OPINION
Wednesday, November 11, 1987

Page 4

The Michigan Doily



40

1Ib Sidhwn i aiIa
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

Cement offends the'Fatman'

Vol. XCVIII, No. 45

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.

What are they doing to our Diag? Why in
the name of Gene Autry do we need more
foot paths? More cement? It's all part of
the master plan... to connect the cement
idiocy of Regent's Plaza with the cement
idiocy of the Business School. Don't worry
though, they'll leave some trees with nice
circular patches of dirt around them.
You know the design-it makes the trees

Our policy vs.

their's

IN ITS OCTOBER ISSUE, The
Michigan Today ran a letter from a
University alumnus concerned with
the declining quality of University
admissions standards. The letter was
patently racist and should never have
been printed.
John D. Reed of the class of '37
wrote to the Today, the alumni
newsletter, and complained that the
University, by accepting people of
color, is compromising its integrity
and quality. The anti-racist activities
of the last two semesters is dismissed
by the author as "newspaper dust-
ups," and he says that graduates of
his class can "...only wonder...at
...'demands' for 'equality."'
Said Reed, "We're outraged that
our Hallowed-Halls-Of-Ivy are
taken over by gangs of various
colored skins!" Reed sums up his
point by concluding, "There must
never be various levels of quality
based on skin-color to appease
demands."
This archaic position is an outrage.
The dated and incorrect world-view
of one man, however, is not as dis-
turbing as the Today's irresponsible

FAT
AL

decision to run the letter verbatim.
Every responsible newspaper in this
country has strict policies about run-
ning overtly racist or otherwise
offensive wording. The Daily's pol-
icy on letters is to identify racist,
sexist, or otherwise offensive or de-
grading phrases in a letter and request
the author or authors to change their
wording. If they refuse, the Daily will
not run the letter.
Policies such as the Daily's do not
violate the First Amendment. Judicial
interpretations of the amendment do
not consider intentionally or patently
offensive phrases protected under the
right to free speech. Also, while any-
one has the right to express their
views, newspapers such as the Daily
also have the right and responsibility
not to run something that would be
directly offensive to its readership.
As a matter of policy, the Daily will
run letters representative of any view
or bent, as long as it does not attack
or defame any person, race, or creed.
Running a letter like the one the To-
day did is irresponsible and would
violate the standards of any responsi-
ble newspaper.

, a
look like part of a Lego set. Let's put a tree
here... tree there... bush here. Oh yeah, and
maybe they'll leave room for some more of
those nice fountains like the one by the
Union... garden hoses surrounded by, guess
what, cement.
The folks who do the planning around
here wouldn't know nature if it sat on their
faces.
So Reagan's homeboy got shot down
because he smoked a little reefer? Pretty
amusing, huh? Ginsburg, that Johnny
come lately darling of the New Right, who
abandoned his wild beard and pot-puffing
Ivy League buddies for the neatly trimmed
and respectable look of the despicable New
Right, fell because he indulged in a little
bit of illicit toking.
Now, the Fatman's not one to think
anybody's personal life should exclude
them from public service. And I surely
don't care if someone smokes dope. In fact,
normally, I'd be outraged an a-bitchin'
and a-moanin' about the stupidity of ax-
ing a Supreme Court nominee for blowing
a spliff and listening to Bob Marley now
and then. But, in this case, the irony is just
too great. To hear Reagan and Meese, the
keystone cops of American morality, swal-
lowing hard as they attempt to stand by
their fallen saint is too funny for words.

The folks behind "Just say no," and the
attempt to enter your bedroom and steal
your pornography have to admit that it just
doesn't matter when you do after you punch
your clock. "He's not an addict," Reagan
said. Boy, he sure knows a lot about reefer,
doesn't he? heh-heh--heh.
Fat Al,
Ah, you did hit one in your column a
couple of weeks ago (tough for you, wasn't
it Fat Al?)-TV timeouts do suck. But
television is what really sucks. Television
rots your mind worse than Whitesnake
turned up to eleven. If there exists an An-
tichrist today, have no doubt that it's com-
ing through those TV transistors. You
ought to be on TV Al.
'The folks who do the
planning around here wouldn't
know nature if it sat on their
faces.'
Huh huh.
Dick Smith
This is really my name you sod- bet
your's ain't Fat Al, bet all your fat's in
your head too, idiot.
Yeah, yeah, I'm a fathead and you're a
peanut head DICK. So Dick Smith's your
real name, big deal. That's even stupider.
Who were your parents hiding from? You
did hit the nail on the head though -tough
for you isn't it punkhead - TV is vile and
brain rotting. You'll love this next letter.
Fat Al,
That's it. I can't sit still for this. You
not only berate my favorite columnist and
bestest pal Bob Talbert, but you try to in-
sult the 'Eight is Enough' special as well.
Well let me tell you buddy, it's going to
take more than your your measly little
words to stop Bob, my fellow Americans,

and me from watching good, wholesome
TV. Bob and I shared many a laugh, tear,
hug, and smile during that two hour block.
Who would have believed Nancy married a
sheepfarmer? We both agreed it was great
seeing "our family" grow and prosper. If
that upsets you; tuff-cookies. Why doesn't
this paper fire you and crap off to Saska-
toon and get a real columnist like Ed
Anger. One who has the guts to say what's
true, not what comes to mind after a mind
after a night of beers and corn dogs. Nuff
said?
Jake Sedlock
You sound like you just stepped out of '
Norman Lear's nightmare. You probably
like cement on the diag. see above and, oh
yeah, don't call me buddy.

Dear Fattest Al,
Last week my dad, an Empire State
stockbroker, informed me that we are now
financially destitute. Furthermore, he says
that he no longer can afford to pay for my
'87 Toyota Supra, or my membership at
the tanning salon. He even asked me to
stop using his Visa card to buy my new
clothes! Do you think he's being just a lit-
tle bit selfish? I mean how can I possibly
look my friends in the eyes without that
stuff? Please help me to cope with this
problem. Surely you must have some
worldly fat wisdom to give.
Sincerely,
Lost w/o $.
Hmmm. Your letter's a tough one; Lost.
I'd like to laugh at you heh-heh-heh but
I must restrain myself. You ain't a bad
sort, you just don't know better. Lookee
here, you're born with yourself and you die
with yourself. That's it. You're looking at
this situation all wrong anyhow. It's a
great opportunity to get your life together.
First of all, get rid of that foreign car, then
stop radiating yourself to death, and then
tear up that damned credit card. It's a trap.
Lastly, look your "friends" square in the
eyes, spit on the ground, and tell them to
ride their imported cars to hell (or the Em-
pire State.)

:

Fear, Greed on Wall St.


Wasserman

AS A RESULT OF THE STOCK
market crash of October 19, "Black
Monday," a Florida man walked into
a Merrill Lynch office and shot his
broker and himself. This action was
an extreme case of paranoia, yet it is
indicative of the psychological trauma
that made the Dow industrials fall 508
points in one day.
The stock market can be thought of
as operating through fear and greed.
Greed causes the market to go up as
people rush to buy stocks and make
more money. Fear sets in when prices
fall, and investors rush to sell-out
before they lose even more money.
We have been seeing much of this
lately.
Wall Street, and other stock
markets, are designed to be places
where companies can obtain financing
as they sell stock to the public. After
that, investors buy and sell stocks as
the perceived quality of companies
rises or falls. In the last few years,
hoards of new investors and
speculators entered the market hoping
to profit from skyrocketing stock
prices.
This speculation has taken over
Wall Street which has degenerated
into insider trading, take-over
greenmail, and paper shuffling.
Speculators have been, and continue
to be, simply buying a chunk of stock
one day and selling it the next. This is
how they make their living;
handicapping and betting on
companies as if those companies are
horses. The speculators make'plenty
of money, but nothing is produced in

return. Greed, not production,,
motivates them.
The flurry of activity by speculators
can produce quick price changes. In
the bull market, prices rose very fast.
But when bull turned to bear, or at
least threatened to, everyone rushed
to divest. Then the mass selling of
stock pushed the price of stock down
faster than people could unload. This
happened in October 1929 and again
last month.
The problems associated with the
crash should not be exaggerated. It is
obvious now that the trade and federal
budget deficits, as well as increasing
interest rates, are serious economic
problems and need to be solved. But
to believe that traders all over the
world woke up on October 19 and
realized this for the first time is
foolish.
The crash was caused by the
perception that a recession is coming.
Speculators saw the value of many
companies going down because of
this and sold. Like sheep, others
followed quickly to minimize losses.
So the crash became a self-fulfilling
prophecy. Speculators and investors
alike feared lower stock prices and
recession. They panicked and got out
at any price. Stock-players simply
lost money because they feared they
would.
We hope that Presidential and
Congresional action can assure
investors worldwide that the events of
the next weeks will not be earth-
shattering. Only if rationality prevails
and fear is checked, can stability
return and recession be avoided.

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Racism pervades American history

4

To the Daily:
I write this in response to a
week's worth of editorials and
articles on the recent high-pro-
file racist incidents on campus.
Specifically the incidents
involving Mary Clark and the
first year student who was re-
cently accosted and asked
"where's your tail?"
In reviewing all that the
Daily has published on these
subjects, I find a widespread
misunderstanding of what
racism actually is. It is not a
"when in doubt, cry racism"
attitude (Daily, 10/26/87), nor
is it isolated incidents such as
have occurred recently. These
are encompassed within racism,
but the actual beast is much
larger than we care to recognize
very often. These upsetting
events are only the ugly off-
spring.
Racism is one of many
means of systematic oppres-
sion of one group by another
for the gain of the dominant
group. The oppression is then
justified by a factor such as
race, sex, agefclasssor re-
ligious beliefs. At its core it is
a means of oppression and
nothing more or less. And
when one takes the time to
unravel the reasons for this
oppression, one finds they are
paranoid and rationally un-

system to which they had be-
come accustomed. And so they
used slavery. They justified the
systematic oppression of a
group by the color of their
skin. On the basis of skin
color our "founding fathers"
tore these people from their
homes and culture, labeled
them inferior, and forced them
to assimilate into a foreign
culture by enslaving them.
Well, that took care of the
cheap labor force.
Now, to return to the pre-
sent, the way this affects us
today (and when I say "us" I
mean all of us living on the
planet today, because racism
does affect all of us even if we
are not individually racist) is
that it sets up a clear ex-ample
and message for all to see. This
being that it is acceptable to
exploit, persecute, and not care
about the humanity, dignity or
rights of a person of color be-
cause the way to be is white
and male; if you are neither,
then according to our society
you are worthless. And not
only is it acceptable, it's built
into our society and culture.
The provisions for racism are
present in every institution in
this country. They are in the
schools, the legal system, the
hospitals, the newspapers, the
corporations, the White House,

whereas the life expectancies of
white men and women in the
United States are 70 and 71.7
respectively. Numbers alone
tell how deep the roots of
racism run in our society.
The upshot of these statistics
and analyses is that if we truly
wish to eradicate racism it is
not enough to be simply
"educating the University
community about racial differ-
ences" (Daily, 10/28/87). That
is a beginning but it is in ef-
fect only scratching the surface.
Because it is a societal issue,
to get rid of racism we must
change the structure of society
itself. No easy or simple or
painless task, but incredibly
important. Because, until all
people are valued equally by

society and everyone in it is
treated as such, the beast we
call racism will continue to
exist and will overshadow ev-
ery facet of our daily lives.
Some will say this is an
idealistic view and that to hope
to accomplish it within a life-
time is unrealistic, and they
will be right. But to use that
as grounds for not doing any-
thing, for not "crying racism,"
is wrong. Because we have a
responsibility to start doing
everything we can, where and
whenever we can, to kill the
beast.
I welcome and would like to
respond to conflicting ideas on
this page in the future. Please,
in other words, respond.
-Heidi Marie Domzalski
November 8

Oppose anti-Arab predjudice

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To the Daily:
The September closing of
the Palestinian Information
Office in Washington D.C.
was a direct attack on constitu-
tional and First Amendment
rights. As part of our focus on
racism and civil rights, the
Arab-American University
Graduates are sponsoring a film
entitled "Gaza Ghetto," an in-
depth look at human rights

The award. winning documen-
tary will be shown free of ad-
mission in Angell Hall "B" on
November 12, at 7 p.m. and 9
p.m.
In view of the many racist
incidents on campus this
semester, the significance of
this film cannot be overlooked.
-Basil Salah
Arab-American

Fat Al would like to hear from you. To let Al know what