"A
pinion
Page 8
Thursday, June 11, 1981
The Michigan Daily
r.
The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCI, No. 26-S
Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom
Edited and managed by students
at the University of Michigan
Crippling ideal
T HIS WEEK the U.S. House of Represen-
tatives dealt what may be the official death
blow to an already moribund victim - court-
ordered busing.
By a 265 to 122 margin, the House approved
an amendment prohibiting the Justice Depar-
tment from pursuing any court case involving
the busing, of children to achieve school
desegregation. The awesome one-sidedness of
the final tally - two years ago a similar amen-
dment was passed by less than 20 votes -
reflects the degree official Washington sen-
timent has caught up with entrenched publi
opinion.
If one examined the entire spectrum of
American history, it would be difficult to
dredge up an official policy that has garnered
less popular support than has school busing. Its
very concept is so anathematic to such a
multitude of Americans that even its suppor-
ters tend to act sheepish about their advocacy:
Rep. Don Edwards (D-Calif.), who led the
House opposition to the current amendment,
admitted, "No one likes busing very much."
Of course, simple lack of popularity shouldn't
negate principle. As pro-busing Rep. Peter
Rodino (D-N.J.) noted, "to say it's unpopular
doesnt mean that it's not right." Busing was
and remains a decent, laudable concept: It
provides ghetto children a chance to obtain the
education denied them through decades of
discrimination and neglect. Even more, busing
offers children of all races the first-hand, close-
contact opportunity to discover that people are
people, regardless of the color of their skin,
And yet one must ultimately question the
simple practicality of pursuing a policy forever
destined to trigger near-universal emnity -
from many blacks as well as whites. No idea,
however well-intentioned, will prevail if the
bulk of Americans actively reject it: The foes of
ERA, abortion and gun control remain a
vociferous minority at best, while by contrast
-the anti-busing movement enlists the sympathy
of a militant, enduring majority.
To continue to press for busing in the face of
such hostility is not only futile but counter-
productive: It merely exacerbates and con-
solidates the racial prejudice of those perhaps
otherwise inclined to live and let live. Better to
concentrate on such blatant targets of
discrimination as housing, jobs and black en-
terprise - areas where public opinion can still
be molded positively.
Busing never really provided that kind of op-
portunity. It will remain what it always was: an
academic ideal but a public relations disaster.
Te m mOr, every maid a slave
BOSTON - This morning, as
an aid to my ongoing ex-
tracurricular study of pre-WWII
animation, I awoke earlier than
usualtocatch the "Porky Pig and
Friends Hour".
Pilgrim' s
Progress
By Anne Sharp
hatred, I observed with disgust,
even if it's all an illusion created
by and for greedy businessmen.
Well, enough of this. Time to get
ready for work. I switched off
Porky Pig in mid-stutter and
commenced the ritual: Wash
face, brush hair, put on bra,
stockings, and my trusty old
Hadassah thrift store dress-for-
success suit; pants are infra dig
for women at my office, so I am
forced to wear these things - and
stick my feet into a wobbly old
pair of slip-on spike heels that
should have been burned by
half-full, so I try to be careful.
Lots of eyeshadow after that, so
people can see my little piggy
eyes behind my glasses. And lip-
stick, too, to make my thin,
colorless lips look pouty and
fresh.
I sound like an expert, huh?
You know, I've never taken a
modeling course in my life, never
even went in to Merle Norman '88
for a beauty makeover. And yet,
after seven years of experimen-
tation, I know exactly how to
cover up all the ugly defects in my
face, and accentuate the good
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This program is a find for any vgiaeornpossyasao JH.seruunrunea-
vigilante orthopedists years ago. points. i learned through the ad-
serious film scholar-an omni- I then tottered to the bathroom vice of my girlfriends, with whom
bus featuring the works of such sink and took out my "box of , I often trade makeup hints, and
cartoon messiahs as Tex Avery, magic tricks" - a battered car- through years of flipping through
Chuck Jones and Max Fleischer;
I found it gratifying, despite
frequent, lengthy and tedious
commercial breaks which pun-
ctuated it. I
But to the cinematic con-
nisseur, even kiddie TV adverts
are worthy of note. One par-
ticular ad spot caught my eye this
morning: Sponsored by Remco,
a toymaking concern, it showedZ/
two prepubescent girls in a game
of make-believe. One, pretending
to be a door-to-door cosmetics
saleswomen, offered her friend a
new product: a set of eyeshadow,
blusher, and lipstick specially
designed for children. The other
girl eagerly applied this 1
amazingly real-looking makeup
to her eyes, cheeks and lips.
"Thank you," she simpered.
"You make me
feel -... beauti/ful. "
This child was a particularly
adorable nipper in the first place, '
even before using these ersatz
cosmetics. Why, I wondered, m
would this quite normal-looking
kid of ten be so concerned with
artificially enhancing her looks?
As a sophisticated, well-heeled
old battleaxe of 21, I know that dboard receptacle full of con- magazines, studying the ads,
women wear makeup so that men traceptive devices, sinus reading the beauty advisor
will find them attractive. And medications, and - most impor- columns. With-the right cosmetic
men - being the beasts that they tant - my makeup. techniques, any bedraggled,
are - will then think of having First comes liquid base pasty-faced, rather unappealing
sex with them. Most little girls makeup, to even out my skin kid like me can look smart and
get into their mother's paint-box tone, I remind myself - not that attractive.
once or twice, smear red on their my face is blotchy; I haven't had But, you know, you have to be
mouths, and pretend to be grown- a pimple in years, but I need it for careful not to overdo it - if you
up, but they're certainly too the dark circles under my eyes. wear too much makeup, guys will
young to understand the full im- Then blush, to give my face a get the wrong idea, if you know
plication of that neo-phallic sym- healthy glow; I am normally pale what I mean. Like our mothers
bol of sexual allurement, the lip- as an Edgar Allen Poe heroine used to say: Pencil and lip-
stick. without it. stick . . . powder and
I'm sure.that the big boys at After that, mascara; I really paint ... make a plain little girl
Remco are aware of this, but then need it to accentuate my eyes, look like what she ain't.
again, they are clever enough to which are too small. You're sup-
know that if you tell someone at posed to replace mascara every
an early age they are naturally four months, by the way, because Emigre columnist Anne
ugly unless they use a certain bacteria grows quickly in it, Sharp fears her new
product, they will go out and buy causing serious eye infections to
that product - or pester Mommy the user. The kind of mascara I daguerreotype looks too punk
into doing it for them. You're like, however, is really expen- she would appreciate all reader
never' too young to learn self-.MsjypAnd.my yeax-old.betisstill se t mentl otthe.otrary.
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