editorial
Reagan increases
fear of nuclear war
In 1980, within weeks of taking office. President Ronald
Reagan told the American people that the Soviet Union had
reached a level of nuclear superiority over the United States.
This, he said, created a serious “window of vulnerability”
which, if left alone, could leave the Soviets with a clear
military advantage over the “free world.”
To counter this threat, Reagan asked the American peo
ple to support a renewed military build-up. Budget in
creases followed in almost all areas of nuclear weapons
development. The MX Missile, the Trident Submarine, the
Bl Bomber, the Cruise Missile and the Pershing 2 all went
into full-scale production.
In 1981, Defense Minister Casper Weinberger announc
ed that it would be possible for the United States to fight and
win a “limited nuclear war.” This was followed with ad
ministration assurances that if Americans were prepared,
the country could survive a nuclear attack and emerge both
politically stable and militarily strong.
This is the famous “with enough shovels” idea.
Americans were told that by digging a pit in the ground and
covering it with dirt, a shelter could be made to offer protec
tion against radioactive fallout.
In 1983 the Reagan administration went ahead with
plans to station new Pershing and Cruise missiles in Europe.
The Soviets, protesting what they called a new escalation of
the arms race, broke off arms control negotiations with the
United States.
Recently, Reagan put the Soviet Union on a partial
military alert when he jokingly said that he had outlawed
the Soviet Union forever and would start bombing Russia
immediately. At the same time, he continues to tell
Americans that the world is a safer place today than it was
four years ago, thanks to his administration.
Is the world really a safer place since Reagan took of
fice? Can Americans feel at ease now that Reagan says the
problem of nuclear war is under control? The answer is no.
A look at the United States today doesn’t show signs of
peace, but rather signs of fear and military escalation. Dur
ing the last four years, paramilitary groups have been on the
increase across the country. They are called Survivalists,
and can be found in almost every state from New Jersey to
California.
The aim of these groups is to be prepared for a nuclear
war and to be able to survive it by stockpiling weapons and
other supplies to be used during the period of social chaos
that they believe will follow a nuclear attack.
Brown University • students also have a plan which
originates from a fear of impending nuclear war. The
students there passed a referendum last week for the school
health center to stock cyanide pills. Should there be a
nuclear war. Brown University students have opted for mass
suicide.
Child psychologists have noticed a growth in fear of
nuclear war. too. Last year parents and teachers throughout
the country began reporting that increasing numbers of
young children were asking more questions about the
chances of nuclear war. Counseling organizations have
responded by creating special programs on how to deal with
nuclear fear in children.
Reagan says the world is a safer place today due to his
administration’s policies. Yet at the same time, massive
peace demonstrations in West Germany, Italy. France.
England, and the Netherlands continue to take place, pro
testing America’s recent military developments in Western
Europe.
On Saturday the Soviet Union announced that it is put
ting new long-range cruise missies in strategic bombers and
submarines to match the recent attempt by the United States
to gain nuclear superiority over the Soviets. A new round of
the arms race is now dangerously gaining momentum.
In the last four years, the Reagan administration has
sent a clear message to the world. But it is not a message of
peace. It is a message of nuclear confrontation and prolifera
tion. The next time Reagan says that-bombing of the Soviet '
Union will begin in five minutes, he may not be joking.
Nuclear war will then cease to be a fear and instead become a
reality.
Page 2
letters
Cross-examined
! wonder if Mr. McGuire
would have a different opinion
towards the Democrats suppor
ting the registration of prison
convicts to vote if he were a vic
tim of rape or if hc^ had a child
molested by some creep. 1
wonder how many of you agree
with his statement. “!t really
isn’t necessary, for example, to
choose between the victim and
the criminal" {ODE Oct. 1(1).
Is this the prevailing attitude
of the liberals in the Democratic
Party? Is Mondale so desperate
for votes that he doesn’t mind
accepting the vote of the lowest
scums in our country?
1 doubt if any victim of rape or
other violent acts is so sym
pathetic to the criminal ele
ment. The next time the
Democrats talk about the so
called “sleaze factor” 1 urge all
victims and potential victims of
crime (that could include all of
us) to remember tin; Democrats
support registering convicts to
vote. The Democrats getting
down on Raymond Donovan is
like Charles Manson condemn
ing an alleged shoplifter.
Michael Cross
History-Political Science
Stop the heat!
i-et's quit dreaming Pres.
(Hum. Although your program
of Preventive Learning by leav
ing the thermostat at (>mt
degrees Celsius in the library
appeals to me. the rest of the
kids would rather study abroad
at the sun. Hell. wrhv don’t we
just turn the place into a huge
fruit dehydrating factory!
I'm sitting in the library right
now I think I'm hallucinating.
Is that «t drinking fountain atop
that student's head? This could
start a riot, tmcause I swear, that
looks like fresh spring water.
This could lead to violence,
lawsuits. University disgrace,
or tin; firing of the University
president.
So. my suggestion? We
operate from the ceiling. Like
an upside down trolley car
system. Not with people tm the
ceiling, hut pop-down oxygen
masks, similiar to the airlines.
This system would require an
automated-trigger syste m:
When the library reaches that
average temperature of 500
degrees Celsius, pop. the masks
drop down. Incidentally, we
need coolant for the oxygen
tanks.
Implementing this idea will:
Save 300.000 gallons an hour of
campus drinking fountains,
provide an essential life support
system, and propel the Univer
sity to the top of the high-tech
library respiration.
Jay Dinneen
- Film
Reactionaries
• Having seen a few campuses
in the past decades I notice, like
others, a change in mood.
Yesterday the arena of an epic
struggle for social justice and
human rights, today’s cam
puses seem strongly influenced
by partisans of Reagan. The lat
ter apparently are all for re
articulating the ancient pro
verb: “Homo homine lupus
esl” (Man is a wolf to his fellow
man).
Sometimes the Emerald’s
“Letters to the Editor” are so
filled with litanies of reaction
and regression that reading
becomes a heavy Cross to bear.
On balance, however, it seems
as if this campus were more
reaction-resistant than others.
looking at the young. I am
reminded of Clemenceau’s
famous saying: “A young man
of 20 who isn’t a socialist has no
heart: a man of 40 w'ho still is
one has no brains.” I wonder
whether the youthful Keagan
followers at least have brains.
They seem unable to make the
logical connection between the
militarism assiduously pro
moted by Reagan’s puppet
masters and the futility of their
intense search for the “good
life.”
Of course, these students
merely confuse militarism with
patriotism. The young of all na
tions used to cultivate an inno
cent patriotism which is very
different from that cynical
patriotism sponsored by those
in power, and called the last
refuge of scoundrels by Samuel
Johnson. Elsewhere. World War
II destroyed this innocence.
I.ast but not least, these reac
tionary students having been
raised on TV have no ability to
distinguish between celluloid
and genuine heroes.
Thus, all in all, one should
have more compassion than
censure for them.
Dr. A.E. Brettauer
Retired History Professor
Oregon doily
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