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TV Red and Black
Thursday. July 2S. ISH4
Page l
1 HE RED AND BLACK
Established 1893 — Incorporated 1980
Harry Montevideo, General Manager
Melissa Jordan, Editor-in-chief
Janies Kendley, Managing Editor
*
GCPA
An independent •tud*nt newapuper not nffllioted with the lJmviruty of Georgia
Petit-fours and cordials
President Ronald Reagan is scheduled to spout campaign
rhetoric today to a rally of his southern supporters in the parking
lot of a suburban Atlanta mall
They probably will believe Mr. Reagan We don’t.
On the first stop of his campaign swing Wednesday in Austin,
Texas, Mr Reagan told Southern Democrats that Walter Mondale
and Geraldine Ferraro are insensitive to the South's concerns.
"Please don’t let them bury the American dream in their
graveyard of gloom and envy,” the president urged
With due fairness, Mr. Reagan probably truly believes there is
no reason for gloom or concern In his isolated world of ranch
vacations and afternoon naps, he doesn’t understand that children
in this country are going hungry; that men and women who would
like to work can't find jobs; and that the nuclear arms buildup
does pose a threat to the human race.
No, Mr Reagan probably slept peacefully last night in his suite
at the $70 million Waverly, made more comfortable by “rich
mahogany furniture and decor that mixes traditional design with
antique accents, creating a luxurious atmosphere with a warm
residential feel,” according to the hotel’s press kit.
Perhaps the president even stayed on the Club Level, "which
provides additional amenities and services for the discriminating
traveler, such as petit fours and cordials in the evening Supplied
with terry cloth bathrobes...All rooms have triple linens.”
Wow, Nancy, just like home!
Mr. Reagan won't see the other side of town — the poverty and
the inequity that exist in Marietta, and in thousands of other cities
and towns around this nation Instead, he will tell his supporters
just what they want to hear: the ridiculous assertion that Walter
Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro are not sensitive to the South.
We wonder, is Mr. Reagan implying that he is?
Opinion
It’s time you started watching, too
Big Brother is watching you He's been compiling
your records since the day you were born He's
shaped your perception of America and the world
since you first entered his schools He's regulated at
what age you could first drink, drive, make love
and fight in his wars He's banned plays, plants,
poppies and people from entering this country
And today, he's subtly controlling the vital flow of
information within our society
Big Brother started shaping your attitudes and
beliefs the first time you were forced to pledge
allegiance to his flag He taught you history from a
limited nationalistic point of view for 12 years Im
perialism and exploitation were glorified under a
doctrine of “manifest destiny.” Communist and
socialist ideologies were portrayed in a perverted
narrow minded manner War was made to seem like
a clear-cut contest between the white hats of
democracy and the black hats of fascism Weapons of
oppression and destruction were depicted as in
struments of peace and freedom
It's not that simple
The future of Mankind rests in the hands of the im
mense military-industrial complexes of both super
powers The power of these military machines is con
centrated among certain corporate and governmen
tal leaders whose motives of self aggrandisement ig
nore human rights, the environment and the very sur
vival of the human race. Their tools are missiles,
warheads, and propaganda
If you doubt the pervasive role of propaganda in
promoting American and Soviet expansionism, then I
probably can't do anything to change your mind You
have been socialized to support your country “right
or wrong “
But at least hear me out To begin with, the federal
government is currently making a mockery of the
First Amendment by controlling the broadcast in
dustry through a variety of sanctions The FCC issues
a license to every TV and radio station in the country
It has the power to revoke the license of any station
that, in the opinion of the federal government, does
not serve "in the public interest " The result is a
chilling effect through which stations are prevented
from broadcasting "Oh, Calcutta", or the latest of
ficlal news from Moscow or the views of world
leaders that our government considers subversive
Congress enjoys similar controls over political
advertisments The equal opportunity laws con
cerning political ads and the laws granting access to
the airwaves to any federal candidate who can afford
commercial time serve to entrench the current power
elite and keep independents form being heard When
is the last time you saw an ad for a worker’s party or
a Moslem party?
The greatest threat to the free and honest flow of
information comes from the misinformation supplied
by the president, the Pentagon and various federal
agencies Witness the invasion of Grenada and the
blackout of press coverage of that incident Witness
the stereotypical portrayal of communist and Third
World countries by our government Witness the
staged filmstrips sent back from Vietnam by our
military to keep us "informed." Witness the
manipulation of military and government statistics
in ways meant to appease the taxpayer Witness the
one-sided coverage of the Korean Airline disaster and
of espionage in general
And open your eyes to the billions of dollars spent
by the American military to promote its weapons to
the American people CBS News estimates that the
Pentagon spends more on propaganda each year that
do the three major networks combined in covering
America and the world Films produced by the
Pentagon are shown in schools and private
screenings that patently distort the nature and goals
of communist countries Huge displays of weaponry
are shown at fairs and on military bases that attempt
to glorify the proliferation of death and destruction
The Soviets are equally guilty, but what we term
propaganda when employed by their military is
passed off as patriotism when emploved bv ours
In "The Republic," Plato, speaking through the
character of Socrates, painted a beautiful and
relevant analogy He said. "Picture the enlighten
ment or ignorance of our human conditon as follows
Imagine a cave with a long entrance open to the
daylight In this chamber are men who have been
prisoners there since they were children, their necks
and legs being so fastened that they can only look
only straight ahead of them Behind (them> and
higher up a fire is burning ...in front of which a cur
tain wall has been built like the screen at puppet
shows Imagine further that there are men carrying
all sorts of gear along behind the curtain wall, .in
cluding figures of men and animals And so in every
wav ' the prisoners i believe that the shadows of the
objects we mentioned were the whole truth.”
This analogy in its political application (it also has
a spiritual application) is later enhanced by Plato's
view of the oligarchic system of government, a
system that has supplanted democracy in the rul
ing of modern corporate and military America
"Won't (it) proceed to elevate the element of desire
to the throne, and let it govern like an Oriental
despot with tiara, chain and sword, while reason
and ambition squat at its feet in servitude, reason
forbidden to make any calculation but how to make
more money, ambition forbidden to admire
anything but wealth and the wealthy?
There is a haunting resemblance to modern
America Look around you — money is king, and
power its vehicle: the military buildup and the
resulting propaganda are real; and you may be but a
pawn chained in a cave watching images
manipulated on a screen
America is a great nation, one where you are free
to leave the cave and confront the sunlight But the
fears of founders like James Madison and John Jay
and of political philosophers like Locke that gover
nments will naturally fall under the sway of self
seeking individuals with little regard for individual
rights have been realized The corporate and military
entities currently waging war against reason and
brotherhood in both superpowers overtly coerce the
support of innocent citizens with fear and
propaganda
Big Brother is watching you It's about time you
started keeping an eye on him as well
Preston Coleman is a sophomore in the College oj
Arts and Sciences
Jackson has unleashed a monster
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Everett Kelley
With the 1UB4 Democratic National
Convention now history and the Rev
Jesse Jackson's bid (or president also
past, there are a lot of republicans and
narrow minded "democrats” who are
breathing more easily With the end of
the primaries they hope lhal Jackson
and his mostly black rainbow coalition
will be both out of sight and out of mind
They, however, make the same mistake
lhal most bigots make when they fry to
slop a social effort: They equate the
movement In the fortunes of Its
leaders: lhal Is why they will never
begin lo understand black people
This may come IS a suprise, but I
am a politically active black who did
nol support Mr Jackson There were
three issues that I simply could not
agree with him on One. I do nol
believe in supporting anyone simply
because of his race Frankly, if Mr
Jackson were white his candidacy
would have been a short-lived joke
Most established black leaders feel
that the "black vote” would have
been better spent on a more viable
candidate Two, I don't agree with his
stand on run-off primaries in Ihe
South I'm sorry: I do not believe that
picking the candidate who will do
best in the general election is
discriminatory II does nol make
sense, for example, to nominate a
black democrat who In a crowded
field gels 27 percent o( the vole of his
own party, only to have him buried by
a white republican in November I
also became very defensive when
I here is .in attack on (lie South In non
southerners For Ihe New York
delegation, composed partly of
blacks who abandoned the South
when the civil-rights heat got too
much for them, to boo Andrew Young
because his insight into his home
state did not jibe with theirs Is a new
low in hypocrisy This is not to say
that racism does nol exist in the South
anymore — of course it does! Still, it's
wrong for Mr Jackson to use northern
prejudices towards the South to fur
ther his goals, especially with a non
issue
The greatest reason I have for nol
supporting Mr Jackson, however
because through his speeches lhal
touched the pain of a people who have
and are suffering in these United
Slates, he has unleashed a monster It
is a monster that every black in this
country posseses. It Is a monster made
of suffering, of disillusionment, of fear
and of need II is mostly made up of
pure and simple anger Anger at being
locked oul of America's corporate
boardrooms, of not being taken
seriously as artists, but only as athletes
and pop stars , anger al being treated as
inferiors by our white neighbors, co
workers and classmates It is an anger
that all black people learn to suppress
and control Ihe way most whites learn
lo control their bigotry II is an anger
that Jesse jackson has brought to Ihe
surface Al Ihe Democratic Convention
when both Mr Young and Coretta Scott
King were jeered. It showed that it is an
anger (lull Jackson may not be able to
control This is^n anger that will prove
that democrats cannot take Ihe black
vole for granted any longer; and that
Ihe republicans never can hope to at
tract blacks in any significant num
hers
Abraham Lincoln ended slavery, bul
It was Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy
and Johnson who gave blacks freedom
For this blacks and the Democratic
Party will always be united, at least, in
thought and spirit Yet since these
giants, the party has gone from
providing concrete actions to empty
speeches to placate black concerns But
great speeches fill only ears, not empty
hellies and empty wallets Until there
are real actions addressed lo those
concerns, democrats cannot expect
their ballot buxes to be filled with black
voles.
The republicans are another mailer
altogether Never will black
dissatisfaction with Ihe democrats
spark an embrace of the GOP — we just
have nothing in common' When blacks
were fighting for their civil rights,
republicans Joined with Ihe boll-weevil
democrats lo oppose those basic
liberties Today, unlike even Ihe most
die-hard segregationist democrat like
George Wallace, republicans like Jesse
Helms have refused lo simply admit
that they were wrong, and fight lo
return to Washington lo argue against
such bills as the Martin Luther King Jr
holiday
In August the republicans will con
vene in my hometown o( Dallas. Texas,
and barring a miracle of Red Sea
proportions will renominate Ronald
Reagan for another term Doubtless in
his acceptance speech he will make
reference lo how republican policies
have helped all Americans These
comments will come from a president
who has drastically cut money for day
care facilites when more than 50 per
cent of black families are headed by a
woman who must work When unem
ployment for black teenagers soared lo
50 percent President Reagan cut
programs for job-training Since:
Reagan has been in office fewer
minorities and women have been ap
pointed to policy-making jxisilions than
at any other time in the pasl 20 years!
Yet the president cannot understand
why he is perceived as a racist While r
his budget cuts have hurt all America,
they have been disastrous to blacks
In four years Ronald Reagan has done
more to hurt black folk than the Ku
Klux Klan could have ever hoped
Finally, if you want to see the dif
ferences in the Democratic Party, as
flawed and paradoxical as it is. and
the republicans, just watch the
republican convention in August
Through all the similar flag waving
and motivational
speeches, look for a Jesse Jackson
and conservative South If you
honestly expect to find these things
you will be sadly disappointed The
republicans will he all smiles, secure
in their own little Utopia; bul there will
be differences that are not spoken of
Frederick Allen, political columnist for
Ihe Atlanta Journal-Constitution, made
a valid point about the GOP back in
June He said: "Did anybody notice
that the republicans had two large
shindigs in our town One while, one
black, on Ihe opposite ends of town’ "
Everett Kelly is a junior economic#^
major.
Follow the good doctor’s example
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." -•-
— Raoul Duke
I'm told there's a growing trend toward con
servatism among the youth of America I am alar
med.
My past railing against youthful irresponsibility
aside, young people are not supposed lo be con
servative We all need to keep in mind that too much
conservative thinking early in life leads to premature
hardening of the arteries and potentially even to
apoplectic fits.
Youth is a time to try new things, to seek ad
venture. We’ll be rigid ami sterile before we know it.
We certainly don't need to put one foot in the grave
while we're still in college
A girl I know has coined the phrase "Hitler youth"
to characterize the current hyper-conservative
movement on college campuses I don't mean to
suggest that the Young Republicans or the College
Republicans are highly chauvinistic or
materialistically deranged, though people of their ilk
often are Nor do I want to suggest the imperative
necessity of removing Ronald Reagan from the White
House
Indeed I'll probably be out with bells on in
November to vote for the man Despite his sword-
rattling and hawkish high school football rhetoric. I
think he's been a pretty decent president
No matter what Walter Mondale's wife may think.
Mondale doesn't have Norse charisma Mondale
simply doesn’t resemble Thor — in any way
We often hear complaints about knee-jerk 'iberals.
but we rarely hear people called knee-jerk con
servatives Nonetheless, the vermin infest this
campus
So what am 1 complaining about? I avow
republican sentiments, but I run down supporters of
the Republican Party
It’s just that it seems tragic to me that so many
otherwise intelligent young people here at the
University become so entangled in the rigid cast-iron
ideological spider webs mass woven by the Moral
Right No pun intended No black humor intended
either
Youth is no time for materialistic job security
paranoia We're not of retirement age and we’re not
untenured University professors, so what have we got
to worry about 1 !
Yet what do we see reflected in the eyes of so many
students here’ Missionary zeal’ Enchantment with
education? Committment to learning a skill? No. No
No
1 see dollar signs mostly
Why dollar signs’* Obsessive job paranoia doesn't
produce jobs
One can research job opportunities quickly Good
references are also easy lo come by if you work hard
So what's left?
Develop a skill Learn something useful so we can
contribute something to our families, neighbors and
communities For God's sake, that's what we’re in
college far
We're not here to play the social game of cut. slash
and back-stab. or. at least, we shouldn't be here if
that's ail we want to do Attending the University is
not purely a business adventure It's not a place to
bargain for your salary It's a place to learn
I admit l m a mercenary I wouldn't be in school if I •
could practice my trade well and profitably without a j
degree I admit I’m holding my nose while pur- :
chasing a degree from this multi versity, this ad- •
ministrative parish of pedantry
I don't like to go to class — almost any class — and I 5
don't like to take tests But 1 do ransack the library ;
regularly and anyone — I mean anyone — who lets j
down his guard will end up having to explain to me :
every detail of his job, hobby or philosophy
So why has this raving drooling idiot started this 5
week's barrage of pompous preaching with a quote ;
from the persona of that despicable outlaw journalist :
Hunter S Thompson'*
Because I recomment the nefarious Dr Thompson :
as an excellent role model — not just for journalists ”
but for all of us.
Be an outlaw Be a Gonzo Raise hell Stick your :
nose where it doesn’t belong just to see what will
happen Question authority Challenge authority
Think for yourself and do it often and well
We can still be conservative in politics. We can still
be religious or even pious We can still get good jobs
and make good money We can even still have four-
car houses and three garages and one of those neat
gadgets for washing the outside of second-story
windows. :
But please let’s not be grade-compulsive, ob
sequious. money grubbing little wimps ;
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