EDITORIAL
r
Abortion protesters
must honor privacy
Abortion protestors in Portland crossed unforgivable
lines Saturday when they picketed the home of a
researcher who Is helping test the abortion drug Kt ' 480
The hour-long demonstration, which was the first in
the "No Place to Hide" campaign, was organized bv
Advocates for Life Ministries in Portland.
imposing somebody's h<<mn is far safer than exposing
somebody's home in the womb, the safest home some
body ever had,” said protest organizer Dawn M. Stover.
Although protesting in front of someone’s home is not
as newsworthy as snooting an abortion doctor, the
actions taken fry these intrusive protesters must not be
Ignored. Protests that invade one’s personal spare are
malic iotis and do nothing but provoke more animosity
on both sides
Saturday s demonstration was a definite violation of
private v for Dr, Mark D. Nichols, an assistant professor at
Oregon Health Sciences University, who is organizing
one of the c liniral trials of HU 4K(». What may seem like
,i harmless demonstration to some is a physical and psy
chological threat to Dr Nichols, his family and his
neighbors. The protest exposes his neighborhood and his
family to the public, making his home a vulnerable tar
get for future demonstrations. And the next protest may
not bo so civil, especially considering the outbreak of
violence against abortion clinics and doctors this year.
Protesters on Saturday forgot to notice the signific ant
division between Dr Nichols’ personal and professional
life llis personal life may not lx* entirely reflective of his
professional choices Just (x'cause he's working to test
the abortion drug doesn’t mean that his wife or his
daughter will run and get abortions if they become <
mint. No one knows his reasons for supporting RU-486.
His family shouldn't he labeled with views they
haven’t expressed and they should not suffer for his
career choice, They shouldn't have to 1m» afraid of what
might happen in their own home.
Privacy invasion is a serious crime and violators
should be punished. Intrusion can lead to devastating
emotional scars to those affected. Anyone can be trau
matizod when their “safety zone” is interrupted. Dr.
Nichols’ family must now fear any physical harm that
could bo inflicted by abortion protesters. Continuous
news reports of dead abortion doctors and abortion clin
ic raids will do little to ease their fears.
If abortion protesters feel so strongly about the drug,
they should picket at Dr. Nichols' place of work. A ral
ly at the hospital. If done peacefully, would be more
effective and bettor received than a trip to a private res
idence. Separate one’s professional life from his or her
personal life.
Like everyone elso in the nation, abortion protesters
have a right to express their opinions. However, that
right should never take away another person’s security.
Oregon Doily
Emerald
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■ COMMENTARY
Technology a two-sided sword
Julian Beard
Wait a minute This
doesn't compute.
In a speech to the fac*
ultv, University President Dave
Fruhnroayer stresses the impor
tance of teaching students to
think i Min alh Meanwhile, the
University administration
engages m a mockery of critical
thinking.
What am 1 talking about?
The $f>0 ten hnoiogy resource
fee that we oil had to pay this
term.
I talked to a lot of students
about this at the liegtnning of the
term Most had only a vague,
peevish recollection of having
had to pay "some fee." and
many did not remember having
paid the fee at ail
Hut this is understandable.
Tile administration hardly went
out of its way to inform us or
invite student input on the sub
ject I see this as a case of glaring
ai ademii hypocrisy The same
people who claim to fie purvey
ors of critical thinking (Univer
sity administration) are now
decreeing that we students pay
another $t50 a year for high
technology without asking us
what we tlunk about it We're
not supposed to think We re
supposed to pay our fee and
shut up. And that's just what we
did
We paid $‘100.000 This is
being matched by "outside
sources." which means the Uni
versity will be spending about
$5 4 million a year on comput
ers.
So far the thing has been
hawked on us as if free comput
er use and E-mail and such were
the whole issue Sure, those
things are very handy But they
don't cost any $!i 4 million a
year So what's really going on
here? A whole different hall
game, baby, and it's being
played behind dosed doors in
private meetings
We're talking about a sweep
ing rwstrui taring of the way this
University functions, and the
wav our society functions, tiased
on a huge new system of com
puters arid networks — the
"tedinologn al web.*' Supposed
ly this will, if we buy into it.
make our lives easier, more effi
cient and let us got information
faster Groat The fact that it
could also follow the historical
precedent set by similarly pre
sented technologies and end in
disaster does not disturb our
placid consumerism.
Hut it should We have a his
tory of not asking the right ques
tions atKiut its hnoiogy until it's
too late, and the consequences
have been devastating. Thanks
to our technological "progress,"
we're facing for the first time the
potential collapse of our planet's
life support systems. Clearly,
given the failure of past tech
nologies, and the mess they've
gotten us into, it would behoove
us to take a hard look at the new
ones we're about to commit to.
No such hard look is being
taken at computer technology.
There has been practically no
debate on the subject The infor
mation we tend to hear about
the effects of computer technol
ogy t omes from the people who
produce it and is therefore pro
paganda
It is not surprising when the
general public: is swayed by
such partisan, one-sided infor
mation Hut the alacrity with
which our highly educated com
munity has started every morsel
of propaganda furnished by the
high-let hnoiogy industries is
truly disgusting
People like to think that com
puters are a benign lei hnoiogy
that can’t he compared with
“dirty" technologies (cars and
nuc lear reactors)
Think again.
The fact is, computer technol
ogy. like the technologies (adore
it, has the potential to screw up
our lives in a big way. and we’d
better start looking before wo
leap
Here are some of the potential
problems of computers
• Health Computers create
health hazards from the day
they're bom In the production
of computers, according to Ted
Smith of the Silicon Valley
Coalition. “Workers and the gen
eral population are being
exposed to the most deadly
chemicals that have ever been
synthesized Accordingly, the
computer industry has an inci
dence of occupational illness
more than three times that of the
average manufacturing industry
In "use. i omputer monitors
generate a wide range of electro
magnetic radiation, which
among pregnant women has
been related to birth defects,
misi arriages and infant death
Use of computers has also been
related to stress, fatigue,
migraines and cataracts. And
there are growing suspicions in
the medical community that
there may be far worse effects
that we haven't vet realized.
• Economic. Computers are
essential for the functioning of
the huge multinational corpora
tions we complain so much
about. These corporations, in
their pursuit of profit, wreak
havoc on the environment and
also on small-scale economies
In this way, computers con
tribute to the increasing polar
ization of wealth Of course,
computers are handy for small
businesses, too.
• Social. Computers have
already caused a decline in
meaningful social interaction,
and it's going to get worse In
one particularly disgusting
example, many universities
teach classes by computer,
where students stay home ami
get a lecture via modem.
Are we insane? Is this what
we call education? Excuse me
for being old-fashioned, but I say
education is one part informa
tion and two parts inspiration
Inspiration happens when stu
dents interact with faculty as
human beings. To teach a class
by computer is to deprive both
teacher and student of the most
valuable part of the education
process
People say, “You can't stop
progress " This is just a cop-out
rationalization for passivity It’s
our progress, and we can #*!%
well stop it if we decide we have
to. If we hope to leave our,
grandchildren an inhabitable|
planet, we’d better start making
those kinds of decisions. If we i
don't, we are resigning ourselves !
to whatever happens. Ami we've '
got no right to pretend that we're
critical thinkers.
lulian Beard is on English
major.