Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 22, 1952, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY -HZ DAILY TAP. f r - X' enrs. ur ine mdlefmsnt against those who are sa: the moral n c-i America. rsneraHv figures as Senator Joseph McCarthy and wcrks down through the MoCarrans, jrerguscns, Chambers, Longs, and Oarks Ito' ins activities of various organizations ..who tabulate the lovaltv xixianess of individuals. The indictment, as a result, generaSv misses the real danger point In regard to civil liberties. The argument that a despot could "put himself in power through the atmos phere of fear that befogs the countryside today is fallacious. The political organization of this country is yet such that men may achieve power only through popular support. Fear is an individual thing. Only wherein dividuals fear to- speak out, and therefore acquiesce, through silence, to fear tactics, can power over individuals be achieved. Yet men have families, futures, homes and established reputations to consider, and only a few men in any given com munity will have the innate courage to endanger'these things to speak out against the things they fear. Therefore has the world constantlv looked to youth not 'for leadershipbut for courageous outspokenness; for con stant displacement of the old by the new; and for open exarn , ligation of the orthodox. The heartiest damnations of America's . currant crop of young men and women has come in post war years from older leaders who see no vigorous replacements arising for pro gressive leadership. We are called the "generation of jellv fish "silent," and "security-minded." " Where older established leaders cling to the old, the orth odox, the conservative, the situation is normal. Where young men and women university students accept passively the status quo, and regard with fear any efforts toward change, the situation justifies alarm. The men and women on tins campus, in their quiescent acceptance of pressure and fear tactics from the outside have exhibited their inadequacy to renew the democratic spirit. Many examples can be shown. Boys up before ROTG and Naval examining boards for commissions are afraid to an swer honestly such political questions as "what do you think of Eisenhower?" being asked by the military officials on those boards. The examining boards are probably correct in asking such questions, for the United States Army should know whether or not its officers can think, and if the men hired to lead other men are cognizant of the issues of today. But the military students themselves have built up a per sonal fear of reprisal from some unknown source. In their general acceptance of whatever is current military orthodoxv, they are further strengthening the ability of the military to standardize thought. They do not seem to realize that military orthodoxy of today may be the heresy of tomorrow, and that the honest way is therefore the only safe way. Students intimidate faculty members. Only the other day a professor, in -explaining a socialist form of government, elaborated to the extent of outlining the conditions under which such a government might expect to prpsper. A back row crossword-puzzle worker walked out of class and an nounced to a group of students that he was being taught by a communist. J ust such an incident a, few years ago resulted in a full scale investigation of the University of Chicago by the Illi nois State Legislature, with a resultant chaos in Chicago's academic freedom. - Student: at the present time are accused by John Clark of trying to intimidate the Board of Trustees, and we cannot but admit that such a. situation is -possible, if it does not oti.ii now. The Greensboro Dailv News "if there in one thinr in TInrth Crsrnlirm 1p lilrntv in Vr intimidated than John Clark, it is a University student." President Gordon Gray has asserted many times that academic freedom (with the necessary accompanying respon sibility) will be maintained for faculty and students on this campus. We are undoubtedly in a unique position on this campus in. cur freedom. Efforts to intimidate students are very likely to result in so much protest that the intimidators feel intimidated, as does John Clark. Yet such a body as the Dialectic Senate found itself in z-n a state of fear that the group has completely equivocated its earlier stand on segregation, by claiming its irrespon sibility for the issue, and by claiming that the vote of the body is on the purely technical basis of debate. T'.e Senate (which is not commonly recognized as a mere debate squad) issued a statement saying that the group did not feel intimidated, at the same time admitting privately that the roll call vote on the segregation issue would not be -included in the minutes which they so bravely offered for public inspection. And the group refused to take any official notice of a defamatory letter which was addressed to the president of the body and circulated widely in mimeographed form. , - Gray also commented that "the allegation that students ore not allowed to speak on this campus perhaps is made by. those who don't see The Daily Tar Heel." We could add that . is perhaps made by those who hear only students so seeped in their own fear of the process of thought that' they deny for themselves all right to that process. The blame for failure to speak on controversial issues must lie squarely with the student who fails to speak. j-reeooni hear! trp T? -rrftih t r.v?-,. commented .the other rbv f hat etters to JSc-iton is to read yo-r sditeriaL Faculty for Freedc: - cf 12 February. I hope, its mes sage Las set gene unheeded. Feat has happened to us here in America? Was I completely naive when, in grammar school, words such as "freedom, "de mocracy, ttMierty, seemed to glow with. the " promise and dreams they represented? One cf the stock sentences in cur vo cabularly then, only a few short years ago, was "It's" a free country, ain't it? But .such a' sentence was in that case an ex pression of , irresponsibility. Our vital need today is a sense of responsibility, of in dividual responsibility to society. The guiding Meals of our revo lution must not be allowed to die, if we expect the nation they sup port to live. But what de we see upon look ing around us? A government which is becoming a dictator ship in its blind efforts to defeat another; a mania for comfort , and security to the utter disre gard liberty; a society in which people are suspect for the read ing of Carl ilarx; a situation in which reputations can be assa ssinated and careers ruined by irresponsible, unproved a ecus a - Madam Editor: I would like to comment on your editorial of Thursday morn ing and the dangers which it brought to my attention. I would like for this to be con sidered an open letter to the writer of the editorial. I do not intend for my comments to im ply complete disapproval of all of his ideas, but rather let them be considered a discussion of certain thoughts which his most stimulating letter brought td my mind. For the past few years I have viewed with great alarm a trend toward too liberal think ing that has come to grip the American educational commu-. nity. This trend finds its roots in fear, greed, insecurity, and false reasoning generated by the nature of certain politicians and frustrated intellectuals. We have allowed ourselves to be come the prisoners of a doctrine of liberalistic tolerance of every thing, be it right or wrong, which is causing us in many instances to repudiate historic principles proven worthy down through the years, and which we some times fight to protect. " Under the guise of tolerance we have allowed communists to infiltrate the government, we have allowed frustrated, con fused, would-be intellectuals to corrupt many educational in stitutions with their revolutio nary ideas, we have allowed mis informed Southern liberals to be led into the ways of Yankee politicians seeking to exploit the Negro vote, we have allowed our social and moral life to reach miserable depths. I refer you to the current rates of crime, drunkeness, and divorce. Re garding Chapel Hill, why is it that these so called "great thinkers' who come up with some of these liberal theories . are so often seen doing their finest work in any of the several local establishments which spec ialize in selling beer? Regarding national policy, why is it that so many important decisions are made at Washington cocktail parties? Today, it is the conservative, thoughtful person who is the aw f tne cairor are ' ce -era ied journals; In lere in.Oi ox ij . 3 Cf a neo-fas t (in its -corrupted meaning state are evident- The situation is critical when things 7p these go on, when American citizens can be con victed for peacefully advocating a xthHosacby cf government, when the govei nt can arbi trarily designate organizations as subversive, thereby condemning their members, when one group can be set apart from the mapo rity and its right3 flagrantly trampled upon and disregarded. Rapidly the time is approach ing when individuals must make . the choice: are ideals of liberty, justice and decency valuable enough to be the cause for real sacrifice, or will we go along with the crowd and forget these dreams? Perhaps it would be more pleasant to welcome dicta torship with parades and cele brations, rather than to pretend to believe in these other things .while allowing the iron grip to become stronger. But I think not. I am frankly worried deeply about our future. Only fools are not. Jack W. Hopkins Revievs William Whitesides, tenor, sang a well-selected and diver sified program in Hill hall on Wednesday evening. It was, per haps the most stimulating and accomplished musical presenta tion of this year. Mr. White sides combines a delightfully fresh voice with perceptive in terpretation usually found only among older artists. In two tenor arias from Bach's Cantana 73, both Mr. White sides and his accompanist, Thomas Nichols, showed their mastery of classical technique. A delicate and sensitive blend ing of skills made two selections from Don Giovanni effective. A group of Brahms Lieder showed the singer at his very best. On Wenlock Edge, a setting by Vaughn Williams of poems from A. E. Housman's Shrop shire Lad. is a superb impres sionistic evocation of the un adorned joy and pathos of the poems. As performed, it was carefully calculated and cumu lative in emotional intensity. A group of artfullly arranged spirituals concluded the pro gram. ' WJ3.F., W.M.P. non-conformist. Just you dare to advocate the barring of Negroes from the University of North Carolina, dare to advocate the dismissal of faculty members communistically inclined; see how much help you get. The desire4o conform, against which you so vigorously protest, is merely the desire to continue in the paths which have proven successful by guiding our nation, to power. A common malady arising from success is to be come blind to the merits of the very factors causing your suc cess, and turning aside to other paths, which often lead to doom. In your blind advocacy of prtK gress, tolerance, and extension .ameses . Sound "blue" wan 2 I?o. 2. boys, the electioneers are en the loose again. In a few. wee Iks the campus will be fiooded vHh, literature ranging from the poetic to the obscene ar.l all will plead for your support r.rvd votes. Utile flits will be ivc in out from pounding cn dcrni tory doors and little ears vill get blistered from foul utter ances corning from behind those doors. The prcfessknnl and the amateur campus p-li-ticos are on the march! For the benefit cf the fresh men who have never witnessed a full scale spring election, I would like to say that ycu z.re about to hear the most beauti fully ambiguous statements "cf all times. You will hear candi dates talk for hours on ruth rich subjects as the party plat forms, the segregation quetin and what should be done r"t ut the student "legislature. You, Mr. Fresh, are about to borciwe old buddies and life lor.g friends of various campus big dogs. They will put a fatheily hand cn your shoulder, lco you straight in the eye and feed you sugar with a spoon. Awhile back students got ?o dura mad with so many folks corrung around asking for money, the Campus Chet ws founded. In that way only or person came to the room and asked for about ten times Ms usual amount. That ain't bat Pay it all at once and et H over with is better . Now if there is some way we could get up a Politician Chest whereby only one candidate would knock once on every door, give all the speel for all the office seekers, 'twould be fine. Think of the yawning you could save. This way we cciM put all the hardened pros on that job and save the more in nocent freshmen officer seekers from being disillusioned at what the average student things of the average office seeker. Be lieve me, brother, it ain't much. And too, the more "productive minds on the campus could really whoop up some good ones ben young ladies took a no- Pohtician's Chest" fhr.t is rather suitable; about as ambi guous as you can get. Every day in every wny I'm disliking hira xnexe This Johnny Raye. of the "good life-, you would, achieving your ends, destroy the things that have" made us peat. Not to say that progress, rcidnce' and the "good lift for all are not desirable ele ments, they most certainy aro but toe factors that you claim 1o be their necessary- components are not conducive to achieving the desired goals. Those people who are so 'con stantly tolerant are character ized by a marked lack of in testinal fortitude. They use tole rance as a cover behind vihieh to hide their real motives. I refer to certain political lenders m our state whose desire for power keeps them from taking strong, firm, actions such as those of Governor Byrnes of South Carolina. More power to Dove Clark, Nell Battle Lewis, James Byrnes, and anyone else? who wdl refuse to conform with the current mad scramble to see who can be the most liberal. - Charles Edward BizscH
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Feb. 22, 1952, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75