i
0Th3 Dsily Tcr HsslMondav. January 28, 1985
erpes kids: starting life as a victim
By FRANK BR UN I
JliFF HlOAY. VMfr
Jim. BROADWAY. MttuK'if: t:Mtr
MARK STINNKRmO.Wjjww,- Editor
BllN P-:KK WSKI. Ass.nian l-ditor
Ki-ixy Simmons. iHirvnitjr V. Jit or
Vance Treflthun . Stale and National Editor
Melanie Wells. aty Editor
DAN TlLLMAN. Business Editor
Lynn Davis. News Editor
Frank Kennedy, Sports Editor
Jeff Grove, Arts Editor
Sharon Sheridan. Features Editor
JEFF NEUVILLE. Photography FJitor
No cause for champagne
In a literal sense, former Israeli
Defense Minister Ariel Sharon lost his
$50 million lawsuit against Time mag
azine, but the case has raised disturbing
questions about the methods the press
uses in gathering and presenting the
news.
While finding that Time did not libel
Sharon, the jury in the case took the
unusual step of issuing a statement that
the newsmagazine "acted negligently and
carelessly" in its reporting of Sharon's
alleged role in a 1982 massacre of
Palestinian civilians by Lebanese
Phalangists.
Using unnamed sources, Time
reported in February 1983 that Sharon
"discussed the need for the Phalangists
to take revenge" for the assassination of
President-elect Bashir Gamayel of
Lebanon.
As it turns out, Timevas sloppy and
perhaps irresponsible in the reporting of
the story. Contradicting Time's article,
no mention of any Sharon discussion
about revenge appeared in an appendix
of the Israeli government's report on the
massacre. During the course of the trial,
Time correspondent David Halevy
admitted that his sources had not
explicity said that the discussion was
mentioned in the report, but he said he
"inferred" it from the sources' state
ments. In its Jan. 21, 1985 edition, Time
retracted its statement that the discus
sion was mentioned in the report, but
the magazine did not back off from its
claim that such a discussion took place.
Time rechecked its original sources
about the alleged discussion but used the
same correspondent who screwed up the
story in the first place.
Amazingly, Time managing editor
Ray Cave said he never made corres
pondent Halevy reveal the sources he
used for his dispatch. If that isn't mind
boggling enough, the correspondent who
seems to have earned so much of Time's
Get a grip, Ann
There is trouble in paradise at least
according to Ann Landers. Recently,
Ann took a sex survey of her women
readers, asking if they would be content
to be held close and forget about "the
act." More than 90,000 women replied,
of whom an amazing 72 percent said
yes, they would be content to forget "the
act."
This has a lot of people up in arms.
Several renowned sex experts have
denounced the survey, saying that the
emphasis on just hugs and kisses could
harm relationships and lead people to
be boring. Dr. Ruth Westheimer, of
Sexually Speaking fame, said of the
survey: "I think this . . . will get us back
into the Victorian age. It's dangerous to
say a high percentage of women do not
expect sexual activity but only expect
caressing." Jim Peterson, who writes the
"Playboy Adviser" column,says the poll
results give people permission "to be
boring, to roll over in bed and go to
sleep. Sex is a wonderful pastime. It is
not something men foist upon women."
Sorry, Ann, but we agree with Peter
son. Although Landers justifies her
survey by saying her mail shows "there
are a lot of angry, unfulfilled women
out there," chances are it's just the angry
and unfulfilled who wrote to her. If a
Our own
Outraged by Ann Landers' unscientific polling methods and the potentially
devastating effects her biased survey could have on American romantic life,
our sexual experts have devised an airtight survey designed to accurately reflect
the sexual attitudes and practices of UNC students. Responses should be placed
in the letters box outside the DTH. Results will be printed next week if they
aren't banned.
1. Are you: male female androgynous (circle one)?
2. Class: freshman soph. jr. sr. grad other
3 Is sex better with or without hugs and kisses? How so?
4. Do 'you prefer a) hugs and kisses b) the act c) other unspeakable
acts d) want to know just what this "act" is?
5. Do you believe Ann Landers is: a) an agent of the Mormon Church b)
a disciple of Che Guevara c) one hip old chick d) yesterday's news?
6. Where do you get your sexual information from: a) Ann Landers b)
Heloise c) the Kinsey Report d) DTH personals e) Mack "the ax"
Snipes?
Olar tin
92nd year of editorial freedom
unquestioning trust in the Sharon matter
was once put on probation for a year
for filing an inaccurate report about the
health of former Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin. At the very least,
Time's bungling of the story should
make the public skeptical about the
anonymous sources reporters insist upon
using.
While finding that Time has not
libeled Sharon, the jury concluded that
a paragraph of the story inquestion was
false and that it had defamed Sharon.
For a private citizen, such a ruling would
be sufficient to win a libel suit. But
Sharon, as a public figure, was required
to prove that Time had published the
story with knowledge it was false or had
shown reckless disregard for its truth or
falsity. The jury ruled that Time and its
editors believed the story was true.
Despite Time's ineptitude in handling
the story, we feel that public figures
should be required to go the extra step
in proving libel. As has been tradition
ally argued, public figures have greater
access to the media to address false
statements about them. Also, a free press
would be shackled if it had to worry
about a libel suit every time it published
a controversial story about a public
figure.
The greatest worry for the press is not
libel law as it exists, but the tremendous
cost of libel suits, whether media
defendants lose them or not. A $ 1 million
legal bill may amount to pocket change
for Time but would close a number of
newspapers in the country. Under such
circumstances, it is not surprising that
many fiesty weeklies have been neutered
and now amount to little for than fluffy
entertainment guides.
Time claimed victory after the verdict
last week, but it should leave the
champagne uncorked. The rest of the
press may be paying for that win for
years to come.
person is happy with a relationship,
sexual or otherwise, in all likelihood he
or she is not going to write Ann Landers
about it.
The survey was very biased. By asking
readers to respond to whether they'd be
content to "be held close and treated
tenderly and forget about 'the act,' "
Landers forced people to make a choice
between the two. ' It . would have been
just as fair to ask, "Would you rather
have cold, clinical sex without any hugs
and kisses; or hugs, kisses and tenderness
without making love?" Many people
would choose the latter, regardless of
how satisfied they are; what they'd
probably prefer, though, is a mix of the
two. And by directing her survey only
to women, she is giving women the
opportunity to express dissatisfaction
with their sex lives, but not men. For
every woman who feels she doesn't get
hugs and kisses during sex, there is most
likely some man who feels just as cheated
sexually.
Ann Landers has no business conduct
ing such an unscientific survey. Besides
not reflecting the real attitudes most
women have about sex nowadays, it
actually hurts women by reinforcing the
Victorian idea that women don't, or
can't, enjoy sex.
survey
I
I
I
More than the multiplication drills or spelling
bees of my elementary school years, I dreaded
the elusive challenge of meeting with peer
approval. Even at that early age, there existed
absurd criteria for popularity: the length of a
pant leg, the timbre of a voice, the degree of
avidity with which academic tasks were met, the
distance a ball could be kicked. Ostracism seemed
always imminent, the consequence of one false
step.
For Johnny Bigley, a 3-year-old from Pasad
ena, Md., who only this month entered a
classroom for the first time, ostracism is the given.
His pants may fit perfectly and his approach to
learning appear suitably nonchalant, but it won't
make a difference. Johnny's classmates have been
warned by their parents: Do not touch that little
hoy; do not play with him; do not sit anywhere
near him at lunch. Johnny has herpes.
He is not alone, nor is his situation unique.
In an elementary school in Council Bluffs, Iowa,
more than half the students boycotted classes
to avoid encountering a 3-year-old girl with
herpes. Parents of children enrolled in a
Sacramento, Calif., elementary school protested
the arrival of an infected 4-year-old boy with
signs promulgating, "Your Child Needs an
Education, Not a Disease." With more than 7
percent of the adult population in the United
States carrying the herpes virus and the number
of children who contract the disease prenatally
or shortly after childbirth rising steadily,
incidents like these are bound to become more
frequent.
These situations of panic are not only
regrettable but avoidable. The fear with which
parents and in some cases, teachers have
greeted the school enrollment of children like
Johnny is by no means proportionate to the
threat these children pose. Most doctors and
public health officials agree that the chance of
classmates being infected is slim. Herpes almost
always spreads through direct contact with an
active lesion or through bodily fluids. In most
cases, lesions are active only occasionally and,
if properly covered, assert a negligible risk to
others. Moreover, more than 80 percent of
Americans are exposed at some point to at least
one of the five herpes viruses and never show
symptoms.
Of course, the parents who have protested the
participation of afflicted children in public
education have not taken the time to investigate
the facts. Perhaps and it would be nice to
believe this their overblown anger, targeted
arbitrarily at the infected children, reflects a
deeper-set frustration with a situation in which
the victims are many and the villain elusive.
Whereas the innocent include the infected
children, for the classmates who admittedly stand
some chance of catching the virus and the parents
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
NCMH providing for-the-rich-only services
To the editor:
N.C. Memorial Hospital will
soon begin performing heart trans
plant operations. However, to
qualify for such a procedure a
patient will have to have proof of
health insurance coverage for such
surgery or put down a deposit of
$70,000. 1 disagree with the decision.
I think it is wrong for our state
supported hospital to be providing
patient services for which only the
wealthy are eligible.
There used to be a sign in front
of NCMH that read: "Operated by
and for the People of North Carol
ina." I assume that meant all the
people. The sign has disappeared
which is too bad. One must question
whether the commitment has also
disappeared.
I suspect that the existence of one
.14 " W
?l If
r
1 hi1 j
How 'bout a little trip, Youngblood?
"horse-playing teen-age boys" sim
ilar to the teen-age boys Goetz met
prior to this past Christmas. While
you're there, you may also want to
apply for a job at The New York
Times as a staff writer. It seems that
your writing style shows a certain
magnanimous quality that I often
find in the Times. For example, in
the Times' original article on the
vigilante shooting, the fact that the
teen-age boys were carrying shar
pened screwdrivers and had exten
Regarding Karen Youngblood 's
column, "The Vigilante: Doing
society no favors" (Jan. 24):
I cordially invite Youngblood to
spend a week with me this summer
in New York City. During your stay.
Youngblood, you can ride the
subways alone, through all five
boroughs, during all times of the
day and night, just like Bernhard
Goetz does regularlv and meet
'DTH' writes editorial on front page
To the editor:
its purpose was to give an account
of what issues were raised concern
ing this matter, then it was patently
biased.
Arguably it was not intended to
be an editorial against BSM fund
ing, but it certainly had that effect
due to the extensive account of the
opponents arguments to constitu
tionally funding the BSM. Granted,
one of the proponents was absent
from the forum, but inadequate
coverage was given to the views of
I respect the journalistic skills
apparent in the DTH, but the front
page story on the Black Student
Movement forum ("Candidates
spar in BSM forum," Jan. 24)
seriously clouded the BSM funding
issue. If the purpose of this story
was to expound on arguments
against providing the BSM with
constitutional funding, then it was
appropriately written. However, if
-r...
' .
V- rSHZf-
who cannot help but worry, a guilty party
remains inconspicuous.
The parents of an infected child can hardly
be blamed. So ubiquitous is the herpes virus,
it requires little sexual license to contract it.
Moreover, the infected parents' desire to have
a child is not unreasonable. They have learned
to live with the virus, which in many cases only
manifests itself sporadically. They anticipate the
day when a cure is found if not in their lives,
then surely in their child's. They do not anticipate
a hostile public reception of their child which
grossly exaggerates the threat he poses and only
makes his life more painful.
While the exasperation of the other children's
parents in Pasadena, Council Bluffs and
Sacramento is understandable, their failure to
take into account the feelings of the infected
children and the deep emotional scars with
which immediate ostracism might leave these
children is distressing. Even more unsettling
is their readiness to set an example of animosity
for their impressionable offspring.
I have heard many parents lament the cruelty
children are capable of exhibiting toward one
another in group settings. I have heard these same
parents say that the most difficult and heart
breaking part of parenting involves consoling the
baffled child who comes home from school with
a tear-streaked face and a tale of inexplicable
ostracism. They assure the child that the teasing
to which he has been submitted is not directed
at him; it's just the way children sometimes act.
They encourage the child to glean a lesson from
the situation and never hurt another the way
he has been hurt.
That's a crucial lesson, one that will be lost
on the chi'H-" aforementioned towns.
or two "elite" services is only the
beginning of a trend in which more
such services will be developed.
They will draw the best staff and
will be seen as requiring the best
and nicest facilities.
If patient services are to be
offered at NCMH they should be
for all, but at a minimum there
should be public discussion of
whether this hospital should offer
'M CARSONS EX. l,''Mu
sive prior criminal records was
buried in one of the last paragraphs
on a "turn to" page. I'm surprised
the reporter chose to include the
information at all.
Hopefully, your experience in
New York will not be so enlight
ening that you never get the chance
to write your column.
William A.
those proponents present, namely
Doug Berger, Fetzer Mills and Ma
Lloyd.
Perhaps the next story will be less
biased and will give equal consid
eration to the views of both oppo
nents and proponents of this
referendum.
Allen W. Rogers
President
Black Law Student Association
kf.--:4:
I I ir. . -
Instead of checking the tendency toward cruelty
many children exhibit, the parents who unne
cessarily warn their children to steer clear of an
infected classmate only prove how much easier
it is for people to hate than to love, to condemn
than condone.
For now, the conflicts in Pasadena, Council
Bluffs and Sacramento have been resolved by
the courts of law that continue to prove such
necessary safeguards against the pervasive self
interest and eager antipathy of civilized man.
Judges have allowed infected children to attend
classes on the condition that school nurses inspect
them daily for active lesions that might endanger
other children. The ruling is fair to all concerned.
It does not, however, erase the insult to which
children like Johnny Bigley have been subjected.
And it does not guarantee that classmates, acting
primarily on the grounds of parental instruction,
will grow any more compassionate.
I pity Johnny Bigley, because of the hurt he
has experienced, because it will be difficult for
him to ever hold much regard for the fellow man
who, from as far back as Johnny will be able
to remember, has recoiled from his touch. I also
pity Johnny's classmates and the future society
in which they will be adults, perhaps parents,
possibly leaders. At a time when they should
be learning the lessons of tolerance and
acceptance, consideration and compassion, they
are practicing prejudice and hatred. If their
parents want ready-made villians to tar, feather
and run out of town, they need only look in
the nearest mirror.
Frank Bruni, a junior English major from La
Jolla, Calif, is a staff writer for The Daily Tar
Heel.
such very expensive procedures and,
if so, who among us should decide
who shall receive them.
This policy may well produce a
two-class system of patient care. Is
that really what the people and the
physicians of this state want?
Marion S. White
.Graduate Student
School of Public Health
Punks aren 't
the victims
To the editor:
Bernhard Goetz, our "subway
vigilante," is continuing to draw a
lot of attention. Most of this
attention is misplaced. Many of the
arguments are by the bleeding
hearts who want no violence or
weapons to harass, humiliate or
injure peaceable citizens minding
their own business. In the Goetz
case, the problem boils down to this:
Either a person has the right to
defend his life and property or he
doesn't. The right of self-defense is
essential in any civilized society.
New York City policemen have
said they can't adequately protect
subway riders. Now these same
officials are trying to destroy a man
who was only doing what the police
themselves admitted they couldn't
do. The "victims" here aren't the
four punks who tried to shake down
Goetz; the victims are Goetz and
the other citizens of New York who
don't know if they will be arrested
the next time they protect them
selves from criminals.
Rick Henderson
Chairman
Orange County Libertarians
Letters?!
McQuade
Carrboro
Letters to the editor and edi
torial columns should be typed
on a 60-character line and
should be triple-spaced. Dead
line for letters and columns Is
2 p.m. the working day before
publication.
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