OPINION
The University Daily KANSAN
November 4,1983 Page 4
The University Daily KANSAN
Published since 1889 by students of the University of Kansas
The University Daily Kansas is published at the University of Kansas. 118 Staffer Fint Hall, Kansas State University, Kannapolis, IN 47905, daily during the regular school year and Monday and Thursday during the summer session excluding holidays. Subscriptions by mail are $15 for six months or $27 in Douglas County and $18 for six months or $3 for each outside the county. Student subscriptions are $3 a semester paid through the student activity program. POSTMATALY. Send proof of payment to University Daily Kansas, 118 Staffer Fint Hall, Kansas State University, Kannapolis, IN 47905.
MARK ZIEMAN
Editor
DOUG CUNNINGHAM STEVE CUSICK
Managing Editor Editorial Editor
DON KNOX
Campus Editor
PAUL JESS
General Manager and News Adviser
ANN HORNBERGER
Business Manager
DAVE WANAMAKER MARK MEARS
Retail Sales National Sales
Manager Manager
LYNNE STARK
Campus Sales Manager
JOHN OBERZAN
Advertising Adviser
King's holiday
The clamor and debate has subsided, and President Reagan has signed a law creating a national holiday to honor Martin Luther King Jr. We think a holiday for the Rev. King is an appropriate thank-you to a man who taught an important lesson to all Americans.
The third Monday in January will be set aside to remember King — a crusader not just for blacks, but for all people.
The former minister and civil rights leader is remembered in a multitude of ways. He was a sensible, rational leader who committed his life to fighting racial discrimination, poverty and hatred. He sought to expand employment, housing and economic opportunities for blacks through peaceful means, instead of violence.
He risked Lyndon B. Johnson's support of civil rights legislation by condemning the Vietnam War. When militant black leaders were setting buildings ablaze, King was organizing sit-ins and preaching a gospel of love.
King is not fondly remembered by everyone, though. Southern government and civic leaders saw him as a threat to their ancient order of white supremacy. Reports have
shown that J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI tried to embarrass King in a smear campaign, seeking to paint him as a Communist.
King had his faults, no doubt. And many people argue, rightfully so, that Americans such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson deserve to be honored with a holiday.
Others point to the cost of giving federal employees another day of vacation when the United States is facing record budget deficits.
We think that the United States can bear the financial burden of honoring King, considering all the injustices that he and his race have endured in their quest for equal rights. The holiday will not only pay tribute to King, but will symbolize the oft-forgotten achievements of other American blacks, such as Frederick Douglass, George Washington Carver and Sojourner Truth.
We hope the holiday will remind Americans of the legacy of love that King left behind, exemplified by his 1936 speech, "I have a Dream."
"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of slaves and the sons of slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood."
No more Mr. Nice Guy
Ronald Reagan is a nicer man than Ward Cleaver, or even Robert Young. But that nice guy image doesn't give him the qualifications to inhabit the White House.
Americans may not approve of Reagan's policies, but they like that niceness, according to a recent survey of 1,000 people conducted by the National Organization for Women. He has such a pleasant smile and gentlemanly demeanor. Nancy is nice, too. And the two of them have brought a little bit of Hollywood class to the presidency — such a clash with the rough-cut of the Carter administration.
He's nice, yet he cuts money for the poor and jacks up the defense budget. He's nice, yet his policies put millions out of work and millions of others closer to desperation. He's nice, yet he spends the lives of U.S. soldiers for questionable causes.
And the hangman smiled when he pulled the lever.
The American public must put away their penchant for accepting the superficial and look deeper this election. What they'll find, behind the niceness, they'll probably not like.
"President Reagan's continued support for increased military spending at the expense of education and social programs does not reflect the priorities of the American people, said NOW President Judy Goldsmith. "While Ronald Reagan may be personally a nice man, he is also personally president of the United States and these policies are his policies and people need to be clear about it.
"If they are not, they will possibly go out and re-elect this very nice man who will give us four more years of regressive, oppressive policies."
Dangerous precedent
Despite its rhetoric about preserving and expanding freedom, the Reagan administration now seeks to increase federal secretiveness and impose censorship on others. The invasion of Grenada provides the freshest example.
By denying U.S. journalists an opportunity to report firsthand on the post-invasion fighting in Grenada, Reagan administration officials acted in the same spirit that marked their attempts to weaken the Freedom of Information Act and to gag thousands of federal employees for the rest of their lives.
Unless the U.S. people show themselves unwilling to settle for what the government decides to spoon-feed them in its own good time, the news blackout could be repeated again and again.
The blackout of the news media on Grenada didn't come from fear of hordes of reporters and TV cameramen interfering with a military operation. No, the Reagan administration simply gave the impression that it didn't want to bother with one of the niceties of a democracy.
-Raleigh [N.C.] News & Observer
The University Daily Kansan welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced and should not exceed 300 words. They should include the writer's name, address and phone number. If the writer is affiliated with the University, the letter should include his class and home town or faculty or staff position. The Kanasan also invites individuals to submit his columns. Columns and letters can be mailed or brought to the Kansas office, 111 Staffier-Flint Hall. The Kanasan reserves the right to edit or reject letters and columns.
LETTERS POLICY
Purpose of killer dog passed with the days of pit fighting
manslaughter. Harper's police chief had ordered Reynolds to keep the dogs leashed after one of them snapped at a city employee.
It may not be news if a dog bites a man, but it certainly is if the victim dies.
In a recent attack, two of man's best friends mauled a 67-year-old woman, displaying something less than nobility in nature.
A pair of pit bull terriers attacked Grace Parsons, a Harper woman, when she left the safety of her home to pick up her newspaper. The dogs tore off her scalp and dragged her 60 feet. She died later in a hospital.
The dogs have been destroyed. Their owner, David Reynolds, has been charged with involuntary
Reynolds said he had trained the dogs to react to weapons. Parsons reportedly had thrown a rock at the dogs two weeks before the attack.
What type of person feels a need to train pit bull terriers to attack? Who needs a dog with such deadly potential? Is some sort of macho yearning satisfied by walking a dog down the street that can kill a person?
The military, certain police forces and some security guards may have a legitimate, day-to-day need for a dog capable of killing. But what
rationale can there be for the average person to own such a dog?
The pit bull terrier was bred by crossing terriers and bulldogs, specifically for use in "sports" like bull and bear baiting. Pit Bull terriers have short, stiff coats, broad shoulders, narrow hips, a long, tapering muzzle and small, piggish eyes. They were designed to kill.
The American Humane Association says it usually receives one report a year of a dog killing a person. These are not wolves, jackals, or dingos. These are domestic dogs — pets.
I have no prejudice against dogs in general. Our family pet is a mixed breed that looks like a Samoyed, with less hair.
Ostensibly a watchdog, it sleeps at night until one of the family arrives home. Then it starts ferociously and completes a circuit of the yard, grabs an object, and chasing all trespassing rabbits, and taking care not to endanger any.
When it does detect something or someone prowling about, it barks fiercely until the danger is past — from the safety of the yardlight's circle, and directly under my window.
It is cowardly, harmless as a watchdog and great as a pet. But some dogs are dangerous. Perhaps some large dogs should be kept in zoos with the other dangerous animals.
Little dogs pose much less danger than large dogs, especially those that have been trained to attack. Perhaps dogs should be limited to a size whereby any disagreement can be settled with a quick, brisk kick in
he ribs. A gentle punt will effectively take the fight right out of a small dog.
If Stephen King's "Cujó" had been a Chihuahua instead of a Saint Bernard, the novel would have been reduced to a short story. At the first sign of trouble the lady could have stepped out of her car and dispatched the nasty little dog with one blow to the chuhaua.
Perhaps pit bull terrifiers should be licensed, as handguns are, before they legally can be trained to attack. Since pit fighting and bear baiting
The military, certain police forces and some security guards may have a legitimate, day-to-day need for a dog capable of killing. But what rationale can there be for the average person to own such a dog?
are illegal, the pit bull terrier has little legitimate use in modern society. He was bred for a way of life, and death, that no longer exists. The trained pit bull terrier is an anachronism.
Rawdon B. Lee, in his book on terriers, recounted stories of Jacko, the greatest bull terrier in history. Jacko won 200 rat-killing matches in England in the 1860s, and "amongst other deeds he succeeded as master in 40 cows in 5 min. 28 sec. and 1,000 rats in less than 100 min."
A swell quality for a modern pet.
Agreement could doom Geneva talks
BEIRUT. Lebanon — The Israeli-Lebanese withdrawal accord — an agreement that has yet to be implemented — threats to doom the talks in Geneva, Switzerland, that would end nearly eight years of war between Lebanon's Muslims and Christians.
Syria, which heavily backs the main Lebanese opposition group, the National Salvation Front, insists that there will be no peace unless the war is scrapped and its 40,000 troops will remain in eastern Lebanon.
Israel, which signed the accord with the Christian-led government of Amir Gammayel, warns that its president has been forced Lebanon by the pact is scrapped
There is, as yet, no public display of moderation.
The United States officially supports the Israeli position, a point Gemayel must take into serious consideration given the important help he receives from U.S. Marines and Pentagon military advisers.
When asked what the American reaction would be if the Lebanese factions agreed unanimously to
SCOTT MACLEOD United Press International
serap the accord, a Western diplomat familiar with U.S. policy replied, "If Lebanon throws it out, I don't suppose the United States will respond with Lebanon, but it would probably try to take them out of it."
According to Western diplomats, one reason for U.S. pressure is that President Reagan considers the United States a 'peacemaker' policy — a 'peacemaking' symbol.
But Lebanon is not Egypt
Whereas Anwar Sadat freely went to Jerusalem, Gemayel's government said it signed the pact with Israel thinking that it was the only way to get the Israeli troops to leave.
Although the agreement called for normal relations and joint security arrangements between Israel and Lebanon, its key feature for Lebanon was the withdrawal of the Israeli forces, which invaded to crush the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Perhaps a bigger problem, for which the Lebanese government no blames the United States, is that Syria was not made a party to the negotiations calling for troop withdrawals.
With 40,000 troops in Lebanon, where they intervened to quell the Lebanese civil war in 1976, Syria is now the second most simply refusing to pull its troops out.
Instead of being left out, some Lebanese sources say, the Syrians should have been a main party, but they are the fresh Soviet support for Syria
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Professor clarifies some points on voodoo
To the editor:
Douglas Hensley in a letter to the editor in Tuesday's Kansan quite correctly took issue with several of the statements that I supposedly made, as reported by the Kansan Oct. 27, during a talk given by me on Oct. 18. These were not, however, the statements made by me.
Obviously voood, which is a separate religion, differs markedly from Christianity. In my talk I stated only that there are important rites taken directly from the Roman Catholic liturgy that are often used during the course of certain voood ceremonies. In addition, obviously the voood gods or spirits are certainly not the same as those found in Greco-Roman mythology. I stated that the vooood gods or spirits are similar to the Greec-Roman ones only through their multiplicity and their anthropomorphic nature. The similarities end there.
Other errors contained in the Kansan article but not pointed out by Hensley are as follows: I do not have a particular "love for voodoo." As a specialist in Haitian language and culture, I naturally devote a certain amount of study to a religion quite important to that culture, but I am not sure why neither approves nor disappores. Similarly, I view voodoo possession as nothing more or less than a form of self-induced hypnosis.
Next: Haitian Creole is made up to a large extent of words of French origin, while retaining certain African grammatical structures —
easily the contrary of what was stated in the article. Next: Priests and nuns were banned from Haiti between 1804 and 1860 for political rather than religious reasons, contrary to what the article implies. Next: There was indeed a small Protestant missionary effort in Haiti during that period, though limited in scope. Next: I never asserted that President Jean-Claude Duvalier did not aid that I say he does not; I stated simply that be in no way attempts to oppose it. Finally, a peristyle is a fairly good-sized enclosure, not "a small hut."
Such errors are bound to occur whenever the somewhat complex
text of an article is not checked even if only by telephone — with its source before publication. From this it is hoped Hensley will learn two things about everything he reads as quoted by the psychiatrist, not to believe everything he reads
Bryant C. Freeman Professor of French
Imitation of truth
To the editor:
While the Kansas City sophomore's response to the Kansan Hattian voodoo story is that he would student would prefer a more qualified advocate for
Age 56 is not 'elderly'
To the Editor:
On Oct. 26, you printed a short front-page article titled "Injured Elderly Man in Critical Condition After Being Hit by Car." According to the first sentence of the article, the "elderly man" who suffered this unfortunate injury is a "56-year-old."
Since we presently have 9.1 million people in the United States aged 75 or older, and since about 11 percent of our population is older than 65, it seems to be rushing things a bit to refer to a person in his mid-50s as elderly. In fact one does not even reach the status of senior citizen for commercial discounts or eligibility for programs such as Elderhostel until the age of 60.
speaking on behalf of that original group of Christians called Catholics.
No doubt some number of KU faculty who are in their 508 were surprised to find that they are are considered "elderly" by the Kanans. Possibly a 19- or 29-year-old reporter considers someone aged 56 to be elderly, but very likely in that age group would appreciate having that label applied to themselves.
It is enough that the Kansas would publish the variety of truth that one particular person's religion espouses, it is quite another when such persons speak for others on the shaky ground of their own premises.
Lynn Osterkamp
Donna Schafer
Research associates, gerontology center
I was not at all certain whether the article on voodoo required a response; such offhand comparisons of obviously disparate systems are a glut on the tabloid market these days. Anyone knows there's a difference between stabbing straw effigies and mounting Sacred Heart pictures in one's living room. But when a student suggests by his analogy that the blood of a pig is that of the blood or the cleansing ceremony with pig's blood and the practices of the Christian religion are totally distinct, incapable of comparison, I am bound to protest and admonish him to reread the history over which he has so blatantly glossed.
I know of no liker comparison than that of drinking of Christ's blood and certain voodoo practices. But our sophomore from Kansas City forgets that and foreshags with his blinked defense that Catholics and Protestants alike outraged by these unsayable comparisons
Now I am not at all sure I mind the voodoo comparison. At least it allows the human need for cerebral stimulation, but voodoo practice is an imitation of truth.
Scott J. Bloch
1
Los Angeles law student