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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 23, 1994)
EDITORIAL American way too clearly defined Tho practice of collective bargaining has always been contrary to "the American way.” Slowly but surely man ufacturing unions, unions made up of people who stead fastly believed in "the American way." havo been edged out of existence. In place of the workers are machines and in place of the vocal and passionate unions are the quieter and less colorful public sector unions This week the battered, bruised and barely breathing manufacturing union received what could be their life support system. This relief ( ame in the form of a letter from the director of the Federal Mediation and (Concili ation Service. John Calhoun Wells. Wells wrote to Sena tors Edward Kennedy and Howard Me/enbaum that he believed "the use of striker replacement is destructive to tho collective bargaining process” and that it "chills meaningful bargaining ” A very simple observation, seemingly obvious, like the child who sees a group of adults trying to free a truck that has become stuck in a tunnel because it is too tall; the child suggests letting the air out of the tires to make the shorter thus allowing it to pass through the tunnel. Of course, hiring replacement workers hurts the bar gaining process. Employers use this tool to flex their muscle and to scare workers into foregoing a strike. The hiring of replacement workers also allows management to refuse to bargain at all, this was aptly proved by the Air Traffic Controllers Strike. The Idea that one c an (and will) ho punished for freely expressing anger or frustration at a situation is also con trary to "the American way." At the conclusion of every war presidents and patriots claim the war was fought for freedom. In tho area of labor relations who has this hard fought freedom? Tho workers at Caterpillar Inc. plants in Illinois are about to find out who has the freedom in this country. Their branch of the United Auto Workers have just begun a striko against their company. A company they claim has engaged in union-busting activity and with whom they havo they have worked for three years with out a contract. As they went out on strike Caterpillar began running advertisements for new workers. In the United States a company cannot fire workers for going out on strike, but they can permanently replace thorn. What voice do the workers have if they have been replaced? They have no leverage, in essence they are exercising a freedom in a free country that they cannot afford. They are being punished for unamerican activi ty in a country that claims to guarantee its citizens indi vidual freedom above ail. The struggle of Caterpillars workers is indicative of other battles being waged to preserve what was once a shared value system called "the American way.” Arguments used in defense of the management will lie used in opposition to health care reform, in opposition to fully funding higher education. These arguments were used in opposition to desegregation. The simple reason give is that it has always been done one way “the Amer ican way" and why fix it if it ain’t broke? Tho simple fact is that in the area of labor relations in the United States the collective bargaining apparatus is broken. Hiring replacement worker may be good for business but it harms the individuals who must band together to protect themsolvos. Oregon Daily »0 90> JiM li«M OAtOOt. J'fcj The Oegon Da*y E ™ereid • pufc*V>ec! da*y t*'r<xJgb * ndaT during r*e Kfuoi y««’ *f><! Tuesday and Thursday duf>ng the by the Oregon Oa. y Emerald P-uDfesKno Co Inc 4! the l>wwfy ot Oegcxv £ ugene. Oegon Th# frn*a*5 opiate* ndeperxJerfsy oi th* UmvwK, art* offices af Sw*e 300 o< the E»t> Mervrfvai unaon and *» a rne*T"-t*v o* the Associated Prats Tbe f m«w*w <s private property The urAKatu* urov* & at pape-'s ft proaecutat*e by L<Bh* EdHor hafy Soto A»»ocial« Editor* t d**rd la Satetooa. Daed Thorn Photo Editor Mbchaat ShrvJar Might Editor Miy Solo Oenerel Manage Judy R*w* Advertising Director Men WaRe* Production Manager U*h«xe Koss Advertising Br a' Dees. Sub* CXjtta Tony Fo*. Jeff Manor, M^raa M en« Ciae»>ftad ft*** ,” Mn *,.» • Buvreu hathy Carton# *i•uptwmy Prockictioo Dae McCott? Production CoorOnaky Tars Gau«n#y Jenndar Newsroom &u*trv«»a Omc« MHtlt 346-MI 2 D**p*«y — >46-3711 >46-4343 Mil OPINION Hollywood loses O.J. and sense of reality Mavbe Ijm Angelos is just weird. Maybe Los Angelenos spend too much time around movie sots and can no longer discern between what they watch on the big screen and what they see in real life Whatever the reason, as police chased an alleged murderer through the streets of l.os Ange les. hordes of commuters stopped their i.ars on the sides of roads and freeways to gawk and cheer Thev were cheering on a sports hero. O I Simpson, as though he were dashing to score a touchdow n Thev were really cheering an alleged mur derer as he tried to flee author! ties What's the difference' It is a line that should seem so clear — the line that separates reality from a television program Hut the line is not clear It blurs, wavers and no longer sets the boundary between realitv and fantasy And it's not just in jaded. big-< ity 1-os Angeles that people confuse real, tragu events with something else Right here in Kugene, as I sat glued to my telesision set. I had to keep reminding myself that this wasn't the latest Keanu Reeves action movie 1 was watching It was the news — a live, televised documentation of real events. It both disturbed and perplexed me that 1 had to continually pinch myself to keep from enjoying the chase so muih. to remind myself that I was watching a tragedy unfold I. like millions of people, was brought up watching crime shows on television and at the movies Crime makes for good entertainment that's for sure From Dragnet, the cop show of the 1960s, to Adam 12 in the '70s, Americans have watched the good guys chase the bad guys CHiPs and Hill Street Hines mesmerized Americans in the 1980s along with scores of cop movies. America loves watching! rime in action Now in the 1990s. a new breed of crime shows has emerged. The shows still have the same cast: the cops and the criminals But networks have fired the actors and replaced them with the real thing Now just take a police officer, a crim inal and a video camera and there you have America's new Gavle Formas «>p shows It is the perfect marriage of entertainment and reality, help ing to close the already narrow gap that separates these entities. And here you have the wave of the present and future: the commoditization of crime The whole O J Simpson chase was just another epi sode of Cops. another great tele*, isson program. The murder, the ensuing inves tigation and Simpson x flight were no more real to American viewers than The Flmtstorws. Is it any wonder that people had a difficult time distinguish ing between cop shows and Simpson s chase’ Crime is infil trating mainstream American culture like never before Perhaps television violence has numbed us to a violent real ity. but it goes beyond that As popular culture adopts crimi nals as its icons, how are people supposed to tell the difference between admiring an u on and rejecting a criminal if they are one and the same'' O.J. Simpson was not cheered by Ijjs Angeles crow ds solely on account of his successful sports and acting careers The crowds were just enjoying the entertain ment even though what was entertaining them was a crime. People are used to being enter tained by crime Why make an exception for a real crime? Criminals continue to be a source of entertainment Many of them have gained fame and admiration on the basis of their status as criminals alone. It is a line that should seem so clear — the line that separates reality from a television program. John Wayne (racy, a convicted and now executed serial mur derer, has had great success recently in the sale of his paint ings. Charles Manson's songs are making a comeback now that the rock hand Guns n’ Roses has covered them. People wear shirts bearing Manson's face. He is a pop icon, and his crime made him that way. Serial killers in general are achieving fame. Yes folks, it is the serial killer trading cards complete with grisly statistics on the hack. There is even a magazine called Murder Cun Be Fun. which chronicles various murders and disasters In this day and age. the strangest things will net a profit, and people are scrounging to discover these oddities, crime included, and exploiting them for every nickel possible. As profiteers shine their big flashlights on aspects of society that have traditionally remained on the fringe, they bring them well into the folds of six iety for all of America to six* and know Once America becomes acquainted with these new ideas, they lose their edge of strangeness and of scariness Nothing can be alternative any more. for everything that once was considered deviant is now a commodity and thus common place and normal. Even murder Gayle Furman will he a columnist for the Emerald in the fall LETTERS POLICY The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to print all letter* ( ontaining comments on topics of interest to the University community Letters to the editor must tie limited to no more than 250 words, legible, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified when the letter is submitted The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style
