EDITORIAL
The Magic of Johnson
continues despite HIV
Ivarvin Johnson will never play another game of
professional basketball. Never again will a crowd be
able to "ooh" and "aah” while watching Magic dish off
an assist, drop a three-pointer or fill the lane This part
of his life is over, existing now only in highlight films
and memories.
When Johnson announced last Thursday he was re
tiring from the Los Angeles l-akers bei ause he hud test
etl positive for the HIV' virus, tin1 news crossed genera
tional lines and international borders The world t.ol
lei lively shook its head, wondering how such a terrible
thing could happen.
And for the first time, for many, it brought home
the tragic consequences of the AIDS epidemic.
Other celebrities have contracted the disease: Kot k
Hudson, Robert Mapplethorpe and laber.ice, to name a
few Hut never has the announcement come from such
an unlikely source and with such an unexpected, sud*
den impact.
In the past, it has been far too easy to dismiss AIDS
as a disease contracted only by a stigmatized few It is a
guy and lesbian disease, a drug user disease, an un
lucky blood transfusion disease — or so convention.il
thinking went.
AIDS has leaped across all boundaries as surely as
Magic Johnson stood on that podium and shoc ked en
tire generations
It is .t ( Ik he to say a good thing might come out ot
tragii ( ircu instances, but in this rose it's true. If noth
ing i'Isi*. lohnson has pushed himself into the spotlight
to promote awareness of the disease, promising to fie
come a spokesman latter, he will speak to President
Hush and address (amgress AIDS will get a nationwide
fulling like never before
lohnson did not have to do this He is comfortably
rich, courtesy of salary, endorsements and shrewd in
vestments. Magic could have just us easily faded from
public view, cloistered himself in some hideaway and
shut out the world.
He didn't. No hair-pulling or moans of "Why me?”
Simply a prompt acknowledgment of the virus and a
refusal to let it get him down.
There will be ramifications — statements from id
iots who revel in the stigma of the disease and refuse to
accept its true nature. Public scorn from an unenlight
ened few will surely follow.
Johnson accepted this, and in one brief news con
ference exposed AIDS for what it is a plague, an epi
demic, as undiscriminatory as an earthquake
Magic deserved better than this, as docs everyone
with (lie HIV virus. Johnson should have gone out on a
i rest of unabashed public glorification. A farewell tour,
like Julius ''Dr |" Krving enjoyed, receiving accolades
in every NBA city, his fans getting tile chance to pas
him.back for years of entertainment
He will never get such a tour Magic's memorial
will be done in newsprint — a hollow legacs
Jim Murray, the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist
for The Los Angeles Time* said AIDS picked on the
wrong person this time Johnson, he said, will not cow
er in front of the disease or fall victim to stigma.
It anybody i an beat the disease. Murray went on. it
will be M.tgic.
The omnipotent smile is still there, though tinged
with wears awareness It is an unwinnable game right
now. but anvhodv who saw Magii on the podium
Thursdas. displaying the kind of class few are blessed
with, knows lie will not go dow n easily
The basketball Magic is gone, but the M.igii ot the
man remains
Oregon Daily
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OR EVEN A SCREwDftjyfR.
OR A PIPE WRENCH.
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CLUE
LETTERS
Pop quiz
Dear brand As an in
terested and i oni erned person
on how muni'v is spun! on edu
i «lion and sports ul your
si hool and OSD, i have sonui
questions concerning the sporl
statues on the athletic building
that -ire to be reloiated
1 What was the original cost
of the statues and installation7
2 What is the < ost to relot ate
them’
t Why -ire they being relu
i ated7
-t Were the statues made by a
si ulptor outside the state of Or
egon?
S Didn't the AIA firm that
designed the building und the
-irt committee have plans show
mg the original location, and
were they approved'
(> Were funds lor the statues
donated bv other people und
not .i planned i ost in the build
ing budget7
7 I don't know Hill llyrne,
athletic director, but I hear he
didn't like them and they
him ked his view He should
tend to his job -mil not Is- an art
i ritu and -In t.ite the reloi ation
It You could have spent that
monet on student si holarships
(>uy Owen
Milwaukie, Ore
Fantasize
I commend the Emerald for
committing front page coverage
on ()i I Jr> to the first of a series
of artu les on AIDS
1 unit hope the other install
ments are tietter than the first
Reporter Tamrm Haley de
voted nearly a third of her aril
( le to air one individual's out
I.indish opinion tii.it AIDS has
•i "strongly spiritual purpose"
to educate others
This is simply the desperate
flip side of the argument that
AIDS is a form of divine pun
ishment
Please don't waste a good op
portunity to get the true medi
cal facts in the minds of people
who .ire in denial about the
threat o! tins disease And
please refrain from perpetual
ing ridiculous myths about
AIDS
l( hi- arc going to corn ha I this
horrible epidemic , more of us
need to he armed with the fat Is.
not fantasies
Hill Lync h
( .enter on Human Development
What?
We live in an age of plural
ism The dominant mode of un
derstanding the great issues of
our times (religion, personal re
lations, personal rights) is done
via the lens of cultural relativ
ism
While it is heartening to see
emotional issues dealt with in
the puhlii forum, there is also a
disturbing, ominous develop
ment
It is implied that all belief
systems are equally true " At
the same time it is also pro
posed that one individual
"truth" (i.e , that all lieliefs are
equally correct) is exclusively
true In other words, it is more
"true" than the rest of the
"truths " I bis is a blatant con
tradic tion
To give an example where
two huso beliefs are in contra
diction, we can speak of cos
mology The universe has ei
ther existed forever or it has
not It wouldn't make sense to
say both of these positions are
correct, yet obviously one of
these must represent the histo
ry ol our universe It would
seem to matter
Kelatedly. can one take the
position that dec isions of per
social expression are exempt
from moral or ethical scrutiny?
I'm not saying here that one
person has the right to c hange
another person's morals What 1
do argue is as members of the
same community, we do have
the right to evaluate these mor
als Them is an Important dif
ference here, one that lies at the
c rux id our moral dilemma
A final question: Is it possi
ble th.it there is a right and
wrong independent ol the
whims of humanity7 In the Si
nai analysis, we must choose
(to quote Alasdair Macinlvre)
W luist' justice, whit h rational
itv?"
Kelly O’Connell
Philosophy
Sinking
In response to Lori I’,irk.
man's (OKIOtt 22) t ry lor
help, let me just give you n
clue
If only 2 percent ol Ameri
t iins are homosexual, that
means there are 5 million of us
Including bisexuals, we com
prise by your own figures
12.500,000 citizens Is any ol
this sinking in7
We don't care about numbers
and ratios Our real joy is th.it
for ear h one of us there ts an
other Maybe you don't like to
find others like yourself If
we were like you, we wouldn't
want to find each other either
1-eAnne Patterson
Fugene
Simon says
Anyone who steals from the
University Bookstore is stealing
Irorn every student When the
bookstore has to raise prices to
cover the iiisls of shoplifting,
all students suffer in the form
ol higher prues
I hope that when Jo Sonja
Watson makes decisions in her
capacity as ASL't) vice presi
dent, she does a lielter job ol
considering the effects on the
student body, because every
honest student is the victim
when someone shoplifts at the
University Bookstore
Simon F. Blagg
Kugene
Restoration
Jo Sonja Watson, your leader
shop ability is not in question
However, your judgment and
ethics are Restore my faith in
the integrity of the ASUO vice
president's office find this con
troversy in a mature, decisive
manner Resign
Ron Harper
S(m iology