republican incumbents who were associated with these policies; those who were able to disassociate themselves with Reagan's agricultural stands won handily. Although farmers are usually strong Republicans, they voted nationally 50 percent Democrat and 41 percent Republican. North Carolina voters remembered Reagan's veto of a bill protecting their jobs from textile imports when they voted Democratocratic candidate Terry Sanford in over incumbent Broyhill.v Reagan pleaded for Republican candidates by citing low inflation, tax, and interest rates and promising a more financially prosperous future. The trade deficit, however, which has more than tripled since he took office, and the nation's declining competition in industry were what stimulated voters to elect the Democrats instead. According to a New York Times/CBS poll, one- third of the voters described the economy as fairly or very bad and voted solidly Democrat. Even good, usually a pro-Republican constituency, voted 44 percent Democrat; not surprisingly, the only economic group to favor Republicans over Democrats were those making over $50,000 a year. Two out of the three states targeted for nuclear waste dumps dumped Republican incumbents for Democrats by a two to one margin. Women and black voters tipped many crucial races toward the Democrats. Republicans, because of their reputation of cutting Social Security, also fared poorly among senior citizens. The Democrats certainly did not win on the strength of their stands on the issues, but because they are the only alternative to the Republicans. The voters were making a statement against current U.S. policy, on issues which are threatening them. They demanded representational government, not meaningless imagery.and a political popularity contest. by Yvonne Bloch What a slaughter. What a massacre. What a beating. What a strangling. What's the matter, didn't you see it? Didn't you see the game? No, not the 69-13 Michigan win but the game where there are no winners, but most certainly there are losers. Yes, it's the Rape Culture game, hardly a game though. You know, I went to but one football game last year and that was enough- bottle throwing and mocking of people-the call of the day. However, wanting to spend time with my friend and see the sport (but not to see what football seems to inherently mean), I ventured to one football game this season. I left horrified and revolted. Are there people out there looking for some prime examples of our rape culture society? Are the everyday "subtleties" too subtle for you? Do you need a blatant example-so blatant that perhaps none of the dozens (maybe hundreds) of participants realized their actions-caught up in the cheers, theexcitement, the "game?" Whatever can I be talking about? Here, let me be more specific. On Saturday, November 1, at the Michigan-Illinois football game, dozens and dozens of fans proceeded to throw a woman out of the stadium. They hoisted her above their heads and sent her back, up the stadium stands, most reaching for her to help in the task. Oh, but she was only a mannequin and this was only a game, right? The mannequin was of a woman dressed only in an orange shirt (a supposed Illini woman-the enemy!?). Not only did the woman not "make it" Bloch is a third-year dentistry student. out of the stadium, but she was tossed and handled for a few rounds in one of the nearby sections. It all happened so quickly, but still it seemed a long painstaking duration. I was horrified; no one would stop.The cheers for this game were so loud. Every time I lost sight of the woman through the heads of those standing to watch, I assumed someone had gotten hold of her and did not "pass her on," but had stopped it. " Why can't they stop; why won't they stop; stop!" My utterance only fell upon my friend's ears. Then again, the wOman would surface, and I kept hoping this horrific scene would stop-cheers, faces laughing, two women down at the field looking up, jostling each other, pointing, consumed in laughter. Quickly indeed, the woman was passed-hand to hand. The woman was grasped up and down the stands. No one needed much time to think out a particular, creative abuse to perform on the woman. Hands reaching up to strangle her. She was passed again. A man ripped off Mier shirt to expose her breasts and held the coveted "prize" up high above his head. And the nude woman was strangled and beaten some more, before it finally stopped. I believe someone finally took the mannequin and held it from further abuse- [perhaps women are to be "kept" in boxes, secure from abuses...or is that an abuse in itself, hmm?!?!]. I left thegame completely disgusted. Quite a sight, I keep seeing the performance again in my mind-the faces and the noise. How could this happen? Is this what football is about? Is this what our society is about-violence against women, violence in general, all cooked up in an apple pie, curiously in the shape of a football? That Saturday night I greeted many culture Michigan fans that walked into the place where I work. Most were sporting pins shirts, etc. with varying slogans. One woman wore a button that declared "The Wolverines...Real Men With The Big Ten." And the events of the day stir again: As certainfans performedytheir abuses for side show entertainment, the "Real Men" finished out the half-and the Illinois band performed their half-time extravaganza playing "Yankee Doodle" and rolling out a giant American flag. It was a travesty in and of itself, but also, all this was in the wake of the Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Days. Sadly, no disgustingly, these fans are sponsoring (and participating in) Sexual Assault Awareness and Promotion Days. I'm revolted to almost dumbfounded disbelief, but I know it happened. Do we want to exemplify and perpetuate this rape culture,dthat is our culture? Of course not. And perhaps it seems that it's been said again and again, and here once more. Perhaps each person could think more about her/his own actions and the implications; analyze how certain activities, etc. perpetuate stereotypes and harmful societal occurrences; and then do something to positively alter it. Certainly it's possible to think about our actions; we reason through things everyday (supposedly). Furthermore, I'd rather not get involved with ridiculous arguments based on attitudes along the lines of "I'm not so, bad; things won't change anyway, so I'M going to ramble through life on my own concerns." Incredible. Shall we start weighing the "acts of omission" versus the "acts of commission"? Surely both have some significance. Complacency does not belong. We're talking about society, and when untangled, this means-person, life, and dignity. Wasserman 'A >t ' ThIE ?FOLIC I1 GETTING SICV Or O MAYBiE WE SHOULD DO SOMAE.NEG&ATIVE 4ADS AND DOESIN RETNINING - olViICiAN uR T1i. PE5ULT 15 FEWER You'RE TkE TRI~tk WILL BE To TAP&ET 7thE AND FEWER PEOPLE RIGHT-.. LA5T VOTER LEFT1/ Vo \ / t z_ LETTERS: 6~L4 / SPARKS to change the world Dialogue for peace W ALID MULA, an Arab Israeli, and Ronny Brawer, a Jewish Israeli, are traveling throughout the United States together, to promote the process of dialogue as a means to achieve peace in the Middle East. Such communication is a welcome alternative to the fruitless exchanges of hostile rhetoric between Arabs and Jews. For too long, the debate on campus over Palestinian nationalism has served to do little more than sustain animosity and ,inhibit any real understanding of Palestinian or Jewish perspectives. The most vocal representatives of Zionist and Arab student. groups have locked themselves in a destructive cycle of accusations and counter-accusations, refusing to acknowledge the rights and needs of the other. Responding to personal experiences of racism and violence within their respective communities, Mula and Brawer seek to break this cycle, and create new avenues to peace. To initiate mnr~ a rt nnfiti- a .4-'. sot - that education and discussion among individual Arabs and Jews - towards coexistence- are the only options left to those truly interested in peace. This lecture, along with a workshop this weekend, is also intended to generate momentum for a new, continuing dialogue group among Jewish and Arab students at the University. Students would- meet regularly to explore their identities, and discuss obstacles to peace agreements. Mula leads workshops for students of all ages in Israel and abroad, in which he encourages Arabs and Jews to challenge stereotypes, and gives them an opportunity to share emotional experiences and mutual hostilities. Only after this type of discussion, do the students begin searching- together-fortconcrete, political solutions to Middle East crises. Students sincerely interested in finding non-violent means to resolve ideological and territorial To the Daily: We live in a world where forty-five thousand people starve to death every day; where forty-some wars are raging; where sixty-thousand nuclear warheads exist with more being built every day. We live in a country where ten thousand dollars are spent every second on the military; where a woman is raped every five seconds. We live forty-five miles from a city where over three hundred children have been shot since January; where unemployment among black youth is over fifty percent. The Dean Baker campaign has been able to mobilize over a thousand people in addressing 'some issues which are of vital importance in the world. But can we solve these problems by electing one, five, ten or twenty congresspersons? We don't think so. These representatives can call for cuts, sanctions and social spending. But corporations will continue to throw out workers in their constant race to maximize profits. This government will continue to wage war on Nicaragua whether through the Contras, other private armies, or by directly sending U.S. troops. It will continue to support the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, either openly or by keeping up a moral facade of sanctions and pullouts while funnelling goods through Israel Marking Borowsky's words on the Mets really want to solve any of these problems. We invite people who are concerned about changing this world to an open forum where we will present a revolutionary To the Daily: Write on Mark Borowsky! His article (Daily, 10/29/86) has to rank as one of the finest in Michigan Daily history. It is organized, well-written, in good taste, hilarious, and most of all, true! Like Borowsky, I had nothing against any Big Apple sports teams until I arrived in Ann Arbor and experienced first hand multitudes of pestering, annoying, and obnoxious New, Yorkers, most of whom have an air of arrogance that makes that of Jim McMahon look meek by comparison. It seems as though University New Yorkers are truly representative of the ilk they left behind in Manhattan, Long Island, Westchester, or wherever. Borowsky is astute in including the "F---in' coke addict!" remark a fan shrieked about Keith Hernandez, but he barely scratches the surface. Although I haven't pre- occupied myself with the issue, I quickly can recall three instances in which New York fans boldly displayed the game this summer, a New York fan threw a knife from the stands which landed within inches of California's Wally Joyner. Thirdly, again this past summer, while one of the New York teams was hosting a competing club, an opposing right fielder ran back to the wall, leaped up, made a spectacular catch (causing a New York out), and was rewarded by a New Yorker who promptly doused him with a beer. (All right, I'll give in-I guess that was kind of funny.) In my lifetime, I have encountered many people- from such cities as Pittsburgh, Chicago, Washington, St. Louis, and Boston-who love their respective sports teams. What separates these people from New Yorkers are the facts that the former: 1) realize that they do not comprise the cente of the universe, and 2) still respect their teams when they lose. For instance, the people of Boston held a parade for their Red Sox despite the heartbreak it suffered. Would New Yorkers have held a parade if the Mets had lost the series? Yes, and pigs can fly. As Borowsky concludes, it looks as though "Let's-go Mets-go" will continue, and it may even evolve (or regress) into the "Let's go-Jets-go." And, unless the regents in the very near future decide to open a University of Michigan branch on Long Island, it seems as if it will be something with which the rest of us will have to contend. -Richard Bau ' October 3t perspective on "Jobs, Peace, and Justice: How Can We Get There," Monday, 7:00 p.m., November 10 in room 451 Mason Hall. An open discussion will follow a short presentation. -Phyllis Flora -Ken Jannot SPARK November .5 ~...... 1111.;} ".1YV ":":: f . .v. . t: ;'JC JJ.. .S~~t: fr* tY:1:::r":": :** ::t:*. ::t:::;{:$:fi i: ,' t::.:..=-. ,ยข} "i:{t~tr' S::vli:i$'::: ='r$:""::: v -: :?v. {{t;:T:. 1..f.,. t"},:r":"}' ta The Daily welcomes letters from its-.