joan herman
Concerned optimist
L
Just as Anthony Lewis was
about to sit down for a campus
press conference, he playfully
remarks, “There should be an
actual Wayne Morse chair —
and it would have lots of burrs
in it, just like the original one.”
Lewis is in top form as he
banters casually in front of
television cameras,
microphones and about a
dozen pairs of staring eyes.
“I don’t write editorials,"
Lewis remarks rather tongue
in-cheekishly, to a reporter's
question. “They are the voice
of the newspaper and I don’t
want anyone to think I’m that.
“I’m my own voice.”
With a slight New Yawkish
accent and a tendency to
speak with his hands, Lewis
seems more like Woody Allen
than the stereotypical aloof
intellectual.
After graduating from Har
vard in 1948, Lewis began
writing for the New York
Times. Since then, numerous
wars, recessions, presidents
and even one impeachment
have come and gone.
The affable human being sit
ting several feet away con
trasts with the worried, con
scientious citizen Lewis por
trays in his columns. Until he
is questioned on human rights
violations.
‘If I think about what’s hap
pened to the world since 1948,
if I think about all the people
killed in Cambodia and Viet
nam — for what reason?”
In one year of reporting
Lewis probably witnesses
more than most people do in a
life time. And many would
deny the existence of much of
what he sees.
Often placed near ultra
conservative James Kilpatrick
in the newspaper, the liberal
Lewis seems undaunted in ex
posing a sometimes “hypocri
tical” U S. government.
In a recent column he
describes an eyewitness’ ac
count of the U S. government
supported Guatemala), army
brutalizing children:
“They pick them up by the
feet and smash their heads
against a wall. Or they tie
ropes around their necks and
puil them until they are
strangled. We heard of
children being thrown into the
air and bayoneted,” according
to one account.
Lewis admits 1983 isn't a
time “of tremendous good
cheer, at ieast for him.”
“I just look at problems and
don’t see answers.
“Everybody who lived
through the Vietnam era is
much less optimistic about
the U.S. government, about op
portunities for peace and
progress.
“I care a lot about the Mid
dle East,” he explains. “I used
to think there was a compel
ling logic in mutual peace in
the Middle East. I believed it
had to happen.
“I guess I no longer think
it’s going to happen because
human emotions are so il
logical. One has to come to ac
cept that. International rela
tions don’t always work out for
the best.”
In a debate about guerilla
activities in Nicaragua, Lewis
overheard U.N. Ambassador
Jeanne Kirkpatrick in essence
say, "Yah, they’re (Nicaraguan
troops) trained by the U.S. It’s
a hard world. Why shouldn’t
we do that?”
“But I remember when it
was considered we didn’t do
things like that,” Lewis says.
If he could tell students one
thing, what would it be? Lewis
leans his head into his hands
and is quiet for half a minute.
“I hope in this economic
struggle, students will retain a
certain idealism about the
country, because we rely on
them for that. I think it’s quite
possible idealism can persist
even in times of economic dif
ficulty, but I can’t blame
students for having to concern
themselves with their own
economic livelihood.”
Thirty-five years and
thousands of stories since
Lewis’ first day at the New
York Times, he tells the atten
tive group of journalists to
day’s world makes it “harder
to be an optimist." Perhaps he
is less naive.
“I’m going to go on because
I’m an optimist by nature. I
don’t think I could write col
umns if I were a congenital
pessimist, because you have
to believe things can get bet
ter or that you can glancingly
nudge them in some direction.
“But I'm less wishful than I
used to be.”
r
JUSTICE IN ft SttVAPOR.
letters
Propaganda
In his letter of March 31,
1983, Douglas Green ex
presses his concern over
“humanitarians.. .who panic
when we aid an anti
communist country.. .yet are
“quiet when we give
assistance to the com
munists.” He also kindly pro
vides us with a choice of
reasons as to why this might
be so.
I would like to submit that,
as far as humanitarians go, his
third choice is the correct one:
They are not well-informed as
to “what’s going on in the
world."
But what might be the
reasons behind this ig
norance? Could it be due to
the fact that citizens of the
United States are one of the
most propagandized societies
in the world — propagandized
by their own government?
For many years the ad
ministrations of this country
have loudly proclaimed the aid
given to right-wing govern
ments as necessary to halt the
advancing "tide of communist
aggression." This “noble”
cause having enjoined in
stances of atrocities sup
ported by this aid are mini
mized or not mentioned at all.
in the case of communist
governments exactly the
reverse has been true.
So much time has been
spent dwelling upon or invent
ing the atrocities perpetrated
by these regimes, that when
II letters
Stolen
Of the 12,000 plus students
enrolled at this university, 99
percent are here for serious
study, with the remaining 1
percent consigned eternally
as “yic yacks.”
To the latter category I
would nominate the “genius”
who stole a worthless broken
zippered case and a plastic
bag containing computer runs
for a master’s thesis from a
the student Health Center
waiting station.
The research involved
represents over a month's
work in compilation, and Is
useless to anyone but the
owner. Since there was neither
money nor pot In the case, the
motive for the theft is difficult
to fathom.
Hopefully, somewhere In
that disordered mind there
may be yet the shred of decen
cy left to induce the offender
to turn in the purloined
material to the EMU Lost and
Found. The case may be kept
as a token of my esteem for
"honesty" in the modern inter
pretation of this value.
Thomas Johnston
Eugane
they are provided with aid by
this country (usually for
strategic reasons) the ad
ministration takes special care
not to mention this fact too
loudly, if at ail.
This is not to say that op
pression doesn’t occur under
communist governments, nor
that there are no persons who
blindly support these
goverments despite this op
pression, just as there are
those who blindly support
fascism. The true human
tiarians despise all forms of
oppression whatever labels
oppression may try to hide
behind.
Do not make the mistake,
Mr. Douglas, of confusing
uninformed humanitarians
with communists, as our cur
rent right-wing and less-than
humanitarian administration
would have you do.
Hiawatha
graduate, music
and philosophy
Pornography
I appreciate the Emerald’s
coverage of Wednesday’s
workshop on pornography in
the April 7 edition ("Women
pan pornography"). I would
like to clarify some of the
statistics and quotations that
were i.(accurately reported.
Specifically, the Supreme
Court s 1973 ruling does not
allow individual states to
"write their own pornography
laws," but rather, allows local
communities to ?dop» their
own standards of defining por
nography based on a threefold
test handed down by the
Supreme Court. Furthermore,
it was not the “Court’s" but
the 1970 President's Commis
sion on Pornography and
Obscenity that supported the
"Cartharsis Theory," not the
"Caustic Theory," as reported
In the Emerald.
Statistics about the in
Oregon doily . m
emerald
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^ — Srntlar
IrOAIWtff
Harry E slave
John Heaiy
Marian Green
Cort Fernald
Joan Nytand
Bob Baker
Mike Riplinger
Paul Danger
Jonathan Siegle
Dane Ctaussen
Sandy Johnstone
Frank Shaw
Richard Burr
Sean Meyers
Michele Matassa
Aieta Zak
Darlene Gore
Sally Oltar
Victoria Koch
Jean Ownbey
crease in pornography were
also reported inaccurately. I
was quoted as saying that “in
1973 there were no porno
magazines, but by 1981 there
were 265."
In actuality, I was citing a
study which found that the
number of pornographic
magazines available at
newstands has grown from
zero in 1953 to 40 in 1976.
Later, I referred to another
study which counted 265 dif
ferent pornographic maga
zines in 1981, many of which
cannot be obtained at public
newstands.
The article also claimed I
drew a correlation between
rape and pornography and us
ed a "recent" nationwide poll
of police chiefs who claimed
pornography contributed to
violent crime against women.
The study was conducted by
the Commission on Por
nography and Obscenity in the
late 1960s, and was cited as an
example of data ignored by the
Commission in their Majority
Report.
Furthermore, I, nor the
study, drew a correlation be
tween pornography and rape;
rather, the study revealed a
majority of police chiefs
believe pornography con
tributes to violence against
women.
Another Emerald statement
claimed that a study found
"soft core” pornography
readers to be less compas
sionate toward rape victims.
The study concerned por
nographic films, and certainly
does not include all views, or
“readers," as the Emerald
coverage implied. It was also
reported that I said por
nography can serve educa
tional purpose in art, science,
etc. In actuality, sexually ex
plicit material, not por
nography, has its value in
education, art, science, and
literature.
Finally, total elimination of
all pornographic material, in
the context as printed by the
Emerald, ignores the defini
tion of pornography as
discussed in the workshop. I
did not, nor do I advocate total
censorship; rather, I argued
that the weight of the
evidence I presented warrants
legal and social concern and
control.
The issue of pornography is
controversial enough without
confusing the data, I urge the
Emerald to strive for more ac
curate coverage.
Rebecca Taylor
graduata, rhatoric
and communication