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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1983)
Ijoan nyland suitable for comment I walked into work to see two co-workers tuned into their Sony Walkmen or rival lightweight portable cassette players. Where was the ' good morn ing," or the joy of listening to coffee perking or VDT’s humming? Tuned out. In the 1920s people started drowning conversation with home radios Then came the television in the 1950s to sever household communication Husbands could watch the "news” instead of conversing with their wives and mothers could have their children entertained by the tube instead of reading to them. Car conversation was the next to go, stiffled by the placement of the car radio and the car tape deck Office chatter was soon silenced by the infil tration of Muzak However, with all these forms of audio stimuli the ears weren’t blocked — conversation could still get through Enter the carry-it-with-you plug-it-in-the-ear radio/tape deck By nicely blocking the ears a person can now fully reject the art of conversation. The purchasers of these ma chines must find human con versation or the sounds of our everyday world so boring or so scary they need to block it out They have chosen to listen to only a small bit of their world — which could be anything from Air Supply to Bach. Listening, occasionally, to music using these portable ear plugs is one thing. The people I am talking about are anti-social They have plugged into their Walkman to plug out of conver sation My piugged-in co-workers may be able to talk while their ears are being filled with what ever, but they are unable to lis ten They have chosen to stop hearing how other people go about their business, to stop observing with their ears, to stop thinking about what another person is saying It is impossible for a person who is filling their ears with mu sic from a radio or cassette to simultaneously be sounding out what another person thinks or feels. Listen, there is no meeting of minds with between a human and a Walkman. The little machines, I fear, signal the death of dialogue "Are you out of touch, loaded so much?” sings a newsroom "walkman" as he struts by my VDT No, but he is letters I Transients Has anyone taken the time to look around this campus lately? A tragic injustice has been committed against a group of individuals with little or no poli tical power. The situation which I am referring to concerns the whereabouts of the vagabonds of society — the transients of the Emerald City Where have all the transients gone? The existence of the tran sients at this university serves two purposes: First of all, do any of you ever think where the transients go at night? Where do they sleep? They are often the nomads, the drifters of the evening and in the day they rest So, why can’t we help these individuals out? Bring back the television room for these wayward souls This would also help the students Seriously now, how many of you have done poorly on an exam, passed through the EMU, oniy to find 10 or moi transients huddled by the television And be honest, all of sudden you don't feel so shitty anymore All of a sudden you realize that there are a lot worse things in the world than you right now And they can also help you with your studies Next time you have the urge to go out and party and forgo your studies, stop by the EMU and watch a show with the transients In most cases, you quickly will find yourself at home pondering through several texts to prevent the same misfortunes that society has cast upon them So, next time you see a bum, vagabond, transient or wayward soul say hello to them, get to know them, or talk to them But most important of all. find out what they did in life and desper ately try to avoid all such aven ues when driving down the road of life yourself David Crae senior, physics -Tha«4VO FOft*nftYlN&, anyway! /'jt flslti UtJ Finance The “Recommendation's" editorial in the Feb 3 Emerald contained many very useful points, including a concern for the proliferation of so-called "academic" programs paid for with student fees However, it also included several inaccur acies, one of which served to destroy the basic premise of your editorial view You claimied, inaccurately, that distributing the combined revenue shortfall and EMU pay increases over the ASUO Pro gram budgets would result in a 6-percent overall decrease in funding for student programs Since the revenue shortfall based on enrollment projec tions will be about $50,000, and the EMU basic cost increase will be about $86,000, the reduction in programming would be about $136,000 Since current expenditures on student programming total about $552,000, the actual reduction would be about 26-percent, a very large per centage which would, if applied across the board, result in severe hardship to many worthwhile programs The Emerald also assumes by its approach to the budgeting process that all programs cur rently funded are of equal rela tive value to the student body, as shown by your preference for across-the-board cuts Across tne board cuts (or in emerald The Oregon Daily E merald is published Monday through triday ercept during e*am week and vat ations by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co, at the Untveraity ot Oregon Eugene OR 97403 The Emerald operate* independently ot the university with offices on the third floor ot In* Erb Memorial Union and hi a member ot the Associated Press Mews and Editorial *S4 lilt Display Advert Is log and business *44 ) 712 Classified Advertising MI 4M1 i - ■** rLteiilelLui 4*4 4}* I 6*4 tJtt Editor Managing editor Now* Editor Assistant New* Editor Editorial Pago Editor Photo Editor Sports Editor Associate Sports Editor Entertainment Editor Night Editor Associate Editors Higher Education Departments and Schools Student Government features Poetics Student Services'Community Reporter General Matt Advertising Manager Classified Advertising Production Manager Controller Marry E Steve John Healy Marian Green Con Eernaid Joan Nyland Bob Baker Mike Riplinger Paul Danger Jonathan Siegie Dane Ciauaaen Sarvty Johnstone frank Shark Richard Burr Sean Meyers Micheie Matassa A lets Zak Darlene Gore Salty Oltar Viclona Koch Jean Ownbey creases) would eliminate the need for and purpose of the elected Incidental Fee Commit tee, which exists to carry out the policy preferences of the student body that elects it The budgeting process would become a single act by a bur eaucrat applying a formula without regard to the changing needs of the student body. Existing programs would be presumed legitimate, new pro grams illegitimate Finally, neither the IFC nor the ASUO Executive are intended to be judicial in nature, applying a set of inflexible rules and for mulas to a given set of facts (or dollars). They are intended to be legislative in nature, putting students’ changing needs and desires into fiscal form Alan Contreras first year, law Nominate Regarding Randy Shepard's Feb 14 letter, I agree with him that it Is unfair tor the ASUO to be using our fees to support "subversive-' and "socialistic” organizations like the ACLU, SNuFF, gay and other minority groups To make it fair, maybe they should fund some other groups like STUPID (Students for Poli tical Injustice and Discrimina tion) and MMACHO (Manly Men Against Commie-Homo Organ izations) How about BUTT HOLE (Business-Types Taught to Organize Legal Exploi tation. Since Mr Shepard is obviously qualified. I'll take this opportunity to nominate him to head these noble causes Anyway, what do people think this country is, a pluralistic democracy? Sieg Heil! Michael LaFreniere graduate, counseling Heartened I am heartened to see that old-fashioned. McCarthy-era bigotry survives at the Universi ty; things were getting a bit bor ing around here I'm referring to Randy Shepard's Monday letter to the Emerald, in which he complains that his "tuition'' (actually, his incidental fee) is being spent on such "radical" and "subversive" organizations as SNuFF, the ACLU, the Asian Student Society, and "numer ous other interest groups.” With respect to the ACLU, it might surprise Mr Shepard that the ACLU actively works to uphold our rights to, among other things, express ourselves freely This is hardly a socialistic or radical policy, unless the First Amendment is socialistic or radical It is this right that allows Mr Shepard to express himself in the first place Not only does the ACLU suppport the right of "Commies and Radicals" to speak, it also support that right for far right-wing organizations such as the American Nazi Par ty, which, given the tone of Mr Shepard's letter, should please him Perhaps, Mr Shepard feels that our government is so ben evolent that we don't need groups like the ACLU to fight for our rights A closer look at history would dispell this notion. On SNuFF: Which is more dangerous, SNuFF or a nuclear war? The answer is obvious I don't see them trying to overth row the government; do you? Finally, I don't understand his attack on the Asian Studies Society In what way are they subversive? Is it because they are more serious, better in formed than other students at tending this University? I’m at a loss for an explanantion. I hope Mr Shepard is in the minority on this issue It will be a dark day at this University when fear, prejudice, and bigotry dic tate funding decisions. Mr Shepard would do well to realize that a university, by definition, exists to broaden minds, not to indoctrinate bodies Tom Birkiand junior, political science
