PAGE Z, THE COUGAR CRY, NOV. 25, 1968
Roger^s Reflections
On Contemporary Social Revolution
EDITORIAL
Where WUl It End?
Late in the evening, April 15, 1965, a shot rang out in Ford
Theater. Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
slumped forward, mortally wounded. John Wilkes Booth, an
actor from Virginia, had committed the first presidential assassina
tion in U. S. history.
Did Booth start a chain reaction or were the following events
circumstance?
James A. Garfield, 20th President, lay dying of two gunshot
wounds on the floor of a Pennsylvania Railroad Station. The date
was July 22, 1881. The assailant was Charles J. Guiteau, a dis
reputable American politition.
One year after the dawn of the Twentieth Century, the cen
tury of great strides in technology and sociology, the assassins
shot was heard again. William H. McKinley, our 25th President,
was shot and killed while attending a reception. His murdered,
Leon Czolgosz, the first foreign assassin, committed the treacher
ous act on September 6, 1901.
Sixty-two years passed in silence until one day in Dallas,
Texas, a presidential motorcade was abruptly stopped by the echo
of a 6.5 mm Italian carbine. John F. Kennedy lay dying in his
wife’s arms while Secret Service men watched a thousand win
dows for the culprit. Our 35th President died November 22,
1963, by the hands of the dastardly Lee Harvey Oswald. Shock
and despair swept our nation and the entire world from the com
mission of this underhanded deed. People everywhere surely
believed this murder to be the last of its kind until five years
later the late President’s brother, Robert, fell prey to the same
felony.
Young Robert Kennedy sought the Presidency. It might be
said he sought to find an end to this kind of horror through be
coming President. Sirhan Sirhan ended this search June 5, 1968,
with a 22-cal. revolver in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel,
Los Angeles, California. Sirhan was the second foreigner to
intervene in American government.
Again the people of the world thought this tragedy would
open the eyes of Humanity. Again it did not.
Only days ago, November 11, 1968, an alleged plot to assassin
ate Richard M. Nixon, our 37th President-elect was uncovered in
New York City, Ahmed Namen and his two sons, Nussin and
Abdo, again foreigners, are accused.
Is humanity returning to the bloodthirstiness of Hitler and
Napoleon, or will this latest “crime” be the one to awaken the
world? This question I cannot answer. All I can do is ask,
“Where will it end?”
3-in-l Dance
The S.G.A. will sponsor a
three-in-one dance this coming
Wednesday night, November 20th.
This special dance is to com
memorate the coming Thanks
giving Holidays, the freshman
class elections, and the results
of Saturday night’sballgame. En
tertainment will be provided by
The Downbeats of North Wilkes-
boro who was the 1st runner-up
in the Wilkes Community College
“Battle of the Bands.”
The place is to be announced
and the dance will begin at 8 p.m.
This will be the last dance before
Thanksgiving and the S.G.A.
would like to invite all of the
students of WCC to attend.
By FLOYD ROGERS
We are living in an age of
revolution; almost every indivi
dual, social group, and racial or
ethnic group is in revolt. Negroes
are revolting against the white
power structure, students are re
volting against college author
ities, and the poverty-stricken
are revolting against the affluent.
These revolutions have at least
one thing in common—they are
all based on the principle of
human equality. Negroes feel they
are equal to whites, students feel
they are equal among themselves
and equal to the college adminis
trators, and the poor feel they
are equal to the rich. Having this
ideal of human equality as a
foundation, these movements also
have in common the fact that they
are rooted in the acid soil of
fallacy.
There is no such thing as human
equality! In order for all persons
to be equal, each person would
have to possess the same degree
of intelligence, physical ability,
and will to succeed. It is obvious
that people do not possess these
inherent traits in the same
degree. Therefore, each person
must rise or sink in the ocean
of human society according to
his ability—just as different ele
ments rise or sink in water ac
cording to their specific gravity.
Any revolution or movement
that works to achieve absolute
equality is not only impractical,
but contrary to the order of na
ture. The Negro civil rights
worker who says all men are
created equal is just as wrong
as his opposite, the white racist,
who says all Negroes are infer
ior to whites. If all men were
created equal we would all have
equal innate ability. But this is
not the case; there are Negroes
who are more able than some
whites, just as there are whites
who are more able than some
Negroes. The persons possessing
greater ability are superior to
those possessing less ability;
race, or skin color, is completely
irrelevant.
In the same manner the student
rebellions at colleges and univer
sities across the country are
more idealistic than rational.
Student demonstrators want more
freedom and privileges but will
not or can not take on the accom
panying responsibility. In their
frenzy for equality they forget
that the administrators of the
schools, by virtue of their train
ing and experience, are more
responsible and have more ability
in the administration of the in
stitutions than do the students.
If the students would concentrate
their energies on the process of
learning, they would earn their
so-called equality.
The poverty-stricken make up
another social group that yearns
for equality. They, too, do not
realize that “equality* must be
earned. No matter how many
poverty programs are legislated
into existence, no matter how
much tax money is doled out to
them, there will be no sembl
ance of equality for the poor until
they work to earn it. Admittedly
some people are poor because
they do not have the ability to
produce. Nevertheless, a large
portion of today’s poor have
enough ability to be self-suffic
ient. They lack the will. And as
long as they are supported by
welfare checks they will never
have it.
This is not a condemnation of
the revolutions, or movements,
considered here; each of them
has produced some beneficial re
sults. But in each there has been
the attempt to achieve complete
equality, which, being contrary to
the natural order, is both imprac
tical and unjust, if not impossible.
Rationalist Philos.
Student Reaction
Philosophy in my opinion can
be a wonderful expression of a
personal belief if expressed in
a sensible and logical manner.
However, some of the idiotic at
titudes of some of the so-called
great philisophers appear to me
to be no more than a farce.
To partially illustrate my
point, I shall use the theory of
“ideas”. The followers of the
philosophy of ideas believe that
the things perceived by the eye
do not necessarily exist in sub
stance. For example, if a per
son was to see a table, his sen
ses would tell him that it had
color, depth, width, shape and
content. To the follower of the
school of ideas, however, the
table would not truly exist. Now
this is absolutely absurd! If the
table does not exist, why can a
person walk in to it, fall and
possibly kill himself?
If man is to be a firm be
liever in the theory of ideas,
he would find many things im
possible to ac complish. How
could he sit in a chair without
falling through to the floor, which
(Continued on Page Four)
THE VOICE OF WILKES COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Editor John Kirk
Assistant Editor Bob Lackey
News Editor Jim Billingrs
Feature Editor Scott Walsh
Sports Editor Montie Hamby
Circulation and Business Managrer Jack Bryan
Columnist Floyd Rogers
Photographer Jack Bryan
Cartoonist Carol Key
Staff Linda Poe
Margaret Poole, Shelby Hampton, Barbara Tatum
Advisor Mr. D. S. Mayes