Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Oct. 10, 1985, edition 1 / Page 10
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10The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, October 10, 1985 I D IJ fl A ' M ft MR TT- -L- fl m. ft mo aily Mm -IBM rsi will flciWo i im ii a 93rd year of editorial freedom Arm; Rickert and I'Jitor Stuart Tonkinson Ben Perkowski Dick Anderson Janet Olson Jami White AndyTrincia Managing Editor Associate Editor Associate Editor University Editor News Editor State and National Editor He stoops to inquire Harvard University will celebrate its 350th anniversary with its September convocation next year. In deference to tradition, Harvard's president, Derek C. Bok, swallowed a great deal of profes sional pride by extending an invitation to President Reagan to speak at the event. Bok, who chairs the Association of American, Universities, has been highly critical of Reagan's views on student aid, maintaining that the policies outlined by the administration would dramatically affect the ability of lower income families to send their children to private colleges. But the Reagan administration, perhaps underestimat ing the tension latent in the situation, made an acute tactical blunder in responding to Bok's invitation. In the words of a recent New York Times article, the White House "dis creetly inquired whether the President could receive an honorary degree." Hmm ... This, of course, is the kind of material that editorialists dream about at night. But let us give pause for a moment to contemplate a slice of Americana. In 1886, Grover Cleveland agreed to speak at Harvard's 250th anniversary celebra tion but declined the university's offer of an honorary degree, saying he was not worthy of it. Then, in 1936, Harvard alumnus Franklin D. Roosevelt was asked to give an address at the 300th anniversary celebration. (He, however, had already received an honorary degree The budget fudge-it Congressmen have long known how politically painful cutting the deficit can be (i.e., cutting domestic programs that voters tend to pay attention to); they've also long known the comfort and joy of making impassioned pleas for deficit reduction. These two truths have come into a curious conflict recently as the Senate wrestles with a plan to balance the budget in six years. Many of the lawmakers love praising this legislation as a glorious end-all to the mess over deficit reduction a means to force, by law, that wonder of wonders: a balanced budget. Problems solved. The deficit will go away because the law says it will. But after looking more closely at this quick-fix proposal, they start to come to the disappointing realization that it won't make all those difficult decisions they've been avoiding for so long disappear. Problems not solved. Social . Security will still be around, though most don't dare whisper of cutting it. Defense spending hassles will still be around, though the administra tion still refuses to yield there, relying on those politically potent words national security as its shield. Indeed, the proposal, which would write into law a series of deficit targets, starting from $180 billion in fiscal 1986 While you've got the time We don't know where you're reading this. You might be reading this in the classroom (naughty, naughty), sitting waiting for a bus, between classes, between meals, or wherever. Maybe even on the toilet. Oh, you're not the only one.Tt's not uncommon to take a bit of reading into the bathroom while you're doing your daily business. While we aren't advocat ing the elimination of toilet paper, we feel a good read complements one of life's necessities. Now a Simmons Market Research Bureau study commissioned by the trade publication Madison Avenue has come along to back up our claims. It seems that people are coming out of the water closet, so to speak, and telling these nosy researchers just what their favorite magazines are when nature calls. The top 10, based on a ratio of total readership to bathroom readership, are: 1. True Story. Makes you wonder who they surveyed, doesn't it? You won't even find this confessional in the DTH offices. 1. Seventeen. It's a stage every girl goes through, we suppose. David Schmidt Editor Loretta Grantham Mark Powell . Lee Roberts Elizabeth Ellen ShaWn Sheridan Larry Childress City Editor Business Editor Sports Editor Arts Editor Features Editor Photo Editor note the key word, received.) And so we come to the present moment. Ah, 1985, when honorary degrees are not so much to be received . as to be "discreetly inquired" about. Need anyone conjecture whether the patron saint of Public Relations is presently exchanging high-fives with the deities of Tastelessness and Illogic? Soon, perhaps, candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize will be flying in the face of reason and undertaking progressively cruder crimes against mankind. Well, principled defenders of higher education everywhere may heave a sigh of relief for the moment. As word of the Reagan administration's "discreet inquiry" spread, heated debate con sumed the pages of Harvard's alumni magazine. Five faculty members wrote an open letter requesting that the 350th Anniversary Commission "go back to central casting for a better actor in the lead role." Well said, gentlemen. And so it is that David Rosen, a spokesman for the university, announced the Harvard Corporation's firm and final decision that "no degrees will be granted." As members of the university's highest governing body headed out of their closed session last week, we expect they were still shaking their heads and wondering aloud, "Whoever suggested that notion anyway?" Well, don't tell anyone else who told you this, but . . . and declining each year to zero in fiscal 1991, seems to be more a tactic of the politicians to give the country the illusion of a solution, than any concrete reason for hope on the deficit crisis. The proposal wouldn't be so bad if it were left to a relatively simple series of conditions and targets it might finally stir Congress and the president to truly act on the deficit but already sponsors are agreeing to keep Social Security out of consideration and Reagan is reminding Congress of this year's budget resolution allowing a 3 percent per year increase in defense spending for the next several years. Once you take these out and those the Office of Management and Budget will be given the power to-deem "rel atively uncontrollable," then what's left are the domestic programs nobody wants to touch the status quo returns. Congress and the administration should stop concentrating on such attempts to appear active on the deficit and stop avoiding the facts defense will have to be cut, domestic programs will have to be cut, and, unless they are (and significantly so), taxes will have to rise. Attempts to dodge the facts that masquerade as positive action are no solution. 3. Time. For the truly discriminating infomaniac with time on his hands. 4 and 5. Sport and Sports Illustrated. Some of those SI articles might require several sittings. 6. Money and The Mother Earth News (tie). What's the connection? 7. Sports Afield. When youVe lent out your last copy of Sport or Sports Illustrated. 8. Prevention. We know what it is, but what is Prevention! 9. Cosmopolitan. For today's on-the-go woman, we suppose. 10. People and Us (tie). Remember The Big CMP. Jeff Goldblum would be disappointed. Simmons' survey, in case you're sitting there wondering, was conducted among 1,000 people 18 and older Other revelations were that 36 percent of all adult men take their reading to the lavatory, compared with 26 percent of ' all adult women. And college graduates spend more reading than their non collegiate counterparts. Nice to know -you're on top of things, isn't it? We just report these things, folks; we don't make them up. Legislation misses target By GARY H. MESSENGER Effective Oct. 1, the N.C. legislature revised our state's obscenity laws. The changes were intended to address the presence of adult materials in the state. The authors intended their changes for the protection of minors minors who might be exploited through child pornography and those who might be exposed to adult materials in general The intentions are laudable. But it appears that the law will only terminate legitimate access of adult entertainment materials for home use by consenting adults. Through vague and inconsistent language, our legislature has abridged citizens' constitutional rights. The state has argued that adult materials are obscene and thus aren't protected by the First Amendment. But the law takes such a broad view of obscenity that any number of generally acceptable materials could be grounds for prosecution. The law further encourages selective enforcement of the statutes. One district attorney, given his hometown political climate, might use the law to mount a Moral Majority-type community clean-up. His counterpart in the next county might have different priorities, lesser resources or more pressing criminal problems. Basically, no one wants to define obscenity because, like beauty, obscenity is in the eye Mora! decree good for state By J. THOMAS JACKSON The new pornography law has been criticized for being too strict, even ridiculous. Merchants say that it will hurt business. How, say some, can it support it? I ask how anyone cannot support it. The law seeks to end the exploitation of women and children, and to protect minors from being entangled in the deadly shame that obscenity creates. Some may complain that this is legislated morality. Tell me; what law is not legislated morally? It is not a question of morality being legislated; the question is whose morality. Consider: 70 percent of adult pornographic magazines sold ends up in the hands of minors. Seventy-seven percent of child molesters of boys and 87 percent of those molesting girls admitted imitating the sexual behavior they had seen modeled in pornography. Chld pornography has victimized as many as 600,000 children in the United States. The states with the highest readership of pornographic materials also show the highest rate of rapes. Slavery: a mar in our national history that ended in a bloodbath. The degrading violation of the inalienable rights upon which this nation was founded came to an end after much oppression. Along with slavery, a whole way UNO) 1 v. mwrm USA WicTV,' SltfEPEH CH 7 f- I mw '''WW'. A 1 I" i An open apology 1 -..-vs;- i( V; I ITI-'fl X X,..X71 i& fc : yA-,L,-A-,l'.to.y,: .. V,' -"'i'o Ill I HI 111 - 111 ft , lSS--: WC" JL', X .1 - 11 'I '.I -if 'A 9 V v. V w H Brighter forms beneath By SALLY PONT When I was in sixth grade, my teacher shone a light on everyone in my class and traced the outlines of our heads on the wall. We all cut out the silhouettes, put them on bright-colored backing paper, and hung them on the wall in a row. We marvelled at the shapes and sizes of each other's noses, but all in all we were unimpressed with our images. There was something vague and unflattering about mere outlines of ourselves on flat paper. To many people, my portrait of Dexter Romweber ("Dexter Romweber tempts fate while he courts fame," Oct. 2) was just as false and unflattering. At the time, I thought that my perceptions were accurate. Tracing the outline of Dexter, I captured his exterior and was content with that. I was so enamored by his facade that I completely missed the point of Dexter: what's between the lines. of the beholder. We all agree that certain acts and depictions are obscene, especially child pornography. But the legal basis for banning child pornography is that a child is being exploited, not the obscenity of the act that the child is being forced into. When we speak of sexually explicit materials featuring consenting adults made solely for the entertainment of other consenting adults in their own homes, the argument of exploitation crumbles. It is easy to believe both male and female actors were forced into compromising positions through threats of violence or blackmail, or lured into their sordid trade with the promise of wealth. The legitimate adult industry, in fact, resembles the pop music industry much more than a white slavery ring. Adult stars have agents, career strategies, promotional tours, personal appearances, press conferences, lawyers. But while an adult star's product may gross millions of dollars, the "star" will see only a small fraction of the money. Adult film actors are indeed exploited. But so are Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and even Miss Amer ica. The point is they know they're being exploited. And under such circumstances, they choose not to concern themselves with their exploitation. It is not the duty of the judicial legislative- system to intervene in their choice. Another serious consequence of removing adult products from public scrutiny is that all adult products will then be relegated to the underground. They will not disappear as if by divine magic, nor will they cease to be available to the public. What will surface via under ground sales are many vile and violent films of life was wiped out because slavery was the crutch of the Southern plantation system. No one who values human rights, no one who believes in the inalienable rights given to man by his creator, and no one who loves his fellow man can approve of slavery and still have a clear conscience. Today, however, we find ' many people who would openly deny any tolerance of slavery, participating in a subtle form of it and defending it for economic reasons. Pornography enslaves women and children through sexual exploitation. Some seek to continue this slavery for financial gain. The new law seeks an end to this slavery. How many more violent sex crimes will it take before our society has had enough? Here we find part of the problem itself: Parts of our society can't get enough. There is no end to the pit into which people are throwing themselves. It all starts with one look. The human brain is incredible. When a person looks at a picture, that picture is imprinted in the memory storage of that person indefinitely, with the capacity to be recalled at any time. Pornography thrives off the human capacity to fantasize. Real life can never measure up to fantasy, so porno graphy leads its victims into a deeper and deeper pit, like an insatiable hunger. It is called lust. Lust is an innate human behavior; no one has to teach us how. Like the alcoholic who at one time had his first drink, a person who takes his first look at pornography does not intend on ending up in sadism or brutality. Women and children are- the innocent victims, but so is the one who indulges in pornography. He is a slave to it; it controls him. His problem, though, is deeper than flh- -w ' TLfc Ql ii inn. RAi.. i I ii-:TT Nth I missed the Dexter that so many people can love, especially his mother. He is a gentle, generous person to whom anyone can turn in time of need. For all his appearance of disrespect, he is enormously respectful, especially of adults. Dexter can talk to anyone adults, kids, cops, teachers. What's more, he likes every single one of them, and with his generosity, wins every single heart. I should be as generous as Dexter. Just listening to Dexter play, anyone can see that he is brilliant. The complexity and ease of his music shows rapt attention and perfect understanding. As a child, he was a prodigy of the caliber of Mozart. Mozart composed his first symphony at the age of 12; Dexter was playing his own music at the same age. Dexter's creative brilliance is also obvious in the way he talks. He is a wit, a master storyteller and entertainer. He knows how to bring words to life in order to captivate his audience. The stories themselves are deceptive. They tell of recklessness and abandon. But don't be deceived. Dexter is in complete control of his music, -TFK iSn I Emm . LS . T . asw fei " ll II linn ! tmtM not readily available today. At least in the public eye, judgment can be passed on such V materials and whether they are acceptable. Let us now define the differences between adult bookstores and legitimate video. In adult bookstores, there is on-site viewing with either books or screens, as well as sexual parapher nalia and other peripheral products. Without their adult product, including the more violent and sexually abhorrent, there is no business nor a reason to remain open. A family video store has no on-premise viewing, nor is the business itself dependent on adult materials. The video store is in the business of selling entertainment, of which adult products are a generally acceptable part. But at the heart of the matter is the legislation itself. Adult material no longer needs to be explicit to be deemed obscene. The law allows for actual or simulated sex, normal or perverted, clothed or unclothed. All fall under the definition and are punishable as a felony. I'm not arguing whether obscenity is a valid social question. But a citizen's right to control his personal life is in serious jeopardy with the passage of this legislation. The door is now open for the control and censorship of not only entertainment outlets of choice, i.e. video, theater, plays, but that of television, books and periodicals. This law goes too far in protecting N.C. citizenry from itself, and places the control of personal tastes and morality squarely in the hands of the legislature and the pulpit. Gary H. Messenger is president of North American Video Ltd. looking at "dirty" magazines. His problem is what God calls sin, though a person given over to this pornographic depravity can't get enough. His conscience warns him of his danger, and when he repeatedly defiles his conscience, it becomes scared, and his passion becomes unrestrained. Basically, we are all slaves to sin and under the law of death. The word of God tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Sin is what separates us from God, blackening our conscience, and distorting our view of God. God's law says that the sin's price is death eternal separation from God. God created man to have fellowship with man, and so he gave out of the abundance of his heart. He gave Jesus Christ, his only son. The blood of Jesus was shed so that we could live. His death and resurrection affords us the opportunity to know God. Our sins nailed Christ to the cross. He says "Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, for my yolk is easy, and my burden is light.' We owed a debt that we could not pay, and Jesus paid it in full. Now he asks you to step out in faith, to turn away from your life of sin and death and turn to the life of God. Jesus died for you. Will you spit in his face and shun his love, or acknowledge your sins, take up your cross and follow him? God's grace will lead you to repentance, but your hard heart will send you to Hell. It's your decision. What are you going to do about the fact that Jesus Christ died for you? J. Thomas Jackson, a sophomore history major from Asheville, is co-chairman of Students For America. the shadows his audience and his life. His creative urges compel him to create a persona that is . as thorough and vivid as everything else he creates. It is that wild and reckless persona that I described. It is incon gruous with his character. So why does he do it? Perhaps just as another means of creative expression. Perhaps to sell his music. I cannot rightly say. Dexter says that his persona is true to himself. Still, others who know and love him say that Dexter's exterior simply is not Dexter. Dexter is indeed a paradox. As potent as Dexter's exterior is, as provoc ative and myth-inspiring, I feel that I have been dishonest in reporting only that. In my. fasci nation with the persona, I did not find the person. And so I must apologize, to readers, to all concerned and above all, to Dexter. I am truly sorry. Sally Pont, a senior English major from Northford, Conn., is a staff writer for I he uaii) Tar Heel.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Oct. 10, 1985, edition 1
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