Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Sept. 18, 1989, edition 1 / Page 11
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
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.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 18, 1989, edition 1
11
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75