The Battalion
OPINION 2
Wednesday, March 1, 1989
Censorship not the answer
to unfavorable publicity
A book is considered a threat to the
values of a certain segment of society. A
person (or people) in a high position call
for it to be censored. The book is
banned and removed.
Is this the story of Salman Rushdie
and the “Satanic Verses”? Possibly, but it
also could be the scene at dozens of
counties around the United States of
America.
In this decade, many school boards
have banned books that they’ve deemed
unfit for students to read. A Minnesota
school board censored four books from
its libraries, including “Are You There,
God?” by Judy Blume. A New York
school board removed 11 books from
their libraries, including “The Naked
Ape” by Desmond Morris, “Slaughter-
house-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., and
“Black Boy” by Richard Wright.
In one of the most severe cases of
American censorship, the state of Ala
bama ordered 45 textbooks pulled from
the shelves after a federal judge de
clared the books promoted “secular hu
manism.” It’s ironic that some of the
same people who are condemning the
Ayatollah Khomeini for censorship are
guilty of it themselves.
Khomeini has no right to condemn a
man to death for something he’s writ
ten. And school boards have little if no
right to censor what school children
have access to. The book made some
Muslims take a look at their beliefs and
practices and re-evaluate them. The re
action to the book should make us re
evaluate ours.
I was recently talking politics with a
friend of mine, Mark Bonnen, when the
discussion turned to the subject of Sal
man Rushdie and his book “Satanic Ver
ses.”
Jr
Timm
Doolen
Columnist
I said that I thought the situation was
awful. Terrorists are effectively censor
ing a book world-wide.
Mark sharply disagreed and said that,
although at least one man’s life is se
riously threatened, the underlying mes
sage is a positive one.
I wondered what could possibly be
positive about Iranian terrorists threat
ening to take a man’s life because of
something he wrote?
Mark thought the situation was a sign
that “literature is still alive as a form of
expression.” It’s been a long time since a
piece of literature has brought out such
emotions throughout the world. It’s am
azing that in 1989, one novel can create
so much controversy that Salman Rush
die is now almost a household name.
If the Muslims who are offended by
the book truly have faith in their reli
gion, why do they consider a mere book
a threat to their religion?
Some Muslims claim the book is blas
phemous and sacrilegious to the Islamic
religion. So what? If those Muslims can’t
take some constructive criticism, then
they should re-examine their beliefs,
not threaten a man with execution. The
excerpts of the book that I have read are
very critical of the Islamic religion. But
the offended Muslims should boycott
and denounce the book if they feel nec
essary, not call for the author’s assassi
nation.
Out of a sense of fairness it should be
noted that many Muslims deplored the
call for assassination, including Naguib
Mahfouz, the first Arab to win the No
bel Prize in Literature. It is the Muslims
who side with Khomeini that I take odds
with.
Last year “The Last Temptation of
Christ” was boycotted in numerous cit
ies around the nation. Though I didn’t
agree with the boycotters’ statement,
their methods were far superior to the
ones currently employed by the ayatol
lah.
With “Satanic Verses” as well as “The
Last Temptation of Christ,” the actions
of the protesters brought more atten
tion to the issue than the book or film it
self. In both cases the extent of the pro
test helped not only to increase the sales
of the film or book, but also to discredit
the cause of the protesters. By using a
death threat, Khomeini discredited
himself and his followers far worse than
the the book could have discredited
them.
Due to the actions of some Iranian
Muslims, Salman Rushdie gained in
stant fame, at a price. The hopes and as
pirations of many young writers now
are to get a book or written work
banned by somebody. The whole com
motion lias prompted me to begin writ
ing a new book.
It's called “Khomeini Sucks Eggs.”
Timm Doolen is a sophomore com
puter science major and a columnist
for The Battalion.
Congress continues abusing
cabinet confirmation powers
When I look back on the history of
this great nation, I wonder where we
would be without the two unifiers that
tie all Americans together — greed and
lust for power.
The U.S. Congress has shown all
these things in recent years. (And you
thought your congressman was some
untouchable pillar of strength you
couldn’t come near.) Hey, these guys
are just like you and me — cheap and
power hungry, but they get free postage
and plane trips. So what’s their deal with
acting like they’re such good guys?
Remember just about a month ago
when they were trying their hardest to
pass a pay raise for themselves, but then
had to back away from it because it
made them look really greedy?
If everybody had the chance to raise
their pay by a simple vote, I think there
would be several companies operating
in the red.
Like you wouldn’t vote for it in the
name of the financial stability of your
employer. Give me a break. These guys
are out for the buck, just like we are.
Now the confirmation committee in
the Senate voted against recommending
former Sen. John Tower for Secretary
of Defense. What’s the big deal? So he
boozes it up a little bit. So he digs the
babes. I wonder how many Congress
men do the same thing every weekend.
What do these guys want — a pre-
Steve
Masters
Senior Staff Writer
acher or somebody? I’d much rather
take my chances with Tower. At least he
admits he’s a goof.
I don’t see any ring on his finger. Let
him come and go as he pleases. The
question shouldn’t be, “Is this guy a
moral sleaze?” The question should be,
“Can he do his job?” Besides, Tower ba
sically has the defense industry in his
back pocket, so I would think he would
be perfect man for the job.
Now he’s been hounded into making
the statement that if approved he will
never take a drink while he holds that
job. Sounds remotely like the statement
Gary Hart made confidently to report
ers: “Go ahead and follow me around.
You’ll be bored.” Let’s see some of those
whining Congressmen make the same
pledge about drinking.
Are we saying we actually expect our
government to be responsible? Come
on! I think a guy coming off a three-day
drunk w'ould remember more of what
he did than Reagan remembered about
any three days.
I think this problem lies in the atti
tude of the Congress. It goes back a little
further than the Tower confirmation
though. It all started in Fall 1986 with
attempted confirmation of Robert Bork.
The Senate kicked him out before he
could get in the door, and they suddenly
realized they had been wasting this valu
able power they’ve had.
After Bork was history, Reagan nomi
nated some ex-hippie named Douglas
Ginsburg. He didn’t even come before a
vote because somebody found out (OH
MY GOD!) he smoked pot in college.
Think about it. This guy went to col
lege in the ‘60s. How could he NOT
smoke pot in college? A better question
would be what drugs didn’t he do? I’d
worry more about him having an Angel
Dust flashback than him being a stoner.
This secret power slowly became ap
parent to the state congresses. They
found it recently when they whined and
complained about appointments to the
Board of Regents of the state’s two larg
est schools. Gov. Bill Clements’ nomi
nations to the University of Texas
Board was heavily criticized for not in
cluding any members of a minority
group.
This criticism caused one candidate
to withdraw his name, and Clements
nominated a minority in his place. Simi
lar criticism was hinted at if he didn’t
pick a member of a minority group for
the A&M Board. Clements picked a His
panic, Raul Fernandez, and people
complained that he wasn’t the right mi
nority.
Get real, people. The confirmation
power of the Seriate was designed to
Mail Call
Greeks support A&M
EDITOR:
On Feb. 21,1 attended an A&M women’s basketball game. 1 was there at
the request of Alpha Delta Pi, whose members asked me to announce the
winners of a banner contest and attend the opening roll call as part of their
Playday activities.
Although I had worked all day, I felt it was important to attend because
of my position as adviser to the Texas A&M Interfraternity Council.
After I announced the winners, some of the Greek students began to
leave the stands. Here is where ugliness reared its head. No, I’m not talking
about the fraternities leaving. I’m talking about the woman in the stands who
provided me with this comment: “Next time, tell your kiddie-troopers to stay
for the whole game!”
Dear “concerned” lady:
Thank you for your feedback — but no thank you. I am proud that these
Greek students attended at least half of the game.
Yes, many left at halftime. But is this not an institution of higher
education? Lord forbid they chose to attend half a game and then went to
study. I guess they should not have attended at all, huh?
Members of the Interf raternity Council are making concerted ef forts to
better our organizations, create better members of society, and to be good
Ags. We have problems, but we are going to meet them head-on. We are even
going to deal with societal issues such as sexism, racism, alcoholism, drug
abuse, and even AIDS.
As for our place at A&M, well, we are here to stay. We even promise to
accept “constructive” f eedback such as yours.
Maybe it is time we start to offer fraternities and sororities reconciliation
— a reconciliation that will make Texas A&M a better place to be.
As for me being the Greek adviser here at Texas A&M — well, I offer you
no apologies.
Charles Goodman
Adviser for Texas A&M Interfraternity Council
English amendment bad idea
EDITOR:
Once again Timm Doolen has taken pen in hand and boldly ventured
forth into the land of ideological intransigence and woef ul ignorance.
Leading his “reasonable” straw' man down the slippery slope of logic, he
“reasonably” concludes that a Constitutional amendment is needed to save
the Republic from the ravages of kowtowing to the Hispanic hordes. Stating
that “official English merely means that the acts and duties of government
will be carried out in English, except for special circumstances,” he proposes
to ban the use of bilingual ballots and education in the current special
circumstances in the southwestern states. His contention that bilingual ballots
w ill lead to a l ower of Babel in the voting booths is as absurd as his notion
that government officials will all be forced to learn Spanish (and theref ore by
his logic French, Swahili, etc.).
He also thinks that the “Texas heritage is inseparably entrenched in the
English language” in this country filled with “Anglo culture.'’
I’m sure the few people in this count ry of German, African, Hispanic, or
Russian ancestry w ill thank Timm for correcting their misconceptions by
pointing out their true English heritage.
The six remaining Indians will no doubt thank him, too.
Perhaps Timm could do something usef ul, like teach English, rather than
trying to deny people voting and education because they are not enough like
him.
Steven Baum
Department of Oceanography
The show’s on me
EDITOR:
This is in response to Clay Salisbury’s Feb. 23 letter concerning the fine
arts.
Mr. Salisbury, when I read your letter, I wasn’t sure if I .was more angry
or embarrassed for your gross display of ignorance. How many plays have
you seen in your life?
How much literature have you studied?
Your simple-minded attitude about the arts is the very thing that Texas
A&M is trying to overcome.
If you find your wife and the Dixie Chicken to be examples of fine art,
that’s fine. Just don’t thrust your ignorance upon the rest of us.
This weekend the Aggie Players’ production of Hedda Gabler opens in
Rudder Forum. I will leave a complementary pair of tickets at the box of fice
so that you and your “work of art” may attend. With any luck, seeing a classic
of modern literature on stage will help pry open your mind.
We have framed your letter and hung it in the theater arts office so that
future theater arts majors will see what we have had to overcome.
David Roberto ’92
Accompanied by seven signatures
Letters to the editor should not exceed 30U tuords in length. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit letters
for style and length, but will make every effort to maintain the author’s intent. Each letter must be signed and
must include the classif ication, address and telephone number of the writer.
prevent the president from picking
somebody who couldn’t do the job he
was picked to do. It was not created to
allow the Senate to pick the candidates.
If you want to pick the candidates for an
appointed office, run for president or
governor. Otherwise, it’s not your job.
The Senate has taken this “holier
than thou” attitude one time too many.
Half of them probably have some pretty
damning skeletons in their own closets.
I’d like to see any of them make the
vow that they won’t take a drink while
they hold their job.
Maybe we should start requiring all
congressmen to be confirmed by the
president before they can take office. 1
wonder how long it wotdd take before
that right would be abused.
Steve Masters is a senior journalism
major and a senior staff writer for The
Battalion.
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BLOOM COUNTY by Berke Breathed