OPINION
University Dally Kansan, June 8, 1984
Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
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Summer? School?
Summer school. Isn't that a contradiction in terms?
Summer is a vacation from the trials and tribulations of academia. For most students, that is. There are those among us whose enthusiastic love of learning and disdain for rest are so strong that they actually seek ways to avoid taking a vacation. The choice is simple; they go to summer school.
After reading a friend's letter from an exotic vacation spot, these students feel guilty and seek counseling out of distress and concern for their friends. "I get to create subroutines in Pascal and my friend's punishing himself with 18 holes of golf every day" is what campus counselors are hearing from emotionally distraught students.
Eschewing rest and relaxation, these unique individuals often return summer after summer, and retake the same courses . CS-200, statistics and Western Civilization are among the many classes that these collegephiles repeat in their apparently futile attempts to quench an insatiable thirst for knowledge. Clearly these poor souls need professional help.
Inevitably, though, the professionals disappoint us by failing to prescribe the obvious remedy; get plenty of sun, drink plenty of "liquids," and take two aspirins in the morning.
Snipping red tape
The Kansas Legislature approved several pieces of legislation this spring which will make life a little easier here.
In contrast to the erratic funding of the past couple of years, there was a 7 percent increase in salaries and operating budgets.
Among some other minor changes which were made, one in particular caught our eye - the elimination of a redundant accounting procedure required of university researchers.
In his open letter to the faculty and staff last month, Chancellor Gene A. Budig said that this change eliminated the need to have research grants closed at the end of the year and reopened at the beginning of the next fiscal year.
"This change alone should eliminate much unnecessary paperwork," he said.
In contrast to the interest aroused by the "big issues," minor changes like this go unnoticed by the general public. Legislatures receive no recognition for correcting minor nuisances like this that plague government institutions everywhere.
Bureaucratic procedures breed like hamsters in our modern society. This tendency to propagate without restraint makes people cynical and apathetic. Income tax evasion increases as people rebel against the burdens and inefficiencies of government.
But this insignificant piece of legislation makes us optimistic. And to our state legislators, here's some much deserved recognition and appreciation for your unsensational legislation. Nice work.
Isolating the Soviets
No, Andrei Sakharov did not die. Not yet, Sakharov, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, went on a hunger strike in an effort to win permission for his wife to go to the West for medical treatment.
His wife, Yelena Bonner, is severely ill, and, since being confined to the city of Gorky, has been denied the right to receive appropriate medical treatment.
An Italian newspaper erroneously reported last week that the Soviet dissident had died. However, we don't know if Yelena Bonner's telephone call saying that her husband "is no longer among us" should be interpreted to mean that Andrei Sakharov is dead or simply has been moved to an unknown location.
What makes the Soviets pursue this couple? A look at the recent history of Soviet foreign policy provides an answer.
The 1979 invasion of Afghanistan earned Moscow an unprecedented condemnation by more than 100 other countries. The downing of the Korean airliner last fall resulted in the Soviets' virtual isolation from the community of nations. More recently, by withdrawing their athletes from the Los Angeles Olympics, the Russians again exposed their fundamental problem: At a time when the Soviet reputation was at an all-time low, the Kremlin feared losing athletes in the full glare of global media attention. Following an old pattern, the Soviet Union withdrew into itself and acted like a hurt animal.
For the Western democracies this is no reason for self-satisfaction. An isolated Russia becomes paranoid and dangerous.
Western media should draw attention to the human rights situation in the Soviet Union without denouncing the country as the focus of evil in the world. Those who stay silent in the case of Sakharov and other dissidents are quietly watching a murder. Those who condemn the Soviets with hostility back them into a corner and cause them to withdraw even farther
Only by reporting violations without hatred while remaining firm in their demands will the media persuade the Soviets to return to the community of civilized nations.
"Indiana" evokes thrills, chills
Junior Minters and popcorn buckets in hand, my 5-year-old brother and I squeezed into our seats at the back of the theatre and waited for the arrival of "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."
"I'd seen "Raiders of the Lost Ark" three times, so I knew what to expect: a break-neck adventure full of creepy-crazy bugs, nasty villains and oh-so narrow escapes by the heroic archaeologist, Indiana Jones.
But I still screamed it minutes into the film when Indy and his new sidekicks bailed out of their plane before it crashed into the Himalaya.
I still squirmed during the lavish banquet scene when the maharajah's watters served up live baby snakes, soup and shiaped monkey brains.
And I still covered my eyes when the evil high priest Mola Ram reached into an enemy's chest and ripped out his heart.
Meanwhile, my kid brother sat silently beside me. Grinning. "You scared?" he whispered.
JULIE COMINE
Staff Columnis
Not surprisingly, my 5-year-old brother survived the Temple of Doom in better shape than his older sister, breathlessly recounting Indy's adventures for Mom when we got home. (He also referred to Mom's vanilla pudding as chilled monkey brains, much to her charm.)
But a number of critics and concerned parents have warned that Indiana Jones" with its 19 PG rating is unsuitable for younger children.
Columist George Will, while admitting his 12-year-old son loved "Indiana Jones," recently described the film as "minute minutes of relative violence" by intervals of violent action punctuated by intervals of mere repulsiveness.
Will and other critics particularly
deplore the heart-removal scene,
along with sequences showing slave
drivers whipping kidnapped Indian
men and a terrified victim being
lowered into a fiery human melting
pot.
Director Steven Spielberg has included an extra warning in advertisements for the film, conceding it to too intense for younger children.
Spielberg's critics maintain this warning goes unnoticed, printed in tiny type at the bottom of the ads.
But wait a minute. Yes, I screamed, I squirmed, I covered my eyes. My stomach sank, my heart ped
Still, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" is Adventure with a capital A, and it's a whole lot of fun.
Without question, the film's violence could be offensive to sensitive young children. Parents must decide whether the movie is suitable for their pre-teens, something responsive to their tastes. The film's programming, whether it's "Star Trek III", "The A-Team" or "All-Star Wrestling".
However, there's no comparison between the hair-raising mining car chase of "Indiana Jones" and the bloody, bullet-hole violence of such movies as "48 Hours," "Scarface" and "Once Upon a Time in America."
Even modern horror movies Spieberg's "Poleterist" and John Carpenter's "The Thing," for example, bear the same reprehension of real-life violence.
My 5-year-old brother understands that Indiana Jones is a good guy. He knows Indy will escape from his latest predicament (no matter how close the spiked ceiling comes to him) with his trademark Fedora intact.
according to a noted children's analyst.
Films such as "Raiders" and "Indiana Jones," along with the Star Wars, Star Trek and Superman serials, are contemporary American fairy tales. The characters are often well-known, but the audience knows exactly when to root for the good guys and hiss at the bad guys.
Peter B. Neubauer, director of child psychology at Columbia and New York Universities, says that the film most terrifying to youngsters is one often considered by parents to be a classic, "The Wizard of Oz."
Close behind "The Wizard of Oz" are "Bambi" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," films that scare
children with the prospect of cruelty to little animals and kind-hearted damsels, Neubauer adds.
Dr. Neubauer has yet to comment on Spielberg's latest thriller, but this much is certain "Indiana Jones" is intense, exciting, scary — the cinematic equivalent of a roller coaster ride.
Mom will probably want to stay home this weekend, but save my kid brother and me a seat.
Reagan facing cameras, not issues
Again President Ronald Reagan proves to be the "great communicator" who presents a simplified version of politics in order to delight his audience, rather than to point out and discuss the serious global economic and political problems.
Ronald Reagan's visit to Europe is well orchestrated. While the three Democratic presidential candidates successfully try to destroy each other's credibility and reputation, Mr. Reagan goes to Europe and looks presidential.
The 40 million Americans of Irish ancestry back home, who were the actual aim of this sentimental journey, will have the opportunity to this "Irish." American president in campaign commercials later this year.
John F. Kennedy was greeted enthusiastically by almost half the Irish population during his visit 21 years ago, Ronald Reagan's attempt to obtain a little bit of JFK's popularity is only slightly more sophisticated than Gary Hurt's strategy to talk about new ideas and spread his fingers in Kennedy-like gestures.
We won't see the thousands in the streets, the bishops and nuns who protested against President Reagan's foreign policy in Central
America We also won't see the women in the London suburb of Greenham Common who still hold out in their protest against the deployment of new nuclear missiles. Again, governments and people have different things to say as they go forth to greet Ronald Reagan.
Coming back to Europe two years after June 1982, when the European peace movement turned out millions to protest his administration's foreign policy, Mr. Reagan probably expected a home game this time.
According to the White House
WOLGANG
DOBLER
Staff Columnist
script Reagan's fellow leaders and the mass media should celebrate the strong recovery of the U.S. economy, and adopt his administration's conservative economic policy. After all, for the British, French, Italians and West Germans who had an unemployment rate of almost 10 percent on the average in spring 1984, the dropping unemployment rate in
the U.S., currently at 7.4 percent, should be evidence enough.
The reluctance in Europe concerning his foreign policy in Central America and toward the Soviet Union should be overcome by a less hawkish attitude toward the Soviets. In Normandy, commemorating D-Day, he talked about peace, not war, and confirmed the American commitment to Europe. He sought to overcome the concerns at home and abroad about ice U.S. Soviet relations by announcing that he would consider a Soviet proposal to renounce the use of force in Europe.
If the 10th economic summit meeting of the seven leading industrial countries is to be more than just another get-acquired meeting or a mere photo opportunity designed to encourage the re-election prospects of Ronald Reagan and the mass media will have to address some tricky questions.
The economic problems, high U.S. interest rates caused by huge budget deficits, the impact of high interest rates on indebted developing countries, growing trade protectionism, and the possible breakdown of the international monetary system alone might be enough to crack the facade of unity and agreement among the industrialized countries.
Immediate crises and concerns which have dominated most of the previous summit conferences could expose fundamental disagreements and diverging interests between the leading industrial nations even more.
A lack of knowledge and a fundamental misunderstanding of the political location of Western Europe and Japan predominate the discussion in the U.S. on this issue. Some nations, such as Japan and West Germany are bound by constitutions which do not allow any military activity outside the geographic region of their respective alliances. In both cases the Persian Gulf is not included.
The European peace movement is the most visible expression of another major point of disagreement while the superpower United States sees itself in a struggle against those pro-europeans are more concerned with protecting solutions that guarantee survival between the two superpowers.
If this summit conference is to be more than a political public relations exercise, then Ronald Reagan and his European and Japanese counterparts will disagree these disturbing issues instead of pretending to be unified once again.
Process works despite faults, failures
It is fashionable now, as the first phase of the Democratic Party's long nominating process comes to a close, about the whole nominating system.
It places an inhuman burden on the surviving candidates; it gives inordinate influence to a relatively few financial contributors; it contrives differences among candidates where few exist; it magnifies the importance of the press and television; it trivializes issues; and it ultimately fatigues voters into an unwelcome choice.
But in fact, for all its faults and failures, the process is working and will continue to do so if it is not already done. To create a premature party 'mutty'
A few weeks ago, the Democratic National Committee put up Robert S. Strauss as peacemaker among the candidates — an odd choice indeed given his connections with the Carter-Mondale Administration.
In February, Gary Hart was at 2 percent in the polls. He has since won more than half of the primaries and caucuses. The glaring difference between these results and the dele-
search in the wings: No figure can walk on the stage and be both acceptable and credible
City University of New York
RICHARD WADE
gate count can be traced to the to
rules adopted by the Democratic
National Committee to handicap
“long-shot” candidates such as
George McGovern in 1972 and Carter
in 1976. The result today is that the
Democrats nominate someone favored by less
 than 40 percent of its members and
who was shut out of both New
England and the West.
Moreover, the simple demographic facts indicate that unless a Democratic candidate can penetrate the suburbs, there is no chance for the party to recover Congress, much less regain the White House.
Gary Hart's appeal in these areas often has been disspared, yet surely that is where the future lies. He may be a bit ahead of his time, but the Democratic Party's establishment, with its emphasis on a declining urban and organized labor vote, is well behind the times, "Electionability."
is not something dreamed up by the Hart campaign, it is the nightmare of everyone anxious to defeat President Reagan.
In many ways, the extended primary season has already justified its existence. It revealed important things about both candidates and the composition of the party. Monday did come off the canvas after early unexpected knockouts, but he also exposed a mean streak that no one would have anticipated. Despite his early successes, but he also rose from the floor to fight again.
Still, the nagging party remains: The Democratic Party is not anxious to nominate Mondale, but it is now not ready to accept Hart. Yet,
The problem has existed since at least 1970, and one of the purposes of the these primaries is to address it. The Democratic Party has been successful in the past because it constantly expanded its base. It now faces a substantial contraction as blue-collar workers defect to Reagan, black voters trust in Jesse Jackson and a new generation opts for independence rather than party commitment.
An attempt to close down the convention prematurely would only weaken the links to disaffected groups. The rules committee surely has to handle Jackson's legitimate complaint about at large elections and the way delegates are apportioned according to popular vote.
In short, let the Democratic Party be democratic. The convention of 1968 demonstrated it is better to have the problems inside the convention hall than outside Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson would serve their constituents by taking the whole process to its intended conclusion at San Francisco.
There can be no jeremy-built "unity" and no required "loyalty." It is wiser and safer to let the process unfold freely, even if chaotically, after the convention. As Yogi Berra says, "it ain't over, 'til it's over."
Richard C. Wade is professor of urban history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York
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