PAGE 2 — THE DECREE — OCTOBER 28,1988
OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE
Editor-in-Chief — Don Rhodes
Arts and Entertainment — MikeTrubey
Contributing Editor — Dell Lewis
Photograplier — Margaret Culver
The Decree is located in the Student Union, North Carolina
Wesleyan College, Wesleyan College Station, Rocky Mount, NC
27801. Policy is determined by the Editorial Board of The Decree.
Republiciation of any matter herein with6ut the express consent of
the Editorial Board is strictly forbidden. The Decree is composed
and printed by The Spring Hope Enterprise.
Opinions published do not necessarily reflect those of North
Carolina Wesleyan College.
Contact newspaper
directly with gripes
Last week, The Decree ran
an article about the new Stu
dent Activities Building for
which it received a lot of flak.
At least two people claim that
they were misquoted.
The Decree certainly un
derstands that being mis
quoted is a problem. But the
central issues here is the way
in which the situation was
handled.
Instead of contacting The
Decree staff and informing
them of the problem, someone
posted the article in the fac
ulty lounge and pointed out
what were claimed to be mis
quotations. If he had a prob
lem, he either should have
contacted the staff or written a
letter to the editor, or both.
What every faculty and
administration member, as
well as every student, needs to
know is that The Decree staff
is too small and too con
strained by deadline pressure
to verify every little piece of
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Art speaks for itself
information in our paper.
The major pieces of infor
mation, particularly the fig
ures will always be verified.
The Decree operates as does
every newspaper in the coun
try; we trust that our reporters
are responsible. Nevertheless,
mistakes can and do occur.
(We might add here that the
reporter in question stands by
his story, and we stand by
him.)
Perhaps in closing we need
to delve into one other issue.
The purpose of a school news
paper is to cover the important
issues at the school, as well as
to ensure that the students are
kept abreast of major national
issues ranging from politics to
education. The Decree has
done that and more.
In the future, if someone in
the Wesleyan community has
a problem with an article or an
editorial, The Decree urges
him or her to write a letter to
the editor.
Lennon's music sufficient
By DR. STEVE FEREBEE
Standing in the grocery line about
a month ago, I was chuckling at the
headlines on the screamer papers
when I noticed John Lennon on
People magazine. The front-cover
blurb was The True Truth or some
such nonsense, and I rejected a fleet
ing impulse to read the story.
As it turns out, People was run
ning excerpts from the new trash-the-
60s-liberal-hedonist-druggie-hippie-
madness-days biography of Lennon
by Albert Goldman. Since then the
deluge has overwhelmed my hesita
tion and I read the book, looked
through a new coffee table extrava
ganza, and saw Imagine, the adula
tory movie about Lennon by David
Wolper.
Stop for a minute. Remember a
p>opular figure who influenced your
formative years. Whoever he or she
was, the image created by the music,
the movies, the news reports, the
books, or other medium remains an
integral part of your growth. As you
were growing, this person spoke di
rectly to you and helped you under-
Muse§
stand yourself.
John Lennon is one of those
people for me, and I resent the at
tempt to make him perfectly pleasant
as well as the attempt to make him
perfectly awful. I never thought John
L.ennon was perfect. He often be
haved boorishly, he neglected his
first bom, he spoke without thinking,
he was intensely egotistical.
But he wrote those songs [Ok,
helped whatshisname write some of
them], those amazingly p>ersonal yet
meaningful songs. No other popular
figure spoke to me as directly as did
Lennon. I was just the right age to
move from the love lyrics of “I Saw
Her Standing There” to the probing
“Fool on the Hill” to the political
“Working Class Hero” to the disturb
ing “Woman Is the Nigger of the
World.” When he came back, I
cheered his claim to have been think
ing as the wheels went round and
round for a while without him.
John Lennon the public persona
also spoke to me. First he was an
exuberantly boyish teenager. Then
he was an exploring man. He
searched through music, books, writ
ing, religions, drugs, primal scream
therapy, peace campaigns, and his
love for the oddball Yoko Ono. What
was he looking for? Himself. What
are any of us looking for it we have
any intelligence at all?
I never confused the image with
the man. I did not know John Lennon
the person. And I don’t care if his
wife played weird jokes on him, if he
made love with a man, if he baked
bread, if he loved his son. From my
25 years of listening to his music,
reading his books, and considering
his public activities, I have evolved
my image.
John Lennon savored living, mu
sic, and language. He admired hon
esty and strength. In his words Len
non urged us to love each other, to
(Continued on Page 3)
Campaigns put style over substance
By CHARLES GEORGES
The televised 1988 presidential
debates have exhibited how the office
of the presidency has been sought.
Each candidates’ answers to the
questions posed by the panels and the
negativism displayed toward each
other are the two general tactics of
this election. By not answering the
questions and by trying to make the
other candidate look irresponsible,
George Bush and Michael Dukakis
leave the voters with a confusing pic
ture.
The purpose of the presidential
debate is to allow the American pub
lic a chance to understand where each
candidates stand on the issues. Un
fortunately, the candidates practice
and memorize their lines in anticipa
tion for the questions that were going
to be asked.
Once a question was asked, the
candidate responded with an answer
that covered all aspects from world
peace to welfare but did not answer
the question itself. The candidates
attempt to answer in a style pleasing
everyone and offending no one. The
vagueness of the candidates' answers
shows a lack of confidence in the
American public, for both Bush and
Dukakis fear that telling their true
intentions would be as disastrous as
Walter Mondale’s 1984 proclama
tion to raise taxes if elected. Thus in
1988 there is style over substance.
The prevailing style of this cam
paign has been negative. Let’s take
one example of negative campaign
ing from each camp.
First, Mr. Bush’s distortion of the
furlough program. Mr. Bush claims
that Mr. Dukakis is responsible for
the Massachusets furlough program.
In fact, the Massachusets furlough
program was established in 1972 by a
Republican governor.
Mr. Dukakis is responsible for
restricting the jwogram and since the
Horton incident has outlawed the
program. Also furlough programs
exist in 45 states, a point Mr. Bush
chooses not to mention in his televi
sion advertisements and campaign
speeches.
Dukakis has also been guilty of
negative campaigning by running
TV ads depicting Mr. Bush as a pack
age put together by Republicans. The
ads suggest that Bush is a puppet, not
a capable leader, whose strings are
controlled by others. Mr. Bush is one
of the leaders of the Republican
party. He did not become head of
CIA, vice-president, and the Repub
lican nominee for president solely by
being a robot programmed by other
people.
It is our job as educated people to
look past the mudslinging and over
reliance on style. To find out where
the candidates stand on the issues.
Only then can each of us make an
informed choice on Nov. 8. And
make sure you go out and vote, for if
not, you are allowing someone else
to choose your country’s leader.