4
Thursday, March 3, 1977
University Daily Kansan
Comment
Opinions on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Kansas or the School of Journalism
Freedom above taste
Once again, freedom of the press is making state and national headlines.
In Kansas, there is the case of Wichita State University's erotic film festival last month, at which former Attorney General Vern Morn, acting in his new role of Sedgwick County District Attorney, seized a film he alleged was obscene.
Nationally, there is the case of Huster magazine publisher Larry Flynt, who was convicted on obscenity charges in Ohio last month.
Both cases involve the traditional question: Are there limits to freedom of speech and the press?
SOME PEOPLE SAY yes. They say freedom of speech and the press shouldn't extend to pornography and other things offensive to the general public. They say the Founding Fathers meant for freedom of the press promote political discussion—not public hair;
Once limits to the First Amendment are established, there is no telling where those limits will stop. An action taken against obscene photographs well may be used as a precedent later by someone taking action against political dissent.
FREEDOMS ARE TOO precious to take chances with.
Obscenity could be outwaisted only if everyone agreed on what is obscene. Fat chance of that happening. The definition of
obscenity varies from country to country and state to state, from city to city and person to person. It also varies from year to year.
At present, the Supreme Court believes that obscurity should be defined by the community it affects. Most of the time, this has been taken to mean the town or, at most, the state. Flynt's magazine, for example, didn't fit into the Ohio case and "The Devil in Miss Jones" didn't fit the community standards of Wichita—or at least of Vern Miller.
THE SUPREME COURT theory just doesn't work. In the case of the WSU film festival, the community could just as easily be defined as the college campus—which has different community standards than Winchita as a whole. And in the case of a nationally distributed magazine, the community could just as easily be the United States.
This would also be true if people tried to (and they will try to) apply Wichita's or any community's community standards to other areas. The best way is to and nationally broadcast television shows.
All that people who detest X-rated movies and pornographic magazines can do is to refrain from seeing them or buying them, and to fear them. If they are legislated in a free society, especially when it might weaken an important freedom.
Relax, dear friends. Alger Hass has left town so you can once again get your kids out of the closet, secure in the room, no daint of Communism has pervaded their unplolated minds.
Hiss was one of the rising stars in the government in the late '46, until he was convicted of defrauding the senate by denying that he allegedly passed national security secrets to Communists 11 years earlier. He was at KU Monday and was briefed about the McCarthy era.
WHERETH GUILTY or not, the Alger Hier trial and the subsequent McCarthy witchhunt marked a sad phase in America's history, the results of which have never been fully erased.
It was an era in which he played an integral part, not only in indirectly creating a sense of paranoia among Americans that still subliminally exists today, but also in furthering the California senator, Richard Nixon's patience and persistence were finally rewarded by Hiss' conviction.
Communism still is a dirty word that few Americans try to comprehend, preferring instead to associate Communism with Russia, and Russia with injustice and lack of democracy.
The crusade to warn children against the Russian threat is launched at an early formative
That's what Myron Tum-
Tolerance prevents extremism
Only recently, however, was it learned that the squawling little critters had a taste for booze.
Pigs—the four-legged kind— are notorious consumers of just about anything —mid, smeal, cheese, and whatever else their grimmy little hootes on.
(RNA)s for the egg yolk protein vitellogenin."
Research over his head
THE NATIF PIECE netted its author $1,736. For what? Apparently to stimulate him, To each his own, as they say.
This one's a personal favorite of mine: A grant given by the
Bill Sniffen
Editorial Writer
blesson of the University of Missouri is serving his 24 pigs—either grain alcohol or beer.
THE IDEAL OF modern democracy, itself as much a loaded term as Communism, is that political authority springs people, who act freely to choose their representatives and laws.
ideology are complex and overwhelming, Second, the stress placed on educating, both consciously and subconsciously, the nation against potential imminent dangers can only harm the spirit of deltato and exhilarate its peace and understanding.
Wiggins, former Missouri state liquor control supervisor, feels that 'if federal monies are there to be lost to the things, I believe we could use them for better programs than giving alcohol to pigs, and whatever else... they were given in the N.C.'s boizing pigs serve to confirm "deeply serious facts of life about alcoholism," including the face that baby pigs drink more alcohol, severe withdrawal symptoms.
Historian Richard Hofstader refers to such "education" as pseudo-conservatism, a product of America's roostlessness, search for secure identity and scramble for status. Too often, the idea of creating an indictiveness and the creation of innocent scapegoats.
And Missouri State Sen.
Harry Wiggins, D-Kansas City,
is "deeply disturbed" about the
whole thing.
In practice there are discords between the ideal and reality that are largely dependent on
economic and political variables. The average American plays but a minor and passive role in the molding of opinion and often sees no essential differences in the policies of the two major parties.
call it the HEBC. (It gets a little tiring typing high energy bubble chamber.)
The argument doesn't end there. Nor is the debate confined to MU. At the University of Kansas, thousands of dollars a year from both private and public hospitals for studies ranging from the merely absurd to the ridiculous.
Consider this abstract: "In order to probe the mechanisms of control of gene expression, we will study the response of the immune system to stimulation by juvenile hormone. We will focus on the synthesis of the messenger
I'm not knocking research; it certainly has its place. And what better place than a university? But what can four-legged lashes tell us about the relationship already all too familiar with? Will the stimulation of a cockroach's fat body help keep the little creep out of my kitty bed? And will the porco flicks be enhanced by first placing each member of the audience in a high energy environment?
But a rule wouldn't be a rule unless there was an exception: "The proposed investigation shall consist of 1. Genetic analysis of differences in mice and in levels of LH (whoever that is) in inbred strains of mice and their crosses." I 'left out Part II, an additional 30 words "gonadoproteins" and "pinkened" among them. Yet this masterpiece netted only $400.
somewhere knows exactly what all the money is being used for. Somebody can explain all the jargon. As for me, I could tell it all but I still am a stimulated cockroach from a lethargic one. And if a door-to-door salesman ever offered me the chance of a lifetime, bargain-basement salesmen I'd call an officer. or give in and buy it.
National Science Foundation of $139,800 for the study of "High energy interactions using bubble chambers."
SURELY SOMEBODY,
SO WHY CALL a shower massage device a shower massage device when you can
Until my salesman comes, I think I'll station myself supine on a sleep-inducing implement or puttitium-gometal amnesia.
For American democracy, indeed for world democracy, to be a continually workable system, an interest in and acceptance of the nations living under all shades of the ideological spectrum is necessary. Fear, irrationality and ignorance can too often lead illusions, panic without real understanding, social and political control.
Education, in all its forms,
has a duty to promote skills and
provide exposure to a wide
range of political, philosophical
and religious ideas. Only then
can each individual hope for
a true and realistic
understanding of his own beliefs.
LAST WEEK, FOR instance,
former Miss America Debra
Barnes Mike spoke to eight
graders in Lawrence at a
age and frequently leads to misperceptions, vaguely defined dangers and irrational fears.
Paul Addison
Editorial Writer
This fear of the unknown isn't found only on the side of the right-wing. It also finds foundation in the fact that wings whose abwareness
conservatism and fascism is just as complete.
WHILE I WOULD be one of the last to praise the merits of the Russian Communist government observations are in order First, should never be associated completely with Russia. The differences between this form, the Chinese form, Eurocom-
Taken to an extreme, it is this kind of anti-Russian propagandizing that can so easily be used against the West and lead to membership in
"demonocracy-promoting" event sponsored by the Sertoma Club. The children's responses to her talk included "I never did like it," and "It was hard of hard to believe, the Communists are that restrictive."
"Birth of a Nation," vastly popular at the time of its release, represents some of the most blatantly racist filmmaking of this country. The movie denigrates black women as victims of race roles, a view no longer tenable in this society. Whether consciously or not, such movies only serve to reinforce opinions
SUA is certainly to be commended for its efforts to highlight the role of the arts in human development through its sustained program, "Accent the Stu," How Art Deepen the Depth of Learning by the selection of D. W Griffith's movie, "Birth of a Nation," as an example of fine film-making. Even though "Birth of a Nation" does represent advanced techniques in cinematography for its day, the social implications of the work that movie up as a fine example of the highest achievements of the movie industry.
As a further note of some historical significance, through the efforts in the motion picture industry of films like "Burial of a Warrior," the film is systematically forced to work in roles (when they could find work) as servants, slaves, or in other demeaning and degrading positions, to the exclusion of the last part of this century—the late '60s and early '69. Certainly a sorry note for the state
'Birth of a Nation' stereotypes blacks
To the editor:
Sponsorship of movies that sort only helps to continue the view, of those who have had access to black Americans, that all black Americans are more Steppin Fetchits. I find it difficult to believe SUA intended to foster race relations program "Assent the Arts."
about a segment of America society, about a particular racial group, which were not at the time the movie was made and which are not true today.
Thomas S settle Torrance, Calif., graduate student
of the arts in this country, particularly the state of the most accessible artform, the movies.
So you feel that single people
Marriages taxing To the editor:
Your editorial on taxes (Feb.
28) moved me to drag out the old portable typewriter to attempt to enlighten you on the basics of the U.S. federal tax system.
always assail windmills.") If discrimination exists, it is against married couples. And the proposed reforms that you cite won't change that one bit; if anything, singles are getting an increase in centage base, they will receive a greater standard deduction.
On Feb. 28 you printed an article concerning a suit filed against a member of the KU basketball team. To say the truth, I could not possibly taste. I found it offensive that a newspaper of such generally high quality as the Kansas would demean its readers' intelligence by employing quasi-sensationalism would satisfy the readers' need for news.
Ruth Goring Stewart
Ruth Goring Stewart
Lawrence graduate student
Zionism pervasive To the editor:
heavy fighting, making possible their safe evacuation. The PLO was publicly commended and thanked for its concern for American lives by former President Ford.
"Network," a movie nominated for 10 Oscars now being shown in Lawrence, once again
Zionists must resort to deception and trickery because they know that the existence of their state depends on large scale American economic and military support. Billions of dollars have been spent in truelling troubled economy. Military hardware has been taken from the american active reserve to
Story in bad taste
To the editor:
Readers Respond
are discriminated勾走 by our government because President Carter proposes to raise their standard deduction to $2,400 while married couples' deductions will be raised to $2,800. Have you really looked at the form? Who don't seem to realize is that the $2,800 is to be split between two individuals, while that parity $2,400 goes completely to one person.
I was married last August. I nearly croaked this January when my husband and I received our Short Forms in the mail and I discovered that the government had a policy of giving short forms to married. My single friends can take a standard deduction of $1,700; my husband and I get $2,100 to split between us, whether we file jointly or not. We do calculations on the form can be worked out quickly. I figured out that if we were still single, we would be required to pay $201 and $381 respectively for 1976. Our being married means we could pay $697 between our $697 between the two of us. That's a difference of $215—a big chunk of money for us.
We like being married and we think it's worth $235 or more per year in extra taxes. But please, think before you write—or at least before you put your thoughts into proverbs. This helps the integrated Humanities Program's slogan: "May you
makes clear the extent to which Zionist forces in the United States seek to influence American public opinion against Arab nations. The film contains numerous clips, supposedly from television news programs, making accusations responsible for raising the price of oil and in doing so, harming the American economy; and that Arab financial interests are making huge undesirable investments in the United States. This is a prime example of why they have held the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said two years ago when he exposed the fact that Zionist leaders control the media and banks in this country. The indisputable facts are that Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates refused to accept any investment including the non-Arab nations of Venezuela, Nigeria, Iran and Indonesia, in their 15 per cent oil price increase. Instead they held to only a 5 per cent increase in the interest of the
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have shown their concern for the welfare of the United States by buying more than $3 billion of oil to fund their low yields, to help stabilize the American economy. Egypt too has shown its friendship to the United States by expelling Soviet advisers and cooperating with Henry Kissinger. The PLO agreed on a deal for Americans in Beirut by protecting them during the
The time has come to recognize the racist nature of the Zionist philosophy and to recognize the desire of Zionists to cause a rift between Arab countries and the United States, to call for an end to American support to Israel, and to receive the hand of friendship offered by the Arab people.
be sent to Israel, to such a large extent that General Brown expressed his fear that the United States would be in Israel and state security hardware in the event of a conventional war.
A newspaper has a responsibility to provide information relevant to the general public interest. You abused this responsibility by violating an individual's right to privacy and not providing your paper and a well-known student. Was your article either relevant or of general public interest? I feel it was nothing more than malicious gossip. I enjoy KU basketball. I neither enjoy nor find it interesting of the players' personal lives, which should best remain private.
Shawkat Hammoudeh Palestine graduate student
In printing this article, the Kansan staff displayed an adoring look of pride and hope that in the future you will use more discretion in deciding what is news and what is simply damaging and trashy jour-
Sue Parcell
Sue Parcell Columbus, Ohio, junior
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Published at the University of Kansas daily August 16, 2015. Subscriptions are valid June and July except Saturday, Sunday and Halloween. Subscriptions by mail are $ a member or $18 subscriptions. Subscriptions by phone are a year outside the county. Student subscriptions are not applicable.
Editor
Managing Editor
Grew Hack
Campus Editor
Alison Gwinn
Associate Campus Manager
Associate Campus Editor
Associate Campus Editor
Bartara-Biowicz
Copy Chairs
Business Manager Janice Clements
Advertising Manager Tim O'Meara
Instant Advertising Manager Randy
Rundy Assistant Classified Manager Pat Thornton
Promotional Manager Danny O'Connor
Marketing Manager Danny O'Connor