8The Daily Tar HeelFriday, November 11,
1988
Sty Satlg
96th year of editorial freedom
Karen Bell, News Editor
MATT BlVENS, Associate Editor
KlMBERLY EDENS, University Editor
JON K RUST, Managing Editor
Will Lingo, city Editor
Kelly Rhodes, Arts Editor
CATHY McHUGH, Omnibus Editor
SHELLEY ERBLAND, Design Editor
Tit for tat on Capitol Hill
To the victors go the spoils, right?
In this election, perhaps not.
The great mudslinging of 1988 is
over, and it has left a bitter taste in
the mouths of many. Voter dissatis
faction is great, according to media
reports, and the effects remain to be
seen. Losers suggest (and perhaps
hope) that the victors, even though
they won the races, will lack the
popular support to be effective.
Winners just lie low, relying on the
suspect political memories of Amer
icans. By the time the victors take
office, their logic goes, the whole
negative affair will be forgotten.
Sadly enough, this logic is probably
correct. The process of negative
advertising is a time-tested American
political tradition, hailing back to the
days of the nation's founding. As a
form of speech, it's protected by the
First Amendment. More importantly,
it works.
. This year things have taken a drastic
change. The candidates are so visibly
associated with the tactics of negative
campaigning that voters aren't sure
they like it, and the parties of the losing
candidates definitely do not. Bush is
already dealing with Democratic
assurances of difficulty with Congress,
and the traditional "honeymoon"
period may be non-existent for the new
administration.
Closer to home, things are even
The lessons of the Holocaust
While we in the states are preoc
cupied with the prospects of a Bush
era in American politics, the citizens
of the Federal Republic of Germany
are trying to come to terms with their
past, determined to see that their
ancestors' mistakes shall never be
repeated again.
On Wednesday, millions gathered to
celebrate the 50th anniversary of the
Kristallnacht, a night of anti-Semitic
violence that culminated in the Holo
caust. In November 1938, German
animosity toward Jews had peaked,
for Hitler had used their alleged crimes
as justification for the existence of the
Third Reich.
But no one could predict the
explosion that occurred on Nov. 9 of
that year, after a Jewish man murdered
a German official. Spurred by the
emotional pleas of their Fuhrer, the
entire country erupted, resulting in an
orgy of looting and burning. The
synagogues and all other manifesta
tions of a once-thriving Jewish culture
were gutted.
Fifty years later, the mental scars
from that night are as deep as ever.
. Most, but not all, who participated in
, the persecution have long since passed
away, leaving their children to suffer
the guilt for their sins. But the
ramifications of the Holocaust did not
end at the German border.
As World War II came to a close,
the Allied armies slowly began to
The Daily Tar Heel
Editorial Writers: Louis Bisscttc, Sandy Dimsdalc, Dave Hall and David Starnes.
Assistant Editors: Jenny Cloninger and Justin McGuire, university. Staci Cox and William Taggart, state and
national. Felisa Neuringer, managing. Dave Glenn, Andrew Podolsky and Chris Spencer, sports. Brian Foley,
photography.
News: Lynn Ainsworth, Kari Barlow, Jeanna Baxter, John Bakht, David Ball, Crystal Bernstein, James Benton,
Tammy Blackard. Patricia Brown, Charles Brittain, James Burroughs, Sarah Cagle, Brenda Campbell, Julie Campbell,
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coordinator; Chrissy Mennitt, advertising manager; Sheila Baker, business manager; Dawn Dunning, Beth Harding,
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Printing: The Village Companies.
ufar Mn
Jean Lutes, Editor
KAARIN TlSUE, News Editor
LAURA PEARLMAN, Associate Editor
KRISTEN GARDNER, University Editor
SHARON KEBSCHULL, State and National Editor
MIKE BERARDINO, Sports Editor
LEIGH ANN McDONALD, Features Editor
DAVID MINTON, Photography Editor
Kelly Thompson, Design Editor
more complicated. Jim Gardner,
newly-elected lieutenant governor, has
a long and winding road ahead of him.
Democrats, strongly aligned with
Gardner's opponent, Tony Rand, and
infuriated with Gardner's behavior,
have vowed to strip Gardner of his
strength in the General Assembly.
Gardner's infamous "drug accom
plice" commercial, which prompted
Rand to file a libel suit, has many
Democrats convinced that they are
entirely justified in attacking Gardner,
even if it stagnates state business.
Public opinion as it stands now would
do little to prevent such an occurrence.
And that's the danger of negative
advertising. Revenge and recrimina
tions, admittedly, are not the proper
business of a government, but Demo
crats feel they must make the Repub
licans feel the consequences of their
tactics. Tit for tat on Capitol Hill.
Solving the problem is nearly
impossible. Nationally, Congress is
talking about withholding federal
matching funds unless a candidate
participates in a required number of
debates. That does nothing for the
problem on a state level, however.
The only other solution is that voters
end the process themselves, by proving
that misleading and malicious adver
tising will do candidates more harm
than good. Otherwise, it will be more
of the same in 1992. David Starnes
uncover the atrocities in concentration
camps, such as Dachau and Ausch
witz, all across Eastern Europe.
Most shocking was the fact that as the
Nazi war effort bogged down, the pace
of the killings actually quickened,
perhaps in the futile hope that none
could live to speak of these heinous
crimes.
Following the war, the Jews that
remained were left without a home,
leading the British to donate the state
of Palestine as a homeland, displacing
a large number of Palestinians, who
have been fighting the Israelis ever
since.
Isn't it amazing that an entire race
of people, who only 40 years ago had
no homeland, is among the most
powerful on the face of the Earth? Isn't
it also ironic that this verv country.
whose founding fathers survived the
terrors of Nazi Germany and the death
camps, now insist on persecuting a
different race of people, even though
the Palestinians were there first?
The Kristallnacht, which began as
an excuse to exterminate an entire
race, is now creating problems in a
completely different part of the world
only this time the Jews are the
oppressors. Let us not forget the
pitfalls of acting on the emotions of
hatred and violence. The Holocaust
should serve as a firm reminder for
anyone who still wishes to callously
persecute the meek. Dave Hall
Learning something outside
It happens every time I get an exam
back. There is always someone sitting
in the next row trying casually to look
over my paper and check my grade. If I
am dumb enough to hide it from them,
they simply ask, "How'd you do?" I try
to look annoyed, which never quite works,
and tell them that I'm satisfied with what
I got. They react like sharks who smell
blood: "I'm sorry you didn't do that well,"
they say with insincere concern. Then I
break down and tell them my grade
I honestly don't care what it is, as long
as I feel that I have learned something.
After all, that is the true purpose of a
university, to bring people together to
disseminate knowledge and to assimilate
more knowledge. Unfortunately, many
students have lost sight of this goal. They
see the university as their ticket to graduate
and professional schools and high-salaried
jobs. Instead of seeking to broaden their
knowledge, they strive to push up their
grade-point averages. Rather than work to
enrich the educational environment
around them, they work to keep themselves
on top of the numbers heap.
This grade consciousness is not only
detrimental to the students' education but
also to the classroom setting. In a com
petitive environment students are less likely
to speak out and risk being wrong.
Professors who are not constantly being
challenged by their students are less likely
to challenge the students in return. This
leads to large classes composed of students
learning the material by rote so they can
regurgitate it on exams.
Good professors will continue to chal
lenge their students, patiently awaiting a
glimmer of understanding in return. Those
who do not care as much will simply lecture
to their bored audiences and pursue their
DTH coverage
biased
To the editor:
For the past two months,
since I have been a student at
Carolina, I have noticed that
the DTH has favored Michael
Dukakis much more than
George Bush. Especially in the
last two weeks this fact has
become evident. There is a
significantly larger presence of
"pro-Dukakis" articles written
in the newspaper, not to men
tion the overwhelming majority
of "pro-Dukakis" letters and
columns printed on the editor
ial page.
I, along with many others,
have always believed that when
reporting current events the
articles should remain impar
tial. And even though I have
tried to disregard the greater
amount of articles supporting
Michael Dukakis before this
election, I could not tolerate
reading the election results
article in the Nov. 9 issue.
First of all, the title, which
reads "Bush, Quayle trounce
Democrats," is misleading. As
many of us know, George Bush
and Dan Quayle beat Mike
Dukakis and Lloyd Bentsen,
not "the Democrats." As a
matter of fact, the Democrats
gained seats in both houses of
Congress. Next, only one
quarter of the article is dedi
cated to George Bush's victory
speech whereas over half the
article gave quotes from
Michael Dukakis' speech. The
Don't say 'liberal' for 'statist' or 'socialist'
After wading through several pages
of superfluous esoteric garbage in
Gray Styers' attempt to redefine the
word "liberal" in his own terms (" 'Liberal'
means innovation and vigor," Nov. 3), I
found a few blatantly ignorant assertions
with which I would like to take issue. Styers
provides us with the dictionary definition
of "liberal," essentially a political philo
sophy centering around individual liberty
and representative government. He then
attempts to extrapolate from this definition
a broadened meaning. The meaning that
Styers attempts to attach to the word
"liberal," however, is one involving an
abrogation of individual liberty and the
imposition of government intervention in
the economy, the very antithesis of
liberalism.
Styers offers what he considers examples
of liberal programs, such as public
education, labor laws, the minimum wage,
Social Security and Medicare. These are
indeed commonly considered "liberal," yet
they fly in the face of the definition of
"liberal" that Styers himself asserts. All
involve the intervention of the State in the
economy, and a resulting violation of
individual liberty. These programs are
examples of a coercive State expropriating
the property of some for the benefit of
others, detailing to individuals how they
will conduct their business, and creating
masses of people dependent upon rulers
for their well-being. As such, these
programs can hardly be considered to be
in keeping with a philosophy that advo
cates the freedom of the individual.
In addition to his ideological perversion
of the word "liberal," Styers gives us a short
list of "liberals" to whom we should feel
indebted. Among these are three individ
uals who cannot go without mention:
Andrew Jackson, Franklin Roosevelt and
John Kennedy. A brief comment on each
Bill Yelverton
Notes from the Abyss
own research. There are challenging classes
and interested faculty members on this
campus; however, they are not everywhere.
Students interested in learning will seek
them out, and those interested only in
grades will continue to avoid them.
At any university, students have oppor
tunities to learn outside the classroom. A
great deal of the education we receive is
from the other members of the community.
This external opportunity varies from year
to year, but is always available in some
form.
I'm not talking about the education we
receive simply by being away from home.
Learning to balance a checkbook, looking
for a place to live, reading the instructions,
on the back of a box of laundry detergent,
are all valuable experiences. But in
themselves, they rarely challenge us to seek
out more knowledge or reach deeper
understanding.
Those who arent fulfilled in the class
room should check out all the different
student groups working on this campus.
By and large these students are working
to better the university community and in
the process educate themselves.
For instance, the Carolina Union
Activities Board offers a variety of
programs which educate and entertain,
such as the Performing Arts Series.
When the Executive Branch of student
government worked to change the noise
ordinance, students had to research the
workings of town government and then
work within the system. And to change
Readers9 Foram
quote taken from Bush referred
to Dukakis, saying how great
he (Dukakis) was and how
proud he (Dukakis) should be.
The quotes taken from Duka
kis were all dealing with how
hard Dukakis tried to win the
election and how close he came,
with emphasis on the line when
the crowd chanted "'92."
George Bush won the election,
and the DTH avoided saying
anything positive about him.
Finally, the DTH failed to
report many of the numbers in
this election. They did give the
electoral vote margin (300
votes), and they did report that
with 77 percent of the precincts
reporting, Bush had six million
more popular votes than did
Dukakis. But they did not
report the fact that Bush won
the election with a lead of eight
percentage points (much higher
than the predicted four percen
tage point margin). And the
DTH failed to report that since
the Democratic convention in
Atlanta (where Dukakis had a
17 percentage point lead), Bush
has made up 25 percentage
points to win the election.
In the future, I strongly
suggest and hope that the DTH
take a non-partisan stand
toward political issues.
BORIS BUNICH
Freshman
Pre-law
Anthony Woodlief
Guest Writer
will demonstrate to some degree the blatant
disregard these men had for the principles
embodied in the definition of "liberal."
Andrew Jackson, better known as the
"Great Indian Fighter," was responsible for
the murders of thousands of American
Indians. When the U.S. Supreme Court
under John Marshall ruled in Worcester
vs. Georgia in 1832 that Georgia's removal
of over 15,000 Cherokee Indians to allow
white prospectors to pan for gold was
illegal, Jackson responded to the decision
by saying, "John Marshall has made his
decision, now let him enforce it." Appar
ently Jackson didn't feel individual rights
applied to Indians, or that he was obligated
to respect the decisions of the United States
Supreme Court. One wonders what
principles of liberalism Jackson did adhere
to, and why he is included in Styers list.
Styers' second example of a liberal to
whom we are indebted, Franklin Roose
velt, is an even more blatant divergence
from the true definition of "liberal."
Roosevelt, the closest thing to a fascist
dictator this country has ever seen,
demonstrated his disregard for the prin
ciples of liberalism by creating organiza
tions such as the NRA and the AAA to
control and direct the U.S. economy in
a disastrous manner, one similar to the
economic plans of other fascists of the day,
such as Hitler and Mussolini. Through his
commitment to price and wage control and
his disregard for the free market, Roosevelt
took his predecessor's economic interven
tion to a new high, prolonging the
depression of the 1930s and steeping the
the classroom
the University's perspective requirements,
students are conducting surveys and
consulting other universities. The knowl
edge of the process is something that can't
be learned in the classroom.
. Human Rights Week 88, sponsored by
the Campus Y, offers another oppportun
ity to learn outside the classroom;
Throughout the year, 30 committees at the
Campus Y work with groups to increase
awareness of problems on the local and
national level. Human Rights Week
provides a concentrated forum for all
university groups to explore these impor
tant issues.
Each day next week will be full of
programs discussing issues such as racism,
U.S. foreign policy, women's rights,
illiteracy and problems of the handicapped.
Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young will deliver
the keynote address Wednesday night. As .
a civil rights leader, former U.N. ambas
sador and former congressman, Young
offers a unique perspective on social
change.
Those who have worked on Human
Rights Week '88 have already acheived
some benefit in the process. However, their
goal is not only to benefit themselves but
to provide others with the chance to learn.
It is up to us to use that opportunity, for
it is something that will not always be
available.
The groups I have mentioned do not
nearly encompass the scope of student
activity on this campus, and many others
are worthy of attention. Thoughtful
participation both inside and outside the
classroom is essential to getting the most
from your education.
Bill Yelverton is a senior English major
from Darien, Conn.
I Ac?'
Letters policy
The Daily Tar Heel
welcomes reader comments
and criticisms. When writing
letters to the editor, please
follow these guidelines:
a The DTH reserves the
right to edit letters for space,
clarity and vulgarity.
Remember, brevity is the soul
of wit.
a Students should include
name, year in school, major,
phone number and home
town. Other members of the
University community should
include similar information.
nation in unnecessary misery. Roosevelt
demonstrated his disdain for the liberal
idea of representative government by
becoming the first president ever to veto
financial legislation, generally regarded as
the domain of our House of Representa
tives. His contempt for judicial procedure
can be seen in his infamous court-packing
scheme of 1937. No matter what one
chooses to call Roosevelt, it certainly can't
be "liberal."
In John Kennedy, Styers' third "liberal,"
we find a man who as President made
several attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro
and who initiated the murderous policy of
sending troops into Vietnam. Apparently
murder and military intervention were part
of Kennedy's definition of "liberal."
Styers is certainly right in his assertion
that conservatives do not know the true
meaning of the term "liberal." For all of
his eloquent rhetoric, however, Styers is
no better. He and others apply the term
"liberal" to people and programs that may
more correctly be identified as "socialist,"
or "statist," terms that have justly acquired
a negative connotation. It is unfortunate
that they have appropriated the term
"liberal" to lend credence to political
theories of government intervention. By
doing so they distort the true ideals of
liberalism, which involve freedom and
individual choice ideals that are
trampled upon by so-called liberals as well
as conservatives. I advise Styers to read
more closely the definition of "liberal" that
he gives to us, for the word as he uses
it has nothing to do with individual liberty,
and everything to do with
authoritarianism.
Anthony Woodlief is a junior political
science major from Winston-Salem.