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Monday, February 19, 1973
University Daily Kansan
KANSAN comment
Editorials, columns and letters published on this page reflect only the opinions of the writers.
Honor at Home
North Vietnam is a chewed up country. The Nixon administration has suggested that we give economic aid to the North Vietnamese to help them rebuild, to keep them busy and ostensibly to lessen their desire to move south. Secretary of State Rogers recently referred to such aid as "a means of enforcing the peace." His metaphor, I'm afraid, should have been Scotch Tape, but that is not my main point of contention.
Our effort to welcome the Communists back into the fold may be fine and good (although I thought we were having trouble financing our own domestic rehabilitation), but if the government can forgive our recent enemies with such speed and relish, it's a shame that Nixon cannot find it in his heart to grant amnesty to those Americans who could not find it in their hearts to fight.
The administration's quickness to offer aid to North Vietnam seems to be an effort to hide and forget something. Therein lies an inherent
admission that America made a mistake in Vietnam, a mistake that merits immediate attention. But covering the gashes in Vietnam will not bind him or her to decisions he made. An ocean of aid will not wipe the blood from our hands.
If the administration is admitting, to itself if no one else, that the war was a mistake, why must draft dodgers and deserters be punished for having reached the same conclusion years in advance? American civilians in Vietnam will kill civilians by forgiving those who morally opposed the war, then that sacrifice was worthless to begin with.
Dissent is the American Way. This country's greatness lies in its citizens' freedom, not in its military prowess. Patriotism entails more than waving a flag or playing follow the leader.
We didn't win the war in Vietnam. We don't have peace. Whether or not we redeem our honor is still up to President Nixon.
Linda Schild
"WHAT? GIVE DRAFT DODGERS A BREAK?"
Hippies' Impact Outlasts '60s
By BARBARA SPURLOCK
Kongen Editorial Writer
Four years ago as a freshman, I used to have to cross through what was known as hippie haven to reach the campus. I would cautiously and curiously make my way through downtown houses. Now that the University has bought many lots on Oread Street, hippie haven will soon be just a memory. The street brings back another memory.
It was summer, 1966. I was only 14, standing straight in my new pale blue cullets. It was a time when I thought being cool was having legs that were tan like my feet. My parents were tall, was a time when a family vacation to San Francisco meant going to look at the Golden Gate Bridge and ride on cable cars. It was a time when I heard a song I listened to while I brushed my hair, and imagined an old lady's hat with an artificial petunia sticking out of it.
My family and I were walking, up and down the hills on sidewalks that lined wide streets. We walked around traffic amid famous landmarks. It was a foggy Sunday morning, but certainly not a still day in daily clothes, our San Francisco clothes,
We turned a corner on to a more narrow street. My ears picked up paint strains of guitar music and rhythmic rumbling of drums. (My ears were tuned to AM radio music after three full years)
It all was there that summer, there with my family in San Francisco. Cable cars were, as people had always told me, climbing up and down the roller-coaster tracks to watch the cars an hour after anthill. After the cable cars was fun, but that, in summer of 1966, didn't seem to fit the entire mood of San Francisco. There was another spirit, besides the gaiety and beauty of the artistic city—a spirit that seemed to be an inspiration for the grain it seemed to go against the grain of San Francisco and what it stood for.
of listening day and night to the beat coming from the box of music in my room at home). My eyes caught sight of a large group of people about a block down the street, in the middle of an inn. A crowd appeared as one giant creature to join with an unfaltering sense of rhythm to an unending sound of sounds.
As we came inside the curtain of sounds I could see people as separate creatures, apart from the large one they formed. They were hairy, almost like beasts, and they moved their arms and legs to the music as I'd never seen anyone do before. There were strange flowers in their hair. And the thing I just understood was the bizarre expression of joy on each creature's face.
I looked up. High on a platform in the middle of the crowd were four of them playing guitars and drums. I could not recognize the song. It did not matter.
Frightened, but sucked in by the crowd's magnetic force, I let myself be moved.
"Do you wanna dance?" I heard a
vice ask. It belonged to a tall boarded
motorcycle racer in New York.
"No, thank you," I said and decided it was time to get out of there. As I made my way out of the crowd, I noticed the intersection - Height and Ashbury.
Hight-Ashbury, explained Walter Cronkite. The scene of the newest thing with the youth, the '60s answer to the beatnuts. Cronkite and just about everyone else were calling them "hippies." He had stumbed (with my rather astonishing laugh) in with a team that had wanted to overturn the world with flowers, peace and love.
America was more affluent than ever before, and with this affluence came an even greater pressure for more affluence, a pressure on every individual to succeed. Status was often measured by being a person lived in the car he drove.
They didn't overturn the world, but they did shake it up a little. The world of the '80s in America could be described as an era of technical mastery. Science had stepped in for man in more places than ever. Life was moving fast.
On the surface, it was this "materialistic" climate that the hippies sought to change. The hippies explained their cult as a move toward simple and pure living with respect for their fellow members in the culture, signs read, in making love, not war. The war they partially referred to was, of course, the seemingly endless one in Vietnam, the embodiment, to the hippies, of unjustified hate and killing. In the large sense, war to them meant the war against losing their individuality and humanness to the all-encompassing arms of technology.
The hippies proclaimed their freedom by disengaging themselves from the bonds of society—steady jobs, paycheckes, family life, cars, fashion and drug addiction. Their dental of the American work shocked and frustrated many people. They don't want to work, but they expect people to give them money, some outraged Americans said. But it was perhaps their doing away with things, ignoring the hatred, that caused the fear and hatred that many people developed for them.
The hippies seemed to begin as a small group of young men and women who lived around Haight and Ashbury. In an attempt to free themselves from the rigors of society, they made symbolic gestures such as refusing to cut their hair or shave. Like many groups, they were bell-bottomed blue jeans. They were bell-bottomed blue jeans. They were all intellectuals, nor were they uneducated slobs. They did not all become rebellious because of overly affluent backgrounds, nor were they all poverty-stricken
children still seeking handouts. They had one desire in common, the desire to protest. This group complaint about the violence was a hot topic that was to be adapted all over America.
Whatever the hippies originally stood for, their way of life became a great instruction for many young Americans who were often failed in what they'd attempted. The message of the hippies was sweet and sincere—they openly worshiped two kinds of people. They gave way to paganism when new gods such as free sex and drugs entered the scene. The influence of these two types of experiences certainly attracted many hippies, but not many answered any hope of serious consideration for the hippies by the American public.
"Hipple" no longer was a person living free from society. It was a person who had long dirty hair, practiced free sex and was taken drugs. Unfortunately, the person could include in this kind of existence. The original well-meaning hippies, who wanted an honest peace and love, no longer had any meaning. Their theme of peace and non-violence disintegrated with time. A woman who loved came to mean only uninhibited sex.
The hippies, although not a cult today, are still with America. After the hippies came the Yippies and zippies, whose main impact has been to confuse newsmen who tried to discern between them. There are factions today that maintain the right-to-culture—the worship of love and peace, free sex, drugs, or rebellion against society. Bell-bottoms are still here. Some women don't wear bras.
Even so, the conscience of America that was pricked in the 1960s still is sensitive in the 1970s. As a permanent group, the hippies may have failed. But they must also make some people in this country think about, if not change, their ways of life.
Jack Anderson
Readers Respond
Nixon Seeks Neutral North
WASHINGTON — Despite warnings that the leopard-spot truce in South Vietnam is imminent, the United States military takeover by the Communists is inevitable, President
Nixon is determined to preserve
the fragile peace he has fashioned.
He hopes to persuade Hanoi to
Abortion Debated; Expense Rued
Abortion
To The Editor:
The essential bankruptcy of the anti-abortion argument is clearly demonstrated by facile arguments presented by John, Senior, a member of the Right to Life group. Just because people are born with certain rights in a populal problem as they were doesn't mean that it is any less serious. And although the current Supreme Court rulings is certainly welcomed by those who are concerned about population problems in the United States, above all, they have been adaptioned as the preferred means of eliminating unwanted pregnancy.
Rather, abortion is used as a last resort when all methods of contraception has failed. If Senator would really like to reduce abortions in the United States, he and his organization could more profitably spend their time with women affected by pregnancy formation and materials, thus helping to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.
It is curious that while right-to-tallers are very concerned about the risk of penetration to a parasitic on the woman (with the attendant rights to her health), no mention is made of the woman's ability to identify and determine her own future.
It is interesting to note that the original purpose of laws restricting abortions was to stop the time when abortions were hazardous to women's health. The original purpose of these laws has since been perverted by modern scientific fundamentalist relations' efforts
The result of this perversion has been much unnecessary and dependent, walking, talking human beings. The recent Supreme Court decision against lawrs relied on the same facts and consistent with the facts.
Whose Health?
Jon William Robinson
Los Altos graduate student
peared in the Kansan on Feb. 8: "An abortion needed to protect the mental or physical health of the mother or child."
To The Editor:
Typical of popular nonthought on abortion, the following ap-
To The Editor:
Question, please. When has an abortion ever benefited the child? Some have, child Some. Some, no doubt, will spew for some nonsemen about a person being better off dead than alive and retarded in mind or mind
C. Bradley Wilson Wichita senior
These persons, however, suffer some of the worst afflictions of adolescence. In my knowledge none have done us the courtesy of offering to do away with themselves for the benefit of themselves and kids.
Dubious
John Credico Albany senior
To The Editor:
Reading the editorial, "Dubious Kudos," by R.E. Duncan, my friends and I were surprised to learn that a commission on the Status of Women of $83 for a model of a male pelvis. If they had contacted one of us, surely the real man he could have been had for less.
"Republic" and I had not only read all of the "Republic" but several other pieces as well. Or, there was the time that only one chapter (not even one book) from this book was read. Or had read the "Bible"—all of it. This problem arose almost weekly. Evidently I was under the false assumption that we had a good professors. Instead of reading thoroughly many of the great books of our western civilization heritage, it was deemed preferable to pick only a few and discuss it intelligently as if that part were actually a whole.
However, in PHIP I was allowed to read entire books. The discussions on each book were not restricted to any one idea but rather to the experiences wandered to others of his works, or to writers with similar or divergent ideas, or simply to any connections we made to other students of Civilization over PHIP because "no integrated view of it is presented for their (the student's) easy consumption. The book which he emerges are his own and not those of the instructor."
I find it appalling that Southard does not give the student more credit. A student's concepts will be those he decides to keep. As for those of the instructor, first principles and truths shall always remain so whether in geometry of the in history of western civilization. The course we teach these truths have always made it clear that these ideas have run throughout the course of western civilization and are most definitely not their originals.
Rhonda Nutting Mason City, Iowa, senior
More Pearson
We owe a debt of thanks to the recent "impatial observer," Jeff Southard, who cleared the air of the impassioned debits on the subject of the PIPH. By giving us the cold facts of the case, Mr. Southard elucidate the arguments. But one tends to be suspect of anyone who claims to be an "impatial observer" when he also claims to
To the Editor:
Pearson
have seen both sides of the situation.
What Southard wrongly disregards is the vibrant interchange of ideas in PHP. One rarely can find elsewhere the intellectual enthusiasm exhibited in all phases of PHP, from the intense silence in the sections to the lively small discussion groups. The vast majority of PHP students would find the "impartial" opinions of this particular critic rather inconsistent chatter.
Southard rises above petty name calling by characterizing the "dogmatic method of teaching" of PHIP as at best "a cult of personality" view is presented for "easy consumption." He believes the students should be "presented with many viewpoints" as long as the viewpoints are not those of a tarian stand, Southard claims students should "reach their own conclusions with regard to issues involved." Yet apparently the only way to achieve this is by having professors but the philosophy of the Western Civilization program.
Dan Allmayer
Shawnee Mission freshman
In Western Civilization we had the weekly assignments of a chapter or two or a few pages to read, and the assigned writer. The assignments were carefully selected so as to cohesively tell the story well as well as to burden the student with too large an assignment. Of course an obvious conflict arose weekly when I was restricted to the chapters or pages presented in the designated assigned chapter of Plato's
Footnote: The President was also pleased with Vice President Jeffrey G. Grimes' conversations with Southeast Asian leaders. Agnew came home convinced that won't be any repetition of the phrase Wai in other Asian countries.
Jeff Southard, in his editorial Feb. 14, claims to be an impartial observer for he has participated in both the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program (PIHP) and Western Civilization. Southard says he has seen "both sides of the situation" and, in a discussion with some courses, I would like to make a brief comment on the subject
The President has told associates privately that he expects Vietnam to become reunited in a few years. With this in mind, his administration will keep the reunion process political and, therefore, peaceful; (2) to gain Hanoi's trust by offering generous relief and rehabilitation aid; and (3) to encourage North Vietnam to remain independent of China, and the United States alike.
To the Editor:
accept political means to achieve the goal of reunification. In return, he is prepared to help the Vietnamese rebuild their country
Yugoslavia like North Vietnam that will become less hostile as it grows more independent. He is now leading in this theory by providing ample aid, so Hanoi won't have to be dependent upon China and
- Contrary to press speculation, the President never became disenchanted with Henry Kissinger during the agonizing last days of the peace negotiations. Kissinger handed the negotiator a message without authorization, said the President.
"The President is pleased with Bill Rogers' performance as secretary of state and won't replace him with Connally or anyone else as long as Rogers want the job. Rogers has acted as secretary of state for the White House, leaving the President and Henry Kissinger free to formulate foreign policy with a minimum of congressional interference. This is precisely smiled the President, what he asked Rogers to do. Our sources say that even if he disagrees, however, that Rogers could have the next Supreme Court appointment if he would like it.
Nixon's Private Views President Nixon has set friends straight about his views on politics and personalities. In private conversations, he has made these points;
It will be worth the cost, the President contends, if peace can be preserved in Indochina. For a renewal of the conflict and a military takeover by the Communists, he fears, would cause bitter intimidations and deep divisions among the American people.
The cornerstone of Congress, the committee system, is in need of overhaul. No problem is too large or too small to be shunted to some committee. There's even a committee on the beauty shop, a committee on restaurants and a committee on restaurants and, of course, a committee on committees. . . Four freshman congressmen took an experimental, four-week cram course at Harvard last December to prepare for Congress. They were Voycue Cohen, R-Maine; Barbara Jordan, D-Tex.; and Alan Steelman, R-Tex. . .
He doesn't favor former Treasury Secretary John Connally over Vice President Spiro Agnew as his successor but he has encouraged both men to seek the nomination. The President indicated that he would wait until the primaries before he will make his choice. Those privy to his views suspect that the President will eventually be the last possible minute in order to maintain political leverage.
Under the Dome
The eager Burke, on her way to her first call, lost her way in the Capitol's basement and had to ask a TV crew how to get to the house floor. The boyish-looking Capitol Hill, has been mistaken as an elevator operator and a Housepage, south Dakota Sen. Jim Aboreux frequently goes to public gatherings wearing a badge identifying him as Otto Schinkn. Explains his talk to many people, told talk more frankly with Otto Schinkn, average citizen, than with Jim Aboreux, U.S. senator. "Missouri's Rep. Jerry Litton, nurses after firing a new case worker, changed his job and ordered Capitol guards to watch his office at night.
Copyright, 1973,
by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
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Griff and the Unicorn
By Sokoloff