Page 4-The Michigan Daily- Tuesday, November 19, 1991
GIe £irbgtjan Bal1
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420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Edited and Managed
by Students at the
University of Michigan
ANDREW K. GOTTESMAN
Editor in Chief
STEPHEN HENDERSON
Opinion Editor:
Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board.
Y All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
PC controversy
Right and left engage in rhetoric to avoid real issues
Tast weekend, a conference titled "The PC speech codes and perceived indoctrinary teachings
Lrrame-up: What's Behind the Attack?" met in without risking being labelled a right-wing bigot.
AnntArbor to refute the spreading notion that left- Students representing a wide range of political
wving thought police control many American uni- philosophies have expressed concern for free
veriities. What was really demonstrated by this speech. This is not, as the conference claimed,
conference, however, is the manner in which both solely a right-wing attack.
sides of the debate use empty rhetoric and catch- If University departments decide to utilize
phrases to belittle debate on important campus gender-inclusive language or make attempts to
ISSUes. sensitize themselves to the concerns of minorities,
'The term "political correctness" has become this is an appropriate step. Requiring students to do
virtually meaningless, due to its overuse and mis- the same is not.
use by both conservatives and a national press University administrations must recognize that
fixed on exposing the hysteria. By crying wolf, their role is tofacilitate free and open debate, rather
same members of the anti-PC movement stigma- than to steer students towards unilaterally-defined
tizeelegitimate progressive reforms and trivialize ideological goals.
rearcomplaints about censorship on campus. All members of the University community
This very overuse, however, enabled speakers should attempt to engage in a more open-minded
at last week's forums to dodge questions about debate. The "right" characterizes itself as a group
troubling free speech issues. Many panelists sup- of free-thinkers suppressed by le ft-wing thought
piorted Michigan's speech code, since struck down, police. The PC conference, in trying to counter this
vv'hich limited student expression in an over-broad stereotype, propagated an equally inaccurate ste-
ahd highly dangerous manner. Rather than address reotype, that progressives are suppressed by bogus
these questions, defenders of political correctness claims of PC made by evil right-wing white males.
have lashed out attheir opponents. Panelist Julianne The result is a "controversy" whereby both
Malyeaux claimed, "(Anti-PC) is the white males' sides vaguely define "PC" to shield the greatest
lh~asp." weakness of their own platforms: the disregard for
* o, both sides of the debate have become mired free speech associated with the left, and the sup-
ie muck of inflammatory accusations and cheap pression of reform associated with the right.
Lagoguery. Rather than dividing into two hos- To achieve free and open debate on campus, we
tjamps, each claiming victimization, we need must find a middle ground where we can discuss
t iild an atmosphere where all sorts of challeng- both free speech and sensitivity without being
ing questions can be aired without being dismissed automatically thrown in with one of two hostile
through superficial labels. camps, with the true meaning of our ideas lost
'i Likewise, a student must be allowed to question accordingly.
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Daily justified
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No Dukes
Voters elect Edwards, election reveals potential dangers
'EdwinEdwards is Governor ofLouisiana. More middle class that does not play on racial under-
inportantly, David Duke is not. On Saturday, 61 tones, will the nation no longer be susceptible to
percent of Louisiana's voters cast their ballots in the dangerous appeal of a Duke.
fverofEdwards. Although a big step was taken by However, the unity of opinion against bigotry
th people of Louisiana and the rest of the nation, transcended state lines. Defeating Duke became an
irwould be inappropriate to celebrate this victory issue ofnational interest and paramount importance.
unonditionally. From President Bush on down, the people of this
SDuke's populist message touched a nerve among country came together and authoritatively defeated
.middle-class white Louisianans who harbor re- Duke.
sentment against welfare recipients, the majority It is a sad commentary on the American political
*'*hom are Black, in this time of recession. system that a person like Duke came so close to
'Though many of their concerns are legitimate, capturing a position of power. Take solace in
D'uke's solution is misguided, and he comes with Saturday's results, but do not lose sight of the
to6'much baggage. Only when the federal govern- larger problem. Just because justice was served in
ent devises a comprehensive program to address Louisiana doesn't necessarily mean that it will
financial woes of the increasingly impoverished triumph in the end.
Cambodia
U.N. concessions to murderous Khmer Rouge should end
To the Daily:
I just wanted to send you a
line saying that I am in full
support of your actions. Although
I absolutely deny what CODOH
stands for and everything they
said in the ad, I not only agree
that you had a right to print it, but
that it served a very useful
purpose on this campus.
I believe that Americans are
steadily losing our Constitutional
rights, but it is the citizens that are
doing it. After the ad was pub-
lished, I saw many flyers saying,
"No free speech for fascists!" But
if we let this go through without a
fight, it will be extremely easy to
take away all of our other rights if
someone disagrees with what we
feel.
The ad brought this issue out
into the open, and I desperately
hope that many others have
started to notice what we are
doing to our rights.
I want to thank you for the
service you provided to this
campus.
Joe Corrado
Engineering
first-year student
Policing thoughts
To the Daily:
Ned Merrick made some
serious accusations last week. "If
they pulled calendars off the shelf
because they weren't selling,
that's okay. But I think if they
took them off the shelves because
of pressure from liberal feminist
groups, then that's a form of
censorship and a violation of First
Amendment rights."
Merrick wants to distinguish
between the healthy workings of a
free market and the threat to
democracy posed by consumer,
action. If we grew up watching
TV, we know one thing: however
pointless your life may be, you
are worth the value of your dollar.
Consumer boycotting is where
capitalism and activism meet.
Nothing could be simpler and less
offensive. If you don't like it,
don't buy it. If you don't like
looking at it in the store where
you shop, tell the manager how
you feel.
Before you take any public
action, do consider that the more
effective your action is, the more
.hostility, fear and willful misun-
derstanding you will generate on
this campus.
According to the Daily,
"several customers voiced their
opinions of the calendar, but not
actual complaints." Merrick, in a
move characteristic of debate at
the University, translates "several
customers" voicing opinions into
"liberal feminist groups" exerting
pressure. It's the Michigan
Review Thesaurus: political-
minded woman = man-hating,
canon-bashing separatist. Who's
policing whose thoughts now?
Gina Hausknecht
Rackham
graduate student
Iowa massacre
To the Daily:
I was shocked by the the
killing event that occurred on the
campus of the University of Iowa
last Friday. Being one of the
many students from the People's
Republic of China, I feel deeply
sorry for those who lost their lives
in this tragedy and stand with
their family members.
Lucky enough to enjoy the
great educational conditions in
this country, I think we should
feel grateful to the American
people as much as to the 1.1
billion Chinese people a home.
Pursuing academic excellence can
only be a means for returning
what we owe to society rather
than solely raising the self-esteem
of our own.
Such achievement can only be
judged by society but not by a
single academic honor.
Anyone who can have his or
her own judgment should con-
demn this crime. I hope the image
of great academic achievement
and hard working spirit of the
Chinese students here will not be
tarnished by this single event and
that such and event will never
happen again.
Ming Shan
graduate student
School of Public Health
Poor coverage
To the Daily:
As a resident and student of
North Campus, I was disturbed by
the Daily's feature, "Northern
Exposure:What Goes On Inside
the Buildings of North Campus"
(11/15/91).
How could the author forget to
include all the numerous schools
other than Engineering that exist
on North Campus? He should
have named his article "What
goes on inside the engineering
buildings," for it would have been
more accurate.
He excluded the School of
Music, the Art &Architecture
School, and the new-and-
improved North Campus Com-
mons to name a few. If one takes
the bus from North Campus, the
engineering buildings are the last
thing you happen to run into if on
a "Big Adventure" through North
Campus. Nor did the author
mention Baits, Bursley and
Northwood Housing which also
exist on North Campus. Really!
Like the engineering buildings
need more P.R.
Kyra Gaunt
School of Music
*1
Write
the
Daily!
uring the mid 1970s the Khmer Rouge, under
the leadership of Pol Pot, murdered over one
million Cambodians.The slaughter, which became
{n as the "killing fields," was part of an attempt
violently impose agrarian-based communism
:,.$be Cambodian people.
{ ,This holocaust came to an end in 1978 when the
m4Mle's Republic of Vietnam, fearing what the
lner Rouge might do next, invaded Cambodia
.' established the government of Prime Minister
" Sen. Since that time, Cambodia has been
"9Qaged in a civil war between the government and
4 ous guerilla factions.
y turrently, the United Nations has taken control
:dfMe situation in Cambodia. The General Assembly
-has- established the Supreme National Council
(SNC), a provisional government composed of the
four major factions in Cambodia. U.N. peace-
keeping forces recently arrived in the capital of
Phnom Penh in order to oversee the provisional
government, and prepare for democratic elections.
'This plan sounds sensible, but there is one
glaring problem. One of the four factions in the
SNC is the Khmer Rouge. The position of the U.N.
and President Bush is that, in order to keep the
Khmer Rouge out of power, they had to be part of
the provisional government, and forced to compete
against the other government factions at the ballot
This policy poses some serious problems. Firstly,
the Khmer Rouge has not abandoned its attempts
to take control of Cambodia through military means.
The regime has used the support of China and
Thailand to create one of the largest fighting forces
in Southeast Asia.
As recently as last week, reports from western
diplomats confirmed that the Khmer Rouge has
violated disarmament agreements by hiding enor-
mous caches of troops and weapons in rural
Cambodia.
Another problem with the U.N. plan is that it
gives the Khmer Rouge the chance to take power
through political manipulation. Mere mention of
the Khmer Rouge inspires fear in the hearts of
Cambodians. The regime has proven that it can
seize power in Cambodian villages without even
firing a shot. This is the type of intimidation which
the Khmer Rouge could easily use to turn an
election in their favor.
The formation of the SNC has caused a power
vacuum in Cambodia which the Khmer Rouge is
poised to fill. Thirteen years of civil war has
devastated the Cambodian infrastructure. This will
undoubtedly make it difficult for the U.N. to effec-
tively monitor elections throughout Cambodia's
vast rural landscape.
The U.N. must stop making concessions to the
Khmer Rouge, and enforce a disarmament between
the waring factions. Moreover, if peace and de-
mocracy are to be restored to this war-torn country,
the U.N. must use all of its available resources to
ensure quick and fair elections in Cambodia.
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Dr. Death and the politics of care
by Elizabeth Cole
After the first woman's death,
Jack Kevorkian posed for a
photograph with his suicide
machine.
The set up had the amateurish
look of a gruesome science fair
project. Inverted bottles hung
from a small rack, poised to
dispense a long drink of sleep and
death through the IV tubing that
snaked ominously onto the table
beneath the apparatus. The media
had a great deal of interest in the
design and mechanism of the
device. As though it were
Frankenstein's monster, the
reporters wanted to know where
Dr. Death got the component
parts. What drugs did it adminis-
ter? How did the patient activate
the lethal process?
Other methods of suicide are
carried out clandestinely; the act
is deviant, its performance, lonely
and furtive. In contrast , the
machine, administered by a
physician, embodies the belief
that human dignity dictates a right
and end with a finger on the
release of an IV tube. The
machine draws our attention to
the act of suicide and away from
the decision making process that
preceded any contract with "Dr.
Death." Why is it that only
their roles, some women may feel
that death would be welcome. At
the same time, women may fear
that taking their own lives would
devastate the very families whom
they hope to spare the burden of
their illness. Terminal illness
The policies of political and corporate
America treat the work of care, and by exten-
sion the women who do this work, as invis-
ible.
women have sought out the neat
and painless death in the company
of their families that Kevorkian
offers as an alternative to chronic
or terminal illness?
American women are still the
primary care takers of the
generations. This burden has only
been intensified by advances in
medicine which offer extended
life spans without necessarily
extending the quality of that life.
As daughters and again as
mothers, the roles that women
assume during the course of their
presents wives and mothers, used
to weighing their decisions on the
scale of care, with an insoluble
moral dilemma.
Socially sanctioned suicide,
administered in the clinics
Kevorkian proposes, would
appear to offer women a way out
of this conflict, a practical and
dignified solution to the problem
of human suffering.
Who in our society will
provide care to the families of
women whose incessant, debilitat-
ing pain prevents them from
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