Collegian
January 23, 1986
Editorial opinion
U over forecasts
1986 will be a great year.
A local radio station reported
that thin women are out, Madon
na and Madonna accesories are
out, and so are those tight fitting
ameoba printed jeans (in my
mind, at least).
"In" are Reeboks, Don
Johnson and Sade (Shar-day),
and buzz words like "wellness"
and "intrapeneur".
But, job forecasters don't seem
to have a grip on what is in or out
for spring grads.
If you didn't notice, two "tell
ing" job market articles appear in
this issue. One says "...jobs to be
had" (p. 4) and the other,
"we11...t00 bad grads" (p. 2).
DROP/ADD
.
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.
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The article giving grads hope,
based on social forecaster and
author John Naisbetts's findings,
sees technical and non-technical
grads having a smooth sail. The
other, based on three reports,
forsees a long haul for technical
majors such as chemistry,
engineering and computer science,
however, liberal arts grads have it
made.
Who do you believe? I say
don't believe either.
Statistics and studies do impress
with their slick language and
presentations. But let's think of
the individual here.
If you excel in your field of
study and cop the right attitude,
you can impress and succeed
without the help of forecasters
telling you what to study for fin
ding the best job.
Statistics are misleading. They
can also be depressing. I heard
that in my field of study (Com
munications) only a very small
percentage of graduates find ap
propriate employment.
But someone has to be in that
percentage; if you go out with
confidence you will be that
someone.
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4e . t,„" 2 ,17V- 1 . -
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opinion
DONALD KAUL
High-level Wiplomacy or
schoolyard name-calling?
"You're a flake," says Mr.
Reagan.
"You're another," says Mr.
Khadafy.
"Barbarian!" says Mr.
Reagan.
"Takes one to know one," Mr.
Khadafy answers back.
This is high-level diplomacy? It
sounds more like two of the less
mature characters in "All My
Children" having a spat.
Ronald Reagan hasn't done
himself any great favors with the
way he has handled the Khadafy
terrorism issue. He has come off
looking a bit like a blowhard.
There's been too much posturing,
too much bluster, too much
name-calling. In the process, he
has managed to.raise a punk like
Khadafy to the level of hero in
much of the Arab world.
On the other hand, he hasn't
gotten us into a war yet, and
that's a good thing. He has also
avoided killing innocents, which is
another good thing.
On the third hand, he hasn't
done anything to stop the
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terrorism.
What's a body to do? Mikhail
Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, was
faced with a similar problem a
couple of months ago. And he
found a solution.
The problem was joined when
four Soviet officials were kidnap
ped in Lebanon by a radical
Moslem group that wanted the
Soviet Union either to do
something or stop doing
something, I forget which.
The Soviet Union ignored the
demand at first. They didn't send
their fleet into the Persian Gulf,
they didn't make threats, they
didn't even tie yellow ribbons
around their arms. I remember
saying to myself at the time, "Hal
I always knew Jimmy Carter got a
bad rap. Even the rough, tough
Russians are impotent in the face
of a hostage situation." Which
shows what I know.
The kidnappers, seeking to up
the ante, killed one of the Rus
sians and dumped his body out on
a street. They put out a message
that the others would be similarly
dealt with unless the Soviet Union
met their demands. Still no Soviet
response. No public response,
that is.
Here is what the Soviets did, ac
cording to a report two weeks ago
in the Jerusalem Post: They sent
out a KGB hit team to kidnap a
relative of the leader of the kid
nappers, after which they
castrated the unfortunate fellow
and shot him through the head,
probably in that order. They then
sent the relevant parts in a
package to the leader of the kid
nappers with a note saying that
other members of his family
would be similarly dealt with
unless the Soviet hostages were
released. The Soviet hostages were
released. .
And Gorbachev made no
speeches, called no one any
names, made no threats.
There is an undeniable attrac
tiveness to that sort of thing. It
appeals to the moviegoer in us;
the Godfather School of
Statecraft. You don't need allies
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for it, nor a resolution from the
United Nations. No messing
around, no hand-wringing, no
pleading. You just go out and do
what Clint Eastwood would do if
he had a country, and wait for the
happy ending. So what if that
relative had no conection with the
kidnapping; he probably was guil
ty of something.
We could get into that, I sup
pose. Indeed, Sen. Howard
Metzenbaum of Ohio has publicly
suggested that we assassinate
Khadafy. And you can make a
case for it. Only Save the Whales
liberals say that political
assassinations are evil in all cir
cumstances. Who knows how
many lives might have been saved
had someone assassinated Hitler
in, say, 1938?
But we should be warned that it
is a very tough game and not
without consequences. The Soviet
Union is a police state run by
thugs, which gives it certain
security advantages . over open,
democratic societies. Terrorists
are not going to blow up the
Moscow airport. They are not go
ing to assassinate Soviet leaders.
They will not even shoot off
firecrackers in Red Square on
May Day. It would not be
allowed.
If we get into exchanging acts
of terrorism, it will not end terror
but excite it, and much closer to
,home. We will be forced to button
up our society, bringing it closer
to the Soviet model.
Remember what happened
when we flirted with the idea of
enlisting the Mafia to assassinate
Fidel Castro in the early `6os?
John F. Kennedy was the one who
got assassinated. Perhaps the two
events were unrelated. Perhaps.,
The point is, a nation cannot
act like a gangster-state without
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