opinion_
Bad casting doesn’t spell doom for Reagan
The curtain goes up today. Ronald Reagan is
starring in the biggest show his 70 years have
known.
Unfortunately, the cast stinks. It would be
putting it nicely to say Reagan’s views never have
met with much sympathy on campus or at the
Emerald.
As we said in our November endorsement of
Jimmy Carter, Reagan’s displayed knowledge of
the state of the world invites laughter, pity and
fear. His economics will crown oil companies
kings of the financial and political world, and will
spell the doom of any conservation ethic estab
lished under Carter. On top of everything else,
Reagan knows nothing about Washington.
His supporting actors (note the gender) are
equally weak. War-hawk Alexander Haig, the
NATO commander during Richard Nixon’s secret
bombings of Cambodia and Laos, takes over the
reins as Secretary of State. James Watt, the new
interior secretary, boasts a record that is anything
but environment-conscious. The show just started
and already it suffers from poor casting.
But we should fight the temptation to give up
on the play before the end of the first act — the plot
may compensate for the acting. Besides, it’s the
only show in town. Even die-hard Democrats such
as House leader Thomas O’Neill say they’ll give
Reagan a few months grace before making his life
miserable.
Like it or not, Reagan is president of the
United States. We should make an attempt, there
fore, to give him a fair shake, to objectively
consider what he does in his first months in office.
It won't be easy for Reagan, and the press will
to, mMR IT IS, IT JuST HAS TO BE KTO? Tt#lTHE AWTUlSLOP IN THE UST RXJR BOTTLES.1
watch with scrupulous eyes, to be sure. It will
watch his adjustment to Washington politics, his
attempts to fill the void left by departing liberals,
his ability to carry through on reduce-big-govern
ment promises, his tendency to spout simplistic
solutions to complex problems before under
standing them fully.
But Reagan's first day as president will be far
from negative. Even his most vehement critics will
admit he takes office today on a positive note The
hostages are coming home. The 40th president
moves into the White House without the nation’s
most frustrating monkey on his back.
He’ll go to bed tonight with the knowledge
that America is happy; that he still must contend
with the gargantuan problems of inflation and
unemployment, but that he can do it without the
added weight of the hostage crisis.
He also knows he has the blessing of 40
million voters.
It’s a pretty good start. We’re willing to sit
through a few more scenes before declaring the
show a flop. And if it is successful, it won’t be the
first good play to overcome a lousy cast.
yours
What’s the beef?
So Chester Faller, director of the Phy
sically Limited Union of Students, thinks
that the Fishbowl discriminated against
people with wheelchairs (Jan. 8 Emer
ald). Well, Mr. Faller, who cares? I mean,
it’s not as though you can’t get food. You
can be served in the cafeteria, in the
Skylight and the Fishbowl. So what’s the
beef? Just because you can’t sit in the
upper seats of the Fishbowl you want the
University to spend a couple of thousand
dollars making it accessible.
There are literally hundreds of seats
you can reach, so why do you want those
particular seats? To me it is just plain
stupid My mother has been confined to a
wheelchair for the past seven years. Not
once has she complained about
something being inaccessbile. Not, mind
you, because everything is accessible.
She simply understands that she has a
handicap and she understands that the
world cannot be totally accommodating
all the time. I wish Mr Faller would realize
the same thing.
In these budget-conscious days, I'm
sure that my money can be put to better
use than to make the upper level of the
Fishbowl accessble to a few cry-baby
handicapped people who don't have the
guts to swallow their pride and problem.
But please don’t make your problem my
problem I have enough to worry about
Next thing you know, Mr. Faller will
want the Forest Service to put ramps up
all the Oregon mountains
Daniel Paul Moore
Sophomre, Arts and Sciences
El Salvador
Somewhere in the fog of my childhood
I remember history classes spent vener
ating the spirits of those intrepid
freedom-fighters who figured promin
ently in the American Revolution In
deed, but for those revolutionaries this
country of ours would not be the bastion
and beacon of world freedom and
democracy that it is (no snickering al
lowed).
Paae 4
This morning, however, I heard on the
news that the El Salvadorian regime's
“security forces" had killed over 800
"leftist guerrillas" in one week and had
burned their bodies in an open grave.
Further, the United States was going to
encourage and facilitate repression
(that’s a euphemism at best) of the
leftists by giving the El Salvadorian
government five million in aid, including
arms.
My question is: Is there no irony in all
this? It is my perception that the "leftists"
(i.e., everything left of the extreme right)
in El Salvador are ordinary people fight
ing against the same forces of repression
that stood in the path of American
colonial freedom in the 1770s. Yet if El
Salvadorian revolutionaries threw boat
loads of government tea in their
equivalent of Boston harbor it is certain,
is it not, that the American government
would supply the guns to shoot them?
As an American, how does that make
you feel? Crummy? How will you feel next
time you send your tax money in to the
IRS (Defense Department)? Helpless?
Culpable? Finally, how do you feel about
celebrating the American Revolution?
Hypocritical? Thank goodness there is
only one America — it is doubtful that the
rest of the world could survive another.
Cory Carlson
1st year, law
Take back the air
Unfortunately, two paragraphs were
omitted from my letter to the editor (Jan
14) misleadingly entitled “Fishbowl
smoke ” This particular letter was a
masterful piece which should have been
presented in its entirety or not at all
Nonetheless, I will now attempt to patch
things up
In the first of these omitted paragraphs
I reveal the one place in the EMU where
the non-smoker can eat with any predic
table degree of freedom from smoke
(quaint little alcove across from Main
Desk). I then share with the Emerald's
readers a recurring nightmare in which I
am forced out of the EMU by a band of
bold, indiscriminate smokers. I don a gas
mask and go running through the EMU
grabbing bagles, apples, etc., which I
store in a rented locker in Lawrence Hall.
At this point I lapse into self-pity reflect
ing on the injustice of it all. Obviously, my
point is that the smoking problem is not
confined to the Fishbowl, although the
Fishbowl does seem to be the armpit of
the smoking problem within the EMU.
Which reminds me, everyone who
smokes in the johns should be lined up
against a wall and tickled to death.
In the second omitted paragraph I
lament the fact that I have thus far been
unable to make a serious evaluation of
the Fishbowl's new decor due to exces
sive eye irritation, poor visibility (the
neon lighting does seem to cut through
the haze a bit though) and my obsession
with preserving my lungs well into the
21st Century. (All things considered,
does the decor in the Fishbowl deserve
serious consideration?) I’m sure it will
blend very nicely with the inevitable
tobacco stains but who's going to see it
anyway besides non-handicapped
smokers?
The two-thirds of the student popula
tion which, statistically, does not smoke
is evidently expected to adapt to the
intrusively unhealthy and unpleasant
smoking habits of the minority. What
gives here? Non-smokers unite! Take
back the air! Be forwarned: the meek
shall not inherit their two-thirds of the
EMU.
Yvonne Vowels
Senior, Aslan studies
Mentor at peace
I am submitting this letter to express
my appreciation for the article I asked
Jim Gersbach to write on Vincent
Simonton, but primarily to state what was
excluded from the article in Friday's
Emerald The article mentioned that
Vince and I were friends. True enough,
but the connotations of this word do not
adequately relate my perception of our
relationship — mentor would be a more
cogent term. Mentor is a word that
means wise and trusted counselor or
teacher; it is an expression that isn't used
much anymore. Granted, Vince didn’t
consider himself to be wise, but then
neither did Aristotle or Socrates, not that
I’m drawing a comparison, but for me
Vince was a great teacher.
Before meeting Vince I had never
heard the term gerontology, or realized it
was a field of academic, social, psy
chological, biological, or philosophical
study. Yet, due to my experience with,
and impression of him, I investigated the
field when I first came to the University in
1979. I will be graduating in June with a
B.S. in Gerontology. I always looked
forward to having a class with Vince. He
enjoyed being on campus immensely,
and seldom failed to cut up in class or
express his wit and humor. We started
our course work in gerontology at the
same time, and took one class together
almost every term. He was a special kind
of friend, a special kind of person. Even
though I had never worked with the
elderly before, nor did I have many el
derly friends or the influence of exper
iencing my grandparents, after knowing
Vince I was convinced that that’s what I
wanted to do; and I am Vince frequently
commented that I could carry on and
fulfill what he would be unable to, and
this I shall do. Within my being I carry his
influence which shall never be separated
from my perspective or my future career
in gerontology. He's at peace.
Ted Cope
Senior, gerontology
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