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