4- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 17, 1997 (14e lC'rrl i ttn jDtflg 420 Maynard Street. Ann Arbor, MI 48109f Edited and managed by4 students at the University of Michigan JOSH WHITE Editor in Chief ERIN MARSH Editorial Page Editor Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily FROM THE DAILY Telnet troubles E-mail must be accessible to students uring the first couple of weeks of University's network, has :D classes, it is unusual to see so many taxed the system. With the nu -s tidents at Angell Hall banging heads on net servers growing from 2 ,:desks and slamming fists onto keyboards. more than 10,000 today, prol -Professors, students and organizations should have been anticip often depend on e-mail as a primary means Munn-Fremon, LTD's actin of communication. More often than not operations, said adding an this fall, a slow or downright unresponsive security for dial-in users ca server has greeted students hoping to the University's vulnerability d eck their e-mail. The University's Although this may slightly Information Technology Division should some students and faculty n have been better prepared to handle the security measures would in fiall's inevitable increase in network traffic. speed and ITD should exped ITD must correct for its miscalculations ment them. with immediate action - by devoting all In addition, computing p ifs resources to correcting e-mail system caused delays in sending an difficulties. mail. Sent messages may tak. Students checking e-mail anytime out- days to reach recipients, a side of early morning or late-night hours, almost immediate transmissi have undoubtedly encountered obstacles. are working correctly. Studen Sometimes, server crashes have incapacitat- this situation in mind - for ed not only electronic mail - but have calls are a more reliable way t stripped student access to IFS accounts and communications. word processing and spreadsheet programs. Hardware difficulties an Attending school at the University is have also contributed to netw soarly impossible without computing and Disk crashes may shut dow Internet access. Over e-mail, professors hours - and, since users are respond to student questions, homework is crowded University server ebt out, faculty collaborate with colleagues will inevitably result. Fremo nationwide and organizations give meeting working diligently to fix the schedules to members. Orientation leaders are considering adding hardy like to regale to new students stories about uring the system and cha th'e University's abundant computing options. Nevertheless, she ad r-esources - however, merely possessing were) low in our estimates of thousands of computers is not good enough. increase in users." ITD must make sure they are working Fixing computing difficu quickly and efficiently. ITD's immediate priority. In t - ITD claims a host of unanticipated net- should re-estimate the Univet work problems is causing the campus-wide demands for computing capal computer crisis. Unusually high levels of rely on computers for their da SPAMing, a term used for outside users ness at the University - the Who route messages through the fall must not become a comm Cultural bridges unexpectedly umber of inter- 13 in 1994 to blems like this gated. Cheryl g director ,of extra layer of n help reduce y to SPAMers. inconvenience members, such crease system itiously imple- problems have d receiving e- e up to several as opposed to on when things its should keep now, telephone to make urgent d disk crashes work problems. n a server for routed to other s, slowdowns in said ITD is network. They ware, reconfig- anging server mits that "(We the size of the ilties must be he future, ITD rsity's growing lbility. Students ay-to-day busi- events of this on occurrence. NOTABLE QUOTABLE.,, 'I became a little bit upset. If you are the coach, you want the students in the stands. I was a player. That's who I wanted to get in the stands.' -Athletic Director Tom Goss, expressing his distaste for the split-season tickets issued to first-year students JORDAN YOUNGT N p -le s sc,rre... " _ ,.un~a~in~l Lt^( L MoP. ,C'ParNSn A- iM~1-T-.-o'J~lr .- VIEWPOINT Exposing hae spreads awarenes By ERIC HoCHSTADT formed after the official end of yourself, "How could anyone This past weekend, the Ku apartheid, continues to shed let this happen?" Once you Klux Klan held a rally, pri- light on the inhumane way in have asked yourself that ques- marily for the purpose of dis- which a majority of white tion, it becomes harder for tributing membership infor- "cops" treated black suspects. those groups of people who mation in the Upper Peninsula For those of you who do not feel justified in destroying town of Ironwood, Mich. know, this Commission will another group of people to When one thinks about free grant amnesty, if confessors fulfill their goal in life. speech in general, almost can prove to the panel that they I will end this piece with every person agrees that it is are telling the full truth, and if the question I started with: extremely important; howev- the attacks, killings and beat- Could such an atrocity ever er, many people make the ings were politically motivat- happen again to any group of argument that extremist ed. This past week, the people? To those who say no, groups, like the KKK, are so Commission listened to the we are too civilized, too edu- offensive that their right to testimony of Harold Snyman, cated and too aware, let me free speech should be with respect to the brutal way tell you about a letter distrib- revoked. I disagree. We all in which he and the four other uted to all the residents in the have knowledge of the horrors "officers" he was command- Mary Markley dorm this past perpetrated against humanity ing beat Steven Biko, a popu- Tuesday. It was written by T. during the Holocaust. lar black leader in South Rose Roane, the Coordinator Could this atrocity happen Africa, to death in 1977. Some of Residence Education, and again? I do not know. Some people might question if this is Marita Inglehart, Director of might say that what happened really justice. Beat the crap out the 21st Century Program, in Bosnia several years ago, of a person because of their and stated, "Over this past while the world's lone super- "inferior" skin color, confess weekend, someone wrote power and the rest of the your sins 20 years later and be swastikas and other derogato- world stood by and watched, granted amnesty. Once again, ry language on several resi- was another genocide. you have to think about the big dents' room doors ..." People However, knowing the picture, without emotion. If who hate still, and sadly, will KKK is actively out in public "policeman" Snyman was just probably always, exist. spewing its rhetoric and tried and sentenced to jail, he The only way to prevent recruiting followers is better would never have informed the another Holocaust, to prevent than having them hold secret world about the atrocities that what happened in South rallies in the forest at night, he and many others committed Africa during apartheid and giving people the false under the justification of to prevent what happened in impression that the same peo- "superiority." Bosnia these past few years, ple who once hated them The only way to ensure is for people to have knowl- enough to pile them in ovens that this never happens again, edge of what happened in the and cook them alive, no to any group of people, is to past, and to be aware of who longer exist, document what actually took is out there today. Hate still Similarly, halfway across place and to learn from it. exists. the world in South Africa, the Learn from it to the point- - . -- Truth and Reconciliation where you are so disgusted - Eric Hochstadt is an Commission, which was and appalled that you ask LSAfirst-year sudent. GUEST COLUMN The silence of the tin drums A step-by-step I 'U'datingguidl 'We will now discuss, in grer detail, theastruggle ag anat celibacy - Charles Darwin, sorb As professional students, we as Asupposed to care about learni growing as young people and bcoI in useful, happy members of socie That is, if you listen to commencem speeches. Our whole reason for bei here and spending great, big hay bales full of money is the attainment of these goals. So does it sur- prise anyone else that this entire campus is obsessed with get- ting laid? Maybe it's just JAMES because classes MILLEI have just started, l LEft. rush is starting ON TAP and it's generally mating season. After a few weeks all the beautiful women will get snatched up by guys with cars that are too nic, teeth that are too straight, pecs that a too bulbous and heads thataare to empty, and I'll be stuck at hoipq, watching Comedy Central on a lot, wondering how to shave my palms without cutting myself. Oops. Was that out loud? Let's g6 on. People always complain that they never learn the things they want to know while they're in college. Sine they don't offer a class in elementary college dating, I thought I'd help. The following is a loose framework, a bl print for the confused, until they ge their sea legs. Date the first: There are two primay objectives that must be reached on thi date. The first of which is deciding your dating persona. Who are you going to be? Are you an offbeat, romantic guy? Are you funny, reminds-her-of-her-gay-high-schodl- friend guy? Or are you the fleece Lothario? Exactly who you are is n really important, as whichever oie impresses her the most is the correct choice. The second objective is to establish plausible deniability. All this means is that the date must be innocu- ous and sterile enough that when you see that she thinks you're a knuckle- dragging primate, you have some cover. "Oh, whatever, dude. We just went and got some coffee together; she's in a few of my classes. It a' like that."Apart from those two thing, avoid mentioning old girlfriends, nod, smile and you should be okay. Date the second: This date is reallya test of endurance. If the first date w nh well enough for there to be anothr then this is the one where both of you are trying your damnedest to impres the other; a pursuit that will make the both of you unbelievably obnoxious: He will have to pretend that he car what she and her friends did on spring break last year, and she will have to act as if tales of drinking and puking make, him look like more of a man. She says that she likes to watch basketball. games sometimes, and he says that he likes the Indigo Girls. ("You know, like some of their earlier, acoustic stuff.") Date the third: Also known as the "Jesus, we might actually have sex sometime in the near future" date. purpose of this date is to convince yourself that you know your date well enough to sleep with and sublimate your sexual tensions under the-guise of a true emotional connection. This requires you take the level of conver- sation up a notch. Instead of "get to know you" chit-chat and war stories; the situation demands something adbit more stringent. Her sister's eating di order, for example. Tales of inattenti parents or harmless, suburban child hood trauma are also pretty good. But be careful. You want to go past "Mora didn't love me," but stop short of "Mom used to dress me in my sister's clothes and walk me around the neigh- borhood on a leash:' This is clearly tipping your hand. Date the fourth: This one is tricky. At this point, sex, or something resem- bling it, may have already occurre There are two facets to this situation:. The first is if the two of you would like to continue having sex. In this case' you should probably concoct a date that has at least a contrived sense of comfort and ease. Sweat pants and "When Harry Met Sally" is a perenni al favorite. Use pet names (start out with a simple "hon" if you are new at it.) Remember, college sex is, almo by definition, cheap, but the fun everyone'samass delusion on this point So coo at one another and pretend one day this will all be a "when your mother and I were courting" story That is, until that girl in your poli-sc class finally talks to you, or the hunka- hunka burnin' love from the Bivouac strikes up a super-groovy conversation about Bob Dylan with you. Then alt bets are off. If you no longer want tQ have sex with this person, then -you' just have to buck up, and face tI music. And by that, I mean blame your break-up on some emotional vagaries or meaningless Oprah phrases about "space" and "what I'm looking for." Date the fifth: These people are pret- ty much married. But then again, I don't know if people ever get this far anymore. After all, we wouldn't want to do anything serious, would we? --James Miller can be reache - over e-mail atjamespm@umich.edF State should continue his past Thursday, the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs awarded more than $21 million in art and cultural grants for the next fiscal year. These monetary allotments to various organizations are similar in value to those handed out last year. Given the current con- troversy surrounding the National Endowment for the Arts, retaining this fund- ing should be considered a cultural triumph. Over the past two years, Congress has dramatically curbed the amount of money appropriated to the NEA, from about $137 million in fiscal year '96 to about $82 mil- lion for the fiscal year '98. However, this past summer, the House of Representatives voted to end all of the organization's federal funding. The rationale behind the House's decision was that the NEA supports contro- versial exhibits that are "immoral" or "obscene." Legislative leaders seem convinced that during this period of downsizing the American government, private organiza- tions and block grants to the states should fund the arts. It is admirable that the state government is bucking this national trend - by trying to protect the arts through con- tinued financial support. The support puts the state fourth among the 50 states in per- capita funding for the arts. Two hundred twenty-seven applications were awarded state funding for the next fis- cal year, and arts groups in Washtenaw County will receive a total of $1 million. Grants were awarded funds on the basis of geographic distribution, diversity and underserved communities. Thus, the state government is trying to continue one of the NEA's noble objectives. However, while the supplemental funding state tries to support its artists, the public must not forget the national organization's value. The NEA - under attack by law- makers and budget cutters - provides smaller communities with access to culture that otherwise would be impossible to attain. Critics of the NEA argue that sponsoring artistic expression with tax dollars is unnec- essary. However, it is a mistake to cut back on funding for the arts or other programs designed to increase the options available to communities. There is no guarantee that the states will now begin to foot an increasing arts bill. Supporting artists and exposing the community to expressive options they would not have been otherwise able to tap supplies them with outlets for diversity. Throughout history, national governments commissioned many of the world's greatest works of art. Other industrialized nations continue to offer solid and well-supported, arts endowments-- but America lags far behind its counterparts in the sphere of public support for artistic expression. The state of Michigan and the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs should be commended for their continued support of these important programs. As Congress tries to implement national cut- backs, states throughout the nation should look to Michigan as a role model in the area of sponsoring the fine arts. However, the federal government is not off the hook. Arts funding is a microscopic slice of the federal budget, and a group of staunch conserva- tives is putting these precious dollars in dan- ger. The government must recognize the importance of the NEA and preserve it at all costs. BY MICHAEL PEREIRA A man in the middle of America was lynched some weeks ago for renting a movie. Sounds strange, does it . not? Or perhaps "lynched" is .too strong a word. Let's try to soften the blow. A man in the middle of America was hounded some weeks ago for renting a movie. It's hopeless -- nothing seems to work, no matter how we say it. The specter of cen- sorship - and its sidekick, ignorance - will always show through the guise of euphemism. I am thinking of a recent, barely publicized incident in Oklahoma City. A man rented a movie called The Tin Drum from the for- eign section of a local video store. As he watched in the privacy of his home, a band of self-appointed morality troop- ers stormed his residence, stole the tape, destroyed itand brought the viewer to the attention of local authorities. So what is it about the The Tin Drum that could elicit such a strong moral backlash from normal-seeming citi- zens? We know some vicious atrocities of the Bosnian war were captured on video and later sold in black market bazaars for thousands of dol- lars. Can The Tin Drum be among those sordid snuff films, a sadistic and outra- geous catalogue of the excess- es of war? The assailants, after all, said the movie was "child pornography," and that the viewer, therefore, was a certi- fiable pervert. Of course, none of them had ever seen the film. Like most aggressive moralists, they based their dogma on hearsay and vague assumptions. In fact, the film is difficult and dreamlike, with surreal sections and black comic pathos that buttress its politics with an aesthetic sensibility. But The Tin Drum is by no' means pomnographic or propa- gandist. On the contrary, it is at once revolting and touch- ing, ambiguous and yet one of the most scathing indictments of Nazi Germany ever to appear on screen. Director Volker Schlondorff derives his story from a Gunter Grass epic novel of the same name - the novel credited with reinventing the German lan- guage from the rubble of Nazi argot. In the book, as well as the movie, young Oskar Matzerath willfully stunts his growth at the age of three as a revolt against history. His adventures bring him into contact with camnival freaks and Nazi commandants, pre- cocious sexuality and bizarre scenarios which seem sadly believable next to the horrors of historical fact. The film version of The Tin Drum won an Academy Award for best foreign film in 1979, as well as the Grand Prize as Cannes that same year. The stature of Grass' novel as the highest artistic achievement is incontrovert- ible. Taken together, the two Tin Drums represent one of the most successful efforts to pen- etrate that era of darkness. Yet almost 20 years after its screen incarnation, some seem to have forgotten the reminders so artfully adumbrated by Schlondorff and Grass. The incident in Oklahoma City signifies only the top of a frightening iceberg - a resur- gent mindset inimical to learning and fast at forgetting. Everyone witnessed Oklahoma City's first run-in with this ignorant new wave; he was recently issued his final orders. But McVeigh's sentence by no means put any closure on the issue; if any- thing, it only polarized camps, sending the angry and mili- tant even further under- ground. Among the rubbleeand embers of the city's federal building, there still lurks a seething and volatile zeitgeist - a vicious circle of misin- formation that staunchly refuses to stare the facts in the face. The man who tried to watch The Tin Drum experi- enced that relentless will to censorship. Taken to its (il)logical conclusion, censor- ship concludes in complete cultural deadening: the absence of information, and the presence of lies. Eventually, the suppressed side of the argument fades from memory, and all that's left is the immanence of sup- pression itself. This is a lesson of The Tin Drum - a lesson apparently still left to be learned by those who would have the movie banned. Whether they are called neo- Nazis or any other name that designates a group whose sole commandment is hate, their goal is essentially the same: conformity, uniformity, same- ness, etc. Those who would enforce ignorance fail to admit that the real pornogra- phy is in the censor. The will- ing execution of ideas is the first step on a downward stair- case leading to a country of permanent night. - This column was originally published in the Daily Pennsylvanian on Sept. 4, 1997. I MA 01 40 w ^ r+s 9-17