Slouch
by Jim Earle
“Just remember what 1 told you last week: it’s not who
wins, but how you play the game, and that sort of thing.
However, I am beginning to understand your point of
view.
Opinion
Big Brother’s here
George Orwell’s predictions in his novel “1984’’ may be
closer than we think, with Big Brother not only telling us
what to do, but by thought control, telling us what to eat,
what to buy, what to think.
This Big Brother will be housed in a little black box,
similar to the sound mixers used by disco deejays. Under a
screen of bland music, subliminal messages can be flashed
to accomplish such diverse measures as reducing shoplift
ing, inspiring sales personnel or selling children’s toys.
Black box inventor Hal C. Becker said, “I see no reason
why there won’t be audioconditioning the same way we
now have air conditioning. ”
The black boxes are already in close to 50 department
stores in the U.S. and Canada. By flashing rapidly repeated
messages (“I am honest. I will not steal.”) at a very low
volume, one chain store is said to have cut thefts by 37
percent, saving $600,000 during a nine-month trial.
A Toronto real estate office uses the box to increase the
sales volume of its personnel (“I love real estate.”).
Children’s toy companies interspersed commercials with
subliminal messages (“Get it!”). To their credit, the Fed
eral Communications Commission soon put a stop to this
and issued warnings on any further TV or radio sublimina-
tions.
Just think where this all could lead.
A wife could convince her husband that “football is rot
ten, football is rotten.”
A husband could encourage his wife that “cooking is fun,
cooking is fun.”
Meddling mothers could manipulate while smiling “get
married, get married” or “get a divorce, get a divorce” or
even “liver is good, liver is good.”
The possibilities are endless and frightening.
Mr. Becker has an idea all right, but its practical applica
tion offends us. There are some things we would just rather
do for ourselves — like think.
Amarillo Daily News
the small society
by Brickman
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300
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Washington Star Syndicate. Inc.
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Viewpoint
The Battalion •Texas A&M University
Tuesday • September 18,191
Gr
By S
Bi
'ITI/tt' C'T’ Hysteria would play a more useful roh
▼ Y ML X ^ we could agree on what to panic aboi
Student
By DICK WEST
United Press International
WASHINGTON — At about the time
President Carter was urging everyone to
keep calm about the presence of Russian
troops in Cuba, I was reading a pamphlet
published by the Chicken Little Club.
Born, like so many special interest
groups, in California, the club’s stated goal
is “to give hysteria a bad name in the form
ing of public opinion and national policy. ”
That objective appears to embrace the
premise that panic is inherently an unde
sirable reaction in a crisis. I have trouble
accepting such an assumption.
There’s an old saying, “The feet that you
are paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out
to get you.” By the same token, it may be
said, “Just because you are overwrought
doesn’t mean there isn’t due cause for hys
teria. ”
There also is an old saying, “If you can
keep your head when all about you are
losing theirs, it means you don’t under- 1
stand the situation.”
Or, putting it another way, “One man’s
wild alarm is another man’s blind spot.”
Hysteria can and should play a useful
role in national affairs. But its effectiveness
is blunted by the lack of consensus as to
what to get frantic about.
Conservatives tend to become frantic
over such things as Soviet troops in Cuba.
Liberals become frantic over such things
as nuclear power plants. And so it goes.
Hysteria usually is too diffused to be
come a potent force in shaping policy.
Panic power is something like solar
energy; the potential is there but it is
largely wasted.
Rather than groups like the Chicken
Little Club, dedicated to giving hysteria a
bad name, we need an organized effort to
harness the power of hysteria and convert
it to the common good.
The point is that hysteria stimulates the
adrenal glands. In a hyper-activated condi
tion, the body can perform feats far be
yond its ordinary prowess. And when
there is concerted hysteria, the impact can
be galvanic.
During the gasoline shortage last
spring, for example, there was mass hys
teria at the pumps. Today, supplies have
increased to the point where mostag
are repealing oddeven rationing.
Would anyone seriously suggest the
provement would have been thesameli
the motoring public responded in a
tional matter, calmly accepting andalju
ing to the shortage? Ha! Or words to4
effect.
It’s too late now to panic over the 14
sian troops. The moment for hysteiif
grabbing up guns and rushing dow
Key West to patrol the beaches hash
lost. And with it, the chance for a
resolution of the matter. Butinthefe
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By DON PHILLIPS
United Press International
WASHINGTON — In politics, atten
tion given to a politician’s statement de
pends not only on what is said and how it is
said, but on where it is said and to whom it
is said.
Example: Rep. John Brademas, D-Ind.,
the No. 3 ranking House Democrat,
emerged from the regular meeting of Pres
ident Carter and the Democratic leader
ship at the White House last week and was
immediately surrounded by reporters ask
ing what happened.
Brademas, who has a reputation as a
good “reporter” of e vents, gave reporters a
briefing on the meeting, which was con
cerned mainly with energy.
Then he was asked: “Are you supporting
Carter for reelection?”
Brademas gave his stock answer: He will
support the Democratic nominee. But he
did not give a ringing endorsement of Car
ter.
Brademas, who is seldom shocked by
anything, was shocked at the coverage
given his non-statement. Both wire serv
ices, the television networks and several
major newspapers moved major stories
saying that Brademas had “sidestepped an
opportunity” to endorse Carter.
To Brademas, nothing new had been
said. He had said the same thing to re
porters on Capitol Hill on numerous occa
sions and never a word appeared in print
or on the air. Now he was big news.
The Brademas story is a good example of
how news is often affected by where an
event happens and who sees or hears it
happen.
First, consider the location.
It is true that Brademas had said essen
tially the same thing numerous times to
Capitol Hill reporters. But what Brademas
failed to consider was that he had just
emerged from a meeting with Carter and
was standing in the shadow of the White
House as he spoke.
Politicians learned long ago that a
statement outside the White House usu
ally makes far more news than the same
statement on the House or Senate floor.
Reporters covering a congressman step
ping out of the White House can concen
trate on one politician making one state
ment, and they know that statement may
give a better indication of what the presi
dent is thinking than the President’s own
statements.
On Capitol Hill, that statement would
be one of many thousands made every
day. Also, /almost anything happening at
the White House is news, while many
hundreds of potential stories on Capitol
Hill go unreported.
Basically, this is because Americans are
more interested in — and can understand
better — the one major personality in the
White House and those few aides sur
rounding him.
Congress, on the other hand, is a com
plicated, slow-moving and spread-out
body which is not easily understood and
which lacks the trappings of the White
House.
Ei
usi ijl'ce
Stories coming from the White
often are more interesting to the avei
person; they are heavy with politics
reports on the personalities.
That brings us to the second point !
hears the statement.
Since everything that happens
White House is considered news,
porters coverihg the president are
constant pressure to produce.
Reporters in Congress, since they
the freedom to ignore some happeniil
have the time to dig into the backgns
and the substance of the more impoi
news.
Therefore, when Brademas made
statement, they didn’t have the tint
wonder if he had said it before. They
he made the statement at the
House just after seeing the president,
he had made it in that location kno»'
that Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass,,
moving closer to a possible race a
Carter. That alone was enough to
Brademas big news.
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By JAMES J. DOYLE
United Press International
LOS ANGELES — Here’s a scenario
for the times:
A homemaker pushes a button and an
oven is timed to begin cooking dinner an
hour later. The oven will cook the dinner
in six minutes, turn itself off and open its
own door.
Madam homemaker, meanwhile,
pushes a few more buttons and talks to a
friend a thousand miles away. The TV goes
on automatically and changes its own
channels to a pre-selected show.
It also tapes the show for later viewing
as a result of a couple of other buttons pre
viously depressed.
It will go off by itself hours later after
having selected a series of channels. The
TV set also will turn on a nearby lamp at
dusk.
That’s not the future, it’s the present.
It’s a push-button world, or it can be if you
wish. And television sets are the major in
dicator.
It’s a great age for a sloth.
But an official of one of the large com
panies that makes life so leisurely says laz
iness is not the point.
“It’s speed and convenience,” Robert
Shortell of RCA said. “I don’t think it has
anything to do with laziness.
Although push-button and remote con
trols have been around for a long time, it’s
only recently that they’ve begun to prolif
erate in our quest for “the good life.”
“Just about everything is programm
able,” he said. “Without pushbuttons
some things on the modern TV sets would
be awkward.
“Now, there’s one keyboard. You can
program the set to go on and off at certain
times of the day. It enables you to attach a
lamp to the TV go on independently so a
thief will think you’re home when you’re
not.
“What makes this all possible,” Shortell
said, “is solid state electronics, integrated
circuits — small chips with hundreds and
hundreds of electronic components on
them.
“It does many functions with incredible
speed, and it’s very reliable,” he said. “I
think we all look for that in some re
spects.”
The older sets, pre-chip days, had to
heat ^hp all those tubes. “Very energy
wasteful,” Shortell said.
The television set he described above,
large color set, remote controls, lamp
monitor, sells for an average of $550.
In the push-button era everything from
the automatic dishwasher to the TV, to ga
rage doors — there’s even a lawnmower
that can be operated by dad fe®
hammock — to most kitchen appl
can be controlled with less energy tl*
takes to open a can of beer.
The remote control business has 1
bled in the past three years, reflect
growing consumer demand for its
nience.
“Solid state electronics has madepo
ble the era of push buttons,” Shortell
“You can call a remote Alaskan villas
the phone by pushing just 10 buttons
Families with small children
happy to hear that.
Y/
by
The
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