Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Dec. 13, 1963, edition 1 / Page 2
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Whatsover Things Are True 2 Censorship Hinders lie 1 Goodiiess Growth By C. W. TARGET I Writer-in-Residence The Colorado Collegian As we get older, the stairs seem to get steeper, and things are never the same as when the world was young ell hours of the day and we and the stars were full of it most of the shin ing nights and the sensible course is to climb fewer stairs and walk more sedately in the autumn sun. But this general steepness and lack of singing, this first slow withering cf the green leaf, this private process becomes, for some a cause of public lamen tation . . . hence the almost con tinuous rumbling of the religious underworld about the Sins of Youth, Moral Declension, Sexual Depravity, Unspeakable Vice, and whatnot. INDIGNATION The latest of these depressing attacks of ingrowing -indignation is now hard upon us, louder in our ears than even genuine thunder upon Sinai: for Dr. Leslie Weatherhead has had a turgid letter published in " The Times, one not conspicuous for original thought; and Sir Cyril Black has been gobbling again among the "sinister figures of homosexuality, marital infidel ity, end violent sex crimes," and seems to be suffering from in digestion or something. Now, in itself this pulpit rum bling and ranting is not import antboth men are still happily entitled to the expression of their opinions and to the excita tion of the front row of the pews except that such opinions do serious harm to the cause of yolume 72, Number 68 70 Years of Editorial Freedom Published daily except Mondays, examinations periods and vacations, throughout the aca demic year by the Publications Board of the University of North Carolina. Printed by the Chapel Hill Publishing Company, Inc., 501 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, N. C. A Gaggle of i This is a plea for .somebody, some where, to do something about the spec tacle of newsmen mercilessly engulfing people who, for one reason or another, find themselves at the center of public attention. The most recent example of this abuse was the coverage of the Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping. Reporters were all over the place, completely undisci plined and disorganized, seeming more like a flock of rapacious vultures than the skilled craftsmen they supposedly are. After being, released unharmed and managing to get to his mother's home, young Sinatra consented to a brief news conference. He politely explained that he could not discuss the particulars of his abduction until he had conferred with the FBI. Guess what he was asked in . about thirty-five different ways? That's right, the particulars of his abduction. It barely mattered, however, because he was not given the opportunity to answer anyway. Reporters were too busy shouting down each other's ques tions and staging miniature sword fights in Sinatra's face with their bat tery of microphones. There might be some excuse for this confused spectacle if it were an isolated example of press irresponsibility. The trouble is, it isn't. It happens day in and day out. Why hasn't something been done about it? For the same reason that we don't know where to send this plea, or to whom. -Sure there are plenty of news groups around: The Newspaper Guild, The American Society of Newspaper Editors, and others. But none of them seem to have any inclination to suggest any corrective measures for this situa tion. Yet it is imperative that some thing be done something positive, and soon. What makes the situation most up setting is the fact that no informal organization exists to make arrange ments for orderly coverage of the news in cases such as young Sinatra's kidnap ping. It is not too much to ask that all of the news organizations get together Christ, and merely confirm the unnecessary irrelevance of the Church to our "condition." (There is, of course, a sense in which the claims of the Church ought to be irrelevant but not in . this half-acre of shifting sand). But, serious though this intel lectual vandalism is, such men seem to hanker after even big ger crowbars, and to look long ingly towards the bulldozer of legal compulsion to enforce the adoption of their opinions. For example, Sir Cyril Black has become the Chairmen of the newly-formed Moral Law Defen se Association, whose purpose is to "bring pressure" to bear on Members of Parliament to amend such legislation as the Obscene Publications Act of 1959, and, in his words, to "stamp out" the "sale of por nography" and to "elevate the tone of our literture, our films, our plays" by a "more rigid enforcement of the law." Which, like the activities of most back-stairs pressure groups, could be dangerous for the democratic rest of us. And so it seems worth while to ex amine the pretentions of such an attitude, and to search among . the platitudinous thickets, whether there be any lurking truth. Being a writer, and to avoid a weariness of words, I intend to treat the censorship of books es a particular case of the gen eral principle that a "more rig id enforcement of the law" will do any good to anybody except lawyers and the friends of Sir Cyril Black. . . . And will now dive in headfirst. No Christian ought ever to censor any book, at any time, Geese And Pandemonium and form some kind of a council whose job it would be to step in on a moment's notice and arrange for orderly coverage of events in cases of this nature. It is quite evident that one or two experienced reporters, representing all news media, can do an infinitely better job of interviewing a person than can a goggle of 50 or more screaming peo ple. Maybe the one man doesn't think of all the questions that the 50 could come up with, but one man gets his ques tions heard, and the interviewee is at least given a chance to answer outside the atmosphere of pandemonium which now characterizes these encounters. An example of this single-representative system was provided for us in the hospital interview of Governor John Connally several days after the assassi nation of President Kennedy. Because of the Governor's condition, doctors al lowed only one reporter in his room, and NBC newsman Martin Agronsky repre sented all the news media in a taste ful, orderly and interesting interview of Connally. The contrast between this and the chaotic interviews of the Dallas Police spokesman and District Attorney serve to prove the point. We do not feel that establishing this pool system to cover certain types of stories would in any way sap the zeal or inhibit the initiative it is so neces sary for a good reporter to possess. For "scoops" do not come from mass in terviews of persons caught up in the events which make news, but rather from discovering those events first. No newspaper is going to beat another newspaper in disclosing the outcome of the well publicized trial of a public official but the initiative of one report er who digs tenaciously for facts can often result in that very trial, and at the same time provide an excellent scoop for that reporter's paper. The responsibility of the press is a function of the freedom it enjoys, and we are sure the press could now go a long way in enhancing its stature and accepting its responsibility by working out a system that would put an end to the distasteful exhibit of reporters trampling over and out-shouting each otfier. In any place, for any reason. CREATIVE WORK By "book" I imply use of every " other possible word de scribing the free creative work of freely creative man: play, picture, poem, statue, novel, film, symphony, script, song, scenario, or whatever, "porno graphic" or not and by "cen sor" I imply all the possible . methods of suppressing such a wrork; ban, expurgate, destroy, prevent, "stamp out," or in any way render unavailable to any man wanting free access. I assert this knowing that the wickedness of man is still great in the earth, and that we live under a deluge of lies, filth, and viciousness such as the world has never been polluted with be fore. Not even the worst days of Imperial Rome or Victorian , England could match what to us are the ordinary sights and sounds of everyday life . . . garish advertisements planned by highly-skilled psychologists to appeal to all our natural greed and selfishness, all our fears, frustrations, all our weak ness our pride, our covetous ness, our feelings of insecurity, all that is evil continually with in us . . . pornographic news papers, all seven days of the week, including the one we are commanded to keep holy news papers filled with manufactured news, lies, misrepresentations, half-truths, gossip about the tri vial doings of trivial people, re ports stimulating every idle curiosity, stories pandering to every imaginable thought of dis eased minds, articles catering for all our cupidity, ignorance and prejudice, and photographs so obscene as to leave little Friday, December 13, 1963 Entered as 2nd class matter at the Post Office in Chapel Hill, N. C, pursuant to Act of March 8, 1870. Subscription rates: $4.50 per semester; $8 per year. scope for further degradation of the help meet created by God for man . . . films, including so called "Bible Epics," indulging every lust and perversion from the flagellation complex to vica rious fornication . . . television programmes so silly as to be senseless, so superficial as to be unbelievable . . . popular songs so daft as to be moronic . and books millions of them detailing every kind of criminal violence and psychopathology, glorifying war and cruelty, sat isfying every unhealthy interest in man's inhumanity to man, in concentration camps, torture and every possible brutality . . . detective stories in which the crime is always murder . . . "thrillers" in which sex and sadism mix in equal propor tions to produce poison . . . foul, sinful, death-centered books mm jut . r H umor Coines To By NINA KING "The Suitor": Directed by Pierre Etaix; screenplay by P. Etaix and J. C. Carriere; pro duced by Paul Claudon. At the Rialto through Tuesday. Jollity being the order of the season, the Rialto Theater . in Durham has seen fit to devote the next two weeks to contem porary comic masterpieces. Starting Wednesday, a double bill of Peter Sellers' classics "The Mouse that Roared" and "I'm All Right, Jack" will be featured. This week, the Rialto is holding the Southern premiere Freedom To Learn it (From The New York Times) J. Edgar Hoover has told a youth group in New York that he wyould bar Communist spokes men from college campuses be cause their ideas can "win the allegiance of American youth." We think that the F.B.I, di rector underestimates the intel ligence of American students and seriously narrows the con cept of academic freedom. The Communists have been notor iously unsuccessful in their cam pus recruitment. One reason may be that when students are permitted to learn about com munism, its secretive glamour is stripped away. American college students have invited and heard many re pugnant persons and ideas in re cent months. Racism, radical rightism and communism have been preached and debated openly at major universities. "If you expect a nation to be ignorant and free," Thomas Jefferson once said, "you expect what never was and never will be." That's what academic free dom is all about. we could do without. A deluge, then, which threat ens to destroy whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. Yet I repeat, No Christian ought ever to censor any book. SUPPRESSION And assert this, knowing that the history ; of ecclesiastical Christianity can be seen as a series of repeated attempts by men such as Sir Cyril Black to suppress everything of which they did not approve, a suppres sion usually carried out with all the severity . of secular power. I assert it knowing it to be alien to what passes for Christian "thought" today and open to its swift condemnation. And I assert it because I believe that the arguments advanced to defend censorship are unsound, that in 1964 Crystal Ball r1 Movie Review of Pierre Etaix's "The Suitor", the first full length film by a very clever, and very funny, little Frenchman. The plot of "The Suitor" is slight indeed. A hollow-cheeked, intent young scientist (Etaix) suffers from his parents' desire for a daughter-in-law. Once the idea has been implanted, how ever, the young man becomes enchanted with it and sets forth in haphazard, but touchingly earnest, pursuit of femininity. The ridiculous mishaps which befall him in his search make up the "plot" of this charming bit of froth. Etaix is a delight: he moves through his role with an al most deadpan face, but the merest flicker of his sad eyes or the faintest quiver of his nar row lips can express the most delicate of emotions. His form of comedy has obvious roots in the Chaplinesque tradition. It is composed largely of visual gags ranging in quality from the most blatant pratfalls to clever ly contrived variations on the difficulties and nuances of light ing feminine cigarettes. There is something, also, of the fan tastic wistfulness of Chaplin as when the newly converted "suit or" dances in delighted expect ancy through the moonlit, gar den, only to discover his parents watching from a balcony. Etaix's debt to the comic geniuses of the silent film has been perhaps overstressed, how ever. Even more important is the influence of Jacques Tati. Tati uses the minimum of dia logue and almost no "sound effects" as such. But, also like Tati. he is able to create in credibly funny effects out of the most banal of ordinary, every day sounds high heels on ce ment pavement, clinking glass es, the scratch of a match, etc. The supporting roles in "The Suitor" are perfectly cast. As his mildmannered, wistful fath er and his domineering but sen timental mother, Claude Massat and Denise Perrone strike a per rfS5" ill v i '4' 1 V any event censorship does not and cannot work effectively in achieving its ends, and because I believe that a positive response to the good is a more effective protection against the. appeal of the bad than any attempt to suppress it. These arguments for Censor ship are ancient ones weary horses lumbering around the shabby circus-ring of ideas. In this place of wet sawdust the concepts of censorship and freedom are usually thought of as being in opposition to censor implies the denial of freedom, whilst to be free implies the ab sence of censorship. But this apparent opposition depends up on two possible conceptions of the nature of freedom: the first, that to be free means to do as you please, right or wrong which is based on the principle Durham fect balance between humorous exaggeration and heartwarming human-ness. As the women in Etaix's new life, Laurence Ligneres, France Arnell and Karis Vesely are de lightful to behold. Miss Vesely, as the wistful Scandanavian maid who can speak no French (even her subtitles are in Swed ish) is a particularly enchant ing discovery. Young Minds Editors, The Tar neel, A few days ago, we discussed a few of the many dangerous books purchased by the tax payers for our college and uni versity libraries. Since that time, many friends have point ed out other dangerous waitings which should not be handled lightly by immature youth, not yet sufficiently trained in the school of experience to have formed the proper ideas of our American Way and to be able to see the logical fallacies in them. For instance: a young person is very likely to misun derstand phrases such as "when a form of government becomes destructive to these ends (life, liberty, and the pursuit of hap piness, it is the right of the peo ple to abolish it (by force)." Those of us who are more ma ture understand, of course, that the younger Thomas Jefferson wfas a radical revolutionary and that the end product of his la bors A m e r i c a justifies his means. But a less well-educated mind is liable to interpret Jef ferson's ideas as something to be applied today, when in reality his inflammatory remarks were that no other man's ideas are valid for you unless you accept them freely; and the second, that to be free means to do right and shun the wrong, whether you please or not, which is based on the principle that only the good man is truly free. And arguments both for and against censorship can be drawn from each concept. For example, if truth and the good can be known, then error and evil can be equally known, and prevented on the grounds that no free man will surrender his goodness to either. And if truth and the good have no basis except in private judgment, then censorship is as right as there are private judgments willing to support it. Conversely, if the discovery of truth depends upon free inquiry and the free communication of the results of such inquiry, then From India: City Of Nightmares (Editor's Note: This is the second in a series of dispatches from a UNC student visiting India.) By MARGARET A. RHYMES CALCUTTA The Black Hole of Calcutta has finally come to life as a sultry, vibrating city that teems with intrigue and humanity from all over Asia. It was here in one of the world's most densely populated cities that our Experiment group of 12 had their first heme stay with individual Indian fami lies. Perhaps Calcutta is a good first stop for foreigners to make in India because here are all the startling extremes: the pov erty and the wealth, the ancient and the modern, the shabby and the stately, all crowded into a unique atmosphere. This is the city where tall, imposing buildings shudder at the unending flow of cars, ox carts, rickshaws and hand drawn trucks. . . . where 500 Communists were jailed after the Sino at tack last year and 22,000 Chin ese still suffer under an unof ficial city-wide boycott. . . . where the Victoria Mem orial, fashioned on the Taj, overlooks a long maidan dotted with playing fields, stone monu ments and clusters of trees. . . . where eight out of ten families occupy one-room lodg ings and eat what is called one of the world's worst balanced diets of rice and swreets. . . . wtiere the world's major Jute manufacture takes place and paper mills, steel plants and tanneries line the banks of the Hooghly River. ... where ancient Hindu temples and great museums daily attract the thousands. . . . where the expression "the driver always gets killed" in an accident literally means mob psychology takes over. . . . where the very proper members of the remaining Brit ish colony dine and relax in the most fashionable clubs. . . . where thousands of cows roam the sidewalks, forage on the streets and obstruct even further the wild, wild traffic. . . . where the splendid public buildings, parks and gardens TO THE EDITORS directed toward an oppressive ty ranny and certainly can never be applied to the greatest govern mental form ever conceived. Perhaps it would be better if his writings were kept under lock and key; patriotic teachers can interpret them rightly for the young. In another area: there is a crying need for a version of the Bible edited for minds in the formative stages. There are portions of books of the Old Testament fully as salacious as anything in Henry Miller, Ten nessee Williams, J. D. Salinger, or Mark Twain. Moreover, phrases such as "love thine enemies"; "blessed are the peacemakers"; and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" have been lifted from context and misused so often that it would be better for them to be taken out of harm's way. "The Devil can cite Scrip ture for his purpose," as the good Book says. These are controversial opin ions, but in dealing with young minds apt to form the wrong ideas one cannot be too care ful. Student Committee to Help Eliminate Insidious Subversive Speakers no censorship can be good be cause it might be the suppres sion of the true before it can be known as truth. And if goodness depends upon knowledge of the truth, then censorship of the truth hinders the growth of goodness. And whilst it is not logically so, the arguments for censorship tend to be based on the do-a-you-ought concept (or, rather on the particular set of "oughts" the would-be censors have in mind), and the arguments against tend to be based on the do-as-you-please concept. In other words, censorship is usually proposed to prevent the degradation o f whatsoever things are held to be true, hen est, just, pure, lovely and o; good report, and rejected as a danger to the freedom on which these things are held to depend. would rival those of Washing ton. . . . where the average life . span for one of the city's OO.ooi) rickshaw pullers is around 23. ... where sprawling botanical gardens harbor the famous Ban yan Tree, 1200 feet in circum ference. . . . where the summer's out break of cholera that claimed almost 500 lives were termed "mild." . . . where the great port that handles almost half the coun try's imports is choking up with silt. . . . where thousands of refu gees cook, bathe and sleep on the city sidewalks. The problems are gigantic. With the 1947 partition, millions of Hindus fled Muslim Pakistan, poured into Calcutta and al most doubled the population overnight. The resulting chaos in hous ing, sanitation and transporta tion has only begun to be al leviated. Nehru has called it a "city of nightmares." And yet, as the chief industrial and commerical center, its fate is vital to In dia's future. One can more easily come to grasp the rest of India after seeing the turbulence, the pesti lence and the economic disrup tion of Calcutta that are sym bols of the task that all of India faces. m Quotes n If 4 By United Press International NEW YORK Sen. Norris Cotton, R-N.H., on the Repub lican party's presidential pros pects as a result of the changed political situation caused by President Kennedy's death: 'The Republican chances are immensely brightened. M e n come and go men die but principles remain the same. Sen. Barry Goldwater is still the man to give the party char acter and direction." SAIGON, South Viet Nam South Vietnamese Premier Ng uyen Ngoc Tho, accusing Saig on newspapers of sensational reporting and outright fabrica tion: "No country in the world could afford to allow the press to use its freedom to sabotage the foundations the prevailing government is building or to generate confusion . . ." WASHINGTON Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, D-N.Y., after a House and Senate conference committee agreed on a com promise measure to boost fed eral assistance to vocational education: "This will mean more prog ress in the field of education than the United States has seen in 100 years." HIGH POINT, N. C. Jim my Jenkins, arrested with his brother for alleged counterfeit ing, on the difficulties of get ting rid of $30,000 worth of bog us bills of too poor quality to use: "Trying to burn money is not easy. You have to hold one bill and use one match to burn it. You just can't take it out in the backyard and throw it on the bonfire." UNUSUAL COW PHOENIX, Ariz. (UPI)-A five-legged cow has given birth to a normal calf. The cow, which belongs to Richard Stur ges of Phoenix, Ariz., is normal in all respects except for an extra leg on his lefi-front side. The cow walks on three legs.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Dec. 13, 1963, edition 1
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