Page 4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 30, 1990
01be Sidjigan Bail
EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
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ARTS
NEWS
OPINION
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PHOTO
SPORTS
WEEKEND
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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.
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Hash Bash
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The courts should allow
THE TWO MOST HOTLY-DEBATED
free speech issues on campus are the
proposed code of non-academic con-
duct and possible "time, place and
manner" regulations on student protest.
Recently, Todd Copeland's academic
suspension gave the student body a
chance to see how President Duderstadt
can use regental bylaw 2.01 to perse-
cute students without resorting to a
code. Now, he's using his power to
grant or deny permits for rallies on the
Diag as a substitute for a policy
governing demonstrations.
Various University officials, in con-
sultation with Duderstadt. withdrew
permission for the National Orgaization
for the Reform of Marijuana Laws to
operate a sound system on the Diag at
this Sunday's Hash Bash. NORML is
contesting the decision in court and the
ruling is promised by today. So far, the
administration has been long on ex-
cuses and short on explanation.
The administration claims such a
permit constitutes a tacit endorsement
of "criminal activity." Unfortunately,
til effect of its withdrawal is to destroy
the rally's legitimate political focus
while leaving lawbreakers unaffected.
Education on the April 2 referendum to
increase Ann Arbor's pot fine can't
take place. The bands and speakers in-
vited by NORML won't be heard.
What NORML does, among other
things, is give a voice to a large group
of citizens who wish to oppose an in-
crease in the pot fine -- a voice Dud-
erstadt is anxious to silence-
- Last year, during the months
preceding the Hash Bash, University
officials denied members of NORML a
permit to speak with the excuse that
another group had already reserved the
Diag for that April 1. NORML had one
of its members ask for a permit in the
name of a third (unrelated) campus
organization and the permit was
granted.
Why? President Duderstadt and the
regents don't like it when events like
this draw statewide publicity because it
makes them look like bad administra-
tors. It gets harder to beg for money
from corporations, alumni, and the
legislature. Their multimillion dollar
private police force turns into a big
joke. They want a drug-free, a shanty-
ROTC
NORML's Diag rally
free, and most of all a hippy-free Diag.
Their job is easiest when the University
projects a clean-cut middle American
image - diverse but not too diverse,
liberal but not radical, innovative but
not imaginative. The Diag should be
like a well kept suburban lawn, an-
nouncing to the world its cleanliness
and orthodoxy.
Hence the desire for a "controllable
alternative site" like the Coliseum, or
preferably Ypsilanti. Hash Bash
Go to the rally
LIGHTi-UP TIME IS SUNDAY AT
noon; and everyone should go re-
gardless of the court's decision.
The rally will feature nationally
known speakers such as Don
Fielder, Jack Herar, Ed Rosenthal,
and Jim Marshall.
Provided NORML wins its
court battle, Captain Dave and the
Psychedelic Lounge Cats and the
Soul Assassins have offered to
play. Red Fly Nation, a Kentucky
band taking a "hemp tour" of the
Midwest, will also be featured.
The politics of the rally will focus
on the evils of the drug war in gen-
eral and the problems with pro-
posal B in particular.
A high turnout will be an em-
barrassment for city hall and Presi-
dent Duderstadt, and sends a mes-
sage to the nation that the citizens
of Ann Arbor are unwilling to tol-
erate further intrusion on their right
to decide what substances they
may consume.
protesters are easier to control if no one
from NORML is up there with a mega-
phone spreading dangerous ideas.
Taking away their sound equipment is
the easiest way to shut them up. Re-
gardless of whether NORML wins its
court hearing, the University's action
can't help but create an atmosphere of
uncertainty and intimidation on the
Diag. Such an atmosphere harms open
discourse, and should be resisted by all
students, regardless of their views on
the $5 pot law.
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Readers respond to 'Forget the Holocaust' letter 0
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Editor's note: On Tuesday, the Daily
printed a letter which advocated forget-
ting the Holocaust ("Forget the Holo-
caust," 3/27/90) and was signed "Ira
Goldstein." The letter turned out to be a
forgery, and the perpetrator called the
Daily to apologize for his actions, though
he refused to disclose his identity. The
Daily generally will not print anonymous
letters, and will encourage the prosecu-
tion of those who lie about their identity.
Responses to the letter have been edited
to remove mention of Mr. Goldstein.
Don't forget victims
To the Daily:
The author, in "Forget the Holocaust"
(3/27/90), was so kind as to concede that
there was a Holocaust in Europe, many
people across the nation have theorized
quite the contrary. However, the author's
sensibility stops there.
As an attendee of the Holocaust confer-
ence and as a Jew, I found his letter ex-
tremely insensitive. By asserting such
generalizations such as, "Jews think that
they're the only ones who have suffered,"
the author proves his inability to deal in-
telligently with the Holocaust and addi-
tionally insults an entire people. The Jews
have been singled out and persecuted since
the Biblical times and even today they
cannot escape hostility, specifically with
the threats of anti-Semitic pogroms in the
Soviet Union. Yet, Hitler's mass, sys-
temized extermination of six million Jews
is clearly the greatest disaster ever to befall
the Jews. How can statements such as the
author's aid the Jews in overcoming any
lingering insecurities from their past or
cope with a dangerously uncertain future?
It is exactly the author's attitude which
fosters anti-Semitism. Letters such as his
serve no purpose except to belittle the
tragedy of the Holocaust. His insults, such
as unnecessarily labeling the pamphlet
quotation referring to the six million Jews
who died as "pompously arrogant," show
the author's unwillingness to acknowledge
the conference's validity. Of course,
nowhere in the author's letter does he
mention his attendance at the conference,
which may account for his unfounded apa-
thy and blatant stupidity regarding the
Holocaust.
Susan M. Chagrin
LSA senior
Not the first time
To the Daily:
I contacted Ira Goldstein, and he
informed me that the Daily never
contacted him to verify if he was, indeed,
the author of the letter in question. In addi-
tion, Goldstein is an Engineering sopho-
more, not an LSA junior as the Daily
printed.
This is not the first time that the Daily
has printed apocryphal letters. Remember
the recent "Carl Pursell" letter regarding
Central America, which was, in fact, writ-
ten by Dean Baker? In that incident, at
least, the Daily contacted. Pursell, but
when he denied writing the letter, the
Daily printed it anyway.
Debbie K. Schlussel
LSA senior
Letter is inaccurate
To the Daily:
tragically.
More serious than the author's calling
the conference arrogant is his statement
that "Jews think that they're the only ones
who have sufferred." I ask how the author
can claim to speak for a religous group of
millions of people worldwide.
Just because the Conference on the
Holocaust did not acknowledge the perse-
cution of Russians under Stalin, Chinese
under Mao, Armenians, or Cambodians
does not mean that Jews do not acknowl-
edge their sufferring. In the context of the
conference, the persecution of Jews by the
Nazis, other persecutioins were simply not
mentioned.
The author's most critical flaw is his
assertation that Jews are doing to the
Palestinians what Hitler did to the Jews.
This statement is similar to saying that
Christians are responsible for the massacre
of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust. I
do not defend the persecution of the Pales-
tinian people, but I insist that their perse-
cution be blamed on the Israeli govern-
ment instead of on all Jews. The fact that
the Israeli government is comprised of
Jews does not give the author the right to
connect the entire religous group with the
actions of a political entity.
I believe that the author owes the Jew-
ish community an apology for his accusa-
tion that we are murderers. In the future, if
the Michigan Daily wishes to print anti-
Israel letters that inspire thought, it should
make sure that they maintain a political
orientation without crossing the line of
anti-Semitism.
Harold Hilborn
LSA junior
Holocaust is symbol
To the Daily:
In response to the letter, "Forget the
Holocaust" (3/26/90), the author is an id-
iot. At first, he sounded intelligent
enough, realizing that mankind should not
dwell on past differences and violations
commited by one group to another. He is
correct on that point: an individual must
not be condemned due only to his family's
faults, nor should a child be punished for
the parent's evils. However, this is not an
act of forgetting: this is accepting human
beings for what they are, and putting
blame where it belongs. Simply disregard-
ing the Holocaust and moving on has no
positive consequences, except for creating
a mind-frame in which the world seems to
be free of any ethnic, religious, racial, etc.
hostilities and biases.
The point of remembering the Holo-
caust is not to pretend that only Jews were
ever persecuted throughout history, and is
definitely not to instill a guilt complex in
non-Jews and hope that they pamper us.
The point is that all mankind learn a les-
son of its evils. You propose that because
not enough attention is paid to other mas-
sacres, then the Holocaust should not get
any attention either. Well, sir, you're
wrong: not enough attention is paid to
those tragedies not because they are
deemed less important, but because the
groups most affected by them are not do-
ing enough to remind us of those past hor-
rors. So the emphasis placed on the Holo-
caust is not to deny other genocides, but
rather, a symbol of the evil that mankind
is able to inflict upon itself.
The Holocaust must not be forgotten,
but neither should any other tragedies. Let
the Holocaust serve the purpose of sym-
holizing what evils hnmns are canbh1e of
by the Holocaust continue to, as the au-
thor suggests, "recognize and learn" from
it, they would make a mistake to in any
way detract from the Holocaust and the
impact it had upon an entire people. The
Holocaust was one of the most horrificl
expressions of the violent oppression and:
racism the world has ever experienced.:
There is no reason for those who suffered
to "forgive" (asthe letter advocates) a gov-
ernment which persecuted an entire group
and slaughtered millions of its people.
Forgiveness inherently implies a com-
prehension of the motives of the as-
saulters, and a recognition that their ac-
tions were, although regrettable, in some
way understandable as well. The Nazi lead-
ers deserve no such forgiveness. Their ac-
tions, like most which oppress free will
and expression, should be denounced at ev-,
ery opportunity. Only when we recognize,
the pure brutality of such acts can we ef-
fectively prevent their recurrence in the fu-
ture. But, if we were to forgive or forget
the suffering of the past peoples, we
would only weaken our resolve to ensure,
that anguish of this magnitude is never
again bestowed upon any people.
Ultimately, then, remembering and
even reliving the pain of the past is the
best way to ensure against the pain of the
future. The author is thus quite mistaken
when writing that, "in order for change,
one must shed old experiences." This only
encourages change for the worst, perhaps
even an actual return to past suffering. For
if the Holocaust had one remotely positive
aspect, it is that its occurrence, if properly
respected, ensures change for the better,
and allows the entire world to say, "never
again."
0
'U' should boot discriminatory group from campus
IN RECENT WEEKS THE UNIVERSI-
lies of California at Northridge and
.Wisconsin have hardened their stance
against the openly discriminatory poli-
ces of the Reserve Officers' Training
Corps (ROTC) against gay men and
lesbians. At Northridge, they have suc-
ceeded in kicking the group off cam-
pus. At Wisconsin, the faculty senate
voted for similar action with a two to
one majority, only to see it overturned
by the University regents. Such action
not only increases awareness of insti-
tutionalized prejudice, but it also high-
lights the contradiction between Michi-
gan's stated objectives of not tolerating
discrimination on campus, and the
continued presence of ROTC.
It is true that ROTC allows many
low-income students a chance of a uni-
versity education that would otherwise
not be financially viable. But this is
merely evidence of the deficiencies of
the American university system rather
than any philanthropy on the part of
ROTC.
It is only in the U.S., Canada, and
South Africa that tuition fees are not
paid by the government; in a society
where education would be accessible to
all, rather than to the economically
privileged alone, any decision to join
ROTC could be made on the merits of
the organization itself, rather than on
the scale of its bribes. Of course indi-
vidual members of ROTC, faced with
the spiralling financial costs of educa-
tion, and the pressures this entails,
cannot be held responsible for institu-
tionalized failings.
It is true that ROTC has a high in-
take of minority students. However,
this does not come from any deep-
rooted principles, as the group's dis-
crimination against gay men and les-
bians shows. Traditionally, the armed
forces have opened their doors to mi-
norities; they have consistently been al-
lowed the right to be patriotic, the right
to die for their country. However, the
right to return from war to an equal
standard of living and an equal pay has
been harder to come by.
ROTC's discrimination underpins
everything else the group does. What-
ever opportunities it provides, what-
ever charity work it does is built on
basic principles of intolerance and ho-
mophobia. There should be no place
for ROTC on campus, and any student
activities which showcase ROTC's dis-
crimination should be supported.
Michael Krauss
'LSA firstyear student
'U' students should
learn to use the IBMs
To the Daily:
I am writing this letter from the Angell
Hall Computing center, on an IBM PS/2
computer fitted with Microsoft Word.
Other IBMs around me sit idle gathering
dust, while about 15 feet away I see peo-
ple waiting in lines. Lines for Macintosh
computers, and lines for printing out stuff
written on Macs.
My point is that every time I come
here I see tons of students waiting in lines
for Macs, while they simply ignore the
idle IBMs sitting right under their noses.
Don't any of them realize that they would
save a lot of time by learning to use the
Angell Hall IBMs (which are configured
with Microsoft Word, a word processor
which is easily learned, especially by stu-
dents at the college level)? They pay for
these computers in their tuition, yet they
don't use them.
Ever since this lab has opened I have
used the IBMs. And let me inform the
general public that when I have needed to
write those last-minute papers and letters,
I have never waited a single minute for a
computer or the laser printer here. (I might
add that the laser printer puts out some
fine looking text, which I feel looks better
than the Apple Laserwriter.)
So I guess what I am trying to say is
"Hey, Michigan students, are you idiots?
Why do you constantly wait in lines for
up to hours when you don't need to? You
all are almost as dumb as Pavlov's dogs."
Okay, for your own sake, take the
"Ron Kim IBM challenge." Why don't
you grab an IBM manual or talk to a enter
consultant while von re waiting in line
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