opinion
SKONO'SON
TIRSTW
Tasteless humor
I remember well the time Ronda P.
from across the street called me a “dirty
mudpie.’’ I was six years old at the time
and considered the statement to be
offensive and a mortal sin against god
above
Well time went on and I discovered
words like s—, f—, d—, and h— were
cool, oh ever so cool man! Yes, I
remember the first time I ever heard my
mother say f—. Suddenly I realized that
this wasn't just some old hag who who
cast spells on people and made them eat
spinach with too much vinegar and made
them clean up their bedrooms. Here was
a real live person just like you and I, and
was she cool, oh ever so cool!
I became enamored with the multi
various uses of trash words; they were oh
so entertaining. A high school teacher
would say h— throwing the classroom
into uproarious laughter. Soon he would
be the talk of the school. In a week or two
he would most likely be unemployed.
I came to college and the professors
used even better words, and kept their
jobs to boot Boy were they cool man,
ever so cool
Lately strange things have happened
to my thinking processes due to lack of
proper drugs, but all of the sudden like I
realized most of these people (my mother
excepted) were just jerks playing up to
little idiots like me who thought thier
language was cool. I found the epitomy
of Jerkdom while reading the Daily Im
morald Come on folks, give me a f
break! You could have substituted some
little amount of humor in between your
vulgarity for those of us who no longer
giggle over every blatant use of f—, s—,
d—, and h—. I realize you probably gave
a few freshmen and various greeks men
tal orgasms. But most of us were proba
bly just offended. We realize that you
folks have reallv Door tasteless senses of
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vours
humor and you worked long and hard to
find some substitute for humor in your
paper. But really, next year save it for the
bathroom walls and just print the regular
Emerald. After all, you guys are usually
funniest when you try to be serious.
Phillip Seder
751 E. 14th, No. 9
Sensationalism
Here we go again with another assas
sination or assassination attempt.
Immediately, the news reporters wait for
the suspect’s name, age and address.
Then, they scramble for a photograph,
usually an old high school one, and print
it with any others they can find.
Like hounds on a hunt they swarm the
suspect’s home. They film his parents
and friends. They get accounts from old
acquaintances, all who say that the su
spect was a wanderer but not the type to
shoot anyone. Finally, they track down
the gun shop. The clerk invariably
recounts, ‘ Yeah, he seemed a little
spacy."
They show maps following the su
spect’s route and plans. They construct
how he followed his victim, waited, then
pounced. They give it all in incredibly
minute detail.
What the media doesn't realize, or
what it chooses to ignore, is that all this
detail is giving potential assassinations
the information they need to carry out a
successful hit of their own. The modus
operandi is spelled out in blazing clarity.
A step-by-step course on assassination
wouldn’t be clearer if it were on a black
board.
And what is also convenienty ignored
is the fact that such coverage is in viola
tion of the voluntary press-bar guidelines
meant to prevent biasing, pre-trial in
formation The guidelines discourage
"opinions about an arrested person's
character."
Last, the media people are so near
sighted that they can’t see that their
coverage of these suspects becomes the
very publicity sought by the attention
sick assassin. The headlines, pictures
and biographies are exactly what he or
she had in mind when the trigger was
pulled. The suspect is an immediate
national figure.
The media will retort "Who are we to
dictate what to print?” or "Restrictions
are an imposition on our First Amend
ment rights.” But their responses, unlike
the bullets fired by Oswald, Sirhan,
Chapman and now Hinckley, miss the
point. The media coverage is not mo
tivated by any philosophic or political
principle. It’s a strictly economical mo
tive — nothing else — as the media strives
to ensnare more viewers or readers
through reckless sensationalism.
Timothy J. Talevich
Graduate, journalism
Fowl but remarkable
Bird fanciers everywhere owe a debt of
gratitude to the Immorald for the
prominent display given to the West
Coast bird (digitus vulgaris) in your April
1 edition. That your photographer was
able to capture this robust specimen on
film during its molting phase is remarka
ble indeed. My question: is Rich Brooks
the photographer or the bird? Your cap
tion is not clear
May I suggest a follow-up to your
triumph of April 1 ? A similar shot (dare we
hope?) of the East Coast bird (da finguh)
would be an unprecedented coup in
avian photography. The East Coast bird
differs from its West Coast cousin
primarily in the retracted lateral digits
which gives the central digit a more
conspicuous apprearance This species
is rarely seen in these climes, but may
often be Drovoked into revealina itself bv
a tirade of invective against its maternal
progenitors.
Even though neither of these species
is in any danger of extinction (indeed
their numbers seem to be on the in
crease), bird shots of this type are es
sential if history is to have an accurate
record of our times.
Thanks again.
Our daughter, Jenny Stoik, was a junior
music student at the University and died
Feb. 23. So many of her friends and
teachers have written that we want to
publicly thank them.
We want to thank all who gave their
help, concern, contributions and just
plain human consideration to us during
the passing of our sunny daughter,
Jenny. She will be deeply missed and we
feel her one wish to all would be to “keep
smiling" and "hear the music.”
Sincere thanks to all.
The Emerald will accept and
try to print all letters containing
fair comment on ideas and
topics of interest to the Univer
sity community. Letters must be
typewritten and no longer than
250 words.
Letters must be signed, the
author's field of study or faculty
status noted and must include
address and phone number
for verification.
Russell Becker
Graduate, ornithology
Grateful
Ed and Donna Stoik
Watsonville, Calif.