Page 2/The Battalion/Wednesday, December 2, 1987
The Battalion
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Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
The Battalion Editorial Board
Sondra Pickard, Editor
John Jarvis, Managing Editor
Sue Krenek, Opinion Page Editor
Rodney Rather, City Editor
Robbyn Lister, News Editor
Loyd Brumfield, Sports Editor
Tracy Staton, Photo Editor
ea
Editorial Policy
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tion.
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of Texas A&M administrators, faculty or the Board of Regents.
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ment of Journalism.
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Pettiness prevails
The forces of paranoia have prevailed: Mikhail Gorbachev’s
invitation to address a joint session of Congress has been with
drawn.
The elected officials who declared the Soviet leader didn’t
merit the honor of speaking to Congress can sleep well, but per
haps their dreams will be marred by the realization that they
have ignored one of the principles of the Constitution they claim
to uphold.
Part of our national heritage is the belief that everyone is en
titled to have and express his opinion even if that opinion meets
with the disfavor of the majority. This is reflected in the First
Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of
speech. Although the Bill of Rights applies only to American cit
izens, it is based on beliefs about the rights of all people. U.S. of
ficials have trampled on these rights by withdrawing the invita
tion because they don’t agree with Gorbachev’s ideology.
Too many Americans are quick to extend First Amendment
protection to opinions they agree with, without realizing that the
First Amendment extends protection to unpopular opinions as
well. When our elected officials behave like petty children hold
ing a members-only party, the only reinforce that attitude.
— The Battalion Editorial Board
Chicago mayor was
his own worst enemy
Within minutes
after Mayor Har
old Washington
collapsed at his
desk in Chicago’s
City Hall, I
phoned the may
or’s former per
sonal physician,
who also happens
to be my doctor.
Even before I
asked one ques
tion, hg, flatly said: “He’s dead.”
He briefly explained in medical terms
why it was certain the mayor was already
dead, although a hospital team would
work frantically for two hours before
the mayor’s death was acknowledged
and announced.
Then this doctor’s Usually calm voice
turned angry.
The anger was because he had once
been more than the mayor’s physician.
They had been friends for a long time,
political allies for awhile.
And he was angry because the mayor,
for a bright man, had been treating
himself like a fool.
“I tried to get him in here,” the doc
tor said. “We’d set up an appointment
for a checkup, then one of his body
guards would call and say that some
thing had come up and he couldn’t
make it.
“So we’d reschedule. I’d set every
thing up so we could do tests and he
could be in and out in the briefest time.
But it would happen again. They’d call
and say he can’t make it. This went on
for months.
“Fat? That’s not the word. He’d be
come massive. He gained at least 50 or
60 pounds since he took office. He ate
junk food. And when he ordered some
thing to eat, it was double everything.
And he seldom had enough rest.”
Every deadly sign had been there in
previous checkups. Blood pressure, a
disaster. Cholesterol, a disaster. On
again, off again, and on again with the
cigarettes.
“He wouldn’t even take the medica
tion I wanted to prescribe for him,” the
doctor said.
But why does someone, when they
know that they’re flirting with death, ig
nore the obvious signs and the obvious
precautions?
“I don’t know. Sometimes I think it’s
because he wanted to be in control — it’s
as if he didn’t want to surrender control
to me.”
So Harold Washington, at 65, died in
much the way that he lived. On the one
hand, brilliant and hard-driving. On the
other, careless and indifferent.
He had the brains and ambition to
overcome being a black man in a time of
black subjation in this country, and to
become a lawyer, a state legislator and a
congressman.
And when social change and more
than a bit of luck thrust him from obscu
rity into the role of leader of the blacks
in Chicago, he had the drive and politi
cal savvy to rise to the challenge and be
elected mayor. And to be re-elected.
Yet, there was this other, puzzling,
self-destructive side to his nature.
When he first ran for mayor, much
was made of his past violations of tax
laws and a brief time he spent in jail for
failing to file returns for several years.
There were some who saw this as evi
dence that he was a crook with his hand
in the public till. But that wasn’t what
the tax violations were about. They were
about carelessness, indifference. He
didn’t fail to pay taxes. The taxes had al
ready been deducted from his pay-
checks. It was even possible that he
might have been entitled to a return if
he had taken the trouble to itemize and
file.
But he didn’t bother. He never ex
plained why. But it was as if he didn’t
want to be bothered by what he consid
ered trifling details.
It was much the same when he tem
porarily lost his law license for failing to
perform legal work for clients. These
were trivial cases, representing small
sums of money. It was never suggested
that he did it for profit. Instead, it was
his tendency to neglect details, to walk
away from the cluttered desk.
In both these legal matters, the real
victim was Washington himself. For lack
‘of attention to minor matters, he
brought big troubles on himself.
I doubt if we’ll ever know why there
were such sharp contrasts in the mayor’s
personality. Despite being a gregarious
public figure, he was a very private per
son. A bachelor most of his life, he had
many political associates but few close
friends. And those few friends aren’t in
clined to say much.
But it’s obvious that there were two
Harold Washingtons. One, a man with
the intellect and organizational skills to
rise to great political heights and power.
The other, a man who couldn’t or
wouldn’t fill out a simple tax form and
drop it in the mailbox.
A man who could boast that he in
tended to live long enough to be mayor
of Chicago for another 20 years. And
then tell his driver to stop at a fast food
stand so he could wolf down a couple of
greasy hamburgers that would make a
doctor cringe.
So I suppose that all we really know
about Harold Washington is that he was
human. And ever since humans got up
on their hind legs, they’ve been their
own worst enemies.
Copyright 1987, Tribune Media Services, Inc.
Opinion
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Students must try to escape
the horrifying ‘herd instinct
appa C
uncil,
&
taut cai
The herd in
stinct. It’s been
bothering me for
quite some time
now. I see it lurk
ing in every cor
ner, behind every
door of each room
Tracy
Staton
Guest Columnist
of every building on this campus. But I
wasn’t sure anyone else noticed it — un
til I went to the R.E.M. concert in G.
Rollie White Coliseum.
Serious thought had been banished to
the back of my mind for the first time in
weeks. Then Michael Stipe, the band’s
lead singer, started grinding the gears
in my brain. When one of his comments
received the traditional Aggie hiss, Stipe
was not impressed.
“For all of you who just made hissing
noises with your mouths, your assign
ment for the weekend is to look up
‘herd politics’ because that’s what you
just participated in,” Stipe said. Surpris
ingly, everyone clapped.
Did people clap because they know
what “herd politics” means and agree
with Stipe? Or did they applaud because
the person next to them did because the
person next to THEM did (and so on
and so on)? I couldn’t decide.
When I allowed serious thought to
reign o’er-me again, I realized the same
type of random applause occurred at
the Dukakis teleconference on Nov. 15.
The audience of about 800 people
clapped most profusely for two of the
candidate’s opinions: no Star Wars and
no Contra aid. Wow. I never expected
THAT from “conservative” Aggies.
So, the question again: Did people
clap because they oppose Star Wars and
Contra aid? Do they know what Star
Wars is? Do they know where Nicaragua
is? Or did they applaud because the per
son next to them did because the person
next to THEM did (and so on and so
on)? Hmmm.
Well, let’s give these people the bene
fit of the doubt. If they clapped because
they agreed with Dukakis, there are
some closet liberals — or at least semi
liberals — at A&M. Why haven’t we
heard from them before? My theory is
that the people who don’t conform
don’t speak out because they don’t want
to rock the slow-but-steady conservative
boat.
What about the audience at R.E.M.?
Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt,
too. If they agreed with Stipe, they have
obviously noticed this evil Presence. So
it’s time to come out of the closet with
my crusade to rid the world of gratu
itous conformism — starting with 1 exas
A&M.
Realistically speaking, the crusade
against the herd instinct has been strug
gling in the face of overwhelming odds
for several centuries. Whatever you call
it — herd politics, the herd instinct,
herd mentality, conformism, the band
wagon phenomenon — it’s been around
since tribal warfare.
In 1859, John Stuart Mill’s “On Lib
erty” castigated English society for
blindly adhering to custom. He did not
oppose custom in itself; he said “an in
telligent following of custom, or even
occasionally an intelligent deviation
from custom, is better than blind and
simply mechanical adhesion to it.”
Let this be a lesson to the tradition-
mongers who scream “it’s a tradition!”
each time one of their sacred rituals is
even questioned. Tradition has its place.
But doing something just to follow cus
tom, without thinking about possible
consequences, is not just blind — it’s stu
pid.
It’s difficult to make an independent
decision, especially one that may conflict
with the majority. It’s much easier to go
along with the crowd. As Mill says, “He
who lets the world, or his own portion of
it, choose his plan of life for him has no
need of any other faculty than the ape
like one of imitation. He who chooses
his plan for himself employs all his fac
ulties.”
Take voting. It’s time-consuming to
gather the information required to
make an informed decision. It’s much
easier to say “Well, Suzi likes George
Bush, and my dad’s a Republican, so I’ll
vote for him” or “Paul Simon has a cute
bow tie — let’s vote for him.”
But, as Mill says later, “But what will
be his comparative worth as a human
being?” What is the value of a person
who acts a certain way or does certain
things just because his best friend or
girlfriend or boss or parents or favorite
movie star does?
And for those people who make it
difficult for others to admit that YES,
they oppose Star Wars or NO, they
don’t like Madonna — Mill has even
more advice.
“The general average of mankind are
not only moderate in intellect, but also
moderate in inclinations: they have no
tastes or wishes strong enough to incline
them to do anything unusual, and they
consequently do not understand those
who have, and class all such with the
wild and intemperate whom they are
accustomed to look down upon,
says
In other words, the average perse lcom j n j
“Fish (
the
elps thi
class,
ito the;
doesn’t have enough intelligence tot
eccentric, and if they do, they thinkii i
too much trouble. And those peopl ,&M,”
who break through the barrier of mot amp w
erate intellect and inclination receit
only ridicule for their trouble.
If this sounds vaguely like somethii
Galileo experienced, it’s because he
He endured the teasing of his fellowst
entists because he believed the
was not the center of the universe. Wk
about the Wright brothers? If they In
listened to their friends, we
have the convenience of traveling cross
country in just a few hours.
I read “On Liberty” this sum®
about the same time the Iran-Conti
hearings started. Since the hearinj
were televised, I had the opportunity!
watching present-day citizens use the
“ape-like faculties.” People formt
opinions after watching a half-hour
the hearings. Others quickly
the views of friends who watched il
hearings between classes in Blocker
Very few people truly understot
what the hearings were about. Si
fewer religiously watched the hearint
But by the time they were over, t®
thought they were experts on the 1®
Contra affair.
It was bad enough when the
North for president” T-shirts
onto the market. But when I sav
woman on CNN say “But he looks
cute in his uniform!” I couldn’t takeai
more. I turned off the television
went back to reading my English assign
ment.
Respect for others’ opinions is in
tant — if the opinion is carefully
ceived and rooted in fact. If someo®
spouts an opinion with nothing
something they read on a cereal bosi
substantiate it, their view does not
serve respect.
And if an informed opinion devia 11
from the norm, it deserves seriousc 01
sideration. It does not deserve inst® 1
dismissal to Goonville.
It’s time for us to stop playing folio’
the-leader. Take a look around. If
honestly agree with the status quo.doi
think it’s a crime to conform. Butif) (
don’t agree, don’t be afraid to speak up
Someone, somewhere will be cla|
ping for you. And not just becausetl
person next to them did.
Tracy Staton is a senior journalism! 1
jor, photo editor and staff writer! 1
The Battalion.
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