i
2 Opinion
Thursday, January 24, 1991
The Battalion
Opinion Page Editor Jennifer Jeffus 845-3314
Campus liberals push
to ensure conformity
S
en. Joe McCarthy would
be proud. A generation after the
politically motivated blacklists and
censorship of the 1950s, a new group
— campus leftists — is adopting his
age-old tactics.
According to the Dec. 24 Newsweek,
the new vogue on campuses
nationwide is neo-McCarthy
proclamations of "politically correct"
speech. At all costs you must avoid
speech which might offend
homosexuals, women, African
Americans, Asians and Hispanics.
Accompanying this movement is an
attempt to purge "Eurocentric"
influences from campuses — the
writings of "dead white males."
The oan covers not only blatant
attacks, but anything vaguely
resembling criticism of a protected
group. The University of Connecticut,
for example, outlaws "inappropriately
directed laughter" and "conspicuous
exclusion ofstudents from
conversation."
When someone proposed an alcohol-
free All-American Halloween Party at
Madison last fall, the majority faction
in the student senate rose up in protest:
masked students might take advantage
of their anonymity to inflict "poking,
pinching, rude comments" and other
oppressions on minorities and women.
Last spring, students at Mt. Holyoke
responded to the campus
Lesbian/Bisexual Awareness Week by
staginga Heterosexual Awareness
Week. They promptly were chided by
the college president for "violating the
spirit of community."
Politically correct terminology
applies to almost every encounter one
might make on a college campus. A
Smith College handout lists 10 different
kinds of oppression that can be
inflicted by making judgments about
people.
These include "heterosexism —
oppression of those of sexual
orientations other than heterosexual ..,
this can take place by not
acknowledging their existence;"
"ageism-oppression of the young and
old by young adults and the middle
aged;" and ctbleism-oppression of the
differently abled by the temporarily
abled."
We also must avoid oppressing
unattractive people through "looldsm"
and avoid making judgments about the
superiority of the human life form
through "speciesism." I dearly wish I
was making this up. There is even a
movement afoot at Sarah Lawrence
and a few other politically correct
institutions to change the spelling of
the non-male gender to "womym
(without the "men").
These politically correct campus
reclamations are demonstrative of the
engths to which liberals will go in the
name of the elimination of prejudice.
They are of the opinion that tolerance
of people of different orientations must
Fe
,1 m
Larry
Cox
Columnist
■a:;
be imposed rather than taught, even at
the expense of the Constitutional right
to free speech.
Interaction among students is really
a secondary target of campus speech
police. The primary bull's eye is on
Western society's dominance in the
classroom — especially the "dead
white males" alluded to earlier.
Politically correct curriculum made
an appearance in a big way last year at
the University of Texas at Austin.
Instructors in a freshman composition
course previously had been free to
assign readings on a number of topics.
From now on, readings will come from
a text called "Racism and Sexism: An
Integrated Study," a collection of
politically correct thought.
Politically correct opinions come
from Marx, Farrakhan and others of
their ilk while Shakespeare, Plato and
Jefferson are reviled as racists and
sexists.
Minimizing the contribution which
Western writers and thinkers made to
our civilization is a critical mistake, just
as the imposition of a set of speech
standards on a generation of college
students is a critical intrusion into the
university environment.
Marx — whose name is in the title of
about one of seven books in the
political science department —
according to Duke professor James
Barber, was not the classless idealist
which he is made out to be by
American liberals.
Marx said of his one-eighth black
son-in-law running for office in a
section of Paris that housed the Paris
Zoo: "Being in his quality as a 'nigger,'
a degree closer to the animal kingdom
than the rest of us, he is undoubtedly
the most appropriate representative of
that district." Of Jews, Marx said the
Exodus was "expulsion of leper people
from Egypt."
If Marx is politically correct, so too
should Hitler be. Both should be
studied because of their impact on the
world, but asserting the primacy of
such writers over the teachings of men
such as Locke and Jefferson is
ridiculous.
Jefferson once said, "Error of opinion
may be tolerated where reason is left
free to combat it." Pretty smart for a
dead white man. Too bad this view is
quickly falling from grace on American
college campuses. Let us hope it
doesn't spread to our own little corner
of the world.
Larry Cox is a graduate student in
range science.
The Battalion
(USPS 045 360)
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Southwest Journalism Conference
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Kristin North,
Life Style Editor
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MAftOlieS
©ffil THE FTCOPU
Fighting for freedom
EDITOR:
I am writing in response to Brian Sullivan's article from
Jan. 18. First, let me explain something to you: until the U.S.
Congress enacts a draft, it is not the responsibility of stu
dents to drop out of college to fight. That is why the United
States of America has professional soldiers in regular and
reserve forces.
I was not one of the conservatives at the rally you wrote
of in your article, but I wish I was. If Congress starts the
draft I will leave school and go where my country needs me.
I don't have to explain my actions or beliefs, but I will.
When the United States goes to war to liberate a nation
which has been taken over by a tyrannical dictator, we are
fighting for freedom. Does anybody remember Mr. Hitler
taking over Poland? Oh, that was a long time ago? When we
fight for freedom, we are fighting to protect things such as
freedom of speech.
I did not agree with any of Sullivan's comments, but I
am willing to give my life so he can be free to say them. So
Brian, if the draft is reinstated — do me a favor. You and
your radical friends send me some postcards from Canada. I
will be fighting for your freedom.
Scott A. Finfer '91
Protesters feel called to act
EDITOR:
Regarding Matt McBurnett's diatribe against war protes
ters in the Jan. 22 edition of The Battalion, this learned
scholar might be correct when he states that such protests
will have no effect on the "reality" of war.
However, to say the protesters are only doing it for self-
righteous self-promotion is ignorant. These people know
that to live consistently with their admittedly idealistic no
tions of conscience and morality, they must take action. Not
to do so would be hypocrisy.
Has McBurnett ever taken a philosophy or ethics class or
read any literature? This was the genius who only had the
mental capacity to learn about ("oh, it's so hard") electrical
engineering (December editorial), not about life.
Michael Biek
graduate student
No one knows the answer
EDITOR:
I would like to comment on an article entitled "Activists
use protests for personal reasons," in the Jan. 22 edition of
The Battalion. In this column, the writer derided war pro
testers as being ridiculously unrealistic and having ulterior
motives for participating in rallies (i.e., they just want to be
seen). It is not my intention to contest these assumptions,
nor will I support them. What I would like to address is his
reaction.
Recent events in the Persian Gulf have forced many of us
to reconsider our positions. War suddenly has become very
real, and no one wants to see people needlessly killed.
Some believe it is a necessary sacrifice, while others
(e.g., protesters) see it as a waste of human life. We cannot
decide absolutely who is right — there are far too many
questions for that. But we can try to understand one an
other. We can ask questions, openly discuss and empathize
with one another. No one took their position in this crisis
haphazardly. These are very difficult, and often very pain
ful decisions, and they should not be ridiculed. We can do
better than that.
Kory Spencer Sorrell '94
Overstepping boundaries
EDITOR:
On Jan. 21, a distasteful comic strip appeared in The Bat
talion. In the strip, "the itch," by Nito, a young girl was de
picted inquiring her mother of the possf&ility of six-year-old
girls becoming pregnant. The child later is shown rejoicing
at the news that they can't.
The next day, Jan. 22, Nito had the following to offer in
his offensive strip: The same little girl was seen walking into
her parents' bedroom only to find her father lying on his
stomach with a naked woman kneeling beside him on the
bed. Not only was the woman (obviously not the child's
mother) holding a whip, she wore a swastika band on her
leg!
I realize The Battalion is an open forum for all students'
expressions and opinions; and I am not a mega-conservative
prude, nor do I promote censorship. However, when the
boundaries of good taste and decorum are overstepped,
someone must be compelled to speak out.
I was not amused after reading the two comic strips. In
fact, it pierced my heart to see serious subjects reflected in
such an obnoxious and disgusting manner. Child sexuality
and extra-marital and/or violent sex are not laughing mat
ters, but very real problems.
This cartoonist has made it bluntly clear that he has no
respect for people, particularly females, regarding sexual
topics. On my part, I am astonished that The Battalion
would stoop so low as to print this "trash" that belongs in
Playboy. But must we be subjected to this individual's sick,
twisted humor? I fail to understand Nito's humor or inten
tions with this material. But I don't care to comprehend it,
either. The question Tpose is this: Will we be opening this
publication in fear of being bombarded with one person's
gross interpretation of "funny"?
Misty Avila '94
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