EDITORIAL
Let freedom ring:
end imperialism
For over 200 years now, we’ve celebrated a rag-tag
group of outlaws who started a revolution in the name of
self governance.
We’ve lagged that day, yesterday. Independence Day
and worship it yearly with parades and barbecues, fam
ily get-togothers and firecrackers.
But since becoming a world power ourselves, we’ve
come full circle and have taken the role of oppressor
instead of oppressed.
Vietnam is a good caso-in-point.
In 1954. President Dwight D. Elsenhower recognized
French rule over Indo-China and ignored Ho Chi Minh’s
plea for U.S. assistance in creating a Vietnam indepen
dent of French rule.
A Geneva Conference of world powers lator cut the
country in half, with Ho taking tlit* north and cementing
his ties with the Communists, and France backing the
South.
As French forces fell in the ensuing war. the U.S.
rushed to South Vietnam’s aid.
By the late 1960s. the U.S. was carpet bombing much
of Vietnam. By the end of the war, tno U.S. defoliated
over 14 percent of South Vietnam’s forests.
The effects of that war can still bo felt today. The Diox
in-based Agent Orange still soaks the land and kilts
many through birth defects. The hundreds of bombs
alive in Vietnamese fields still maim countless civil
ians each year.
In Cambodia, that country’s forces were weakened so
badly by secret U.S. attacks ihat the Khmer Rouge gained
control of the country in 1975 and slaughtered one mil
lion of its own people. Yet. the l t.S. still backs its loader.
Pol Pot.
Cambodia still suffers today. The people of Phnom
Penh run back to the countryside at night and intellec
tuals across the country still don’t wear glasses for fear
of death.
In all. America’s Southeast Asian war was utterly dev
astating. killing millions for years. The Vietnamese econ
omy only saw the light of day in 1989. when international
trade sanctions allowed multinational companies to do
business there. Camlrodia has yet to see any light at all.
All this could have been avoided had Eisenhower rec
ognized Vietnamese sovereignty and not French control:
Ho Chi Minh wouldn’t have turned to the Communists
for support and true peace could have been made.
In reflecting on this year’s fourth, we should again
reach back to the words of our forefathers and realize
how far we’ve strayed.
The unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness has strings attached in its modern version.
Those rights, still "under God ”, are quantified by nation
al boundaries or the political interests of the U.S.
As the world's military superpower, we need to live
by our ideals because without them, we will succumb to
Britain’s disease of the 1700s and ignore the rights of
oven our own people.
Putting our ideals into practice can happen this year.
Vietnam is up for reconsideration of its trading privi
leges with the U.S. That economic ban should be lifted,
and we should let those people finally live in peace after
well over 50 years of struggle.
To do so would represent not only a reconciliation
with Vietnam but also with ourselves.
It would finally allow us to match our words with
our deeds.
Oregon Daily
PO ©OU1V9 EUGENI
Th# Oregon Oatfy Emerald <% p*ibfcsh«d da«i> Monday through Friday during the sthoo
year and Tuesday and Thursday du'.ng the iomm#r by the Oregon 0a»»y Emerald
PufcAshtnn Co tnc 41th* Untversrty at Oregon. f ug*n«*. Oregon
The Em«rak! operatiss MSdependentty ol th« University «v«9t% Ofl«c©* a? Soft# 300 of the
l ft:. Mimo'mi Union tv\J <s a member o* frte Associated Proas
Tho t mer afcd «* private property The unlawful removal or use o* paper* >s pro&ecu*.ab*«
by aw
Editor Kory Soto
Assoc tats Editor* Mr*j Dedotph. in* SdtocoA. D»*d Thorn
Photo Editor M»« h«H Sh "«$<n
Night Editor Kofy Soto
Qenerai Monster Judy MwkJs
Advertising Director Mas* .% »?«' Protection Manager M • rrfo Rov>
Advertising Br an Ddv n Son* Outta. Tony Fo*. Jeff U.v on M ao M *<«m*
Classified Bes>v M*- ■ Ms
Business: Kathy Garbo- e Supervisor
Production: 0m McCobD. ^oobdot Coord dfty Tara Gauttney Jerwtm Roland
Wewsroom 346-5511 Display Advert:sing 346-3712
Business Office 346-5512 Classified Advertising 346-4343
VJKen food labels will be. simple enough for US consumers
* to understand them
ifiW* bv**4LC Mfwj
1
, VOUO'OM'riAV //■ »
us60QOob8ap
OPINION
Too much junk TV can make you sick
Gee, I'm so excited to be a
budding journalist.! can't
wait to bide outside of
celebrities' homes and hunt
through their garbage for clues
into their sordid, private lives.
And it looks like the minor
degree I will obtain in Theatre
Arts — the one I thought would
1» completely useless yet fun —
will come in handy l/Kik at any
magazine Watch any TV news
program. Infotainment is the
name o' the game
So what, say you. the intelli
gent reader (Uh-oh. I'm not a
very good future journalist, am I.
assuming that you are intelli
gent.) It's not news to me (pun
intended) that my "information"
is loaded with junk food for the
mind. Everyone in the country,
including those junky news pro
grams. is talking about the shot
gun marriage between news and
drama.
Well. I'm sick of it Sick of not
knowing what a reader wants.
Sick of the one extromu that
thinks news is a bunch of gray
ing men in gray suits stringing
way too many big words togeth
er for the American public to
care. Sick of the other extreme
that thinks that news is Dan
Rather pretending to ho con
cerned about O.J. Simpson's
"suicide notes." Sick of being
sucked in and misled by those
horrid TV movies that present
the "truth" so convincingly that
"criminals" are convicted with
out a trial and "heroes" are
mode overnight.
I am not convinced that this is
what you want Want to know
why? Because I believe that you
are smart You crave informa
tion the way your body craves
nutritious food. Hut when you
go to the EMU for a study-snack
break, all that's offered for you
are high-fat crap foods. And
when you turn on the TV or pick
up most publications, all that's
offered is a little bit of mind
nutrition cloaked in a lot of
junk.
And who can blame the intel
ligent reader for liking junk? We
are all guilty of swallowing it.
Goddess knows I've been guiitv
of feeding it to you If we are
Lu SAinccu
offered a carrot vs. a cookie. how
many of us would take the car
rot7 Even if the cookie makes if,
feel like we swallowed a lard
hall ail hour later, whereas the
carrot gives us energy, we might
still opt for the instant gratifica
tion that a cookie provides.
Get to the point. Lia. The
point: the media thinks that you
are dumb. The media thinks that
this is what they need to do to
make money. They don't think
about the fact that you lead a
busy life, make important deci
sions every day. and are swal
lowing their crap because you
need a few laughs, some enter
tainment They think you swal
low their crap bec ause you are
dumb and profitable. They think
that the "American public" are a
bunch of Budwuiser -swilling
slobs that do nothing but sit on
the couch and consume their
b.s. disguised as "news."
There's nothing wrong with
craving entertainment. Our
cave-dwelling ancestors did.
and created rituals and cave
drawings to feed that need. The
rituals and drawings had moan
ing which reflected the meaning
in their daily lives Both our TV
docudramas and news reports
derived from invasions of pri
vate lives have meaning too. but
that is what we are struggling to
find.
It angers roe when journalists
don't think about those mean
ings. When they are afraid to
speak out against the blurred
lines between news and junk,
between nutrition and < rap
when they deny the entertain
ment element is there: when
they snv that this is what you,
the intelligent reader, wants,
when they say they have to run
25 million stories on l.orena
Bobbitt and the angle at which
she chopped off John’s...mem
ber...because if they don't, the
competition will.
I don't suggest we go back to
boring news that people don't
understand or care about. Of
course dramatic elements will
make the news hit home with a
bigger punch But how about
some honesty? How about call
ing it what it is? How about
renaming Hard Copy? How
about coming clean and telling
the public al>out those journalis
tic biases that always slip into
stories and always will? (The
biases are useful, they bring
meaning to the story, but are
harmful if the reader doesn't
realize they are there.)
Readers, it's lime to stand up
(if you are already standing,
then get on the soap box) and
tell the media what you want.
Where you want the news, and
where you want the entertain
ment and how you want the
hybrids laholed. I)o you really
want Time magazine, something
you should be able to trust,
screwing around with O.J.
Simpson's picture to make him
look blacker? Are you going to
swallow their pitiful excuse that
it was "a work of art” designed
to make Simpson look more
■'sinister''? (Can you say racist?)
Everybody likes a cookie once
in a while. They remind us of
the proverbial comfort Mom
gives. But nobody wants to die
of a heart attack because they
have been eating cookies made
with globs of lard. Wo should be
able to trust cookies. But they *
are often made of the stuff that
clogs your arteries and gives you
cellulite We should bo able to '
trust the new s. But as Time and
countless others have proved,
"news'' is often made of junk
that clogs your thinking and
puts fat on your brain. But you.
intelligent one. have always got
the choice of what vou put into
your mouth.
What are vou going to swal
lovv?
Ua Salciccia is an Associate
Editor for the Emerald