Editorial
Daily Emerald
Violence option
to end apartheid
Th«* summer’s biggest tour so far came to an end
on Saturday .ind il didn't involve the Rolling Stones,
the Who. or any other rock group Hut Nelson Mandela
packed them in during hi*. 11-day. eight-city visit to
solicit money and support for the African National
(a ingress
President Hush has criticized the ANC leader, who
spent 27 years in prison, because of his refusal to de
nounce violence in his country as a method of eradicat
ing apartheid Hilt Hush didn’t rule out violence when
it came to disposing Manual Noriega from Panama
Nor did fie. as vice president, question then-President
Reagan when IPS. troops were sent to Grenada and
then to the Middle Hast in order to solidity I S inter
ests. If we read Bush s lips correi fly. they sav that vio
lence is alright as long it benefits I !.S. prerogatives.
While violence is never a favorable first-choice for
conflict resolution, history shows that it is a formida
ble response to tending among nations or peoples. The
American Revolution was won !>\ armed struggle, not
talks at a bargaining table Native Americans did not
relinquish their land through generosity, but as a result
of armed invasion Treaties and ( barters between na
tions. more often than not, come after some form of
violent confrontation, not before
The United States cannot renounce its history of
violent e in achieving its goals Nor can South Africa
deny its use of violence to maintain the apartheid sys
tem Television has brought U.S. audiences nightly
viewings of South African poli( e beating up black pro
testers.
While negotiations to end the rat ial strife in South
Africa continue, the black majority continue to survive
without the right to vote or the right to live where it
pleases Then1 is only so much talking to he done. Un
less talk begets action, pent-up frustration can lead to
violence. Therefore, the United States should cease all
economic trade with racist South Africa until blacks
are afforded full citizenship rights.
As one of South Africa’s biggest trading partners,
the United States has the economic, political, and so
cial clout to demand the abolition of the apartheid svs
tem It took the United States almost 400 years to admit
that blacks should have the same citizenship rights as
whites. As South Africa enters its fifth decade of offi
cially-sanctioned racism, hasn't the United States
learned anything in its dealings with racial problems?
Nelson Mandela was jailed in 1962 in South Africa
because he refused to renounce violence as a means to
liberate black South Afri< .ins lie was freed earlier this
year without disavowing the possibility of using armed
struggle to fulfill the prophet v of a truly free South Af
rica.
Desperate people demand desperate solutions
Knotigh people have been killed in South African vio
lence Nelson Mandela has expressed the need for in
( teased t' S sain turns to end South Afrit a s repressive
practices President Hush read Nelson Mandela’s
lips Sever lies u ith apartheid Indore violence escalates
beyond control
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Forum
Homosexuality not a moral issue
By Deborah Frisch
in tile / rnera/d \lii\ 17 \\ ii
Ham Moore explained win lie.
•is a Christian is opposed to
homosexual its In his < losing
stnlument Moore encourages
an open discussion ol tile dd
terenl ideas and issues in
volved in tile i ontroversv .ihout
sexual orientation I would like
to contribute to this dm ussion
h\ addressing the question.
How I an w e tell w lift lift
something is a moral issue " I
would lust like to suggest that
we often i onfuse "different
with ' wrong” and then ex
plain win I don't think sexual
oriental ion is a moral issue
Commentary
People | ms sell HU luded |
seem to have diffu lilts making
the distinction between Irehas
iors that are morels ditterent
from conventional ones and
those that are s\ rung
lor example when ms
grandmother who is left hand
od ss as ill elemental s si llool
tier te.u heis toned her to write
ssith her right hand presum
aids because it ss as "wrong" to
lie It'll handed As a set ond ex
ample mans linguists (and
other people) used to think that
him ks had poorer grammar
than svhites until one research
er showed that "him k Knglisli'
is perlectlx grammatii al it
just has a different grammar
tli,m ' white hilglish
I’here are lots ot examples
that make the same point,
naniels we liase a teildeni s to
assume that (list hei atise some
thing is ditterent. it's wrong
()t course some things are dit
terent or unconventional are
svioilg. tor example < llild
abuse so the question is "It
something is different how can
sse decide it it is wrong’"
Sim e questions of right and
wrong 1 oil down to questions
of mornktx another ssas ol sas
ing this is | low i an we de
I ide il something is .1 moral is
Sill"’"
Moon* believes homosexuali
l\ is wrung t)i*( iiusi* il "violates
tin* design ol out bodies and
tlie intent ol our sexuality I
assume th.it what he means is
that (hid designed our bodies
and intended tor sexuality to he
used solely lor reproduction
t )thei < liristians may disap
prove bet ause they believe that
the Hible sa\s homosexuality is
wrong both ol these views tie
fiend on the assumption that
morality is delined in terms ol
(aid's will It something is dit
terent from whal the Hible < on
dunes, then it is w rung
In ordei to refill, to Moure’s
arguments you have to accept
his assumption that the Hible is
the ultimate authority about
moral issues Several people
have done this in letters to the
I nifmltl. h\ presenting nlterua
live interpretations of quotes
troll) the Bible I don’t sub
scribe to Moore s view of mo
rnlitv and so I really don't
have am response to his com
mentary My i ommenls are ad
dressed to those people who
are open to the possibility that
questions of morality can he ad
dressed without making refer
elite to '(iod's will" or the Hi
hie
I would like to suggest a dif
terent way of dec iding whether
something is a moral issue Mo
rnlitv only applies to situations
where one s at lions have an et
fee t on someone else I am us
mg the phrase "someone else"
verv broadIv. to inc lude other
people animals, or even the
environment When a person's
ni lions have an ettec t on oth
ers then it s a moral question
This means that homosexuality
isn't the sort of thing that < an
he right or wrong because it
doesn't attec t other people.
Moon* is afraid that it we
give up the belief that moralitv
is defined in terms of what the*
Hible savs. we are lelt with to
tal subjectivity and chaos He
sav s that it sexual orientation is
seen .is ,i matter ol personal
taste that doesn't have anything
to dr) with right or w rong, then
"not onlv tan homosexuality
he drained as'normal.' hut so
< an am arts, im hiding brutal
and destrm live ones I’ll is
isn't true at all Since a per
son s sexual orientation has no
ellei t on other people, it isn’t a
moral issue. In contrast, child
abuse involves one person im
posing his or her will on some
one else, and therefore is a
moral issue
Some of vou mas be think
mg Yeah. well. I'll bus ss hat
sou're saying but when two
men or two women start tour h
mg oi holding hands in publn .
that does nffet t me it makes
me sii k, and so bs sou're deli
nitlou. noss it's a moral issue
because it's affecting other
people " Well, it's hard to
knoss where we draw the line
between behaviors that alfet t
other people, and behaviors
that don't
The bottom line is. homosex
uality is not a moral issue Am
nial rescan h and the logging
debate are moral issues bet ause
llies involve conflii ting inter
ests between ilitferenTpeople or
animals The i am er patients'
interests are in conflict svith the
resean h animals' interests
What's good for the timber tn
dustrs is not necessarily s\ fiat 's
good for future generations ot
inhabitants of the earth
In sum. it a person's behavior
doesn't affect anyone else then
it isn't a moral issue It doesn’t
make sense to ask whether ho
mosexualits is right or wrong
()t course, you personally may
find it offensive, unappealing,
or w hatever That part is a mat
ter of personal taste No one
i an convince you to like it. but
whether vou like it or not. it
isn't right or w rong It gist is
Deborah Frisch is <in assistant
professor of psvt bo/ogi a I the
t 'niversitv