Viewpoint
The Battalion
Texas A&M University
Thursday
November 30, 1978
Guyana horror — message for society
Once the shockwave has passed from the bizarre, inexplicable and macabre
mass suicide scene that played out in Guyana, some questions need to be
asked and answers found.
The paramount question is, of course, why?
Why in the name of anything did so many Americans murder themselves
almost as though they were simply participating in a harmless, ephemeral
rite of some kind?
It is not enough to say that these people were part of a groupthink,
mesmerized by a fanatic snake oil salesman calling himself a man of God.
That many people don’t kill themselves simply to remain faithful to the
credo or tenets of a cult. There had to have been an incredible mind-altering
undertaking going on for that many people to willingly swallow a cup of
death in the name of the Rev. Jim Jones.
Is it possible that this Guyana nightmare is flinging us into the future at a
pace faster even than the literary novelist and futurist George Orwell could
have forecasted?
In his mind-numbing book 1984, Orwell foresaw pschoscience, the sci
ence of controlling the human mind. Today, behavior modification and forms
of experimental thought control are being toyed with. And some of them are
known to walk a close line between therapy and torture.
David Goodman, a research scientist, has completed a study that centered
on taking inventory of how many of George Orwell’s ficticious predictions
have come to pass as of 1978, six years away from the author’s vision of a
totalitarian nightmare.
Brace yourself.
Of Orwell’s 137 forecasts, 100 have already been realized, according to
Goodman’s research.
The Guyana horror may be a message. Certainly, it represents the ulti
mate manifestation of the social pitfalls in the murky blend of cultism and
thought control.
In this country, especially, cults are catching on. They are seducing young
people in particular who seek something better, an escape from the realities
or our times.
Guyana needs to be put under the microscope and studied carefully. Very
carefully.
Bangor (Maine) Daily Netcs:
Why the MiG controversy now?
By JOHN VIRTUE
HAVANA, Cuba — Western dip
lomats in Havana are puzzled over why
the United States has picked this time to
make an issue of the Soviet MiG-23 war-
jets that Cuba says it acquired a year ago.
President Fidel Castro appeared angry
— and aides said he was — when the issue
of the swing-wing MiGs was raised at a
news conference in Havana with foreign
journalists last week.
Commentary
Castro said the planes have been in
Cuba for more than a year, have been fly
ing for eight months and will be displayed
at the Jan. 2 celebrations marking the 20th
anniversary of the revolution.
He said the U.S. intelligence agencies
were “idiotic” if they hadn’t known about
the MiGs until two weeks ago, when
Washington ordered SR-71 spy planes to
fly over Cuba to check on the MiGs.
President Carter said he wants to know
whether the planes are able to carry nu
clear weapon — a violation of the U.S.-
Soviet agreement that settled the 161
Cuban missile crisis. Moscow has denied
the planes can carry such weapons.
“The planes are tactical, defensive,” the
angry Castro told foreign journalists last
week.
Some of the diplomats share President
Fidel Castro’s public astonishment that
the United States claims to have just re
cently learned of the presence of the
swing-wing fighters on the Caribbean is
land.
Western diplomats, western reporters
based in Cuba and the average Cuban citi
zen say they have known about the pres
ence of the MiG-23s in Cuba for many
months.
“If Castro says the planes have been in
Cuba for more than a year, then they’ve
been here for more than a year,” said one
Western diplomat.
“Castro does not lie in public. He might
not tell everything or he might shade the
truth, but he never lies.”
Last week three MiGs made a low-level
pass over Havana, zipping by the old U.S.
embassy building that now houses the only
American diplomatic outpost in Cuba, the
U.S. Special Interests Section.
Many Cubans mistakenly thought the
jets were either the U.S. spy planes or
waijets sent in from an aircraft carrier tak
ing part in U.S.-British war games off the
northern coast of Cuba.
But at least one American diplomat who
was at the U.S. Interest Section when the
MiGs went overhead swore they were
MiG-23s — Castro’s unique way of thumb
ing his nose at the United States.
F. *?
Letters to the Edtfo^ - ^ jprj.. $$ ^ t » ?
Is riussian Hu worth the
* f !l
2s i •
money?
Editor:
I am writing this letter to all the crazy
people giving blood samples and taking
the Russian Flu nose drops. Wednesday
and Thursday at three locations on campus
are places where you can actually make
money by taking a slight chance to die.
Is $50 worth a very slim chance of your
life? Even if you don’t die you can still
catch the flu and be sick during finals. Is
$50 worth poor grades? These places are
taking advantage of college students. We
all know Christmas is soon and money is
needed for presents.
This kind of experimentation should be
done at the hospital on campus only, not in
the middle of the Commons!! It’s sort of
sad to watch people subject themselves to
this. I hope the people are not just doing
this for the money.
Money is not everything! I just can’t be
lieve the way the University let’s them do
their experiments right out in the open.
There is a chance of getting the flu from
the liquid they use in the nose drops. Just
remember anyone can have a fatal reaction
to the test.
I heard the chance was one in a million,
sort of like “Russian Roulette. ’’ The swine
flu shots got bad publicity after some
people keeled over!! Think for yourself
and only blame yourself!! Need money?
Donate plasma!
—Joe H. Hickman, ’79
‘Student’ credible
Editor:
This letter is in response to a letter writ
ten by Paul Schertz, of Nov. 17. In his
letter, Mr. Schertz exercised a right we all
hold very dear, the right to disagree with
another person. Mr. Schertz used this
privilege to criticize Today’s Student. His
letter made mention of three areas that he
apparently believes to be “wrong” with
the paper.
First, he says, it is “a piece of mislead
ing Christian propaganda.” Second, he
says that the paper has “cleverly” distorted
the facts, and finally he says that Today’s
Student “has caused many readers to be
come misinformed on some very pertinent
issues.”
What is misleading about the paper?
Who has been misled? To mislead implies
a willful attempt to deceive someone, or to
lead into a mistaken belief. How, Mr.
Schertz, has Today’s Student done this?
Also, what facts have been “distorted”?
I have read the paper for over one year,
and I am unable to think of a single in
stance where the writers have not pres
ented the facts quite well. Lastly, who has
been misinformed on issues presented in
this paper? And, if misinformed, how have
they been so misinformed?
Mr. Schertz has, in a very simplistic
manner, made very serious allegations as
to the credibility and reliability of Today’s
Student. Yet, he offers no evidence or
“facts” to support what he says. What he
has done is a very serious matter. To call
someone a liar or a deceiver, simply be
cause you “feel” like it, without stating any
evidence, if there is any, is as unproduct
ive as the name calling to which children
resort.
As a reader of Today’s Student, I would
like to say that I am glad we have such a
paper on campus. I look forward to read
ing it and believe it to be a very informa
tive newspaper.
—Galen Bowman, ’79
More stats on gays
Editor:
A recent letter to the editor questioned
the credibility of a Today’s Student article
dealing with homosexuals. The article, re
porting that the homosexual lifestyle is
more prone to depression, hostility, rejec
tion, and a high suicide rate, was accused
of being factually inaccurate.
The rebuttal was based on a new book,
“Homosexualities: A Study of Human Di
versity.” Unfortunately, there were a
number of the book’s statistics that were
conveniently overlooked by the self-
proclaimed “enlightened” Aggies.
—Twenty-five percent of the gays inter
viewed believe homosexuality is an emo
tional disorder.
—The average male homosexual re
ported sex acts with hundreds of men.
Twenty-eight percent of white males had
more than 1,000 sex partners, most of
them one night stands with virtual stran
gers; 40 percent had more than 500; 25
percent as adults, had perfbmed sex with
boys under 16.
—Two-thirds of the men had contracted
veneral disease at least once.
—Both males and females had been ar
rested more often than heterosexuals
(these were not for sex offenses).
—Homosexuals contemplated or com
mitted suicide more frequently, usually
resulting from broken love affaris (20 per
cent for homosexuals compared with 4
percent for heterosexuals).
—Homosexual males showed more
signs of emotional damage in nine areas of
psychological distress, from depression to
paranoia.
—Among lesbians, there was a higher
incidence of alcoholism.
—Of those “lasting” affairs, the duration
was only from one to three years (almost a
100 percent divorce rate).
—Sixty percent of homosexuals cruise
gay bars and baths more than once a
month (the purpose of cruising is to pick
up sexual partners).
Well adjusted? No more sexually active
than heterosexuals? Satisified? Let those
who are truly enlightened draw their own
conclusions.
Our thanks to Today’s Student for its
accurate journalism in reporting the much
concealed and distorted truth about the
“not so gay” lifestyle.
—Johnny Stimson, ’80
Editor’s note: this letter was accom
panied by 60 other signatures.
Readers’ Forum
Guest viewpoints, in addi
tion to Letters to the Editor,
are welcome. All pieces sub
mitted to Readers forum ,
should be:
• Typed triple space (
• Limited to 60 characters per
line
• Limited to 1(X) lines
Top of the News
CAMPUS
Fellowships worth $2,500
The National Council of Alpha Lambda Delta will award several
fellowships for graduate study for the 1979-80 academic year. Tlie
amount of each fellowship is $2,500. Any member of Alpha Lambda
Delta who was graduated with a cumulative average of Alpha Lambda
Delta initiation standard is eligible. Graduating seniors may apply if
they have achieved this average to the end of the first semester (or
first quarter) of this year. Application blanks and information, dead
line for which is Jan. 5, 1979, may be obtained from Administrator
Toby Rives in room 108 of the YMCA building. His phone number is
845-1228.
STATE
Houston man named to council
John Lindsey of Houston has been elected chairman of the new
15-member advisory council for the Texas A&M University System
Press. Lindsey’s election highlighted the organizational meeting of
the statewide panel formed to help provide guidance for Texas
A&M’s scholarly publishing house. The session included a briefing by
Frank Wardlaw, who founded the press in 1974 and served as its
director until his retirement Sept. 1. He will continue to be as
sociated with the press as a consulting editor.
‘Speed’ ring broken up
Bellaire authorities raided a home in that Houston suburb Wed
nesday, arrested four men and broke up what was described as the
biggest methamphetamine — speed — manufacturing operation in
Harris County history. The names of those arrested in the 2:20 a.m.
raid were not released immediately. Sheriffs deputies said they con
fiscated 40-50 pounds of speed and enough chemicals to make about
50 pounds more.
Davis jury boosts hours
Houston jurors in the murder solicitation trial ofT. Cullen Davis
have voted to lengthen their working day by 1^4 hours in hopes of
avoiding a marathon court session like the one in which the Fort
Worth millionaire was acquitted of murder last year. The seven men
and five women, who had been meeting from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. with
a 90-minute lunch recess, Tuesday voted to convene court an hour
earlier and trim their lunch break by 30 minutes. Jury selection in the
case began Oct. 30 and it is estimated that the testimony will last well
into December. Davis is accused of seeking to arrange the murder of
the judge in his stormy divorce.
NATION
FBI mail covers called illegal
A federal judge in Newark, N.J., ruled Wednesday that FBI mail
covers invoked to protect the national security are unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Lawrence A. Whipple said the FBI cannot
scrutinize the mail sent to groups they believe to be subversive or
working against the national interest. A mail cover is a procedure
whereby the postal service sets aside all mail sent to a particular
address and records all the information which appears on the outside
cover. Whipple issued his ruling in a lawsuit filed five years ago by
Lori Paton, a high school student from Mendham who was the sub
ject of an FBI mail cover after she wrote to the Socialist Workers
Party for literature for a term paper. Paton sued the FBI, claiming
her rights were violated.
Lost boys found, one dead
A Jackson, Wyo., rescue team aboard helicopters Wednesday lo-
;d i
Jpt
cated two missing boys — one dead and the other “barely alive” —
who became lost with their father during a weekend elk hunt in the
snowy north Wyoming wilderness. “One is just barely alive. They
had some Air Force helicopters out there and they tried to get him to
the hospital,” said Jane Imeson of Imeson Fight Service, which coor
dinated the air search for the two lost boys. The search for the pair,
lost near the base of 10,500 foot Wetstone Mountain, had intensified
with a dozen aircraft working aloft and teams of cross-country skiers
and horsemen searching the ground.
WORLD
8 Spanish boaters killed
A seaborne guerrilla unit machine gunned and dynamited a
Spanish fishing boat off the Sahara coast Tuesday night, killing eight
crewmen, Spanish Navy officials said Wednesday. The attack took
place about four miles off Cape Bojador. The navy said guerrillas in
rubber rafts opened machine gun fire on the fishing boat Cruz del
Mar out of the Canary Island of Lanzarote, which was dragging the
Canary-Sahara fishing bank. First reports said the guerrillas then
boarded the vessel and set off a charge of dynamite. There also were
reports that they fired mortars. The navy said eight fishermen were
killed and three survived.
The survivors were rescued by another Spanish fishing boat, the
Chico Grande, and then transferred to a Spanish destroyer cruising in
the area.
WEATHER
Sunrise was at 7:02 followed by a sunny day with a high in
the low 70’s and the low in the mid 40’s. Winds light and
variable at 5-10 mph. Sunset will be at 5:23.
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MEMBER
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Congress
Editor Kiml)* 1
Managing Editor LizNe*^ n ^PlUare
Assistant Managing Editor .Andy Willii? er ^' er Hu
Sports Editor David Boj? demo
City Editor Jamie Aith* p
Campus Editor Steve If
News Editors Debbie Fane®
Beth Calhoun
Staff Writers Karen Rogers, I
Patterson, Scott PendleW
Sean Petty, Michelle Scudd* 1
Diane Blake, Lee Roy Lesck^
Jr., Dillard Stone
Cartoonist Doug Grain 1
Photographers Ed Cum#
Lynn Blanco
Focus section editor Gary Wet!
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