Dreaming of a trite Xmas
Christmas, these days, is a bore.
And what makes it such a bore is that it is
trite, trampled and trivial.
Now before the Campus Crusade gang buries me in a pile of birth control pills, let me explain that I do not think Jesus Christ is trite, trampled or otherwise—just Christmas.
It is trite because of those Merchants on Main Street who remind us of it from Halloween when the decorations go up to Epiphany when the bills come in.
And it is trivial because it is both trite and trampled.
It is trampled by that cast of thousands—affluent Christians—who at the drop of a jingle bell run out to buy, buy, buy so that they may give, give, give in order to receive, receive, receive.
After all, on the 1.966th hearing, that love and Brotherhood bit wears thin—especially
when it is preached by so many and practiced by so few, and most especially, when it becomes "a tale . . . full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Contemporary issues, such as the "two-bullet theory" or "Why young Bobby can't stand LBJ" are much more engrossing, if not more palatable, to this generation of ersatz swingers.
And even that yawning boredom may not last.
Indeed, Christmas tinsel, Christmas trees and Christmas Christians have transformed the whole spectacle into a rather "ho-hum" affair.
Because hate group by hate group, dollar by dollar, intolerance by intolerance and war by war, we are doing away not just with the Jaycee Xmas tree sale, but with Tiny Tim's turkey, Virginia's Santa Claus and that "No Vacancy" Inn that used to mean so much.
-Dan Austin
The people say...
In defense of the new Germany
To the editors:
Austin's article is characterized by a lack of thorough information which not only leads to unfounded statements but is also insulting the Germans at KU. One should expect that a student—and I suppose Austin to be one—would show the responsibility and necessary differentiation to penetrate deeper into facts when he writes about a country which is not his own. His limited knowledge may excuse his indulgence in emotional terms. Generalizations are the most marked features of his style; they lead to misconceptions and prejudices. I may be allowed to demonstrate this of a few sentences of his article:
1) Austin: The parliament of West Germany—Deutschland, if you please—threw out the pro-American liberal chancellor Ludwig Erhard and replaced him with a former Nazi, the nationalistic Kurt Georg Kiesinger.
This sentence implies that the reason for Erhard's forced retreat was his being pro-American and that Kiesinger was nominated because the German people wanted a nationalistic chancellor for which a former Nazi seemed to be the best choice. But actually things are more complex.
ERHARD WAS replaced not only because he so readily agreed in buying U.S. armaments, but also because of his indulgence to pressure groups, Germany's role in the Common Market, the danger of increasing taxes, the stagnation in economy, the coal mining crisis, increased prices, the Starfighter affair and the retreat of some generals, the policy towards East Germany and the Soviet Union.
Kiesinger entered the Nazi party, but from 1934 on he ceased to participate in their events; he never held a Nazi office and was not involved in the killing processes. His explicit statements and his attitude show that he is rather the opposite of being nationalistic. As a responsible politician he is well aware of the fact that Germany cannot do without the U.S.A. and the European countries.
I admit that a candidate should have been chosen who had not been in the NSDAP because foreign countries are like Austin, prone to see again the "spectre" of a "nationalistic" Germany. But a general condemnation of everyone who had been a follower of
the Nazi movement (which, as an understanding of the historical situation of the thirties shows, was a temptation for many young people; and young they were) would be as unjust as to regard every German soldier participating in World War II as a war criminal.
2) Austin: So, the coalition-heavy parliament decided to return to good, old fashioned German nationalism—and out went Erhard.
Of course, the parliament did not decide this. They decided to give the government new energies by personal shifts in the ministries—and not only by changing the office of the chancellor. The new government does not stress a nationalism but, as their declarations show, an internationalism.
3) Austin: Germany, which has only been peace loving when guarded by someone carrying a much bigger stick, still harbors all the ingredients that whip up war-intense nationalism, the social disease of manifest destiny and the uncanny ability to find a nation-wide scapegoat.
This climactic sentence leads me to raise the questions: Can it be said that Germany, the closest military, economic, and cultural partner of the I hope—peace loving U.S.A.. has not been peace loving in the last 20 years? Austin's basic statement denies it.
OR DOES HE mean that Germany has only been peace loving in that period because it was checked by the U.S.A. (and the allies?)? But obviously the opposite is the case. The U.S. troops in Germany are to help her defend a possible attack from the east and not to check her.
Austin mentions "all the ingredients that whip up war." With "intense nationalism" he probably refers to the recent lander elections in Hesse and Bavaria where the NPD passed the necessary five per cent limit. From these events he derives what seems to him a nation-wide nationalism and uses the words "nationalistic" and "nationalism" in the above-mentioned sentences (1) and (2) where they have no foundation at all.
He forgets to point out that the non-nationalistic two big parties in West Germany (SPD and CDU) together gained more than 80 per cent of the votes in these
elections. I think the figure of 80 per cent is more representative of how people in a country think than the figure of 7.5 per cent.
Moreover, the big parties watch the rise of the NPD carefully, and in Bavaria they unanimously decided not to give the NPD an office in the government though the right-wingers got 15 seats.
THERE WERE anti-NPD demonstrations in several parts of Germany and in Hamburg they were recently denied rooms for their meetings. As to the metaphors of a "social disease of a manifest destiny" and the "inaction-wide scapegoat" I am unable to fit them into the picture of contemporary Germany.
Austin's warning against Germany which may "once again run rampant in the world of the Bomb" may be answered with the consolation that both Germany and Mr. Austin may celebrate this coming Christmas without the fear of being under a dictatorship or the risk of a war. As to his last sentence, I leave the decision upon its correctness to his countrymen.
As for Austin himself I may add that he has to learn what seems to me the basis of both the journalistic and the academic work: intellectual sincerity.
I only wanted to show that his carelessness in writing his article may nourish among his countrymen prejudices and false views which are not at all justified. It is dangerous and unfair to vilify a foreign country whose majority are rather the opposite of what Austin says.
Editor's Note: Jawohl—with factual reservations—to Herr Fruetel and all others who wrote in on this note. While I do agree with the implication that understanding between nations is the final key to a better world (and I do have the utmost respect for Germany and her citizens of today), I simply ask political scrutiny of any country that engages in the fatal nation-state game of fired-up nationalism—including the U.S.A. D.A.
Werner Fruetel German graduate student
2
Daily Kansan
editorial page
Tuesday, December 6, 1966
DECLARATION!
"The Mediocre Generation, Part I"
One game historians like to play is the assignment of short, cryptic adjectives to generations in an attempt to capture "the spirit of the age." Of course, while this approach may be overdrawn, it does appear possible to discern a somewhat prevailing characteristic in each age. We submit to you and to history today that ours is a generation that might well be termed "The Mediocre Generation."
Ours is a generation of mediocre intellectual inquiry. The growth of "R & D"—research and development—and its ascension to the highest status in intellectual circles, has turned our minds from the possibility of original thinking to the examination through research, of the tiniest bits of knowledge. We search for Truth through microscopes so powerful as to give a field of vision large enough to encompass only trivia. Hence, the universities today produce conclusions which prove to be neither relevant nor significant. Such "research" is justified, then, on the grounds that the exploration of any unexplored road is a responsible search for truth.
Ours is a generation of mediocre politics. Historically, the two sides to the political coin have been individual liberty vs. imposed liberty (the limits of the latter being determined by the imposer). The liberal, historically, has served the former; the conservative, the latter. Today, however, the great synthesis (consensus) has occurred and our muddle vision supposes that both can exist together. The modern "conservative" assumption proceeds along a line of reasoning which says, "I'll get along all right if you (the State) can keep the other guy from hurting me, and maybe give me a hand when I ask for it." The "liberal" is now saying, "Freedom (by my definition) is such a wonderful thing that everyone should have it imposed on him."
WE ARE TRULY SORRY that the philosophical theoretician no longer shares a status niche in the intellectual structure. The abstracting mind is regarded as a throwback to the eighteenth century. The first question which must be answered to bring honor to a modern thinker is, "Was your methodology scientific?" Certainly we would not wish a return to scholastic logic as a means of intellectual inquiry, but we would hope that someone might recognize the limits of computerized intellect.
BOTH GROUPS ARE NOW SAYING, in effect. "State, help us." They just want it done in different ways. While we're not advocating anarchy, we would want to remind today's "champions of liberty" that the state, be it democratic or totalitarian, has the ability to restrict liberty as it wills. Today's liberals have forfeited their visions for man to the power of the State, and have therefore not offered an alternative to restricted freedom. The conservative, meanwhile, has ignored those problems which would destroy society and has thus lost his grip on power. This synthesis of political mediocrity governs us.
Ours is a generation of religious mediocrity. We see few, if any, apostles of the faith in our generation. The zeal of the sabrebrandishing Moslems is gone, the idealism of D. L. Moody is no more, and, for that matter, there aren't any more Robert Ingersoll's. Social action has replaced religious thinking. Religious revolution has become cultural renovation. The Episcopal Church vaguely considers Mr. Pike wrong, but refuses to try him on heresy charges—the reason, we might conjecture, is that the church fathers themselves are not sure of their grounds. The religious of today are like compliant sheep being led aimlessly around the level plains of mediocrity by cowardly shepherds who haven't the faintest notion of where they are. Religion, formerly the citadel of stability, is now as stable as algae on the waves.
WITH OUR GOAL, SECURITY, and our god, comfort, we go day to day content with a respectable education, reasonably good job, attractive wife, suburban home, 2.7 children, adequate retirement plan, 5.4 grandchildren, and a $900 coffin. Isn't it wonderful to lead such a challenging life?
- Pyrrhus and Cineas
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