Jell-O president
waffles on gay ban
If recent events are any indication. President Bill Clin
ton doesn't have any beliefs that he won't compromise.
Clinton's "honorable compromise" over the contentious
issue of whether gays and lesbians should be allowed
to serve in the military is a striking example of a man
without a center.
Confronted by strong resistance from the military and
Congress, Clinton abandoned his promise to lift the ban
on gays in the military. Instead, ho has agreed to support
the so-called "don't ask. don't toll policy." The military
would no longer ask recruits if they are homosexual, but
they could not be openly gay.
Clinton's "honorable compromise" sounds ominously
like Prime Minister Chamberlain's “peace with honor"
sell-out of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in Munich in 1938.
i rying io nnu a moral
gray from a black-and
while issue. Clinton's
policy takes on
Orwellian overtones.
Essentially, it states in
all seriousness that gays
still shouldn't he in the
military and it’s about
time we had more of
them in the ranks.
11 o m o s t* x u a 1 i t v
Compromise Isn’t
always a bad Idea.
Often it’s necessary
to abandon a low
priority issue in
order to win a more
important cause.
should not ho a oar to
military service and the ban should be lifted, period.
As former Son. Harry Goldwater said, soldiers don't havo
to be straight to shoot straight. Individual rights must not
bn sacrificed because of bigotry.
Clinton's defenders say that the president cannot
instantly wave a magic wand and shape the country in
his image. (Which is probably for the host, as the coun
try would physically and symbolically take the form of
Jell-O).
Obviously. Clinton — like all presidents —■ has finite
power and influence, which is why ho has to pick and
choose the issues he will fight for. Up until he was con
fronted with political opposition. Clinton seemed like he
had the will to fight to lift the ban.
During the campaign, Clinton said he would lift the
ban. Between his election and his inauguration, he said
ho was serious. As soon as ho was in office, ho announced
his intention to speedily do away with the ban.
Compromise isn’t always a bad idea. Often it's neces
sary to abandon a low-priority issue in order to win a
more important cause. However. Clinton has compro
mised on what he claimed was a top priority of his admin
istration. Either he wasn't telling the truth, or there is no
issue that he believes in strongly enough to resist com
promise.
Keagan campaigned for lower taxes and increased
defense budgets. Right or wrong, he held to these prin
ciples when he was elected and was successful. Bush, in
contrast, didn't stand for anything except his "no new
taxes" pledge, which he promptly broke. Except for Desert
Storm, he fought for no positions, and hence won no bat
tles.
When CliiUon pulled the plug on Lanl Guinier's nom
ination to head the civil rights division of the Justice
Department, he said that his decision was motivated by
his desire to find "his center." Compromises on such
black-and-white issues as gays and the military give peo
ple the sinking feeling that Clinton has no center to find.
Oregon Daily Emerald
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must pay for offenses
It's not a good idea to sneak
into the Oregon Country Fair
during the non-public hours
It's a worse idea to tell others
ulxnit how you snuck into the fair
during the non-public hours And
an idea so rotten that it ranks up
thure with duck hunting at the
mi I (race is to publish a story
alxiut sneaking into the fair dur
ing the non-public hours.
Trust me, I've done all three.
The fair knows who I am. and
they want me to pay. I'm told that
I'm guilty of theft and fraud. I've
been called a "parasite” and a
"trespasser” with a "future in the
supermarket tabloids ... mapped
out" for myself. I've received
( hidings ranging from the gener
al "shame on you" to 10 niinute
long diatribes on my answering
machine, the purpose being to
inform me of the implications of
what I have done.
Let me share those implica
tions with you so that they are
clear to us all.
Miscreants such as myself who
sneak past security into the night
time fair festivities make the lives
of fair staffers harder in a num
ber of ways. A fair official said
that every one of the extra 1,000
people who snuck in this year
generated 2.2 pounds of trash a
day, not to mention the added
excrement they plopped into the
lavatories. There are people who
have to clean those trash cans and
toilets, and 1,000 extra party
crashers don't make their jobs
any easier. Perhaps I will heed
her suggestion to join the clean
the-toilet squad to earn my tamp
ing pass next year.
Furthermore, the fair is on pri
vate property. When the public
leaves at 7 p in., the fair is just
beginning for those who have
toiled hv day selling food and
wares, emptying trash and toilets,
and working information and
security. The Midnight Show —
as the offic ial was quic k to add
in a message on my answering
machine — "is put on for people
who work all day and every
butt that's out there on somebody
who doesn't belong is displac ing
someone else who t an't hear
because they're too far hac k
beeiiuse they were working when
you got your seat."
Then there are the implications
of writing about my deviance —
in effec t, broadcasting the mes
sage, "Hey, guys, I snuc k into the
Country Fair! It's easy* It's fun!
Try it!"
While I don't agree that I "for
get responsible journalism alto
gether" as one reader wrote in a
letter to the editor (ODE, July 22)
or that I have disgraced my uni
versity, my newspaper and my
entire profession, as the official
said. I do fielieve that the choic
es to sneak into the fair and to
write about it were the wrong.
I would hope that all of the
media would not be banned from
the fair in the future based on the
irresponsible actions of one stu
dent journalist.
Not only have I seemingly jeop
ardized the whole future rela
tionship between the media and
the fair, the official said, but also
I have "introduced one of the
lead (Time demographics to come
and perpetrate the same ttieft and
fraud that you did ... and the
number one demographic for
rape." Meaning, I suppose, that
Emerald readers are the group
most likely to commit crimes,
especially rape, out of all of the
people who have ever hankered
to slink past security at the fair.
Interpretations aside, rape is
a serious matter. If my story has
encouraged anyone with that
intent, then I have indeed dis
graced my profession, not to men
tion myself.
Although that was not my
intent. 1 sort of have the notion
that sometimes a reporter has to
sneak in order to get a story she
would not otherwise get. While I
don't ( onsider myself the Wood
ward and Bernstein of the Ore
gon Country Fair. I certainly
didn't sneak and write with the
intent to encourage the "lead
crime demographic" to come out
in droves to ruin next year's fair
with their trespassing.
Every action lias its conse
quences. and mine are to take
responsibility for whom I muy
have given the idea to and to
"get into the paper with the
same cavalier attitude that you
had before and fill up some
print space with the implica
tions of this and telling people
that they ore trespassing and we
will throw them out and that we
don't take kindly to this and
they are creating serious prob
lems for a community event ...
and if I don't get it, I will pursue
the administration." the official
said.
Mad I written a community
oriented story instead of going
off on my own tangent. I prolw
bly would have sooner recog
nized my errors in judgment
regarding the event itself and the
people who run it. In my igno
rance. I assumed that the fair
represented the countercultural
movement, which is typified by
philosophies born in the 1960s.
such as "question authority."
As far as I know, people have
snuck into the Midnight Show
since they started having it. and
1 assumed that the few who
make it past security are all a
part of the experience.
Yet these are the 1990s, and
it's reckoning time for the free
wheeling 1960s notions that a
person can go around doing any
thing they want while others are
working hard, and that even
supposed bastions of counter
culture such as the Oregon
Country Fair don't have rules.
They do have rules, and those
who disregard them shall have
their day of reckoning.
Li a Salciccia is a columnist
for the Emerald.