The Daily Tar HeelMonday, September 18, 198911
I Opinion.
woodstock: Not qmts
Wow! Man! Cool! Hip! Groovy! Far
out! The 20th Anniversary of Wood
stock has come and gone. At least seven
million people claim they were there.
Unless there were some incredibly
stoned people counting heads, some
body is lying. But why? What's the big
deal? Why is this event so sacred to so
many people who were there and mil
lions more who were not? Either a lot of
pebple were miserable and refuse to
admit it or Freud was right and humans
must struggle with Thanatos, the death
Instinct. Envious non-attenders dem
pnstrate clinical evidence of maso
chism. ; ; If God offered to suspend time, give
you a lift to the event, and loan you 30
bucks for joints, tabs of acid, and pea
nut butter and jelly sandwiches, would
you take him up on the offer? I wouldn't.
Oh, I would certainly thank Him for the
gestures. Then after several minutes of
complimenting him on his creation,
perhaps even groveling a bit, I would
beg him to help me start my new maga
zine, promising a full 1 1 percent of my
earnings (after taxes and return of ini
tial investment, of course), which is a
full percentage point over the Biblical
guideline about tithing. But I would
decline the Woodstock offer.
, It's not that I dislike rock music. I
love it. Nor am I against the practice of
Bush hypocritical
in call for drug war
after CIA activities
-.. . For weeks now we have heard an
almost incessant line of litanies about
the drug "scourge" from those who are
supposed to be leading and informing
us. Poppy Bush has feebly attempted to
sell us the line that tough military and
police measures will stem the flow of
drugs and rid this land of the drug
menace. Congresspeople, Democrat
and Republican alike, have mounted
their moral platforms in an attempt to
Sidestep the real issues behind the drug
problem. Journalists have pounced on
the drug "story" like a pack of wolves.
More often than not they allow them
selves to be used as a mouthpiece for
the establishment view of the drug
problem, while ignoring those at the
grassroots who deal with the problem
every day.
. What hypocrisy! While all of these
self-appointed drug saviors spew out
their shallow messages, they practice
collective amnesia concerning the U.S.
government's own role in the importa
tion and subsequent spread of drugs
over the land they supposedly hold so
dear. In U.S. politics it is always dan
gerous to speak too truthfully for fear
that someone might actually understand
what really goes on, and this is particu
larly the case with the moral posturing
around the drug problem. While Mr.
Bush along with most other politicians
and government officials want you to
believe that they are doing all they can,
the truth of the matter is that they should
be the ones facing drug running charges
and illegal trafficking for profit.
By turning a blind eye, and in some
cases actively supporting the whole
sale drug running carried out by the
CIA over the past thirty years, these
drug "saviors" are not only hypocrites
tiut are much more guilty than the users
they so avidly wish to see behind bars.
Lies you say! Well, I for one am much
thdre willing to believe what ex-CIA
agents have to say about their own
activities than the attempts by most
politicians to cover their own political
asses. If you would rather put your faith
in someone like George Bush, despite
the overwhelming evidence of his per
sonal knowledge and abettance of the
exemplary contra drugs for arms
scheme, then you might as well re-bury
;your head in the sand.
:. . .It's very simple really, the evidence
is right at your fingertips (to cite two
sources: your local library look under
CIA and material from the non-
1 V
wm
self-medicating. Give me Librium or
give me Meth, I say. Against free love?
Are you kidding? I'm willing to pay for
it at this point. No, all the fun things
about Woodstock are things that I like.
That's not it.
It's just that the circumstances were
miserable, and I can't imagine how the
whole event could have been so enjoy
able to so many people. First of all,
getting there must have been a real
bummer. Have you ever been stuck in a
Los Angeles traffic jam after three cups
of coffee with a limited capacity blad
der? I have. My ruminative mind has
flashbacks of this event whenever I see
Woodstock footage or three or more
cars together. Imagine tens of thou
sands of vehicles descending on a farm
in the middle of nowhere. I would need
a catheter and 25 milligrams of Valium
just to get there.
Upon arrival, one would realize that
there are several hundred thousand more
people than were planned for. In other
words, one must share the nearest Port-O-John
with about 1 0,000 other people.
Sounds a little too communal, doesn't
it? Avid teeth brushers like myself
experience shortness of breath when
sinks and running water are not within
sight. And where would I shower?
Then it rained all weekend. Imagine
me, a paranoid hypochondriac, stand-
Dale McKinley
Guest Writer
profit Christie Institute right here in
Carrboro). Unfortunately we can't get
a look at all those conveniently "classi
fied" government documents, because
we all know that disseminating infor
mation on drug running operations is a
risk to national security. What this
evidence will show you is that the CIA,
many times wilh the full or partial
knowledge of Capito! Hill politicians
and most often the blessing of the in
cumbent administration, has been in
volved in running drugs of all sorts
from around the globe to the ever fertile
U.S. market. You will further find that
most of the drug profits have been used
to buy weapons for "friendly" forces
wherever the United States has been in
volved in one of its endless "missions."
From the Golden Triangle in Southeast
Asia, to the hills of Afghanistan, to the
fields of South and Central America,
our very own Central Intelligence
Agency has been more than obliging in
providing those morally reprehensible
drugs. The U.S. government has even
been unwilling to extradite CIA agent
John Hull (of Contragate fame) to Costa
Rica to face drug-running charges, while
at the same time they demand that Co
lumbia extradite members of the
Medellin Cartel to the United States.
Alas we hear nothing from our "lead
ers." I guess it would be somewhat
naive to hope that these politicians
would hold themselves up to the same
standards that they apply to all those
"criminals" out there, or that they would
put their sacrosanct stand on drugs in
jeopardy by undermining the people
and institutions that are supposed to
carry it out.
Despite the silence and the trans
parent moral posturing, they have been
able to keep the truth hidden. But the
lies and hypocrisy cannot endure for
ever. So, while you weather the barrage
of drug "talk," and while you hear
University administrations defending
the CIA as lawful and legitimate, have
a few grains of salt available. And if
you can't stand that, then do something
about it!
Dale T. McKinley is a graduate stu
dent in political science from Zimbabwe.
Jeff Ensley
Guest Writer
ing in the pouring rain, surrounded by
half a million people, all of them sneez
ing germs on me. It's a mathematical
certainty that I would die within a week.
Sleeping would certainly be a hassle.
Like, no mattresses, no clean sheets,
not even a lousy motel pillow to sleep
on. Undoubtedly, at least one fellow
would have a radio to play or pick that
particular weekend to have a complete
mental breakdown during my peak
sleeping hours. Or maybe the music
never even stopped! One of the sup
posed highlights of the event was Jimi
Hendrix's rendition of the Star Spangled
Banner, played at dawn of the third day.
Now I've never really been clear about
this. Did that mark a break in the music,
followed by eight hours of silence when
one could try to sleep in the growing
daylight? Or was Hendrix a crazed early
riser, at risk for being shot? Either way
I would have lost precious sleep, I'm
sure of it. And that's not groovy.
Then I would have to drive home,
heavy traffic again, stopping at the first
non-ransacked convenience store for
some overpriced, outdated aspirin and
Eastern
To the editor:
Everyone seems to be aware of the
Polish Solidarity movement, but no
body appears to be concerned with the
labor disputes taking place in the United
States. In fact, President Bush pledged
his support to the Polish workers this
summer while cries for help from
American workers fell on deaf ears.
Despite being ignored, the workers
of Eastern Airlines recently organized
the longest picket line in history, march
ing from Miami to New York and then
back to Washington D.C., where they
lobbied their government for help once
more. They have been on strike for
around six months now, but chances
are nobody knows why since the media
has so sadly underrepresented their
cause.
Frank Lorenzo, the head of Eastern
Airlines, is waging an all out war against
his company's labor unions. A few
years ago he destroyed the unions at
Continental Airlines and turned that
a great as ntt soyouds
Maalox Plus. Another bad trip. Once
home, I would seriously consider burn
ing any records by Woodstock per
formers in my collection and promise
myself that I would now only listen to
live music in ritzy jazz clubs with food,
gin and modern restrooms.
No, I can't understand Woodstock's
nostalgic appeal for even an avid music
fan with a head injury. Sure, several
thousand kids got together to party,
have fun and maybe make a statement.
Nobody got hurt. I have no doubt that
many people there had a blast that
weekend with lots of good music, sex
and drugs. But twenty years of memory
worship and alumnus envy? Some
body had to be miserable in those refu
gee camp conditions. I'm sure that if
the event had passed away into obscu
rity and had not received massive un
dying media attention, many attendees
would choose some alternative, like a
good film festival, if given a chance by
God to relive that weekend.
Of course, it was the symbolic zenith
of the Aquarian Age. The flower chil
dren of the Woodstock Nation were
going to save the world. But now
Woodstock is an ironic religious sym
bol. It's still celebrated because it
marked an event that failed to happen.
That is, the world would discover that
flower power was the Answer. Well,
stroke deserves attention
Mark Marlowe
Guest Writer
carrier into one of the worst in the
business.
Now Lorenzo has Eastern
spreadeagle on the sacrificial alter.
Already he has sold off Eastern's most
valuable assets and sent the company
into bankruptcy even when employees
were prepared to take drastic pay cuts.
Once Lorenzo declared bankruptcy he
was protected from the creditors under
chapter eleven. Therefore, he has been
given all the time he needs to break the
unions, leaving the workers of Eastern
at his mercy. Further, Lorenzo has used
his power and influence to intimidate
the employees and sway the opinions
of outside participants.
For example, earlier this summer,
my father and several other pilots were
arrested driving around the Atlanta
Sex, stairs,
"My objection is not that a man read
ing Playboy is hurting me by reading it.
It's that the people who are selling
Playboy are selling sex, but it's not sex.
I've seen sex, and that's not it It's
worse than sex. It's fake sex." For
mer UNC student Laura Gowdy, ex
plaining why she and some friends
decided to protest a Playboy ad that
appeared in the Sept. 8 DTH. Her group
and the Women's Forum of the Campus
Y presented petitions asking for an
apology to the DTH Wednesday.
"I take the stairs all the time now. I
won't get trapped in that elevator, I'd
much rather carry my bike up the stairs."
Erik Sandstedt, an Eringhaus resi
dent, on the periodic blackouts all week
in the dorm. School officials say the
power should stay on through Christ
mas, when a new transformer will be
installed.
"What was once considered a 'boys'
game is no longer acceptable in this
campus community ... (it would pres-
Vietnam is over but war is not. America
is no longer polarized, it's factional
ized. Safer drugs are unfashionable and
killer drugs are destroying inner city
neighborhoods. Violent crime is way
up. Blacks and whites hate each other at
least as much now. America is in trouble
and people are living in the past, liber
als in the 60's, conservatives in the
50's. Celebrating Woodstock makes
no sense.
So why the Woodstock mania?
Imagine how many thousands of good
indoor concerts have happened since
then; concerts in dry, sanitary condi
tions followed by pleasant conventional
sleep between sheets. Why no cults for
these events? Is Woodstock sympto
matic? Yes. Of what? Who knows. But
the nostalgia suggests that something is
missing in humans. Maybe it repre
sents an inherent need for religious
meaning for humans who are con
demned to live in a modern Godless
world where the new religion, Psycho
therapy is the proper euphemism, is
failing to prove its value. Since I per
sonally believe that Psychotherapy is
grossly overrated and often counter
productive, I like this theory (it's my
own).
Or Woodstock worship may result
from the conflict inherent in being an
individual living in a society which
airport, undoubtedly at the suggestion
of Frank. The police proceeded to in
timidate these "hardened criminals" by
impounding their cars, packing them
into a small van and sending them off to
a South Georgia prison for the evening.
Of course, none of this ever reached the
news. Meanwhile, injustices against
Polish workers are followed in a fanati
cal fashion by the Western media.
It is interesting to ponder exactly
how much control big business has
over the media. Maybe our newspapers
are not as free of censorship as we
might think. In fact, a picture appeared
on the front page of the Atlanta Journal
and Constitution which reminded me
of a Soviet propaganda ploy before the
age of glastnost. The picture was of an
Eastern airplane filled with happy pas
sengers leaving the Atlanta terminal.
The passengers, in actuality, were
people currently employed by Frank
Lorenzo. Thus, Lorenzo manipulated
the Atlanta paper into fooling the pub
lic as to the real state of affairs at the
streaking and the SRC
Week in Quotes
ent) much potential for personal injury
as well as for the infliction of emotional
distress." Dean of Students Frederic
Schroeder in a letter to to housing
director Wayne Kuncl, saying the Uni
versity would crack down this year on
students who participate in the tradi
tional Lewis Streak.
'
"I'm very concerned about the rejec
tion of a vote by the student body. They
voted on whether I was their represen
tative here, on whether the members of
congress were their representatives. If
you question that vote, you're treading
on very treacherous waters." Caro
lina Athletic Association President Lisa
Frye on a bill that would have called
for a second referendum in November
on the Student Recreation Center. The
bill was defeated Thursday by a 17-9
vote with one abstention.
demands some degree of conformity.
Woodstock represents a time when one
could "do his own thing" in a safe
environment where thousands of oth-.
ers were doing pretty much the same
thing. In other words, a place where one
could practice anti-conformity en
masse.
No, Woodstock and the hippie
movement don't seem so attractive to
me anymore. You can have Abbie
Hoffman, Janis Joplin and Peter Fonda:
But not the Beats. Forget Woodstock,
but take time to read the works of Jack
Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and
Allen Ginsberg (but don't worship
them). The Beats did their own thing
when the stakes were much higher,
without established role models. They
were too busy breaking new ground to
suffer the pain of nostalgia or spend a
weekend in mud trying to convince'
themselves how much fun it is to suffer.
So if you must celebrate the past, limit
it to your birthday, then get on with
your life. Stop trying to convince your
self that Woodstock was the greatest
event in human history just because
other idiots think so. Some people en
joy a toothache. Hey man, if everybody
else did, would you?
Jeff Ensley is a graduate student
from Asheville on leave of absence.
airline.
Even if you care nothing about the
Eastern workers, it would be in your
best interest not to ride on an airline run
or owned by Frank Lorenzo. After all,
mistreated employees are not likely to
be overly concerned with doing a good
job. And Frank Lorenzo cares even less
about what kind of job is being done
than his employees as long as he dies
with the most toys (you can decide for
yourself what this means for passen
gers who ride on Lorenzo's planes in an
age already plagued by airliner crashes).
Recently, Lorenzo gave himself a raise,
or should I say a golden parachute (as if
he already didn't have several). Who
knows maybe he gave one to Presi
dent Bush also. But that would be ludi
crous in light of Bush's overwhelming
support for labor movements in Po
land. Mark Marlowe is a senior math and
RussianEast European studies major
from Atlanta, Ga. '.
"They gave in to political pressure. I
think they politically wimped out.
They've done a disservice to the town."
Steve Oglesbee, the two-year chair-;
man of Carrboro' s Transportation
Advisory Board, who resigned Tkursr
day after the Board of Alderman made
significant changes in the TAB's plan
for improved traffic circulation. About
50 residents and business people pro'r
tested the plan.
,
"How do we make this country ini
disputably the focal point for dedica
tion and happiness for every individ
ual? How do we make it a homeland for
even more people in which one accepts
burdens and from which one is not
lured away just by shop windows full of
bananas or glossy travel guides?"
A question posed the Junge Welt, ah
East Berlin daily paper put out by the
Communist Party's youth division. It
said that East German citizens could
no longer avoid the discussion of why
a "minority" has fled the country of
16.6 million people.