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4 • The Red and Black • Thursday, November 8, 1990
OPINIONS
The Red & Black
Established 1893—Incorporated 1980
An independent ttudent newspaper not affiliated with the University of Georgia
Robert Todd/Editor-in-Chief
Jennifer Rampey/Managing Editor
David Johnston/Opinions Editor
■ EDITORIALS
Bozo Button
There is a difference between someone who has lost
something and someone who is a loser. County
Commissioner George Bullock showed himself to be a
loser after Tuesday night’s election.
Bullock came in third behind top vote getter Gwen
O’Looney and newcomer E.H. Culpepper and was
eliminated from the Chief Elected Officer’s race.
“I feel like a winner; maybe the community’s a
loser,” Bullock said after the results were in. ‘There
were a lot of women’s votes and minorities. With
historic preservation folks and the hippie vote, that put
her over.”
We’re glad Bullock’s sentiments are finally in the
open. And in light of them, it isn’t hard to see why he
lost or why his “quality” leadership has been so
effective in the past.
What Bullock failed to understand Tuesday night
— failed to acknowledge during his tenure as a county
commissioner — and will probably never admit — is
that this area doesn’t just revolve around the Bubbas,
the Juniors and the Joe Bobs While a commissioner
and during the election, Bullock ignored a vast
majority of the community.
O’Looney gathered grass roots support throughout
the community. Look around, Bullock. Walk past all
the businesses — that’s right, businesses — that have
O’Looney flyers in their windows. They’re the tax
payers of this area. But you wouldn’t know that
because you never cared about them.
Culpepper earned strong support because of his
visions of a growing and prosperous Athens-Clarke
County. At best your vision is short-sighted, blurred
and narrow.
Tuesday night Bullock said his political career is
ended. We can only hope that this is also the end to
close-minded unresponsive government in the Athens-
Clarke area.
Good, bad and ugly
The good is that University President Charles
Knapp is taking positive steps to eliminate sexual and
racial harassment at the University.
Last week, Knapp sent a letter to all students
advising them of the increasing reports of sexual and
racial harassment, sexual assualt and rape.
“Such incidents are contrary to our fundamental
belief in the dignity of each individual, which includes
respect for and appreciation of differences, and will not
be tolerated at The University of Georgia,” Knapp
wrote in the letter.
We applaud his efforts.
However, the bad is that Knapp’s words ring hollow
for many in the University community. Knapp’s letter
and promises of respect for individuals don’t seem to
apply to persons with disabilities or the University’s
gay community.
It took a civil protest two years ago to bring the
plight of the disabled to Knapp’s attention, and a
complaint to the Office of Civil Rights to bring any real
action. Consider this. There isn’t a single person with a
visible disability working in the Office of Disabled
Services.
Additionally, are we truly “creating an even better
climate of acceptance, understanding and cooperation”
where “each member of our community enjoys the same
basic rights and privileges” if the University refuses to
include the gay community in its official non
discrimination policy?
The ugliest part of this whole affair is that Knapp
had to write such a letter in the first place. It’s a sad
commentary on our society that at an institution of
higher learning, where people come to expand their
minds and understanding of the human experience,
that we still encounter such close-minded behavior.
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"It’s obvious people want a change, and they have more confi
dence In the city government than in the county."
— Defeated Athens-Clarke CEO candidate Jim McGown on
Tuesday's vote.
Studies reflect dangers of Marijuana
The question I am addressing here is the le
galization of marijuana smoking. When it
comes to a matter of making the wonder weed
street legal, the only legitimate question is
whether or not the benefits from smoking outw
eigh the costs. Hemp-clothes and hemp-par
achutes are not relevant.
There are many different reform groups with
various agendas. Perhaps the most frequently
heard claim among them is that pot is not as
dangerous as is commonly believed. But objec
tive studies indicate otherwise.
The “Journal of Substance Abuse Treat
ment” mentions that cannabis suppresses REM
sleep. The Journal also reports that frequent
smokers have an increased susceptibility to de
veloping addictions to other drugs. Smokers
with problems, adds the Journal, display these
tell-tale signs: (1) a preoccupation with ob
taining pot, (2) compulsiveness in the use of it,
and (3) relapse (even after years of abstinence).
Dependence, says the Journal, manifests itself
in medical disorders, neurological diseases,
psychiatric complications, trauma, and socio
logical complications, among other things.
On the other hand, some people - such ns
Professor Ethan A. Nadelmann of Princeton
University - feel that the dangers of drug use
will deter oddicton. Nadelmann is cautious in
his endorsement of legalization, however. For
good reasons: he notes that about 18 million
Americans are considered alcohol abusers.
Some 400,000 or so deaths are attributed to al
cohol nnd tobacco use annually; the death toll
for all illegal drugs combined was 3,562 in
1985.
Some argue that monitored distribution will
mean fewer problems. Let us remember,
though, that both alcohol and tobacco have
their mandatory warnings. According to a 1983
figure by the Research Trinngle Institute, the
Sean
Romer
cost to society in terms of crime, treatment, and
lost productivity was in excess of $80 billion for
alcohol, while the cost was around $60 billion
for other drugs. And Renee Wikesjo, deputy se
cratary of Europe Against Drugs, strongly in
sists that 'legal drugs which are subject to
quality control and warnings have not suc
ceeded in reducing injuries due to alcohol or al
cohol-related deaths."
Another common claim is that legalization
would lower the crime rate, and that money
currently used for law enforcement could be
channelled into education and rehabilitation.
In essence a policy of decriminalization, sup
porters of this program feel that (in the words
of New York criminologist Georgette Bennett)
this would mean having only “a massive public-
health problem...instead of a massive crime
problem, a massive corruption problem and a
massive foreign-policy problem.” There is, how
ever, a cost involved. U.S. Attorney Rudolph
Giuliani argues that calling a drug dangerous
while legalizing it is a blatantly mixed mes
sage, and that people would ignore the warn
ings and go to the extremes of drug use. Doubt
it? In Holland, residents of Amsterdam, Nij
megen, and Arnhem rebelled against the crimi
nality involved with drug use. In spite of this,
Wakesjo relates how a young Dutch boy once
told her that “if drugs are as harmful as you
say, our government wouldn’t let them be as
free as they are now.”
There are questions that legalization advo
cates have yet to answer. Democratic Con
gressman Charles Rangel of the Harlem
district in NYC points out "that it’s not as
simple as opening up a chain of friendly neigh
borhood pharmacies.” His questions are hard
hitting. For example, why stop at legalizing
marijuana? Where would pot be sold - in hospi
tals, tobacco stores, or supermarkets? Would
there be an age limit? How would it be en
forced? How much could be bought at once?
Would advertising be limited? No doubt there
are answers to these queries, but very few le
galization advocates have worked out practical
agendas.
Advocates do make some good points. Efforts
to 8top drug trafficking through police actions
have not met with much success. But then
again, Rangel emphasizes, we "have never
fought the war on drugs like we have fought
other legitimate wars - with all the forces at our
command.” It would seem both sides realize
that there are serious limitations. I wonder,
however, if legalization is not a solution worse
than the dilemma.
The solutions are evasive. And just as we can
be sure that a court ruling in favor of the right
to privacy or for the minority is not always "the
tyranny of the few,” so we can be sure that laws
or rules termed "thou shalt not” are more than
a heartless infringement of personal rights.
Which would you rather be - happy, or right?
Sean Romer t> a senior English major.
Objectivists focus on writings of Rand
Recently, you may have heard of the actions
of an organization called the UGA Objectivist
Society. You may not, however, know much
about it. I shall take this opportunity to expli
cate.
First, what is the Objectivist Society’s pur
pose? We seek to provide a forum where people
interested in Objectivism, the philosophy of
Ayn Rand, may obtain information about
Rand’s idens and insights into the application
of these idens to contemporary situations.
Secondly, whnt is Objectivism? It is not a po
litical party, nor is it in any way associated
with a political party. Objectivism is a truly
novel nnd fully integrated philosophy. Based on
the ideas presented by Rand in her many fiction
and non-fiction books ("Atlas Shrugged,” ‘The
Fountainhead,” “Anthem,” ‘The Virtue of Sel
fishness," and "Capitalism the Unknown Ideal”
to name a few), this philosophy takes its name
from the fact that it advocates objective reality.
This concept holds that this reality is the only
reality and is subject to certain natural laws.
Simply put A is A; this means a thing is that
thing and only that thing. The campus bus bar
reling toward you is that bus and will always be
that bus, regardles of your hopes, fears, wishes
or prayers to the contrary.
The three miyjor precepts of Objectivism can
be summarized as reason, egoism and laissez
faire capitalism. Reason: This means that man
has a mind capable of rational thought and that
his mind is his only means of surviving in the
universe. Man is not an animal born with the
instincts to hunt, to build a fire or to construct a
skyscraper; he must acquire these skills solely
Robert
Pellock
through the use of reason. Objectivism rejects
the idea that intuition and divine inspiration
are in any way methods of accruing knowledge.
It is only through reason that man can learn,
act, or survive.
Egoism: This is the pursuit of one’s rational
self-interest. Objectivism holds that a man is
not a sacrificial animal for his fellow men, nor
are his fellow men sacrificial animals for him.
Every human being is an individual; humans
are not hive animals like ants and bees; there
fore, each human must eat, breath, live and
think for himself. The only proper way for men
to live is by rationally pursuing their own goals,
plans and dreams. The opposite of egoism is
altruism. Rand totally deplored altruism which
holds that you must cut your throat for others,
or others must cut their throats for you. Rand
rejected throat cutting.
The logical conclusion of advocating reason,
egoism and objective reality is laissez faire cap
italism, the only socio-poltico-economic system
that deals with men in a moral and just way.
True laissez faire capitalism is the free and vol
untary trade between men with no government
interference in any way whatsoever. Since the
only real crime is the initiation of physical force
or its derivatives (such as fraud), the only role
of the government is to protect the rights of its
citizens; it can do this properly only by per
forming its three legitimate functions.
These are: 1) to maintain a police force to
protect citizens from the initiation of physical
force by criminals; 2) to maintain an armed
services to protect citizens from the initiation of
physical force by foreign invaders; and 3) to
maintain a court system to which parties with
disagreements may recourse rather than ini
tiate physical force. The courta also serve to
preserve the sanctity of contractual and prop
erty rights. Objectivism, therefore, obviously
holds that government should in no way pro
vide health care, welfare, roads, postal services,
or in any way regulate or interfere with the
economy.
Rand’s works have been vilified by many;
however, presenting a truly novel set of ideas,
Rand was able to introduce a wholly integrated
philosophy. Not Nietzchean and sacrificing ev
eryone to the superman, not Kantian and sacri
ficing everyone to everyone, Objectivism
advocates sacrificing no one to no one.
Do not simply take my word for it, however.
If interested, read any of Ayn Rand’s fine
works. You have nothing to lose but 2000 years
of intellectual detritus.
Robert W. Pellock is a junior chemistry major
and the president of the UGA Objectivist So
ciety.
Knapp should conserve
This concerns the recent letter
from University President Charles
Knapp. While the issue of aquain-
tance rape is pertinent, he could
have approached it in a more prac
tical way.
First, with the system-wide
budget cuts that have been re
cently imposed on the University,
the money spent on this mass
mailing to faculty, staff, and stu
dents could have been put to better
use in academic areas.
The University is dealing with
departmental budget cuts, class
cancellations, and non-competitive
salaries. Couldn’t Dr. Knapp have
printed his letter in The Red and
Black or other media and saved
money? The message would have
reached just as many students.
Second, environmental issues
are foremost, or should be, in ev
eryone’s mind. By choosing this
method of communication, not only
were needless expenses incurred,
but also, acres of trees were de
stroyed.
Although we appreciate Dr.
Knapp’s concern with issue of
aquaintance rape, we, as students,
feel that the money could have
FORUM
□ The Red and Black welcomes letters to the editor and prints them In the Forum
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belous material. Utters should be typed, doublespaced and must Include the name
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and Black s offices at 123 N. lackon St.. Athens. Ga.
been used for academic endeavora
and that a more conservationist
approach should have been taken.
Holly McQann
senior, Spanish education
Bonnie Gillespie
Junior, Drama
John Chambliss
senior, International markatlng/Spe-
nish