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Show Wednesday, January 18, 1989 Chronicle Page Five EDITORIAL Whookie apaftltoy FTOMLESS, Hokey alt oir wmmm&m 1 University of Utah students have yet another opportunity to examine the confused, paradoxical platform of the current ASUU Whookie Administration. Amidst the pages of the spring quarter class schedule,. Mike Kaly and Grant Sperry have clearly illustrated the hypocritical position of the Whookie (say it "Hokey") Party. On the first page, students will encounter a page titled "Planting Yer Garden." The essay y provides a voyage into the narcissistic of Whookie Utopia. The uncomfortable, : l i n: u:um f iuiucu, uxiiiuxiKt; misspellings ami urayuu drawings smack, not of childhood innocence, but of pretentious image making. The 1988 national presidential election may have been controlled by media "handlers," but only Kaly and Sperry could have created such a facade. Despite these points, the page could retain its "apathetic" credibility if it were not followed by "The Who Cares Manifesto." If the Whookies truly were "apathetic," the essay on garden maintenance would be, at best, irrelevant. "The Whookie Manifesto," however, is clearly not apathetic at all. In fact, it contains many controversial arid dubious ideals for an education-a- l AT BIRTH. U1USAT COKCIPTIOW. non-realit- WMJ On r- Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" (Strategic Defense Initiative) sounds nice. It has a snappy name, grand ideal-w- ho wants nuclear war-a- nd a sense of security. In sum, "Star Wars" seems to be the quixotic technical solution to the persistent threat of nuclear annilation. This Friday-- as the Reagan legacy rides into the sunset--i- s end the opening night of the sequel, "Star Wars-t- he MAD-nessrelaof While not presuming to judge the tive sanity of the retiring president, I believe Bush's support of SDI to be a classic example of the ly catastrophic results of unrealistically good intentions. "Star Wars," the policy, is further from scientific movie. reality than was the block-bustThere are two inherent problems with SDI. The first is it won't work. The second (and possibly more dan-- ; gerous) problem is it could work. The Soviet Union has more than 8,000 strategic nuclear weapons, the United States possesses more than 10,000 such weapons. These arsenals are the foundation of what is commonly called "Mutual Assured Destruction" (MAD). Imagine that John and Yuri are sitting in a small room, both have guns aimed at the other. Neither man wants to shoot first, because he knows the "enemy" will shoot him before he dies. It is frightening that world peace (indeed, survival) depends on such a precarious balance of "terror." Therefore, Reagan's 1983 call for a space-base- d defense program seemed like an ... V-- : :' The Daily Utah bullet-proo- f Editor in Chief Managing Editor. .' News Editor. Edtorial Editor . . Sports Editor.. . Feature Editor Photography Editor Copy Editor The Daily Utah Chronicle is an independent student newspaper published during fall, winter and spring the quarters, excluding test weeks and quarter breaks, by Night . to destroy every U.S. city. a Bearing price tag of more than $500 billion dollars (Pentagon estimate of initial investment), SDI promises to be the most expensive Republican white elephant in history. Ignoring the plethora of scientists who cite the program's dubious efficacy, SDI advocates claim "Star Wars" remains a valuable (albeit gold-platebargainthe to Soviets are not belief, ing chip. Contrary popular v SDI's too scientists able to discern nave stupid. They viability, or lack thereof. Although $500 billion is a lot to waste on a system that would never work, it is precisely the prospect that it may work that threatens global stability. Go back to John and Yuri sitting in that little room, ti John spends an outrageous amount of money on a bullet proof vest that would never work, Yuri would just laugh it off. But if there was any chance the vest would be effective, Yuri would have to shoot John before he got the vest on. Essentially, if he missed his chance at killing the protected antagonist he would be gotentiallydefense of mutual retaliation would be eliminated. MAD works in much the same manner. If the United "States could shield itself from Soviet retaliation, the incentive for U.S. restraint is removed. That would be the Soviet perception of such a "defensive" move, and in the nuclear arena, perceptions are all that count. Moreover, if the Soviets were embarking on a similar venture, the U.S. interpretation would be the same. Everyone wants the specter of nuclear war to vanish from the horizon. The Bush administration must realize that the false hope of this technological panacea undermines the very real diplomatic gains that could be made through honest negotiation. Tamarah Hardesty, a senior majoring in political science and Middle East studies, is assistant editorial editor of the Chronicle. d) . fun-hou- .Darren Hawkins . . ............ News Editor ' .Andrew Hunt Lori Bona Hunt Justin Toth .Kent Condon .Deanio Wirnmer Guy Elder Ellen Garff Hawkins Ambor McKoe .Ed Ruiz . .Tamarah Hardesty . . . . . .Dirk Facer .Sharon Dockert .................... .... ......... ............ Editorial Editor Sports Editor Feature Editor. . se Assistant Photography Editor Assistant Copy Editor Administration Reporter. ASUU Reporter. News Reporters. . ... . ... .... AaronSteveAshcraft Moore . .. ...... .Scott .. . ..... ... ' Feature Writers ' . . ,'. . Artists Accounting Clerk Collections Account Executives .' Vic Garcia Christian Aggeler , .'. .Arlene Calkins Jennifer Peterson Isaiah Stewart Loren Jorgensen Andrew Holloway Robert McOmber Kay Anderson ' Kerry Murphy Jean de Montreux .. Sports Writer. Photographer. Business Manager .. Accountant Classifieds Columnist. Southwick Stone Mike Allsop , .Ken . . Bel-A- Byron Williams Kim Bartel .Wes Pack .Tammie Bostick Sara Wilson Matt Dalton Jina Sanone Sean Buckley ..................... ................. . ' .............. R. Kenny Watanabe Production Manager. Assistant Production Manager Production Assistant. ' ............. . ly through-enou- gh Unfortunately, the technology necessary for SDI does not currently exist and isn't likely to be forthcoming. The major proposal being discussed relies on laser beams and mirrors. For laser weapons to be effective : against intercontiriental ballistic missiles (ICBMs, the alleged target), they would have to maintain perfect accuracy on rapidly moving (10,000 mph) targets. One senior Pentagon weapons expert likened this to "being on top of the Washington Monument, shooting a rifle, and hitting a baseball on top of the Empire State Building." He neglected to point out that the Empire State Building is a stationary target, incoming missiles could easily be programmed to fly in erratic patterns. The plan would require the stationing of enormous mirrors in permanent orbit to target and focus laser beams generated from earth. These minors wculd have to be more than 50 feet across, able to withstand extreme temperature changes and grant absolutely perfect clarity in reflection. The largest mirror built to date has a diameter of less than eight feet, is extremely temperdisand gives a carnival ature-sensitive tortion rather than the required clarity. . .......... Editor. Assistant Assistant Assistant Assistant unac-ceptab- vest for "John." Editorial Board: Lori Bona Hunt, Tamarah Hardesty, Darren Hawkins, Andrew Hunt, Justin Toth G HRONICLE reflect the University Publications Council. Editorials the opinion of the editorial board, and not necessarily administration. the or ' student of the body opinions all subscription s Subscriptions must be prepaid. Forward of address, to the correspondence, including chango Business Manager. Daily Utah Chronicle, 240 Union, University of Utah. Salt Lake City, Utah. 84112 ideal " s radar-trackin- er - SDI re-evalu- ate Assuming the unlikely possibility of a technological breakthrough, SDI can easily be circumvented. The "defense" is against ICBMs, it excludes from its range any effort to limit other systems such as bomber aircraft, cruise missiles and smuggled warheads. Even if the enemy used their ICBMs, they could do a number of things to frustrate the "shield." Erratic warheads were already mentioned. Additionally, they could use decoys that Dehaved like warheads and saturate the defense, or reflective materials that would deflect the , lasers, or simply warheads that release clouds of metal, g abilities. Moreover, thereby confusing even if the defense was 90 percent effective, an high number of warheads would still get ." unmotivated and apathetic toward education, how would students who are concerned with their education and futures respond to such a disregard for performance? ThetVioChronicle lArnrtVi ff rm ttiqVqo nr trolnii in are we to believe that a any major. However, "D-student who has a " average in "basket weaving" is really comparable with a business major with an "A-- " performance? Of course, "letter grades" do not always represent a student's actual performance in a class; but to entirely dismantle the system which enables students to judge their own performance against themselves and their peers sounds like another "Hokey" excuse for incompetence or r sloth, J' The "Hokey's" new-foun- d disregard for achievement seems to mirror a policy they have maintained in their own administration. The. waste of paper in the class schedule is another such example. If the "Hokeys" truly believed in the "openness" they espouse, why wasn't the (quite expensive) advertising space given to a campus organization which assists students instead of being used as a "Hokey" advertisement of inane proportions? The Chronicle hopes the "Hokeys" will conclude their, tenure with more efficacy than U. students have, thus far, experienced. rlm-nonf-c Tamarah Hardesty. Bush needs to , system. "The Whookie Manifesto" sounds like a blend of sophomoric social philosophy and coercive academic egalitarianism. It concludes, "Public Education is a education is tor everyone We dare everyone to right not a privilege come on over and learn anything." All of this glorious idealism is, of course, juxtaposed to the awful U. administration which must be (as far as we can tell by this "manifesto") against education for "everyone." While the "Hokey's" (that term seems more appropriate than "Whookie's") platform would probably thrill students who are academically ... Ql -J , Distribution Abbie Hall .David Lew Stanford Hirai Sridip Nag David Orchard Chris Popcye (TSM) Stratford t |
