Friday. May l5, mt

SCARLET AND BLACK

Page Thin

 

LETTERS

Anonymous Wife

To the Editor".

Last weekend I attended I delightful
blue grass concert in South Lounge.
Alter a few songs the ﬁve participant:
were introduced. Four had names. The
filth was Ed Foster's gorgeous anony«
mous wiie. I can remember when Jan
Kennedy (now Foster) had a name and
attributes, not all physlual, or her own.
Here's to that grand old strictly aca-
demic sense of equality.

Molly Malcom

Crossett Cuts Again

To the Editor:

I wish to comment on a Iew statements
made In the last issue of the 5&3.

t. In reply to the defense oi abortion
presented by Miss Mary Malcolm and
Mrs, ingham: the moment the sperm
penetrates the egg, the rights oi the
Child begin, and ollr failure to Communi-
tote with the child does not lessen his
right to his rights. Perhaps, it iie could
communicate with him, we would lintl
that he pleierred We even under all-
\‘El‘Se circumstances. Since contracep—
tives are not entirely ellicient and are
olten immoral, the only way to avoid
killing innocent helpless babies by shot.
tion is abstinence. I do not see how those
who Commit fornication or who think
sexual pleasure is an end in ltselt are
entitled to avoid the consequences at
their actions by childrmurdeI'Aand that
is what a ortion is: a sophisticated ton-n
0i infant' de. Our crude ancestors used
to expose new-born babies on hillsides;
those who favor abortion, technically
more ingenious but morally no better,
would scrape them lrom the utenls.

2. Since both Mr. Theodore Click and
Mr. Jellrey Gordon have both admitted
that their inversion ol the llag was an
act ol impulse, perhaps it needs to be
pointed out to them that impulse is not a
justification. Mr. Gordon, in the more
honorable of the two statements, Con-
fesses that his act was a “vent {or .
trustrations and nothing more." Mr.
Glick seems to think that ends justifies
the means — a doctrine that can be u d
by any thug as well as by Mr. Glick ~
and his end is that he "be satisfied and
gratified." lt ls ditlicult to imagine a
more sellish and egocentric attitude.

3. Where Mr. Glick's conscienceless
ness moves on its blandly smug traclr,
Mr. Gordon and Mr. Ronald Steinhorn
show some dim sense that what they
did was wrong. Alas, however, with the
usual cry — baby philosophy oi today's
“acllvtsls,” they at once seek to place
the blame elsewhere. “We had no idea
that all this would happen,“ they ex-
claim, as it their ignorance were an
excuse, as if their defense at impulse
did not prevent deliberation and consul-
tation, as it they had not been warned
oi their lolly. Even Mr. Kenneth Hicks,
who wrote the most reasoned oI the

TA§TY
PASTRY

Bakery
éoods

263-43“

accounts, lapses into this moral buck-
pa’ ing in his closing paragraphs. “It
i " he writes, “amazing that we (stu
dents) couldn't see this would happen.
1 agree: it is amazing. But there are
none so blind as those who will not see.
History is a subject taught at Grinnell
—and taught well. But perhaps students
do not elect to study history. it
would appear so. I remember last year,
at a discussion at drain-card burning,
how an elderly mother from the town
spoke up in detense oi patriotism. She
was not very articulate and had none at
the students sophisticated wit. In desper<
ation she appealed to them- “Don‘t you
know that a lot of good men died in the
last war so that you could have your
freedom?" And all that one student Could
say to her was. “That all happened he-
iote l was born. I don't know anything
about that." When the day comes to
write the epitaph tor the present clamor
ill the minority mol) 0! students, that
line might serve. “I don’t. know anything
about that."
John Ctosselt
Classical Languages

Theater Defense

To the Editor:

In the l *t two weeks there have been
three reprints of the instructions to our
l‘eceni reading list lor compl‘ellenslves in
Theatre, courtesy at Miss Tinker and
novi the 5&3. The list which [ollows
was approved by the staff, but the in-
trodiictory statement was mine. i would
like to explain it. The reading list was
certainly diverse and probably stimu-
latiiig, ranging lrom Shakespeare to
Schechnel. Reviewing can be a deadly
dull business and we hoped the read-
ings would provide our tour majors
with a legitimate but provocative means
loi- getting basic concepts and informaa
(ion back in mind, at. the same time
suggesting several new concerns. I an
tempted a bit ot hyperbole in the linal
statement (“a deep, considered coniu<
sion"). Students have several defenses
against such academic levity: to ignore
it, laugh at it, or ask what it means,
But to use it as the topic sentence for
a sermonette on creativity seems lav
fetched.

Another matter. Miss McGuire's article
on the Tinker matter (May 2) has me
saying something coniusing about prece-
dents. What the lnlerviewer and l dis
cussed was the last that since there are
college rules on mmprehensive require-
ments, and they concern all departments,
one department cannot independently do
cide to ignore them. The proper ap-
proach seems to be the one being ex.
plol'ed now, a careiul review oi the
problem by laculty and students.

And a last matter. Speaking lor my<
sell, I'm puzzled by Miss Tinker's mo-
tlon (noted in the McGuire article)
that her two untaken exams should be
averaged with her lirst exam. As she
knows, her first examination was In
Speech (a two course requirement which
ends with this year’s seniors). Miss
Tinker has not yet iulillled her require-
ments in what might be called her area
of concentration but which I think should
be more accurately called her maior.

Porter Woods
Director of the Theater

Emotionulism Decried

(EDITORS NOTE: The lollowlng letter
was sent to the sol; as well as to
Mr. Glick, tram a Grimell Citizen, We
leel it gives important insights about
many public attitudes.)

Dear Mr. Glick:

You asked for understanding ot your
nag faux pas. i understand you. You
are a highly emotional young man woe-
tuliy inciting in judgment, reason and
logic.

As you lie on the green grass or cen-
tral campus envisioning lragmentation
bombs and napalm raining down, turn
your eyes to nearby Sixth Avenue. imaa
gine how many oI the travelers on that
highway wlll reach Des Moines or lowa
City alive and hoiv many will scream
their death agony iii the naming wreck-
age or crushed curs, More men, women
1 .l Children are k'llctl o: maimed each
year on United States highways than
i. .2 been lragmented oi- capahneu or
otherwise killed or injured in the Whole
cent as otoiir participation in the Vietnam

the dollar cost of this slaughter

» . y exceeds what no spend tor the

1 miich gi-imincr, more immor-
L sily problem i is right
on your doc iep. Get up all your bucks
anti nci constructively in help end the
highway slaughter As you lie on cen-
tral campus, notice the blue sky above
you. Put your ear to the ground and
hear [he subterranean coursing oi the
waters of the earth. Then imagine the
painlul deaths from leukemia and lung
cancer raining down from the polluted
air of the blue sky. imagine the poisons
01 pollutions in the waters on and under
the earth. Another problem on your door—
step. Get oll your back. Quit mewling
and start moving.

There are many other problems on
your doorstep. Turning a piece oi cloth
upside down wotl't cure them. Get on
your back. Stop shirlting. .start work-
ing. it you must concentrate your emi»
tioiis on the Vietnam War. imagine the
headman 0i a Vietnamﬁe Village gutted
and hung to die with his entrails spilling
onto the ground for the pigs to root in,
while his wife and Children look on, too
Cong-terrorized even to Wail their grlet.
Imagine the bloody shambles left by I
bomb detonating in a Vietnamese civi-
li.m hospital or a Saigon street. These
are the tactics ot those you support . . .
not “unclvilized” Americans.

While you lie on the grass with cmir
Lions ableed, think of all the Vietnamese,
Laotians, Cambodians, Chinese, East
Germans, Czechoslovaltinns and Cubans
who are condemned against their wills
to live and die spiritually under Cam-
munist rule.

use your reason to imagine why so
many thousands at these people are
risking their lives to escape.

Think too, that your emotions and hys<
tericel actions are giving heart to the
Vlet Cong, North Vietnamese, Chinese
and Russian overlords who will prolong
the war Wlllle it is to their advantage
to do so, at whatever sacrifice in human
liie. Americans in Paris and at home
are wllllng to negotiate, willing to make
concessions, and as eager for peace as
you and l The Communists are not.

See You Next Season.

UnderclaSsmenl
GOOD LUCK THIS SUMMER

ALWAYS FIRST QUALITY AT

Penney:

AWAY. was! W

The longer they stall, the greater tho
help they receive lrom emotional irra-
tional American dissenters. Lie them
on central campus and think of your
personal responsibility for lives let in
a war you are helping to prolong.

inverting the American tlag on the
central campus of Grinnell college in the
heart of lawn is like blowing into [ht
wind. it is a study in lutility. We need
solutions to our problems and construc-
tive action to implement them.

Get off your back. Discipline your
emotions. Quit rationalizing and start
reasoning. Attack some at the problems
on your doorstep which your intellect
might help correct. Protest the war . .
any war . . . YESl But make your pro-
lest count. 60 to nanoi, or Peking, or
Moscow. Picket the North Vietnamese in
Paris.

0t course, you'll have to get oll your
back to do this. You'll have to work,
sutter, and perhaps the lot your cause.
it here will be no glamour or headlines.
You’ll get your kicks, not from the Fun
0i shocking your elders, but in tho
teeth . . Communists are not patient
with dissenters, But you will have earned
respect train the many Americans who
are working diligently and quietly to
bring an end to our ills. You will gain
an emotional serenity from thoughtful,
constructive action which will cause you
to shudder iihen you remember your
present puenlity.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Edith Jones Appleby ‘33
Grinnell, Iowa

Gliclt's Response

To the Editor:

To respond lully to what Mrs. Appleby
says would take at least a ten page let<
[er and four or live books. Therefore I
will matte just three statements in the
hope that these statements Start Mrs.
Appleby on a search tor some more
information about (1) the Vast gull’ be<
tween this country's stated principle:
and practices and (2) the reality ol Come
munism and the conditions in “Commulr
isi” countries and the underdeveloped
world.

l. Mrs, Appteby obviously does not
think Vietnamese are people; she could
not make her statement, “More men,
women, and Children are killed 01'
maimed each year on United States
highways than have been lragmented or
napalmed or otherwise killed or iii-
jured in the whole course or our partic
patton in the Vietnam war," it She inA
cluded the people ot Vietnam in her tig-
ures.

2. Mix. Appleby, unlortunately but
understandably (because oi the propa-
ganda of the mass media), believes that.
Communism is automatically evil and
that our system is automatically un-
qualified good. I wish she would do some
reading on the history oi Communist
countries and the living conditions of the
people In these countries, as well as the
llvmg conditions at many people in this
country ol unbelievable atiluerice. Pee
haps she would see that while there is
EVII in Communism, there is also evil in
Capitalism; while there is good in Capi-
talism, there is also good in Communism.

3. Mrs. hppleby is completely right
when she tells me to get out and go to
work; that is what i am going to do, now
that lhave retumed my dratt cards and
demonstrated by my action my revulsion
against this country's madness and blind
anti-communism. It there is anything
constructive to pick up from her letter it
rs just that thought; i don't tool that it
is right to stay in college doing nothing
but inverting a flag when this country
is acting in the manner which it is. it'l
time to get to work.

P. S. To all Grinnell Sludeu ‘ r5,
Appleby is highly repiesentative oi . real
world" opinion. One question: is your
Grinnelt education teaching you at this
tact and bow to repond to i‘"

Ted Slick

 

