‘4 September 29, 1972

Eng éztntltt nub 313mm

Hessburg: Philosophical Rapine

To the editors:

I'm writing to condemn as sheer
verbal diarrhea that absurdity you
chose to title, “The iconoclast", in
son's last issue. My reasons tor
wishing to drag Monsieur Daiiner
through the same mire oi sophist
Swill (in which he has already so
systematically wallowed), are le-
gion. To be sure, the task of exe
posing Daiiner’s melange dumel-de
that philosophical miscarriage
sired during the last two issues, is
herculean in nature. Dailner has
provided us with what should have
been labeled, ”Rape of Locke, or
How I Sculpted In 24 Column Inches
A Monument to Shameless Pedan~
try." I hope that this letter dISr
plays an excessivelyiusiy seasoning
of ad hominum assaults. To allow
Daiiner's “iconoclastic” pigeon
iree painting privileges on your
pages, without any thorn to prick
his obnoxious complacency, would
be tantamountto rephrasing youredr
itorial policy to read. “We support
intellectual vacuum!”

Following perusal otDaltner'sopus
dams and a subsequent attack oi
indigestion, I chanced to encounter
the venerable Mr. Icono-klutz him—
self in the Pizza Hut last Sunday
evening. I questioned him as to his
intentions regarding the column.
With a greasily tatuous grin he re-
plied, “TRUTH, man....REALITY!”

From Daitner's answer we may
conclude that he has stumbled upon
a miracle of truly titanic propor-
tions. Gregg Daiiner, boy pedant,
has layed bare not only his intel—
lectuai gluteus, but the timeless
mystery of man’s existential dil-
emma. He alone has been blessed
with the insight to Iorce the age
old riddle oI man’s place in this
chaotic universe, a torment oi mete
aphysicians since Plato's time, to its
utterly iinal antiphony

Huzzah Gregg Dattnerl You have at
last isolated, ...REALITYI Not only
a pure and universal reality; but it
includes an exquisite bonus.
TRUTH! That nebulous entity which
has eluded the finest minds of every
age since time began. Truth is
YOURS Senor Iconoclast, and all
is well with the universal; Viva la
verdad‘.

For someone admittedly possessed
of such abundant philosophical ap-
titude, Daiiner has pulled an unuss
ual fault pas, tailing into the clas—
sical pit oi epistemological tallacy.
One who holds Truth and Reality
in such high regard must be aware
OI credo ttl oi the pure rational-
ist: There is NO knowledge avail-
able to man as an earthrbound being,
in a purely relative universe Or to
borrow from Bertie Russell, “Is
there any knowledge in this world
that is so certain that no respone
sible man could doubt it?"

Would a reasonable man, that is,
one who employs reason to its fulr
lest degree, be guilty oi the lol-
lowing acts cl philosophical rapine'l
I quote the ”lconoclast”- “Man has
no automatic code or knowledge ior
survival. Hehas noautomatic course
of action or set oi values ...In fact,
without a process oithonght he can't
even provide tor his simplest phy-
sical needs.” Eythis statementDafs
lner has both rewritten the definition
of blind dogmatism, and discardeda
century oi psychologicalstudy. Thus

it seems that the omniscient Mr.
Daitncr, If a mad dog were tearing
away at his bowels, would consult
Novum Organum prior to reacting
to the stimulus

Before closing, I wish to illumis
mate another Daffnerian delight, a
contradiction so naked it goes with
out explication.

Once again I quote, “Man is not
exempt trom the laws oiREALITY”
. .ioilowed one paragraph later by
this gem of garbled sophistry, “Man
is FREE to evade reality and to un»
locus his mind, but he is not iree
to avoid the destruction he reiuses
to see ”

Put that in your hookah and gag.

Gregg, i have two tinal suggeSv
tions tor you, should you ever der
cide to remove your nose i'rom your
philosophical armpit:

til) Check the definition oi ”icono-
clast” You will be astonished to
discover
a person who categorically rejects
all fraudulant institutions within his
sphere ct einstence, Since your
sphere seems to be Logos itseii,
the Absolute and All Encompassing,
may I suggest that you tread with
a great deal more prudence, thereby
leaving fewer ad Vericundium loot-
prints on yourtongue Atleaststrive
for a measure oi subtlety with your
ialiacies

t2) Alter today's spiel on Daiiner~
ian ethics sans ethos, get to work
on projects or more cosmic import.
May I suggest entropy for a start.
I hear scientists believe it’s getting
out of hand.

Rejectingly yours,
L. .iohn Hessburg ill

P S, Please consider whipping me up
a batch of sartorl pills for myparty
next weekend Your enlightening
verbiage has helped metranscend

THC,

tang: Corrections

To the Editors,

I would like to correct a few state
ments made about me or attributed
to me in an article in the September
15 Scarlet and Black First, it was
said that I was “in charge oi” the
Revolving Door This is not true,
since the Revolving Door is run by
a Board otDirectors, on \vhichR,A.s
working with the Door are included.
Hence I work with the directors and
stall and have some unique iuncv
tions as an EA. assigned to the
Door, but I am certainly not “in
charge oi” the Door
Secondly, I was misquoted on the
issue oi what the Doors current
situation and proposed future dir-
ection is. The directors and stall
at the Door have generally agreed
that it will be less of a ”crisis
center" and more of a general
short—term counseling and reierr
ral agency, serving to nil in gaps
in the other counseling agencies on
campus To my knowledge it has
never been a “crash pad," nor does
it aspire to be such It is true that
we are trying to extend the Door’s
services to the community, since we
have determined that there lsa need
for its services in the local area.

John Lang

Wylie: Campus Mail Woes

To the Editors:

Once again, the political season is
upon us-vas is the period of mail-
boxes bulging with junk mail and
campaign literature. Some comes
by mail, but most is stulled by stus
dents, who iind the campus mail
service a useful method of reaching
the entire campus community in one
relatively easy Step.

It is the latter area that is M con-
cern to me. There have been at
least two allscampus political stuf-
iings where neither the sponsoring
committee nor the campus repre
sentative oi the candidate was idens
tilled, In effect, there was no in-
dication of who to contact about any
inaccuracies in the material dls~
trihuted. HOW can there be political
dialogue if hall oithe “debate team"
is unknown?

Supporters of the Mezvinsky candi-

dacy have been the most active
stuffers so {ar--and thus, the most
flagrant offenders. But, it thought
is not given to the situation now,
I leel certain that supporters of the
other candidates will follow suit
What I am advocating is that when
anything or a political nature is in,
sorted in a mailbox, it should con-
tain the name and residence/extens
sion oi the person or group behind
it. This is the only tair way that
this type or political campaigning
can he conducted, Anything less ale
lows errors in laci or interpretar
tion to go unchallenged, and thus
damages the credibility oi the entire
campaign.

it someone supports a candidate
and wants to disseminate his views,
he should not be afraid to acknow-
ledge them publicly,

John Wylie

that the word denotes,

Conway: Error

To the Editors:

In your editorial of Sept 22, you
stated that the Student Auditor's
oiiice pointed out that the SGA Sale
My increase tor the year was more
than the budget delicit for the semi
ester We would like you to recall
that we gave you the salary tigures
ior last year (which lwould do ior
anyone since the books are open
[or anyone to see). You made the
calculations,

The Student, Auditor’s oitice has
not commented on the budget nor on

any facet ttlereoi. We do not play
politics. Thereiore, we request a

retraction oi your statement.

Michele A. Conway
John E Mead

McKnight: Protests
Doppeli Sexism

To the Editors:

i must protest Jack Doppelt’s re-
marks about Jean Westwood in his
column last week. Probablyiew peo-
ple found Mr. Doppelt's brand otJay
Cee snideness amusing; some oi us
considered it downright offensive.

Mr. Doppelt began with the com.
ment that he “never could get used
to” applying the title "chairperson”
to Mrs. Westwobd llehas something
oi a point. Our language already in»
cludes the word “chairwoman,”
which is appropriate ioers. Wests
wood and Whichsomefeminists wou—
ld prefer anyway lorits emphasis on
the Chair's iemale identity But in
a society where terms like “rip
oil" are standardvocabularyiorlitr
erate magazines, only tastidious
scholars can condemn all manur
iactured words. it the Democrats
want to remove sex labels and thus
sex emphasis irom party titles, per
haps the intent behind the gesture

deserves respect
This difficulty over semantics was

the columnist's lesser ottense. His
description at Mrs. Westwood as
“irog voiced" and his impliedcom-
pariscn between her and a truck

driver or woman wrestler were
insults to any woman who departs

Ironi the image oiaJacquelineKenr
nedy or Pat Nixon Many people
would disagree that Mrs Westwood
is “frog voiced” at all. They would
simply say that she has a lowvoice,
But for the sake ofargument, I will
accept Mr Doppelt's judgment that
the woman sounds “ii‘oggy "

in these days 0i mass media, phyr
sical charm and Li pleasant voice
are undeniable assets for politics
However, no one dwells 0n the lack
of these characteristics in men like
Henry Kissinger or the late Ever-
ett Dirkson. Why then is Mr Dope
pelt so obsessed bya “rhspy,troggy
voice" when it happens to belong to
Mrs. Westwood7 Surely there are
more important aspects ofherchzlr~
actereeand better targets for jour-
nalistic satirenthan the quality oi
'ller voice,

Finally, I suppose the suggested
comparison between Mrs,Westwood
and a truck driver or wrestler is
apt at least lll so far as politics
resembles either oi those profess
slons. But the assumption behind
Mr. Doppeit's compnl'lsonﬁthat a
woman who pertorms any oi these
jobs is a dislnstcnil Ireakr-is as
incorrect as it is insulting.

perhaps in the iuiure Mr. Doppelt
will consitlel that half his readers
lire female, and that altlimigiiwcde-
Iiliitely have ii sense of humor
about our shortcomings, that sense
of humor does not extend to apprec-
iating jabs taken at women simply
because they are women.

Debbie Mckigtit

Friedman, Mycllermtilt: Disruptions

To the Editors:

One may be horritied, but unhap-
pily not surprised to discover that
once again the Scarlet and Black uric
der the guise oi objective reporting
has given a salutary boost toward
tostering the grossest misuns
derstandings and confusions, which
seem to have resulted iollowing the
supposed disruptions oi the past few
weekends,

After a careiul examination ciJohn
Wylie's article “Disruptions Cause
Concern”, one cannot but wonder
whether the ofﬁcial policy of this
paper is to represent the basest
and rankest maniiestations oi prigr
gishness and character assas-
ination, to say nothing of blatant
distortion of truth by a small num-
ber oi students, as constituting the
opinion oi the majority of the re
sident student population.

As a sober Witness to the ‘rowd-
iness' of last Friday night I can-
not condone Wylie’s mean-spirited
conclusion that a ‘iew Grinneil Stu-
dents" alone are responsible Iorthe
deeds he finds so heinous and ins
imlcable to the Grinneil way 01‘
life. The events oi last Friday night
are hardly complex. A large num—
ber DI residents of Dibble attacked
with iire extinguishers some re—
sidents of Smith who retaliated in
kind and with fire crackers. These
same large groups were solely re—
sponsible for the breaking oi bots
ties and the activating oi the fire
alarms. Perhaps they constitute a
minority but not a few. These sim-
ple {acts are not generally known
because these so or so guilty par-
ties have not had the integrity to
own to their deeds but instead have
allowed Dean Kimbo to ”round up
the usual suspects”, and, evidently,
are quite content to see these raise-
ly-accused appear betore Judicial
Counciiswithout protest and admis
sion oi their own guilt.

I beg leave to conclude that not

only are the wrong individuals be—
ing accused in thesespeclllc instanr
ces, but also that a large number
oi students at this college at one
time or another have been “rowdy”
and obsirepol-ous and tiiat we all
have a great deal to lose if a Vocal
minority succeeds in convincing the
administration that most students
on the campus expect conventelike
silence alter ll pm. on weekend
evenings.

Debbie F riedman
Paula McDei‘l’nott

loose: Solution

To the Editors:

In light of the recent discussion
and concern over the social atmos-
phere at Grinneil college, we, the
residents of Loose Hall, 2nd floor,
believe we have devised a viable
and mucheneeded alternative. Alter
long hours of research and care
ful sociological analysis of the Slim
uation, we recommend that the ad-
ministration enact immediately the
newly developed Loose Hall Plan for
Calendrical Reform,

According to the Loose Plan, each
weekend begins at sunset Wednesday
through to sunrise Monday. In accore
dance with the new Federal regu-
lations creating many new long
weekends, we otten do indulge our
selves by including Mondays until
6:00 p m. (or Tuesdays when neces-
sary).

The Loose Hall Plan has already
proven itself successful in improv—
ing the social atmosphere within the
dorm; however, it has come to our
attention that our rights as human
beings have in the process been
ignored' Classes are being held on
the weekends! our demands mustbe
met! (This week will consist otWedr
nesday only.)

Concerned Residents ot Loose 2nd
Camp Grinneil

Trotter. Editorial '0llensive'

To the Editors-

l iind the editorial oi the Sep-
tember 22nd 38:5, and the repetir
tion oi that editorial over KDIC,
oiiensive--a grandiose display or
egoism and machoism. Along with
the acrimonious remarks made
about Russ McGregor, I iound the
blatant disregard of the obvious
iunctions oi the SGA appalling.

It is true that there was a refers
endum concerning the possible a7
bolishment of the SGA, but that was
also at a time when there was lit—
tle else in the senate meetings than
humorous rhetoric from Bill
Stranger and Steve Schwartz (re-
member them7). Anything would
have been an improvement over that
circus! That was 3 years ago, and
now we have a different structure
in the son, and a cabinet that gets
by the rhetoric and gets things done.
I agree that an evaluation of the SGA
is always necessary, but the shale
low and biased thinking demonstrat-
ed by the editorial is not the way
to go about it.

calibration
of the Week

Norris girl, talking about a
party the night beiore: “Guess
wllzlt7 i just met the guy I was
kissing last night'”

Eli: @rliilltit
ﬁmtlrt dllo Ziﬁlntli

LHINNELL CoLLEcE CRiNNELL lOWA sinz
The Grinneil Snrlet and Black is nu shunt
anatomy-j at 0 man rump. pulvli‘lu'liullt-Hi
with an» rum is in session in no annual
(‘uilrgr runninn on .«nwru .unns an
i numuu. an an

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suntan rim lulu-N and onion-n loan mile

i won.
mummy Hillllll
tom iumw

iusuis ll\\\itil

It is also true that the SGA leade
ership is more visible during times
of political “crisis”, but what do
Mr. Dagenais and Mr. Seeley want
when Nixon isn’t announcing intenr
tions to blow up the world? Would
they have the Grinneil High School
marching band parade up and down
the loggias with icons of Russ Mc-
Gregor and banners saying: “The
SGA Presents (flare of trumpets)

. .the Conierenceon Prermedical
Education!” (tor example)?0rwouid
they have daily announcementsirom
the speakers onooodnowoo coming
the daily activities of the individual
cabinet members? Eecausethe leade
ers of the SGA are not as visi-
ble when there isnopoliticalcrisis,
it does not necessarily iollow that
they are notdoinganything. Foronce
We don’t have an SGA that has all
the brouhalia oi a Barrle and Bai-
ley's, but we do have a lot less
rhetoric and a lot more action

What we have here is a failure to
communicate. i suggest that Mr.
Dageilais and Mr. Seeloy reevaluate
the situation, and begin by picking
up the closest activities calendar
to see a few of the things that the
SGA isgetling done Tlienthey should
take the time to attend some cable
net meetings and joint board meets
ings so they could see that the son
is doing things, and is doing them
eliicicntly and quickly (even if they
are quiet) Ii you're uniniormed as
bout the SGA, it takes very little
time and eilort to find out

Katie Trotter

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