Opinion
Page 2AThe Battalion/Tuesday, April 24, 1984
British calm the key
to diplomatic crisis
In the recent plague of terrorist acts
and reprisals, Great Britain is to be
Commended. It has handled the tense,
dangerous situation at the Libyan em
bassy in London calmly, maturely and
quite diplomatically — in the typical
British manner.
Libya is well known for its uncivi
lized behavior, but on April 17 it broke
all codes of diplomatic behavior. A
gunman sat in the Libyan embassy in
London and shot and killed a British
policewoman and injured 11 people.
The British government responded
in a sensible fashion by breaking rela
tions with Libya and ordering all Li
byan diplomatic staff members to leave
the country by April 30.
The Libyans expressed “surprise
and indignation” at this decision.
What else did they expect?
A more unstable government than
that of the British might have reacted
emotionally and bombed the embassy.
An act of terrorism such as shooting
from an embassy — ordinarily a haven
from international chaos — deserves a
reprisal of some sort. Because the gun
man probably has diplomatic immu
nity and was hiding in the embassy, the
British government’s hands were tied.
The Libyan government rejected Brit
ish demands for the evacuation of the
building to allow a search for weapons
and explosives, so the British could
only surround the embassy with secu
rity forces while coming up with a
course of action.
It’s too bad Col. Khadafy’s actions
aren’t that sane.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
Ed Board presents
diversity of opinion
There seems to be a growing miscon
ception around Texas A&M about the
purpose of a newspaper’s editorial staff.
The Battalion has received several
letters from readers — mostly students
— who are concerned that the Editorial
Board is not accurately reflecting the
beliefs of the student body.
It’s not supposed to.
Glance up at the top lefthand corner
of this page and take note of the word
OPINION spelled out in bold black let
ters.
A formal definition of an editorial
board goes something like this: An edi
torial board presents ideas, based on
fact, to its readers in an attempt to stim
ulate thought and/or discussion on spe
cific topics of current interest.
Those six unseen faces up on the sec
ond floor of Reed McDonald don’t just
while away the hours thinking up ways
to infuriate the student body.
They make countless decisions every
day about what news goes into the next
day’s paper and what doesn’t, what news
is of highest importance and what can
be stuck back on page 17, and many
more that you aren’t aware of and prob
ably don’t care about anyway.
They try their best to make sure that
all possible information is presented in
each story so that the readers — yes,
that’s you — get to see all sides of a situ
ation.
Because of the nature of the work
they do, they’re a little more qualified
than the next guy on the street to offer
ideas on various topics as a result of
their familiarity with the situations.
There is one very important reason
for printing the editorials they come up
with. Every reader is not capable of and
really has no desire to thoroughly re
search every current issue — that’s why
they read newspapers and watch the
nightly news.
By opening up the newspaper of your
choice, you can get a fairly accurate pic
ture of what is going on in the world
along with a few opinions on hot topics.
The editorials do not force anyone to
accept particular views — that’s up to
you as a reader. You can use it for com
parison or consideration, or completely
disregard it.
Now take a look at the LETTERS sec
tion of this page. Often what you see is a
result of an editorial board statement.
The people who write letters to The
Battalion are responding to many things
— things that range from rebuttals to
editorial comments on stories that have
appeared in the paper to general opin
ions from people taking advantage of
the option to air their owmopinions.
If the editorial board reflected the be
liefs of the student body — or any other
body for that matter — its initial pur
pose would be defeated. Independence
from outside groups is the fundamental
premise that sustains freedom of the
press. What you would be reading is
robin
black
what you want to hear — a stale regurgi
tation of what you already know and
what you already believe.
If it’s a reflection you want, look in
the mirror tomorrow morning after you
get up.
A newspaper editorial should encour
age you to re-examine your beliefs.
Whether those beliefs are reaffirmed or
altered to any degree is up to you.
We’d be living in a narrow-minded
society if we never considered anything
different from what is already en
trenched in our minds and hearts.
If the truth be told, the rest of The
Battalion staff — myself included — of
ten disagrees with the Editorial Board,
and by no means do we hesitate to voice
our response around the newsroom.
The Battalion
USPS 045 360
Member at'
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
Editor Rebeca Zimmermann managing editor, city editor, news editor, edito-
Managing Editor .John Wagner rial page editor and sports editor.
City Editor Patrice Koranek
Assistant City Editors Kathleen Hart, Letters Policy
Stephanie Ross Letters to the Editor should not exceed 3U0
News Editor Tracey Taylor words in length. The editorial staff reserves the
Assistant News Editors Susan Talbot, right to. edit letters for style and length but will
Brigid Brockman, Michelle Powe, Kelley Smith make every effort to maintain the author’s in-
Editorial Page Editor Kathy WiesCpape tent. Each letter must be sighed and must in-
Sports Editor Donn Friedman elude the address and telephone number of the
Assistant Sports Editor Bill Robinson writer.
Entertainment Editor Shelley Hoekstra Reader's Forum columns and guest editorials
Assistant Entertainment Editor Angel Stokes also are welcome. Address all inquiries to the Ed
itorial Page Editor.
Editorial Policy Our address: The Battalion, 216 Reed Mc-
The Battalion is a non-profit, self-support- Donald Building, Texas A&M University, Col-
ing newspaper operated as a community service lege Station, TX 77843.
to Texas A&M and Bryan-College Station. United Press International is entitled exclu-
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those sively to the use for reproduction of all news dis-
of the Editorial Board or the author, and do not patches credited to it. Rights of reproduction of
necessarily represent the opinions of Texas all other matter herein reserved.
A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Re- Second class postage paid at College Station,
gents. The Editorial Board consists of the editor, TX 77843.
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By ART BUCHWALD
Columnist for The Los Angeles Times Syndicate
“Isn’t it a lovely thing to watch?” a Re
publican campaign manager said.
“What?”
“The Democratic free-for-all. Mon
dale is socking it to Hart, Hart is socking
it to Mondale. And neither one of them
is laying a glove on Jesse Jackson.”
“Why should anyone lay a glove on
Jesse Jackson?” I asked.
“No reason, except when someone
runs for president of the United States
you’re supposed to rough him up a
little, so you can see how he behaves un
der pressure.”
“What issue could Mondale or Hart
attack Jackson on?”
“They could mention Jesse’s support
by Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Na
tion of Islam, for starters. The good
man has threatened the lives of Jews,
excommunicated a black reporter from
black race, and compared himself favor
ably with Adolf Hitler, whom he called a
‘wickedly great’ man. You would think
Mondale and Hart had something to
work with there.
“Jackson can’t help what his surro
gates — I mean supporters — say.”
“Aha,” the campaign manager said.
“But Farrakhan is one of Jackson’s clos
est friends, and Jackson refuses to disa
vow him. Just think what Hart and
Mondale would say if the Ku Klux Klan
gave their official support to Ronald
Reagan, and the Grand Dragon warmed
up every White House audience for
Reagan.”
“You want Jackson to get rid of Far
rakhan?”
“Heck no. The Islam leader is ripping
the Democratic Party to shreds. If Jack-
son refuses to dump him over the side,
and Farrakhan keeps holding his crazy
press conferences, the white liberal
voter is going to be scared to death.
“Every so often a kook like Farrakhan
comes along and the media can’t give
him enough coverage. At the moment
he seems to be getting more and more
time on television than Jackson. If you
vowed to beat up a reporter from the
Washington Post and called Hitler a
‘wickedly great’ man, you would get a lot
of attention too.”
“I still don’t see what Farrakhan has
to do with Mondale and Hart.”
“You must be pretty dumb. Jackson is
going to San Francisco with a number of
swing votes. He could put one or the
other candidate over the top. So both
Mondale and Hart have to cater to him.
But if Jackson is still carrying around
Farrakhan as baggage, then Mondale
and Hart will lose the independents and
the liberals.
“In November, for every black voter
| n| l goinj
Jesse brings out, we get a white'® bne w;
Reagan, or one who stays at hoint P 1 ’ 1 ^
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race into the Democraticprimanei oLigrowi
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A&M
“You can’t lay this one on the
licans. Jackson asked for a rain!
alition and Farrakhan said he’d
on any black reporter whodidnijiChurch i
to him. Mondale and Hart are a;:» eal g°‘
attack Jackson. So by keeping® 111 ’ 1 ^ ‘
both white candidateslookchideiw^y^!^
I remind you that Jim Watt wasitf|L rlo t ]
out of the government forjusto® First r
nic slur. It was a cream puff on:: Rent site
with the stuff Farrakhan hassaidiM A&M
past few months.”
“But Farrakhan isn’t in the
merit.”
“If the other candidates have®
with Jackson, he could be.”
“So your game plan istolii
han to Jackson to Mondaleor
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“We have no game planasfarai! [
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on the sidelines and enjoy it.K
Democrats’ problem, not oursJ L u | ter
can say at this time is‘Let Farralh ii Ilec | e ,
Farrakhan.’”
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Letters:
Political Forum takes
undeserved credit
And if you disagree with the Editorial
Board, that’s great. Write a letter to the
editor — that’s what the editors really
want.
Robin Black is a sophomore journa
lism major and staff writer for The Bat
talion.
Editor:
MSG Political Forum seems to be tak
ing all the credit for getting Sen. Gary
Hart to speak at Texas A&M. I happen
to know differently.
The co-chairman of Aggies for Hart,
Orland Defrates, contacted the Hart
Headquarters to see if it would be possi
ble for Hart to come to Texas A&M.
Defrates realized he lacked funding
and the means of obtaining space in
Rudder Tower and approached several
members of Political Forum.
These members, who were in the
process of contacting Hart’s office,
agreed to help Defrates. While Political
Forum took care of funding and reserv
ing room, Defrates was able to get a
commitment from Hart.
I am upset because Political Forum is
taking credit when other organizations
have been instrumental in getting
speakers at Texas A&M. Either The
Battalion did not include all the details,
or Political Forum led The Battalion to
believe it was the only organization in
volved in securing Hart’s visit.
In fact, it was both Aggies for Hart
and Political Forum that arranged for
Hart to come to Texas A&M.
Nicholas Finan
Class of’84
Throughout the article, The Battal
ion endorsed sexual deviants living a
Godless, immoral lifestyle (Gay Student
Service); murderers of helpless infants
(Texas Abortion Rights Action League);
and Texas Mobilization for Survival, a
group which seeks to leave our nation
defenseless against the massive military
build-up of a monsterous Soviet
dictatorship.
The most repulsive of these three
groups was quoted as saying “most Tex
ans want abortion kept legal.” I’d ven
ture to say that that statement was an
outright lie.
The liberals are correct on one point;
this is an apathetic campus. It’s time for
the conservative majority hereto
up and be heard.
One way to do this is to swam|
Battalion with letters, since theopt
page is the most popular section o'
paper.
A spokesman for the GSS sail! 3
Texas A&M is becoming more
For God’s sake let’s prove himwn®
Woodrow W. Coppedge
Class of
Editor's note:Articles in The BaM
are objective reports of events a® 1 !
not reflect opinion. A report of an? 1
does not necessarily constitute an
dorsement of the event or theft
that sponsored the event.
Liberal bias in article
Editor:
Once again The Battalion has ig
nored the views of the wide majority of
Texas A&M students.
I’m referring to Thursday’s front
page coverage of “Political Awareness
Day.” Except for a brief mention of
Democratic Presidential candidate, Lyn
don H. LaRouche, the entire article was
devoted to free publicity for repugnant
liberal causes.
Slouch
by Jim Earle
“I admit it’s a lot of trouble, but I always
know where my bike is!”