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Summer Session Kansan Tuesday, June 11, 1963
Dick Tracy's a Drag
Hate to say it, but Dick Tracy must go.
There is no two ways about it; this is the space age and Chester Gould's characters are a hang-over from the Roaring '20s. Sure, Diet Smith has a space coupe, and Dick talks to Sam over a two-way wrist radio, but they still must go.
THIS DECISION is not arbitrary; not at all.
It is grounded in a desire to hold to a minimum the distortive myths which the comic strips foist off on the public.
We all know that crime must be combatted with all the resources of modern man, but the kids will get a wrong idea of the opposition if Dick Tracy and the Crowd aren't shunned from mainstream of popular opinion-moulders.
Chester could stick around and serve a worthwhile function if he used his head, but he persists in being flip; he plays foot-loose with reality. For example:
FIRST OF ALL, Chester Gould would have us believe that crime doesn't pay. This is not quite in line with the facts—if we can believe J. Edgar Hoover. He says that crime does pay, and handsomely.
After many months of mischieve, Uncle Punkey and that nut who loaned him $1,000 were finally gunned down by our rope-swinging hero. That jazz is all right; surely even Tarzan enviwed the grace of our jut-jawed hero as he catapulted through space to strike a lick for justice.
BUT THE DIALOGUE which followed the victory of good over evil is slightly out of whack when we consider modern trends among lawbreakers.
With Uncle Punky and his cohort lying on the floor, their bodies well ventilated by slugs from Dick Tracy's trusty .32 caliber service revolver.
the hero sings a moral ballad with lyrics attuned to 30 years ago:
"So, as all criminals must, Uncle Punky meets justice," our hero said, "proving once again that crime does not pay."
THIS IS ABSURD. While Billie Sol Estes has been caught, what of the other lawbreakers? What of the big boys who sit in their walnut-paneled offices and manipulate stocks so as to turn a profit on the naivety of less-knowledgeable investors?
Are these men doomed, "as all lawbreakers must," to taste justice as administered intravenously by hot lead from a policeman's pistol?
It is doubtful. For today's criminal is much too smart to dig kidnapping, bank-robbing and stick-ups.
THAT BUSINESS IS nasty, needless and dangerous. You can be killed pulling that strong-arm stuff. Instead, you use your head.
The money is to be made in slot machines, juke boxes, white slaving and, if you have a flair for a little danger, narcotics.
You fix it with city hall and the cop on the beat, and then you let the legitimate front do the work for you; no danger, no sweat.
SO WHO DOES Dick Tracy tell us we must fight? Some dumb, pistol-packing hood who sooner or later--will face justice on the business end of a policeman's pistol.
Crime would be far simpler to combat if it were a matter of chasing down stick-up men and kidnapers. But that is not how the world is organized today.
Dick Tracy is sweating the wrong breed of cats. These boys like Uncle Punky are peanuts.
What we need is a comic strip detective who can handle the big boys. — Terry Murphy
Conservative, Liberal or Radical Ayn Rand Solves Man's Dilemmas
By Larry Schmidt
What does it take to be a conservative?
"I consider Rockefeller a conservative," he added.
Well, Walter Lippmann was asked recently if he thought Senator Barry Goldwater was a real conservative, and he answered, "No. I consider Kennedy a conservative."
"A CONSERVATIVE is not a man who wants to repeal everything that's happened in the last twenty years (but) a man who wants to conserve it and make it grow, and have it develop. . . Good conservatives are liberal about how the laws are executed, and they're progressive about adapting them to changing conditions, and the idea that one man's a conservative but not liberal, and another man is liberal but not conservative, is just misunderstanding of terms."
And, with this misunderstanding firmly in mind, we look to the reporter who asked author-philosopher Ayn (in mine) Rand if she would call herself a conservative, politically.
Her answer: "Certainly not. The term has become completely meaningless."
"Radical means fundamental. And since I'm challenging fundamental premises, I don't want to be confused with any groups that call themselves conservatives today."
"MANY OF THEM," says the founder of the Objectivist school of philosophy, "base their defense of capitalism on religious faith.
"I call myself a radical for capitalism," she asserted.
According to Barry Goldwater's definition, Ayn Rand would probably emerge as neither conservative nor liberal, since she believes in total separation of state and economics, yet turns her back on religion.
"In America, religion is a private matter and should not be brought into political issues."
Goldwater has written, "The root of differences between the Conservatives and the Liberals today is that Conservatives take account of
the whole man, while the Liberals tend to look at the material side of man's nature. The Conservative believes that man is, in part, an economic, an animal creature; but that he is also a spiritual creature with spiritual needs and spiritual desires.
"WHAT IS MORE," says the Arizona senator, "these spiritual needs and desires reflect the superior side of man's nature, and thus take precedence over his economic wants. . . . Liberals on the other hand . . . regard the satisfaction of economic wants as the dominant mission of the society."
So, what of Russian-born author (Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and others) Rand?
To begin with, she prefers the dollar sign to the cross as a basis for her thinking.
"The cross is the symbol of torture, of the sacrifice of the ideal to the nonreal. I prefer the dollar sign—the symbol of free trade, therefore of the free mind."
Once, when questioned by Mike Wallace as to whether or not she was her brother's keeper, she said: "I am not. I do not believe in the sacrifice of one man to another."
"Money." she says, "is the root of all good."
TO HER, the Sermon on the Mount is evil. What she describes as "rational self-interest" is the loftiest virtue.
IN LITERATURE courses at the University of Illinois and at Earlham College, Richmond, Ind., and in psychology courses at the University of Bridgeport. Atlas Shrugged (the "Bible" of Objectivism) is recommended reading.
The Saturday Evening Post, not long ago, reported that Ayn Rand clubs have popped up on several college campuses.
The answer, apparently: mostly college students. Young intellectuals.
And who would go along with such ideas?
Miss Rand draws nearly 500 students each time she talks at a college.
Her various (and lengthy) books
are readily available here in Lawrence.
In describing the changes she has noticed in those students who have adopted Objectivism as their way of life, Miss Rand says, "They're much more self-confident, much more rational, and face life and reality much more honestly and openly."
"MANY OF THEM had conflicts, which I knew about, and I saw the process by which Objectivism helped them solve the conflict."
"By offering them a code of morality appropriate to man's life on earth. By giving them confidence in their own minds, which is the root of self-esteem — simple, clear-he-a d e d, common-sensible self-esteem, full of confidence in the fact that 'I will use my mind to the best of my ability,'" she said.
How did it help?
One major premise, according to the leader of the cult, would be that man can perceive and understand reality only through reason.
"That, in essence, is all that is required. It's not easy."
WHAT, EXACTLY, is Objectivism?
(Continued on page 3)
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NORTHWEST PASSAGE, by Kenneth Roberts (Crest, 95 cents); LYDIA BAILEY, by Kenneth Roberts (Crest, 95 cents).
These are, of course, a gusty delight to the young in heart; the sophisticated and the sensation-seeker will turn to other matters. There comes a time in many young lives when Kenneth Roberts amounts to a personal discovery. But re-readings of Roberts prove gratifying to the unjaded, those who still love Cooper and Scott, for example.
For many readers, the publication of these books will herald one of the paperback publishing feats of recent years. Both have been greatly loved historical novels, as good as anything done in this genre in America. But none of Roberts' books has appeared in paperback previously. Now all eight of his novels will be published by Fawcett.
"Northwest Passage" is a novel of 1937. It is mainly the story of the greater-than-life-size Robert Rogers, of Rogers' Rangers, of his daring raid against the St. Francis Indians, of his dream of finding, a northwest passage, of his eventual disintegration. He is the real hero, though Langdon Towne tells the story. There is an epic march, and there are those splendid makers of buttered rum, Hunk Marriner and Cap Huff. It is a book of wonder and color and variety.
"Lydia Bailey" is dashing in its way, too, though it is a lesser work. Roberts' central failing here is that he never drew heroines very well, and Lydia is one of his lesser heroines. Throw aside that carping consideration, however, and you have a fine tale, one that moves from New England to the stormy island of Hispaniola in the days of Toussaint L'Ouverture and from there to North Africa. Though it is flamboyant and corny at times it also is historically sound.
In short, here are two books to be commended to most readers.—CMP
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THE SEVEN AGES OF THE THEATRE, by Richard Southern (Hill and Wang Dramabooks, $2.45, $5.95 cloth)—A beautifully illustrated history which presents the theatrical history in terms of its phases, the costumed player, great religious festivals, the rise of professional actors, the organized stage, the roofed playhouse with scenery, illusion, and anti-illusion. Southern begins with the wild men of Bavaria and ends with Brecht, treating, along the way, the mummer's plays, Greek festivals, Elizabethan and Chinese theatre, and the commedia dell' arte, among other developments.
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ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Crest, 50 cents)Here is a book which has been somewhat of a literary sensation. It has been a startler in the Soviet Union and nearly as much in the western world.
It is about life in a slave labor camp in the Stalin era. And its publication brought such comments as one hailing it as the most significant breakthrough in official Russian secrecy since Khrushchev began the de-Stalinization campaign several years ago.
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THE LANDMARKS OF A PEOPLE, by Bernard Postal and Samuel H. Abramson (Hill and Wang, $2.95, $5.95 cloth)—a lovely travel book which shows Jewish sites in Europe. There are full descriptions and 32 pages of photographs. The authors also offer a short history of the Jews of every European country. Both travelers and general readers should find much of interest in this volume.
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NAME YOUR BABY, by Larcina Rule (Bantam, 75 cents)—A reference work for young parents, with more than 3,000 names listed, horoscope and list of baby gifts.
"A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Kicking Out 1000 School Kids——"