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Wednesday, July 20, 1988 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Moon landing remembered
Nineteen years ago today, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to set foot on the Moon. Michael Collins stayed in orbit, forever to be remembered as the other astronaut.
After a few days in orbit, the Eagle landed. For Armstrong and Aldrin, it was a great accomplishment. For the U.S., it was the realization of a dream. For the Soviet Union, it was a slap in the face in response to the slap in the face the U.S. received when Sputnik launched 12 short years earlier.
But with curiosity comes initiative, and with hard work comes continued discovery and satisfaction. On this anniversary, the U.S. should remember with great pride the momentous event of which millions were a part and also the chain of events set in motion by "one small step."
It was an end and a beginning. The U.S. had won the race to the Moon. People in the U.S. knew what was on that pockmarked hunk of matter that orbits our planet. Indeed, all the world knew. One mystery was solved, but many more had been created.
Yet it was only the start of the space race. Since then, a few more planets have been explored, though none has been landed on. Marvelous discoveries have been made, but thousands of questions remain unanswered. It is this unsatisfiable curiosity that will carry people in the U.S. further and further in space exploration and observation.
It's time to get back in the race. It's time to rekindle pride in our accomplishments and refocus our vision of the future.
David White, managing editor
Last Wednesday, the Dallas City Council unanimously adopted a resolution condemning CBS for airing an episode of "Mighty Mouse" in which, council members claim, the superhero snorted cocaine.
Dallas's city council defames Mighty Mouse
Does the council have nothing better to do than to scour children's cartoons in search of bad influences? Or maybe this was one more chapter of the saga of one-upmanship between the Big D and Fort Worth, or San Antonio, or El Paso. Whichever, the council has made a ioke of the whole matr-
Councilman Charles Tandy, who just happens to be an anesthesiologist, showed from the episode in question a still in which Mighty Mouse sniffs a light-colored substance. Tandy's immediate response and probably the same one he uttered when he first saw the episode was "What else do people snort up their noses but cocaine?"
CBS promptly responded in a letter to the council that Mighty Mouse was enjoying a mass of crushed stems, tomatoes and flowers given to him by a former girlfriend. Also, CBS said that the cartoon character showed "no change of mood or behavior" after lifting the flowers to his nose.
Is this what American society has become? Does a city councilman, a noted personality in a big city, assume that a simple action in response to a well intentioned gift is one more link in the drug-trade chain?
Certainly Mr. Tandy, a prominent citizen in Dallas and certainly a well intentioned man, should reconsider the folly he has created.
After all, no children are on record as recognizing what Mr. Tandy thought he saw. And if the cartoon is aimed at children, then their lack of dismay should be more indicative of their responses than the assumptions of Mr. Tandy.
David White, managing editor
Civil War graves endangered
By David White Managing Editor
More than 3,000 people gathered at the Manassas Battlefield Park in Manassas, Va., Saturday to protest a proposal to build a shopping complex adjacent to the Civil War battleground.
Hon Jazel, a builder in northern Virginia, has plans for a shopping mall 1.2 million square feet, office space of 1.7 million square feet, and 560 homes, all on the 4542-tract next to the park. All this on ground that many historians think contains unmarked graves of soldiers of both the Union and Confederate armies.
It was near the town of Manassas that the struggles known as the first and second Battles of Bull Run were fought, in July 1861 and August 1862. Both times, beaten Union troops retreated to Washington, D.C., to regroup and consider options, because the war seemed to last longer than they thought. More than 30,000 soldiers are believed to have lost their lives in these two short battles.
Shopping complex poses threat to peace, tranquility
And now, a developer wants to desecrate the ground that was once a center of the fight between a determined Union and a beleagured but hopeful Confederacy, a clash of might against will.
But it's not just the graves that these edifices would be disturbing. Many people come to the battlefield park on the anniversaries of the battles to ponder in silence the death of their ancestors and the significance of what they fought for.
And many come only to wonder
'What if the South had continued winning?' or 'What if the European powers of the time would have been able to block the Union blockade?'
But Hazel has some opponents, most notably a group of congressmen who have successfully guided through the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee a bill that would authorize the federal government to buy those 542 acres and add them to the park. Proponents of the bill include Sen. John Warner, D-Va., ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Michael Andrews, D-Texas, member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
The bill also would close roads through the park and pay for new roads. A similar provision is part of a law that says parking bills that was passed a week ago.
Also backing the effort are Jody Powell, press secretary to former president Jimmy Carter, and Jan Scruggs, who helped create Washington's Vietnam Memorial.
The main obstacle to stopping Hazel is Hazel himself. He owns the property and is expected to ask from $70 million to $100 million for it. Fortunately, the legislation authorizes that and $30 million more, to close the two busy computer routes running through the park.
Warner cautioned last week that Congress might not appropriate the entire amount and that Hazel would retain part of his property. This would be a mistake. Congress must act and act quickly. It must appropriate all $130 million to protect this national landmark that is all that remains of huge part of our past that was at times grim, at times glorious, but always historic.
In our rush to embrace the bright possibilities of the future, we sometimes forget the cold realities of the past.
When a man dies, it's not "The System" that kills him.
Let's hope that justice prevails in the case in which an admiral recently announced that he is seeking to court-martial Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Combe.
But defense attorneys for nine enlisted U.S. Navy men in Florida are using the wishy-wishy argument against the failure of the Navy killed a man.
Other Voices
a Naval swimming instructor accused of contributing to the death of Airman Recruit Lee Mirecki, 45, of Anploon. Wis
System not to blame for death of recruit
Rear Adm. David Morris, chief of naval training, is right to say that we can't blame the system for human error. You see. Combe and the five others accused knew that Mirecki was scared of the water. Yet they made him go through the course and wouldn't let him quit.
Combe even went so far to as hold the airman's head underwater. A coroner testified at preliminary hearings that Mirecki's intense phobia of water triggered a heart attack.
The attorneys have argued that the naval system was partly to blame because of its practice of keeping frightened or tired trainees in the pool. Military protocol isn't reason enough to justify a
death. When Mireeki gasped for breath and literally died from fear of water, the system could not have saved him. Only the men present could have saved Mireeki.
Next time a man is drowning, he should count on the system to help save him. Because he won't have a able to count on his fellow man.
The Indiana Daily Student Bloomington, Ind.
Many in U.S. pursue needless obsessions
By Grace Hobson
Staff Columnist
Undoubtedly, he looks good.
His obsession with his body is by no means uncommon. It's almost normal these days. Exercise fanatics in this nation of the body-conscious.
Our obsessiones don't stop with our bodies. In a country abundant in all areas and resources, we live excessively in obsessiveness has begotten obsessiveness.
But he's not satisfied with his Herculean body. He wants to be bigger. No, he wants to be the biggest.
Take our preoccupation with food, for instance. Nutrition has been a popular subject, like exercise, in the 1800s. In the process of educating young people good to eat and what is not, we've become consumed by consumption.
Are we healthier for all our knowledge and study? I think not. I recently read an article in a health magazine that solved the answer to the poor diets of people in the United States. Eat what our prehistoric ancestors ate, the magazine exhorted. The moral of the story: We were better off when we ate what we wanted to and didn't think about it so much.
We are blessed with a plentiful food supply. In our excessiveness, however, we've forgotten the simple life-sustaining purpose of food. We abuse it in extremes. Anorexia and obesity have been linked to addiction-related health problems today.
The media have painted a vivid picture of the successful professional today's society: driven, hard work dedicated to the job before all else.
Our society encourages our addictions. We are told to go for the burn. Work hard, play hard. Be number one, no matter what the cost.
I'm not advocating mediocrity. Striving to do one's best is to be encouraged, but not at the expense of person's mental and physical health.
The media also aid our obsessive-
ness in their treatment of celebrities. As a society, we take extreme pleasure in our entertainers. But to entertain isn't all we ask of them. We are so obsessed with these people that we invite them to permeate our lives. Actors tell us what to look like, what to eat, how to dress. Moreover, they tell us what to think and how to vote. They lobby Congress for important legislation. They are spokesmen for key issues.
We are even obsessed with the obsession of the well-known. No longer taboo, we feed on the news of yet another celebrity's problem with drugs or alcohol. It is front-page news when a celebrity checks into the Betty Ford Center, a resort for the rich and famous. It's a sign of membership to that elite sector of our population.
We know every aspect of the lives of our celebrities. Not only our entertainers, but officials on all levels of government are objects of our obsession.
We've glamorized addictions. We let the subject out in the open and run with it. Every day we hear about new drugs, because they are alcohol, gambling and eating are old
hat. Now it's everything from sex, or an unrequited love, to riding in elevators, cleaniness or anything else you can think of.
It is in vogue to overcome an addiction. Books detailing the tumultuous life of addicts and their anguishing battle against such addictions are best sellers. We admire the strength of those who have overcome addictions. One might even feel left out for not having a major addiction to overcome.
More and more doctors are specializing in the treatment of addictions. Counselors in the field are numerous. Hotlines and support groups have proliferated.
Of course, all such attention is focused on ridding our culture of such destructive addictions. But until we learn how to deal with the excess inherent in our society, we will be trapped in our obsessions.
In the end, the objects of our obsessions are of little consequence. Nothing in our world is worthy of obsession.
So relax.
Grace Hobson is a Lawrence senior majoring in English and journalism.
News staff
Laird MacGregor...Editor
David White...Managing editor
Brian Barrauch...Campus editor
Jeff Moberg...Assistant campus
Tom Stinson...Sports editor
Dale Fulkerson...Photo editor
Cristi Ratlion...Copy chief
Tom Eblen...General manager, network
Business staff
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Bernhard Mantelman...Marketing manager
Kevin Martin...Production manager
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Margaret Hirthman...Sales and marketing manager
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