Garry Bicliett
Tiie Daily
iar Jd
eel
82nd Year Of Editorial Freedom
, All cmiised editorials tit the opinion of the editors. Letters tad colinsns represent the opinions cf
individuals.
Founded February 23, 1C93
Wednesday, October 23, 1974
A
comunweirsv
c
Las of a three-part series
the
eywoffQ.
When the Wilmington parents were asked whether
the vulgar, obscene and pornographic stories in the
high school textbook aroused them sexually, they all
responded with an emphatic No."
This is part of the problem. If the material were in
fact pornographic it would have had a stimulating
effect, at least on some of them. But probably they were
ashamed to admit their feelings. Their inhibitions
spilled over into their courtroom testimony, even
though their other, equally natural emotions weren't so
carefully guarded.
In the first place, few had read the book (or even
pages 357-380) and nothing breeds fear like ignorance.
Secondly, the mutilation of the textbook to exclude all
possible objectionable references was . called
"selectivity," not censorhip. But euphemisms won't
help much either.
A more reasonable and balanced approach is sorely
needed in Wilmington and other communities with
textbook controversies. Translated, this does hot mean
that they should agree with the relatively liberal
standards of a town like Chapel Hill. Small
communities do, after all, have a number of valid
arguments on their side.
The unwitting followers of Thomas Bowdler were
properly repulsed by former President Nixon's
profanity. It is commendable that they are fighting for
higher standards of community conduct. And they are
only asking for the same degree of community control
that liberals were so quick to grant inner-city blacks in
order to get minority-oriented textbooks in the urban
schools. Citizens of Wilmington are asking for
morality-oriented literature, but it is questionable
whether, for all their laudable intentions, the means
they are choosing are really in the best interests of the
students.
The difficulties of the situation are compounded by
the knee-jerk liberal : $efensiveness of. the media.
Mention the word censorship and any reporter in the
nation will start , shouting something about the .
principles of the Republic. But the other side can be
equally paranoid. Playboy was denounced as "one of.
those counterculture magazines" when Hugh Hefner
is, unfortunately, a ' bastion of the bourgeoisie.
C OMITS
At times, it has become one
vicious cycle.
The undergraduates complain
that they aren't getting much out of
most of their courses. Either the
professors are boring, or they're not
getting deep enough into the ;
material, or the material isn't worth
getting into.
Students complain about a lack of ;
academic freedom, and about those
required courses which are in no way
compatible with their interests or
their abilities.
After four years, many students
wonder how much they've gained
academically. Were the four years of
tuition worth whatever increase in
intellectual ability was attained?
Could the experience have been
better?
Instructors, for their part, are also
at times disillusioned. They wonder
why, when despite their best efforts,
students often just sit there in class,
showing no signs of intellectual
stimulatin, no inclination to ask
questions or start discussion.
Some instructors vow to
themselves: "This is the last year I'm
teaching undergraduates.It's a waste
of my time and my ability. From
now on, only graduate students."
These are not the pervasive
attitudes of all students towards all
instructors and vice-versa. But many
classes on this campus are infected
to varying degrees with these cynical
attitudes.
Last spring, to the
disappointment of many academic
reformists, the Fculty Council voted
against the four-course load.
However, the council did
recommend that departments study
the possibility of granting varying
course credits.
Last week, the Political Science
Department took the lead "and
AirAaA i r ctuslir cnh o nion
The plan under study would allow
plain
Profanity has become the cutting edge of media
liberalization movements, even though its vocabularly
is terribly limited and overworked, however emphatic.
Instead of the Berkeley "Free Speech" movement, most
Americans read "dirty speech" and thus allow a catchy
example to defeat the whole purpose of the effort.
Despite the misunderstanding on both sides, the
overall effect of the Wilmington parents' effort is self
defeating. Suppression only, adds5 excitement to the
forbidden textbooks, and resistance in following the
local school board. Banning certain books or
magazines will in no way decrease the amount of
swearing or obscenity in our society.
The experience of today's youth is greater than their
parents dare imagine. As Mary Freeman, student body
president of one of the Wilmington high schools said,
"I'm glad adults care about us, but I don't think they
give us credit for. having any sense. People our age
know what is right and what is wrong, and no book will
persuade us to use language or not to use it."
The worst aspect of the Wilmington effort is that it
tacitly endorses an extremely restrictive and
paternalistic education. The idea is that if students
don't know about something, then it won't be possible
for them to act that way. But not only are students
already aware of the various types of antisocial
behavior (through TV if nothing else), petty
suppression only make rebellion all the more
appealing.
Socrates said that the wise man is the one who knows
what he does not know. North Carolina schools must
teach its students how to handle life, not hide from it,
and occasionally a good dose of big-city drug life and
perversion is good for an isolated community
Realism, not romanticism, is the rule of an enlightened
education.
As columnist James Kilpatrick suggests, the only
way to handle community textbook controversies is for
school boards to be more prudent in selecting the texts.
They can best gauge community tastes and standards,
so that useless and regressive conflicts need not arise. ,
But the overall trend should be toward complete
freedom of textbook choice. The symbol of an
enlightened society is the owl or the eagle, not the
ostrich.
wOTtttowMe
students to receive from one to six
hours for a course, depending on the
projected concentration. Once in a
course, students would also be able
to ask their professors for four, five
or six credit hours, provided the
students would do extra work.
Both faculty and students in the
department seem to agree that there
are merits to the plan. Dr. James
White, chairman of the study
committee, said that the plan would
allow "for students who want a
thorough knowledge of a smaller
subject than would usually be
covered."
Brad Miller, a representative of
the Undergradute Political Science
Association, noted: "The faculty
seemed to see this as a chance for a
more flexible curriculum and not as
a threat."
A greater flexibility in curriculum
and more academic freedom is what
the plan is all about. It would allow
both students and faculty in the
political science department to mold
the courses to their needs, instead of
molding their needs to rigid,
preconceived courses.
If a student is allowed to take
courses he is more interested in for
more than three credits, then he pan
probably cut out some of his boring,
tedious elective courses in which he
might just be dead weight. This plan
then helps instructors as well as
students.
Hopefully, the political science
faculty will see the merits, and
ultimately approve the plan. But
beyond that, maybe other
departmetns will also see the need to
study similar plans.
A
Hob
on the i
Hill
While sitting in my room listening to Led
.Zeppelin, my thoughts were abruptly
diverted from "Ramble On" to an irritating
and quite persistent rapping on my door. I
envisioned the source of the rapping to be
either my R A telling me to cut the volume or
somebody trying to sell strawberry incense,
sol igno red it B ut it continued to persist and
I surrendered. I found the source to be a
gnarled staff firmly held by a three-foot-tall
hobbit. Naturally my surprise was immense,
not so much because hobbits supposedly
exist only in books by Tolkien, but rather
because the hobbit had an uncanny
resemblance to a miniature M ickey R coney.
"Good evening sir," said the hobbit.
"Oblib Baggins at your service and the
service of your family."
Having sat through four lectures of
Philosophy 20, 1 realized that this could very
well be either a dream or the work of
Descartes evil genius. Either way it was real,
because it seemed real and was real in my
mind or something like that, so I played
along, somewhat amused.
"Your services are welcome in my humble
room, Mr. Baggins," responded 1. "Now, tell
me, what brings you here?"
' "California was too crowded," sighed
Oblib as he walked past me to the
refrigerator, obviously satisfied with his
success in confusing my dream.
"Great, but why Chapel Hill?" queried I,
trying to find order so I would wake.
Before answering Oblib pulled a Schlitz
from the refrigerator and popped the licPoH a
can of Pringles.
"H obbits, my friend, are in a predicament.
We have been forced out, of the woods by
civilization and we are now scouting for a"
new place to dig our burrows," explained the
hairy toed hobbit between gulps of beer.
"So why here?" 1 repeated impatiently.
"Escapism," came the answer.
"Oh, you mean like alcohol and dope; that
sort of thing," expounded I, beginning to see
more clearly.
"No," sighed the hobbit, "I mean
environmental escapism."
"Oh ," I whimpered, confused again. .
"It's quite simple," said . Oblib. We
hobbits don't want to have our lives
complicated by. poverty, pollution,
industrialization and noise. We would rather
live in a place fairly separated from all this, a
place where we can sit around in a park
with flowers in our hair without having kids
running over us playing war and torturing
their already castrated G.I. Joe dolls."
" til 1 M m . - II I I
Qblib reached for another beer and found
a cold piece of chicken to accompany it down
to his protruding stomach.
"Chapel Hill," burped the hobbit "is such
a place. Tell me, when was the last time you
saw kids playing war in the Arb? When was
the last time you saw a plane overhead or
heard a train go by? When was the last time
you stepped in a mud puddle with mud in it?
When was the last time you really worried
about something going on outside of Chapel
Hill?"
"Well, I don't know," muttered I, pushed
up against the wall by the interrogation.
"Face it," said Oblib. "You have
everything you need here: food, friends,
entertainment, education, and yet you are
isolated from all the bad things. You can
read newspapers, you can watch television,
you can bring in speakers to talk about coal
mines and lettuce, but all of these" are
secondary accounts. You can ignore them
simply by turning a page, flipping a channel,
or walking out of a speech. If something is
ugly, you don't have to look at it. Take
advantage of these four years. I, myself,
intend to stay longer."
With that Oblib set down his third beer,
picked up his staff, and exited. 1 climbed
back on the top bunk and returned my
attention to "Ramble On."
A heavy rapping brought me to the door
again, but this time, instead of a short,
chubby hobbit, there stood a tall, bearded
young man wearing a loose fitting tunic
accented by several strings of wooden beads.
"Hey man, would ya like to buy some
strawberry incense to help send a guru
through college?"
Garry Bickett is a freshman interested in
journalism. '
Letters to the editors
S utherland defends article
To the editors:
Metin Gurol's column t (Oct. 19)
concerning my article on the Cypriot tragedy
seemed to miss the point. In this reply, I do
not want to instigate an editorial dogfight;
my only wish is to put what I was trying to do
in perspective and point out some errors in
Mr. Gurol's criticism.
The - main thrust of my article was to
present an emotional reality which we as
Americans should understand, since we had
a vested interest in the invasion. U.S. funds
greatly helped to arm the Turkish forces.
Because the article was mainly a
presentation of a Greek Cypriot's view of the
island's dilemma, the tragedy was largely
presented the way he saw it. If I had had
letters from a Turkish Cypriot, 1 would have
included these.
On a careful reading of what I inserted
between the letters from this Cypriot, one
sees that I was merely attempting to tie the
letters together with a thread of historical
background.
I acknowledged that both Turkish and
Greek Cypriots have suffered at the hands of
the other. Therefore, Mr. Gurol's closing
comment about the massacre of "defenseless .
Turkish Cypriot villagers" is completely
unwarranted. I even acknowledged the fact
that Greek Cypriots were enjoying a
standard of living equal to America's (as did
the Cypriot letter writer), and that many .
Turks were indeed living in ghettoes.
My lead to the story concerning the fact
that Congress and the administration are
still at odds on the Turkish aid veto was
meant only to elucidate the static nature of
the situation and not to argue who is right.
Neither Greek nor Turkish Cypriots seem
able to make the requisite concessions
needed to end the controversy. Just as Greek
Cypriots are not entitled to the whole island.
..
neither are Turks deserved of more Cypriot
governmental power than their population
merits.
Mr. Gurol incorrectly claims that after
Samphson's assumption of power, "Mass
slaughter of Turkish villagers began." This is
not true; there was no killing of Turkish
Cypriots until after the Turkish naval and air
invasion began. During the coup, the only
people killed were about 30 Greeks and
Greek Cypriots. It would seem ironic then
that the Turkish interference which was
meant to save Turkish Cypriot lives
precipitated both Turkish and Greek
Cypriot deaths,
Mr. Gurol states that the Turks are "the .
rightful owners of the island." This is absurd
when one considers that the large percentage
of the islanders consider themselves
descendents of early Greek colonists.
Perhaps Mr. Gurol is referring to the
Turkish conquest of the island in 1571.
H owever, since 1 878, Cyprus had been under
British rule until 1960, when a republic was
erected.
By far the most disturbing part of Mr.
Gurol's column us his mention of the Turkish
fighting spirit, because that indicates to me
no solution for the presently divided island.
The history of Cyprus has shown that it is .
very difficult for two groups of different
religious, social and political backgrounds to
live on one island compatibly, if not
harmoniously. However, this does not call
for more violence but rather for a more
concerted effort at negotiations.
Bill Sutherland
Estes Park
Zionist actions
called 'criminal'
To the editors: .
1 had always thought myself religiously
tolerant. I was born in Lebanon, the
interface of Western religions. My father, a
Roman Orthodox, caused his mother
endless grief by marrying a Maronite
Catholic. He then added insult "to injury by
giving his children Islamic names in honor of
friends in Haifa. I have continued in his
'eclectic footsteps by being confirmed in a
Protestant Church and by serious readings'
in Vedanta and Buddhism.
However, in light of Rabbi SeigeFs recent r
letter addressed to you, I must now re-,
examine my tolerance. For you see, 1 have
relatives on a mountain in Lebanon who live
in those old stone houses. They don't have
much just a few fig and plive trees and a
few grape vines.
Now, if the learned Rabbi believes his self
claimed pedigree from the venerable
matriarch Sarah, may God have mercy on
. her soul; or his assumed special relationship
with the Ultimate Ground of Being entitles
him to kill my grandmother, uncles and
aunts in order to put some rich American or
Russian Zionists -in those stone houses as
was first done in Palestine and now more
recently in Syria and Egypt and to let these
Zionists eat from our olive and fig trees and
grape vines without paying for them, then I
must declare "his" religion not only "racist"
but also criminal albeit admittedly from an
"Arab" point of view. I must also find a new
name for the religion of the Jewish
immortals who have been among those that,
have given the sons and daughters of Adam
and Eve their highest ideals.
Walid Courie
112 Lewis
Lightfoot concert
disappointing
To the editors:
Tyler Marsh's in-depth profile on Gordon
Lightfoot was illuminating. I hope
"Lightfoot far from 'Sundown'" was not
intended to be a critical review of Mr.
Lightfoot's performance Thursday night.
For if the story was supposed to be a profile,
Mr. Marsh did an admirable job, but if it was
supposed to be a review, he failed miserably.
It is the latter vein that I wish to comment
on. I may be in the minority, but I feel I paid
about S10 too much to endure Gordon
Lightfoot in his alcoholic haze. He did
entertain the crowd of 8,000. However, his
music or lack of it was atrocious.
He butchered Sundown, did not play
some of his major songs (the guitar-tuning
excuse is rather weak since he could have
done his best numbers in either half) and was
;so drunk after the intermission that he
stopped one song on six different occasions.
Most of. the crowd enjoyed his
performance but not because of the music. It
is difficult for me to believe that Mr. Marsh
and 95 per cent of the people in attendance
have no discretion whatsoever. I paid to hear
good music and was severely disappointed.
Karen Callaway
D-2 Camelot Apts.
The
Daily
'WHERE NOW, JUDGE?'
Tar
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Jim Coops r, Greg Turosck
Editors
Kevin McCarthy, Managing Editor
jOsrbsra Heltxmon, Associate Editor
iGsry Fulton, Associate Editor
Joel Brlnktey, Ksays Editor
Harriet Sugar, Features Editor
Elliott Ycmock, Sports Editor
Martha Stevens, Haad Photosraphar
llnda Stern, NI-ht Editor