VIEWPOINTS
EDITORIALS OPINIONS. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Tobacco Corp. threat
more smoke than fire
■ OUR OPINION: Free
speech, nation suffers
when big industry bullies
First Amendment rights
“Wo aro outraged a trout
the revelations in the Wall
Street Journal and the New
York Daily News," blustered
Brown and Williamson
Tobacco Corp. spokesman
Tom Fitzgerald last week
after 00 Minutes leaked a
story detailing a tobacco
additive that causes cane er
in laboratory animals.
In fact, buckle your read
ing seal lndt hocauso this
usually calm and mild man
nered opinion piece is about
to “go off" on a bunt h of
blow-hards.
How's this for starters
l dim, hey Fit/.? Take your
bully mentality, vour com
pany. your "tough guy"
smoke screen, and every
thing you represent and go
to hell.
Better yet, take vour out
rage and stuff it back up the
end that is not normally
used to smoke cigarettes.
Whew Ok. now we feel .1
little bit belter.
But not much.
Fveryone involved In the
res ent blow-out over a 1094
clandestine interview
between (it) Minutes and for
mer BtiW vice-president Jet
fre\ Wigand comes out a
loser.
The American public
loses out by not being fulls
informed of .1 deadly tobat
co additive (we’ll tr\ to
refrain from preat hing that
medical science has already
determined a direct link
between smoking and vari
ous forms of < .nicer); free
spoor h under the First
Amendment loses by being
muzzled; and CBS loses
(redibility and power by noi
stepping up to and facing
down the threats of a sinis
ter tobacco company.
B&W Tobacco is like the
neighborhood bully that
won't stop picking on you
until you walk up. look him
in the eye and smash him in
the mouth.
Unfortunately, CBS appar
ently doesn't have the guts
to do that. We re not advo
cating violent e. but there
are ways to get the prover
bial monkey off your hack
Make no mistake, the
tobacco industry is fighting
for its very life. It has had to
hire the best attack-dog pub
lic relations firms in the
world to keep sis head above
the waters of public opin
ion. In reality, the tobact o
industry's ship has already
gone down.
The toughest and most
ruthless companies claw for
tie* few seneunmg ilie pi*
servers (threats of legal
action to silenc e entities like
til) Minutes) - after that, its
every man (or company) for
himself
B&W Tobacco would have
very likely gone after CBS's
jugular vein with every
aunt i’ of legal muscle it
owns The company might
even have seriously hurt
CBS.
Perhaps the reason we gel
hot under the collar when
the media loses battles like
CBS did with B&W Tobact o
(albeit without a fight), is
that we are deprived of our
purpose as journalists to
expose fraud and scandal.
Of course, thanks to CBS’s
"never say die" move in
leaking the story to two
newspapers, the press (and
the public) was sliil able to
give the bad guys a fat lip
and .11 ouple of really good
black eyes.
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r Sukers distinction
are learning wAat the ^reai chefs
have known For centuries
When it comes to flavor, nothing beats ammonia.
Yes, tobacco companies nog allow you too to savor tbe unbeatable tasle of
ammonia, long rccognued as one of natures most enchantinq flavors
Smok<» it to Jay. Ammonia. For flavor
•NOT ddt3«d to enhance nicotine delivery.
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Society hears echo of classroom silence
the
A jury acquits four i ops of beating Rod
ney King. 1. A, burns No comment
Four hundred years of inequality
abruptly ends in South Africa with
nation's First free elei lions Business ns usual,
National terrorism explodes onto the front
page as the Oklahoma City Federal building is
bombed Continuing where we left off
Fr;u v in the Middle East, O ) walks. Rabin is
assassinated, Bosnia smolders. "Contract with
Anierii a Million Man Man h Please open your
S IU | '-*^1
i or Using a university, a
pirn «• devoted to education and
dis< ourse, there sun* isn't
much talking going on here.
Yes, we go an ad nauseam
about the mating rituals of the
wildebeest, tile laws of thermo
dynamics and the symbolism
in Jane Eyre, but rarely do we
bring our discussions out of
the abstract We talk ai ado
fig*
formal]
vvc huh i mis uremi me worm arouno us.
I very time some momentous thing happens, 1
come to school yearning for a forum to sort out
what has (* curred No luck it makes no sense
to me
What good are all of the lessons we learn if we
don't pay attention to their real ramifications? Is
"Sociology of the Family" the only etas* to
which the "Contract with America" is relevant?
is there not a connection between ''American
History" and the O j. verdict ?
Professors realize that neither current events
nor course curriculum occurs in a vacuum, so
why the silence?
Well for one. professors have a chunk of mate
rial to get through within a 10-week period And
if you make room for a class discussion about
peace in the Middle last, then the important
issues (like memorizing the marine trading
routes of the Middle Ages) get pushed by the
wayside.
That’s no excuse. Professors must appreciate
that an occasional debate alxmt a current social
issue tan have more educational value than a
diatribe about some abstract piece of academia.
Not that abstract academia doesn’t have its
place What we learn here gives us the tools to
recognize and talk about what's happening in
our world. But what good are these tools if we're
never given the chance to use them? Can't
Shakespeare wait for a day? After all. he's not
going anywhere.
But the kind of insight and emotional intensity
that emerges every so often, after an event has
tarred our collective consciousness, is going
somewhere, it's an ephemeral moment of clarity
When significant events shake us up, w o are
loft grappling for answers. If we ignore these
struggles, we will soon lapse back into every day
modes of sleepwalking our way through school
and life Maybe, just maybe if we talked about
touchy .subjects, delved into risky waters, the
discourse and discovery would beget more talk
and thought.
Then maybe the people in my class dis< us
sions would actually talk Maybe the next time
the Emerald asks for opinions on race relations,
it will get more than four letters Maybe if uni
versities produce thinking, questioning individ
uals. we won't live in.a nation where we are all
held hostage by the rhetoric of liars And mavtie
then, we won't all be so paralyzed by fear
Because it is fear that promotes the clamp
down on classroom discourse and keeps lecture
halls from truly being forums of learning.
Fear Professors cannot initiate discussions out
side of the controlled academic fields of their
expertise lest they be accused of pushing an agen
da. which these days — with the University mar
ried to th>* state legislature — can spell trouble.
Fear. Students won't speak up. I've had class
es where professors called on pupils to name
examples of stereotypes. Silence. Nobody want
ed to risk political incorrectness and mention
these foul generalizations, even though talking
about them, laying them out on the table, is the
best way to negate them
And real discussions about real issues can get
messy, even (shudder) emotional People get
upset, offended, freaked out. The classroom
becomes a microcosm for society, complete with
all its resentments and chasms
Hut at the end of the day. it is in such discus
sions that we learn No matter, it's still too riskv.
too scary. Better to tippyloe around the issues.
Heaven forbid someone rile the students' com
placency.
I'm graduating, and this is my last column. In
my time here I have tried to instigate dialogue
tiiat went beyond the constraints of the syllabus
both in my classes, in private with my profes
sors and with my friends, especially my col
leagues at the Kmc raid It is from many of these
exchanges that 1 learned the most provocative
and valuable lessons.
Here's a piece of self-righteous advice: Talk
about issues, even if it feels uncomfortable. When
the outside world mirrors something in your
class, or even if doesn't, speak out. Your profes
sors will most likely lie grateful and responsive
Talk with and listen to your fellow students,
especially the ones who seem different from you.
If you don’t, then it doesn't matter how many
term papers you’ve written end exams you've
passed; you have ixien robbed of an education.
And if you head out into the real world, unable
to think and question, you are a sitting duck,
waiting to be duped.
Gayle Forman, a senior majanng in journalism, is
a columnist for the Emerald.