Page 4-Wednesday, July16, 1980-The Michigan Daily
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T -h e n ail a dang
First it was the movies and
Edite~f bd ta an edby stude3tsthen television. They were
thought of as nothing more than a
,vfantasy land-"pure escapism."
Sometimes they might stress a
point or moral, but usually just
provided a place to get away
HG O wfrom the many problems of a
C UY iiXT harsh reality.
The movie and television
Iscreens were places where it was
th e h oaeasy to tell the good guys from
the bad. The answers were sim-
ple and beautiful, and in the end,
T HE REPUBLICANS are now engaged in the everyone lived happily ever af-
quadrennial exercise of selecting their Oresi- ter
qengialOVER THE YE ARS,
dential nominee. But in a convention which has television, in particular, has
proven to be a mundane, passionless event, the become 4,large part of our daily
delegates are still having a jolly time of it: they lives. With the majority of people
wave flags, laugh, hiss, scream, stomp their feet, spending more and more time in
front of the television, resear-
chant slogans, sing, and wrap themselves up in the chers began to warn us that soon
banal convention theme: "Together-A New children and, indeed, im-
Beginning." But after examining their platform, pressionable adults, would not be
one questions what there is to be happy about. able to distinguish the difference
In the platform, Republicans warn against any between this fantasy world and,
move which would give the government more reality k
But now like a bad dream come
power over families; yet, they call for a con- true, the researchers' warnings
stitutional amendment banning abortions, which are too little and too late. With the
would be a direct governmental interference with a very real possibility of having
woman's right to freely choose what to do with her Ronald Reagan as our next
body president, that penumbral line
boy- between fantasy and reality has
They call for the repudiation of their 40-year sup- disappeared for many
port for the Equal Rights Amendment. Americans.
They want to repeal the federally-imposed 55- And Ronald Reagan, playing in
mph speed limit, which has proven over its short perhaps his greatest acting role,
life to save thousands of lives, and a precioushas turnedothe presidential elec-
a m u t of g s li e re i u lion into nothing less than a gia nt
amount of gasoline.
They pledge that our nation will be militarily
superior-in essence, they call for a resumption of LETTERS TO THE D
the arms race.
hewa a balanced budget udonoteain A bortio
how that can be achieved with heightened defense Upenrilg.
spending.
They plan to cut taxes by 30 per cent over three To The Daily:
years, but cannot explain what services would be One of the clear lessons to be
cut. learned from Bernard Nathan-
.t son's "Abortion America" is that
What the Republicans haven't done is offer J the pro-life movement in this
feasible solutions to the nation's ills; instead, they, country is not a Catholic
in their formulation of a disastrous platform, movement, though the Catholic
reflect an intellect which just barely matches that Church does condemn abortion.
of Glen Campbell, Susan Anton, and Donny and Dr. Nathanson, an atheist and
Marie. - one-time abortionist, makes
clear the fact that he and the
National Association for the
Repeal of Abortion Laws (still
NARAL) merely used the wide-
' ,-spread anti-Catholic prejudice in
Now 4EmEbMY "America in order to accomplish
ELECTION Y >r ' the legalization of abortion.
E Y.! Here's how this applies to you:
You printed a piece by the
leaders of Right-to-Life/Lifespan
of Washtenaw County (Daily,
' - , July 10, 1980), in which the
authors state their reaction to the
recent Supreme Court ruling on
/the Hyde Amendment. They do
not mention the Catholic Church
or any church, nor do they imply
any affiliation on the part of their
organization. (The organizatioi
is not, in fact, affiliated with a
church.) Dr. Nathanson himself,
. still an atheist, could have writ-
ten the article.
Adyt ou carefullyselected
j. a photograph depicting Catholics
at a pro-life demonstration to
. print with the essay. Having been
to se ntations myself, I
-Time Ronnie
erous fantasy?
nment in our lives like the
By Mark Wilson elimination of the national 55
--- mph speed limit and deep down
MGM production. Right out of a inside it feels good to "get gover-
shallow Hollywood script, he rode nment off our backs," but we
into town dressed in white and never stop to consider if we are
left no doubt who had come to some of those lives the slower
save the people. speed limit has saved.
AND WE BOUGHT it. For And he can look into the
millions of us Americans, he ap- camera and tell us (shortly after
pears on the screen as smooth being shown a campaign com-
and polished. And it'shard to tell mercial in which he personally
the difference between him and calls for a 30 per cent tax cut)
any other hero on television. If that he doesn't remember
"The Six Million Dollar Man" saying those words in his com-
can save the nation, why can't merical. We believe him because
Reagan? If oil problems can he is the good guy and this is just
easily be worked out on "Dallas" another evil plot set up to stop our
in just under an hour, why can't man in white.
we do the same? So he tells us that when
We want to believe him when he America is strong again like it
says he can make America should be, "They may not like us,
strong again. He tells us we, too, but they will respect us." And we
can be proud of America, just like know who "they" are: the evil
we were of our American hockey communists; greedy
team that defeated the Russians. Panamanians, and the immoral
He is the hero who has come to abortionists who are causing all
save us from the clutches of evil. our problems. We feel good about.
We want to believe this so badly a strong America and we want to
and he makes it look so real and enhance that feeling-but we
sound so easy. never stop to think whether we
He tells us that cutting taxes, will like the America everyone
balancing the budget and else respects.
building our defense will make us Sadly for many Americans,
strong again. We cheer him "happily ever after" is just a
wildly, because like everything November vote away.
else on television we know the
hero is always right-never stop- The author of this piece, a
ping to think how we can get vacationing Daily reporter,
something for nothing. says he is a disenchanted
HE CALLS FOR less gover- Republican.
AILY:
n photo misleading
A
q
a
I
a
can testify tha
widespread.
reprenting the r
stand at ease,
thousands of dei
a Catholic statu
into view; then
tention and the
rolling.
Their practic
indefensibly dish
of lying-an a
part, by the use
photograph, to
Catholic bias-
from your oppon
What reason ca
your ad homine
you fear that th
force of argum
you?
t this practice is To The Daily:
-Cameramen Given that 1) the most impor-
national networks tant recent book indicating abor-
ignoring tens of tion (Dr. Bernard Nathanson's
monstrators, until "Abortion America") was writ-
ie or cross comes ten by an atheist of Jewish
they snap to at- background, 2) the current
ir cameras start groundswell in the. pro-life
movement is among Protestant
evangelicals, and 3) the most
e, and yours, is recent pro-life "event" in Ann
onest. It is a form Arbor was sponsored by Concor-
ttempt on your dia College Lutherans for Life, I
of an irrelevant am surprised that your July 10th
employ anti- guest editorial on the Hyde.
as a detraction Amendment was accompanied
ents' arguments. by a picture of a group of
an there be for Catholics.
m tactics unless Does this reflect the extent to
ie facts and the which you are out to touch with
ent are against the times, or simply an effort to
taint the issue with latent anti-
Catholic bigotry?
-Roy Barkley -Kelly Kielce
July 10 July 11
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