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Wednesday, June 10, 1987/Kansan Summer Weekiv
Opinions and Editorials
This summer's Kansan will have a slightly different look but will continue to devote most of its space to the coverage of campus news and happenings. We will try to concentrate on the issues that are of interest to summer students.
The role of the Kansan
Last semester we began, in earnest, to play with our new computer graphics system. We hope that, despite our reduced staff, we will be able to bring you graphics (no color, sorry) that help to illustrate otherwise confusing or statistic-laden stories.
The Summer Kansan, as most readers have already deduced, will be published weekly on Wednesdays. Because this is so, our coverage will include more stories that summarize recent events and trends.
Because we cannot afford it, we will not be carrying "Bloom County" or "The Far Side." For this, we must express our deepest regrets. Do not despair; those cartoons will remain their rightful places in the fall. In the meantime, please enjoy the hometown humor of A.D. Long's "Mr. Badger" on this page.
Weekly publication will allow us to expand our summary of the escapades of the Kansas City Royals. Statistic hounds will appreciate the expanded major league standings and the wrap-up of the Royals past week.
This summer, we will continue to print a calendar of events. This summer's calendar will include more of the happenings about town and will list the bands playing at your favorite bar, as well as listing other important summertime amusements.
If we take an outrageous editorial stance or print a column that seems to be narrow-minded, please call or write to us. We want to know what you think about it. You read some of what we think in every issue.
Pre-marital AIDS testing
After listening to 1,238 scientific reports at the Third International Conference on AIDS, doctors were optimistic that scientific advances would soon lead to a cure. In the same week, President Reagan outlined an unworkable program to curb the spread of AIDS.
The largest conference to date on AIDS ended last week
Also remember that the Kansan is the voice of all the students of KU. It is not just a publication put out by the somewhat strange journalism students in Stauffer-Flint Hall. Remember that $3 of each student's activity fee bill each semester helps to keep this newspaper going.
To contain the spread of the infectious disease, President Reagan last week said that the federal government would require testing for prisoners, immigrants and aliens seeking permanent residence. Premarital testing would also be available for couples, though they would have the option to forgo the test without threat of penalty.
As always, please look to the Kansan as a vehicle for announcing meetings and events. Please be sure to get them to us early because of our Wednesday publication schedule. Our deadline for announcements will be two days before each issue, but information delivered to us a week in advance will be greatly appreciated.
Fear of the disease is inhibiting travel to and from foreign countries. This fear has also led to a worldwide rumor that the United States invented AIDS as a biological warfare experiment.
Most people agree that premarital testing is rational under certain circumstances, for example, to protect infants. Cases of AIDS are increasing nationwide. More
Even though victims of the disease are principally homosexuals and intravenous drug users, federal officials are discovering that the disease is spreading to all sections of society. It is therefore not just a concern to homosexuals and drug users. It's everyone's concern.
infants are contracting the disease, black infants 25 times more likely than white infants to be victims. Continued good health and concern for the safety of offspring are humane and persuasive reasons to accept testing before the issuance of a marriage license. Tests for veneral diseases were accepted for similar reasons.
Tests for AIDS patients, however, must remain confidential and guarantee them fair treatment. There is always the possibility of error. Even the most careful laboratories can make mistakes.
It is irrational to think that all prisoners,immigrants and aliens seeking residency can be tested.The idea is noble but unrealistic.
The massive testing Reagan is advocating will be ineffective in stopping the spread of AIDS. The tests might also set a precedent for other groups to be tested.
Unfortunately for all those afflicted, AIDS has become a political toy for this administration. The problem has only recently begun to get the attention due to it.
Politicians are not paying enough attention to health experts in forming a policy. Leadership has been absent in educating the public and in funding research. For now, Reagan's stance will quiet internal turmoil.
We hope it will not be simply hot air to AIDS sufferers.
News staff
John Benner ... Editor
Dawn O Malley ... Managing editor
Jane Zachman ... News editor
Pam Miller ... Campus editor
Tim Hamilton ... Sports editor
Darry Chang ... Photo editor
Connie Sheridan ... Graphics editor
Tom Ebler ... General manager
Business staff
Lisa Weems...Business manager
Lisa Osment...Retail sales manager
Sally Depew...Campus sales manager
Dan Krumpton...Classified manager
Greg Knupp...Production manager
Chuck Rotblut...National sales manager
Jeanne Hines...Sales and marketing adviser
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Bakker and Elvis: slices of Americana
Jim and Tammy Bakker not only sell God, they sell news pretty darn well, too. Twice in two months they're been on the cover of Newsweek.
Why is it a good thing that the press continues to expose the PTL ministry? To avoid sounding less than objective, it seems that reporters collect the information from these facts will eventually add up to something.
Reporters only guess why the PTL stories are important. They're pretty good at answering how, what, and when where. But the importance to everyone of the trend toward TV evangelism is not made as clear.
Editorialists are at a slight advantage, roughly skimming the "why" question, skipping straight to what ought to be done about the PTL scandal. For the most part, journalism waves its wands through an air of facts. The myth is that as the public becomes more aware, a certain seductress will magically disappear. This should work for networks dealing in God, teenage pregnancy, cocaine, you name it. The illusion is that these problems disappear. Actually, they don't.
The press has worked itself into an objective corner. This means that responsible treatment of a complex issue requires the advice of psychologists and political analysts, people with the proper credentials, to do the tough thinking for us.
It's odd. In a country that prides itself on the right to free speech for all people, we still must be backed by an expert's opinion in order to be heard. As the says giving, "hitch your wagon to a star . . ." When that star has a Ph.D., and he or she agrees with us, then we're sure our thoughts are legitimate. When that star is named Bakker or Swaggart, we're suddenly aware that following religious leaders has its consequences.
It has been said that most PTL followers are uneducated. In response to a number of national problems, in fact, we have heightened our campaign for education. People say that four years of college is good, but that even higher education is 10 times as good.
--to approach it from different angles. More than any words do, pictures in last week's Newsweek go a step beyond mere facts. One in particular shows Jessica Hahn. Its caption is straightforward enough, reading "Hahn at Home." It isn't really about her, though. It's instead about the life-size Elvis portrait above her living room sofa. This, to me, is the most sympathetic piece of journalism Hahn and others like her have received. Everyone needs a hero. Hahn's heroes, Elvis and Bakker, have both died, more or less.
I'm not so sure that this education multiplies a person's intelligence by the same factor. It does.
Higher education also allows two other things. First, it allows simple things to emerge as complex, making for either enrichment or frustration. Second, higher education can allow a person the choice of specializing in one field. Specialization can make a person be thorough, but also can considerably limit the field itself. Often, it seems, when we campaign in the interest of enriching our knowledge of the "heart and soul" of the United States, we cut out the heart, find out how it works, and leave the rest.
Fundamentalists and others are now insisting with a vengeance that they have a soul. They also insist on being heard and are backed by their own expert. Unfortunately, their experts, while preaching about values, spit out their own facts supposedly leading to values. Like their secular counterparts, they are no better at addressing tough questions. No wonder fundamentalists despise the press, and vice versa. Both are playing on the same turf of objectivity.
As the PTL scandal unfolds, the press does seem
Not everyone worships Elvis, but he is a part of good 'ol' Americana. Let's look at that instead of education, the thing that seems to separate people more than it brings them to a level of equality.
America doesn't make us equal, but it can be unifying, nonetheless. Why? Because it's part of our history and lacks, well, taste, though only by European standards. As citizens, we can be as tasteless as we please and not be embarrassed by it. That's what was really meant by "home of the brave."
A lot of us are embarrassed now. So much so that we tell ourselves that God wants us to be rich and gaudy and flamboyant. We take good o'l Americana too seriously. We become, like the Bakkers, more Elvis impersonators.
The real tragedy of PTL isn't that millions were spending themselves poor at Heritage USA Amusement Park. It's that they chose to spend it in the parking lot, and that they had no better heroes than the Bakkies.
Yet, the Bakkers weren't intimidated by facts. They ignored objectivity. Just a little of that audacity might be a good thing, if we all had some. On touch issues, we wouldn't hide behind experts.
Danny should have chosen L.A., not KU
We'd produce heroes with more soul than the Bakkers, with more soul than, let's say, Phil Donahue.
Many people in Lawrence, at KU and all over the state of Kansas chewed their nails down to the quick while agonizing about the fate of Danny, Larry and about the Jayhawks' chances for a national championship next season.
The media did little but fuel the ridiculous soap opera that finally and mercifully ended when both Larry and Danny decided to stay and grace us for a while longer.
This incident is just another in a long, long line of occasions when the perceived fame of big-time college athletics has underservedly hogged the limelight that ought to shine on the academic world.
Certainly, I am not surprised that once again the press and the public have begged for sports news above other news, but I can't help but hope that some day the community can get as riled about important things such as summer school offerings and about legitimate job opportunities for graduates who care about their studies more than they care about the Jayhawks' chance for a national championship.
Before you think I'm slamming a genuine American hero and putting down a sport that brings spirit and dollars to the University, let's look at the facts of the matter.
Danny said he wanted to stay here because another year of college ball would allow him to beef up before he enters the NBA draft.
Last week Danny answered some questions put to him by the press about his reasons for staying. I was very interested in her story.
Let's look at Danny's reasons for staying.
Something has gone terribly awry with this plan. Since Danny has been at KU, he has actually shrunk. Yes, he's shrunk. When Danny first arrived at KU he was listed at 6-11. Recently at the Pan American Games trials, he was measured at
6-9 1/4. Perhaps he was an overrated freshman.
Danny said he wanted to get a look at the incoming freshmen to see if the team, with him, could be considered a national contender.
Presumably, if the new recruits were totally inert. Danny would hit the road.
However, he said he thought Marvin Branch and Joe Young would be able to help out the team. I suppose that means he thought they would be skilled enough to pass to him.
Danny said one of his concerns was that Larry would not stay at KU. I thought it was interesting that Danny would wait to see what Coach Brown did before making his choice. I don't think I'd want advice about this particular matter from a man who probably still receives magazines that have been forwarded to him from four addresses back.
Danny also said he was confused by advice foisted off on him by his friends and by anonymous fans. He said their advice centered on their opinions of whether he should stay here and get his degree or go directly to the NBA.
He should have taken the money.
Let's face facts. Unless Danny has been buying insurance from Lloyd's of London, he had better be very careful next season. If he were to be injured, he could miss out on millions of dollars, and
money's the most important thing. isn't it?
If he ever gets a job outside of professional basketball, it will be because of his past as a ball player, not because of his grades. Even if he does receive a degree, a GPA that hovers just below 2.0 doesn't go far unless the package includes some other surprises.
Lastly, Danny said he would like to play college basketball for one more year in hopes of being the top draft choice in next year's NBA selections. I've heard of padding a resume, but this strains belief.
Danny said he would not want to enter this year's draft because he didn't want to play for the inept Los Angeles Clippers, who lost an astounding 70 games.
I fail to see how being the top pick in next year's draft could guarantee that he wouldn't end up just as bad off. Perhaps the Clippers can lose 75 games next year. In any case, it's more than likely that the team that gets the top pick in next year's draft will be a pushover as well.
Danny bellyaches that he would not want to be stuck with a team mired in the muck at the bottom of the NBA, though many young men would give everything they have to get a chance to play in the big leagues.
Furthermore, who says Danny has to sign a contract that lasts longer than one year? Instead of treading water here for free, he could take a gamble, sign a one-year contract for an astronomical sum, and later move to a team that could elevate him to the true star status be seeks.
Though it would have been in Danny Manning's best interest to leave KU this year, the next chapter of the Danny Manning Story will be written with the adoring hometown fans in attendance.
Don't look for me at the games
Euphemisms make the world go... wrong
Getting the word: Discussing his decision (or somebody's) to ransom American hostages in Lebanon, Ronald Reagan again conceded that he might have had a conversation about getting the hostages out, but said, "I would suggest that never it would be termed 'ransom.'" Of course. The trick to doing something one doesn't want to admit, especially to one's self, is to call it something else.
American society has developed a vast vocabulary of euphemisms to disguise and therefore permit what goes on in American society: dirty money is "laudered," victims aren't assassinated but "neutralized," public officials who don't want to take responsibility for their acts are assured "deniability," secret warms are "covert operations," and endlessly on. To quote the Senate Intelligence Committee a few years back when it was investigating the CIA, "failing to call dirty business by its rightful name may have increased the risk of dirty business being done." The beginning and perhaps the end of wisdom is to call things by their right names.
John W. Dean III, who ought to know how these things are done, usually by calling them something else, put it this way in explaining how Watergate grew from little euphemisms to giant scandal. He said, "If... Richard Nixon had said to me, 'John, I want you to do a little crime for me. I want you to obstruct justice.' I would have told him he was crazy and disappeared from sight. Nobody thought about the Watergate cover-up in those terms, not
PAUL
GREENBERG
Columnist
Columnist
at first anyway. Rather, it was 'containing' Watergate or keeping the defendants 'on the reservation' or coming up with the right public relations 'scenario' and the like. . . "The recipe for national scandal is to let your "aye" be a possible affirmation and your "nay" a less than favorable response.
That is how a president who is opposed to paying ransom, at least in principle, winds up authorizing one. "I don't recall ever anything being suggested in the line of ransom." Reagan said the other day. "I do know that we were constantly receiving ideas and exploring ways (to) get our hostages back." He pointed out that Mr. Bush's employed is the appearance of long circumlocutions to replace simple concepts — like ransom.
The plural executive: It happened when Michael Dukakis, the governor of Massachusetts who would like to be president of the United States, announced his candidacy. This time he didn't misquote the poetry of Robert Frost, an offense that so far has been the only distinctive aspect of his speaking style. Instead, he parodied John F.
Ask more than what kind of president we will be?
Is that the royal we or the editorial we? It's probably just the gratitudous we, unless these days candidates run for president as a couple. It's enough to make one nostalgic for Adlai Stevenson, a presidential candidate who was divorced safely.
Kennedy's inaugural address, "Ask more than what kind of president we will be. Ask what kind of people we are and what kind of people we will have around us."
Refined Rococo: Bob Teague, a state representative from Roland, Ark., had a point when he complained about the outrageously inflated salaries paid to members of his state's Transportation Commission. It's just that it was hard to see Mr. Teague's point being his lush prose. "I will never support tax increase in Arkansas," he warned, "until the Administration cleans up their act and gets rid of people like this who are on the proverbal sugar breast, feeding at the public trough of the state."
That mixed metaphor would challenge even the most florid of Renaissance painters. (Try to picture someone on a sugar breast feeding at the public trough.) And his bowdlerization — sugar breast for sugar tit — makes Bob Teague's populist impulses sound semi-genteel, which is about the worst thing you can do to poplust impulses. Pour it on, Mr. Teague, don't just sprinkle.