Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Sept. 21, 1971, edition 1 / Page 6
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0U Batlxj alar Wml Opinions of The Dafly Tar Heel are expressed on its editorial page. AH unsigned editorials are the opinions of the editor. Letters and columns rrp resent only the opinions of the individual contributors. Harry Bryan, Editor Tuesday, September 21, 1971 Campus 'Raiders' needed for change College students over the past two decades have shown constant concern over civil rights and, more recently, over consumer protection and the environment. Many students who have cared the most, however, have been unsuccessful in their attempts to work for change because they have not known what to do or who to go to in order to see their goals achieved. But through a plan initiated by Ralph Nader, nationally known consumer advocate, students are being given the opportunity to establish their own local and regional organizations to fight libr Daily aarffiwl 7.V Years of i'.dilorial Freedom Harry Bryan, Editor Mike Parnel! Managing Ed. Doug Hall News Editor Lou Bonds Associate Ed. Lana Starnes .... Associate Ed. Mark Whicker Sports Ed. Ken Ripley Feature Editor Bob Chapman . . Natl. News Ed. Jim Taylor Night Editor Bob Wilson Business Mgr. Paddi Hughes Adv. Mgr. Bob Lenski Cam (Editor's note: The following is the first of a five-part series). It's the same scheme at Carolina again this fall. In surroundings where very few people need them, there are 9,500 student cars. Assuming the day of the two-car student has not vet dawned, this means that 9500 of the students eligible have convinced themselves they can "afford" to own a car. But it is doubtful that many of them have given serious thought to all of the hidden costs involved in their decision. They have been rendered incapable of such thought by a society which, from their earliest years, has taught them that the dollar sign is the only meaningful guide to quality in their lives. For many students, to have the money for a car is to "afford" it-it's as simple as that. That, at any rate, would be a kind assessment of their decision; for any student who has recognized the full consequesnces of operating an unneeded Una Keith fFeatherly rrpTl P I he mil I have been closely following the controversy surrounding the UNC infirmary and decided that I should examine the situation first-hand. In a show of true journalistic dedication 1 concluded that I must be afflicted with some type of malady; preferably not too serious, but not too trivial either. Sunday night of last week was when I put my plan into action. Sunday being the time I thought I could best catch the infirmary at their worst. Promptly at eight o'clock I appeared at the receptionist's desk with severe abdominal pain. I told the girl 1 would like to ee a physician and she asked my name. After asking me to spell it at least three times she discovered that my infirmary card was missing. In obvious agony. 1 stood doubled over at her desk as I gave her the information needed to fill out another one. I then described my pain lo the nurse problems they see around them. A meeting to organize students in creating a student-financed arm of "Naders Raiders" is being held tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Murphey Hall for students interested in working for such a group, and any student even slightly concerned should make it a point to be there. The plan presented by Brent English, an associate of Nader who has worked in forming similar groups in Oregon and Minnesota, calls for student referendums on campuses in the Research Triangle area to ask boards of trustees of the schools to collect an extra SI. 50 in fees from each student every semester. Directions and projects for the group would be determined by a student-composed regional board of directors which would head a full-time staff of lawyers, scientists, environmentalists and other persons trained in consumer protection and the like. Local boards would also be formed on each participating campus to seek out local problem areas and to direct students in areas in which they could do research and aid the full-time staff. In short, Nader's idea consists of students working together and using the courts to force needed changes in the Research Triangle area, whether they be in sex or race discrimination, pollution control, merchants overcharging student customers or any other problem brought up by either the local or regional boards. Nader's plan will work in the Research Triangle if students will participate. But if they do not attend tonight's meeting, it may not even have the chance to work. dent stu car in Chapel Hill, and because the benefits outweigh the costs (to considered it justified, then, simply (to himself) himself), has is guilty of callously ignoring the costs which will accrue to others. And he may also be guilty of an uninspired value system, with regard to the nature of "costs" an"benefits". 1 prefer to believe instead that the average Carolina car-owner is largely unaware of the effects his decision to operate a car will have on others; and that he has just never tried to envision an alternative Chapel Hill campus-one on which the one studentone car mentality is dead. The American who understands that his being able to "afford" a car does not mean that he can truly afford it, understands the unreality of our economic system. The American who recognizes that his ability to "afford" a car under such an unreal system does not, ary: and a few minutes later repeated my story to the resident physician who had the unfortunate job of night duty at the infirmary. When in doubt always ask. so this doctor called a surgeon in for consultation. Believe it or not. the surgeon called in another surgeon to review my case. I then described my pain to the nurse and a few minutes later repeated my story to the resident physician who had the unfortunate job of night duty at the infirmary. When in doubt always ask. so this doctor called a surgeon in for consultation. Believe it or not. the surgeon called in another surgeon to review my case. I felt like a passed buck. During my frequent examinations I was wearing one of the latest hospital fashions; a basic white gown with a racy see-through back. I had to walk everywhere backwards. About eleven o'clock that night it was rm Letters to the .Blockage of draft bill is t H e . . 1 1 0 r : It is a disappointment to rr.e th U 111 . . -t . - . - - - - - f -' - - - - informative stand on the draft bill that i presently before the Senate. Many students are ignorant of the consequence of this bill, if passed, on youth and the nation. As the newspaper of the students , it is the duty of the DTH to inform the students of the legal implications of legislation and also provide leadership m organizing student opinion as a political force. Because DTH has not taken this responsibility. I am writing this letter. One week ago it was thought that the draft bill committee would be sent for revision of the ba.k to Mansfield Vietnam-Pullout Amendment which had originally proclaimed an April, 1"1. deadline for disengagement from Vietnam but was later changed by a House-Senate conference to the "sense of Congress" that the war be ended "at the earliest practical date." Through various deals and the employment of telephone-calling and lobbying by military officials. Nixon persuaded several senators to abandon their anti-war stands. It is now time for citizens against the war and the draft to express their beliefs through telegrams and telephone calls to Senators asking for blockage of the draft bill through filibuster. If the promised filibuster of Senators Cranston of California and Gravel of Alaska suceeds, perhaps the draft bill will be tabled until 1972 and therefore give Congress time to come to its senses about the uselessness of conscription and war. One may send a fifteen word telegram to Washington for only SI. 25 which is a small price to pay compared to hassels with the military, and the wasted price of money, energy and lives of the military machine. Thank you. Tom Randolph 101 Grimes Class of '75? cannot rea in itself, justify his having one. recognizes the immorality of American society. Anyone who suspects I am talking about ecology is right. What the entire environmental movement really boils down to is expanded consciousness-the reexamination of our lives from a broader perspective, one which takes into consideration l)the rights of others-other Americans, others around the world, others yet unborn, and 2)our own rights ones we did not know we had, and ones we previously deemed unworthy, as dictated by society. Reexamination with a whole new set of "costs" and "benefits", adding up to a different notion of what we can "afford". In the jargon of the economist, this will involve searching for "externalities": the consequences (good or bad) of an economic activity (ie. buying a car) which do not enter into the formal calculations of gain and loss involved in the activity. It is precisely because the American jaBBec decided by my "team of physicians that 1 would be admitted for further observation. I was jabbed, grabbed, poked, squeezed and pinched in every nook and cranny of my tender body and later X-rayed (maybe to survey the damage done by the doctors). There was a sneaking suspicion in the doctors that I had appendicitis, but since I was footing the bill there was no hurry tor a diagnosis. I spent a restless night with a bag of clear solution plugged into my arm and with nurses coming in every hour on the hour to check my pulse. The next morning I received the cheerful news that indeed I had jppendicitis and that an operation would be necessary. An orderly came in and was preparing me for the operation by shaving all the hair on my body trom my chest to the middle of my thighs and was laughing like ' '' editor Prison inmates have no rights To the editor: Mr. John Brown's letter cf Sept. 15 raised pertinent questions regarding the tragedy at Attica Correctional Facility . Fortunately, Mr. Brown's answers to the questions are unsupported by fact. Wh did the prisoners rebel''' Mr. Brown says br utilization and mistreatment of inmates occurs daily m American prisons. The logical extention is that because Attica is an American prison, this type of treatment occurred there. The Catholic chaplain at Attica publicly stated no reprisals or brutality are being exercized on the prison population. If brutality were a daily occurrence for no reason, wouldn't this same conduct occur now? If mistreatment of inmates was not the reason, what was? Paradoxically, because Attica is rehabilitating and paroling those inmates who are the most stable, the prison population is more and more comprised of violent malcontents. In the early 1960"s only about one third of the prison was violent criminals. Today tim percentage has increased dramatically. What of the "petty institutional reform" demands "substantive" concessions of removal of the warden and a complete amnesty? Mr. Brown feels. I assume, that all demands should have been granted. (All were, except removal of the warden and a complete amnesty.) Mr. Brown says they weren't granted because to have done so would have invited other prisons to revolt, to his thinking, a desireable result. One might ask, however, when have the prisoners the right to determine who the jailers will be? Mr. Brown, do you feel complete amnesty should be given to all kidnappers establishment permits so many externalities to flourish that our economic system is unreal, in many immoral and dangerous ways. Only by recognizing these externalities arul fully including them in our calculations (making them "internalizes") can we hope to correct this situation. Accomplishing this is perhaps the chief goal of a wide range of American reform groups. But returning to the car-driving Carolina student: he must recognize that, although the reordering of American society remains a vision, opportunities for an individual reordering surround him. The goal of this series is to convince Joe Carolina that the need for a reordering of his priorities is his need, that he is among those who will benefit if he abandons his determination to-operate his own car in Chapel Hill. The idea is to convince him that he cannot really "afford" his car. This will be attempted in several ways. graBBea crazy the whole time. I saw absolutely no humor in any of it. To make things worse he was telline me how the hospital had to perform a certain number of appendectomies every month in order to stive the med student practice. His own diagnosis was that I did not have appendicitis and that the doctors were operating just to keep up their quota. Cheerful thought. Lverything would have gone smoothly except my operation was performed two hours and forty -five minutes later than Scheduled. I was almost delirious with pain. That's okay -anybody can make a mistake. I awoke utter the ordeal with a terrible thirst, but of course my tormentors gave me no water. I guess they vot a big kick out ot telling me that I was a "nothing by mouth" r-jlient. My plastic umbilical cord was still attached to that bag o! lly 'afford' or onl to thove behind pr:on wal.O When in fact. hue convicted felons earned the right to make any demand, pe'ty cr otherwise? The gave up th right when. the. commuted the tel. It i also fair to winder w here the demand wo -Id stop l-.itu".;. only, to w Mr Brown's phrae. "petty :nt-.t-t; o-.al acceded s dd tiona1 de"and wee added As Mr. Brown ha alluded to world c ond it ion. the reult of appraemer.t of world felon is also well know n What of the hostice who were kill: Mr. Brown savs the state .J on. t power, not to mora! perua.o: ;. When ar: con:c:ed rap:ts. mure able to provide moral of the houces who Brown"1 These men family men. who. : e. robbers, etc. C S ... S . V w w ere kille, were law ';. tt--.. , ked. paid taxe societv instead were men who wo w V ' . ; I i 1 U . c ci i O sponging off it. The were men who gave their lives to protect you Mr. Brown says the state chose to dl! the inmates' bluff. It was precisely because the state knew the inmates were not bluffing m their threat to kill the hostages that the assa who have murdered. It was made. Men stolen, and raped and are m prison for do not blutf. As presence at Attica, it Lite tor these crime to Bobby Seale's is obvious that the guaranteed attendant publicity played a major part. When it became obviou that Seale would only further endanger the innocent hostages he was barred from the prison. Mr. Brown is right, unfortunate!) there will be more prison revolts, but not for the tortured reasons he suggests. As long as men and women who feel the law applies only to others walk the earth, we will have prisons, and this captive "free" spirit will revolt. Mr. Brown sas "we are all political prisoners inside the American empire -and until our sisters and brothers a car Tomorrow- and Wednesday, the threat which American wastefulness poses to the growing aspirations of the "undeveloped" nations, and to our relations with those nations, will be considered. We live in a world with finite resources, and with a finite ability to absorb the abuses of pollution. When resources and pollution are rationed on a world-wide basis, how will America be effected? Would our security be threatened if we refused such rationing? Does waste in America today jeopardize man's hopes for peace and a decent living standard? Later in the series, a more immediate cost of the automobile will be covered: the price we pay m the degradation of our local environment. Far too long we have been preoccupied with strictly monetary costs. Advertisements familiarize us with these, and with benefits. Consider this series an advertisement ol non-monetary, hidden costs. ano. sqiieezea solution that hung ominously over my bed. The three R ol the NC mfirmarv are rectal thermometers, rectal examinations and rectal suppositories. I should know. They are lots of tun. While in the inlirmary I felt like a guinea p:g lor the med students and interns. It was r.ot quite that bad, but' two or three times every day one ot my surgeons would come in with four or five med students loHowmg him like chicks after a mother hen. They would stand around liking deadly serious while the doctor would poke al my sore stomach. In unison they wo sav ."Hm:n.hmm". !d n d their heads and In ir tavonte trick was to make me congestion m mv co;!i!h "to !osen lungs". This was terribly pa ih k. tors Ji i Ui. rui I can e u reane uiai ol know the word "pain." I was promised thai I could leave the cheertu! surroundings ot the mhrmury a urged. in prison, are free, w are not free." You're right Mr. Brown, we are al pol.tica! prisoners inside the Amercar emp.re. and thank God. Incidentally, ;:?rs and brothers are not in pr.s -orr about vours. R V Olm Roxhoro Rd Durham Our objective: an end to war To the Dun cO..-::v varietv : th ha pat cven year i . i. . . . . nements tree ;e at .on. vvu.'.sS revi-.j;. tr v.sm. Black power. ex.ia! ft; have their roots some hers: from the Fan Commune er to Sacco and Yanzetti. now ev exper: wit. a co p unique to the made it ir?ci:- 'let il t h o e as a n t i-w ar organ a;tie-duty ervue; ft believe that the: comprised of veteran. I d, i a historical precedent for thi. alth.-ugh -.: may be tied m vaguely with the Bon.o Army of the twenties. Anyway, we are . r ., . - . . w . t the same time a our government smashing up Indochina and it people, we who have served there are dome wh.i: we can to revere the diatrou policy we see promoted. The Nixon administration would like to see us as "men" the Marine Corps built, or as go-getter graduates "the New ct:on Army". Sorry "bout that. Instead, we have seen just h .. terribly awful the results of our policies are. and we are determined to see th.i: what we took part in is brought to .i :.' as quickly as possible. As individuals, our reasons for wj:itm: the war stopped now are diverse W share no common ideology, nor d we pretend to do so tor the sa'oe ! appearences. Some might desire a :ct Cong victory, others think we sh i .l.l fight to win. but. as long as we are n .t going to do that, we should get ,.t instead. Our common bond is our objective: an end to the war. Our idea n how this goal might be readied aUo differ. Many of us fee! that the system can work, and many are working in fh.tt direction. Some of us feel that only i sweeping revolution can produce rhe necessary charges needed in thi-. society. What matters is the fact that we cj'4 be classified as ne'er-do-well freak, disgruntled students or selfish draft-dodgers. Many of us were decorated for valor in combat, achieved rapid promotion for our skills and effectiveness, or were separated from the service with un-Memished records as commissioned officers. We did the jobs we were told to d . and we did them well, though, as we now now see. not always thoughtfully. We are veterans, the people this nation has glorified in the past. Only there is n glory to go around now . T he government betrayed us and lied to us as it did t those of you who have not served. The difference is that our lives were in the balance, not just our ideals. When yu understand that, you will begin ? understand the anger many of us feel. If at times we speak violently, it should not seem surprising. While rs my of you were in class, we were being taught the best ways to blow people t bits. A great many of us put our traimre to use and did just that, often indiscnmanately. (II you think My lai was an isolated incident, you ain't heard nothing yet.) Violence was an mtegra! part of our lives for a number of years however much we may have detested it. On the other hand, having seen for ourselves what bullets, napalm an J explosives can do, I doubt if many of u Aant to go the way of the Weatherman Underground. We went into the Green Machine and saw mirrored there the uglinesses of our society. Things have to be done while c are still able to do them. We need your help, just as you need ours. Ask us we've been there. Peace. Mark M. Sm;th North Carolina Veterans for I'eae von as my temperature was norma. Thursday mornine I was dehehted to - c - that my temperature was down I quite sure of being discharged that afternoon. No dice-a new rule had rem invoked to keep their paying customers from leaving -my temperature had to stay down at least twenty-four hours. I was taking no chances, v I drank at least a gallon of ice-water every hour until the next morning and, suprise of surprises, I was actually discharged. All in all. I thought the personnel of our infirmary were quite friendly and considerate. They undoubtedly overworked and probably underpaid, but they were aUays m good spirits. I met many interesting people over there, such as Doug ( lark's mother (of Hot Nuts tarnei I do not recommend the infirmary tor a good time, but when you need it the place will be there. ( V
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 21, 1971, edition 1
6
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