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
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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
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