Newspaper Page Text
March 11,1992 '
Ed’s
Answers
by Ed Tant
*Knowledge and human power
are synonymous, ’ said writer Francis Bacon. Once again
this week, leaders seek the power of knowledge with
their questions. Here are some of them.
1. Is it possible to get lung cancer or respiratory disease
from burning incense? Do you know? Do you know? Do
you know?
Maybe, Maybe. Maybe. Smoke inhalation of any
kind isn't good for you, but you would have to burn
massive quantities of incense in a small space over a
long period of time to injure your lungs. Don't try it. If you
want to ruin your lungs, tobacco is the way to go.
2. How come the atmosphere doesn’t boil off into
space?
The earth’s gravity keeps it in place. The moon, for
instance, doesn't have enough gravity to contain the
active gases that would constitute an atmosphere. Jupiter,
on the other hand, is so big that its gravity is able to hold
an atmosphere of frozen gases thousands of miles thick.
3. Could a person who needs glasses be able to look at
the sun, without his glass, unscathed?
No. Corrective lenses merely improve vision. They
don V block cut the brightness nor harmful rays of the sun.
4. How many cars on a train on an average? How long
is that?
I don't know about the average train, but when I lived
beside a raliroad track I once counted 120 traincars
being pulled by five locomotives. That train would have
been nearly a mile long.
From Behind the Curtain... „
Short Bits and Small Pibcgs
This week there is only enough
time and space to mention a few
things: so here we go...
• The proposed development on
Easy Street is being shelved
indefinitely. There are severe drainage
problems with the site that would make
the construction of the office complex
prohibitively expensive. The Doctors
who own the property already have
spent a premium price to acquire it
and are reluctant to pay another
premium price to develop it at this
time. However, the land was bought
with the intention that it would
be developed at some point.
The kind of development that
takes place in that area is
important. A poorly planned
project could lead to the
destruction of the Boulevard
Neighborhood and set the
precedent for the destruction
of other in-town neighbor hoods. We
will let you know what happens next.
• One of the great myths of our
age is that in America the Press
(Media) is objective. Journalism
students are told repeatedly about
the proud tradition of objectivity in the
press. In reality the myth was created
about the same time colleges and
universities starting teaching
Journalism as an academic subject.
All it takes to dispel the myth of
objectivity is critically reading any
newspaper or magazine, listening to
the news on any radio station or
watching any news program on TV.
Read, watch and listen, but take in the
information with a grain of salt Think
for yourself. Compare news sources
and make a note of what they include
inastoryandwhattheyleaveout. Dig
for the truth. If you buy the myth of
objectivity then everything you know
is wrong. Pay attention to current
events, locally, nationally and globally.
Try to learn what is happening behind
the information you’re spoon-fed. Your
future is at stake. The time for action is
now. The responsibility for the future
belongs to you.
• Some folks want to revise twen
tieth century history and deny that
Nazi Germany was responsible for
the organized murder of over 6 million
people before and during the second
world war. They are trying to place full
page ads promoting their revised view
of history in college newspapers
across the country. Most have re
fused to print the ad. The argument
the revisionists make is simplistic and
shaky at best.
Last Monday, the Red & Black
chose to run the ad. The rational was
that their readers needed to hear all
the sides of a debate. They claimed it
was a first amendment issue. Their
argument is weak. If they received the
same copy as a letter and chose to run
it then they could have hidden behind
the first amendment. They didn't. It
was an ad. They were paid money for
it (according to their national rate card
the ad should have cost $1980).
Running the ad was an advertising
decision and not an editorial decision.
Any publication has the right to
turn down advertising. (We’ve turned
down ads ranging from 900 number
phone scams to Army recruiting ads)
Certain ads force a publication
to discover what it does or
doesn’t stand for. It is money vs.
ethics. The Red & Black had a
chance to stand for something
and chose the money instead.
Maybe the Chinese government
can take out an ad to explain
how nothing ever happened in
Tiananmen Square in June of 1989, or
the Khmer Rouge could use an ad to
rewrite the story of the Killing Fields.
Running the ad was not about the free
exchange of ideas (it was paid for!) It
was about ad sales and making
money. The fact that College papers
like the Red & Black are where so
many future journalists will learn their
trade should cause one to read, listen
to and watch all media with a critical
and skeptical eye. Think for yourself.
Don’t believe everything you read in
the papers...
Dennis F. Greenia
Publisher, Flagpole Magazine
...take in the
information
with a grain
of salt.
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