| Show The Salt Lake Tribune Sunday June 17 1990 A17 Wifi Hunger for Freedom Give Way to Thirst for Revenge? By Adam Michnik The New Republic Politics is the art of achiev ing political goals — of achieving what is possible in a given situation that is in a situation that has its conditions and its limits In this respect the ethical point of view the consideration of what is good and what is bad what is fair and what is unfair what is honest and what is dishonest is external to politics An ethical action like an unethical action is usually analyzed by politicians purely in pragmatic terms Does it lead toward the goal or does it lea4 away for it? We however the men and the women of the opposition movements have a different view of politics The politics of those totalitarian regimes was an open aton tack ourselves on our freedom on our dignity on truth The elementary reflex of defending those elementary values entangled us in politics transformed people of culture into people of politics Thus there was born the phenomenon of an artist or a humanist occupying the center of the political stage in our part of Europe Thus there was created the political idea of building civil societies outside the totalitarian state what George Konrad has called politics what Vaclav Havel has described as politics based on the power of the powerless Now our nations are shedling the fetters of dictatorship We are engaged in a great experiment of confrontation between the idea of politics based on the power of the power less and a social reality that was shaped when politics was based on the power of the Adam Allehnlit is editor of the Gazeta borska in Warsaw Wy- — But we are encountering the resistance of the social fabric We see acts of violence we hear shouts of hatred we come upon calls for revenge We look around and ask Where does this taste for kicking those who are down area of intolercome from this ance this urge to imprison people of the ancien regime this xenophobia this egalitarian demagoguery proper to populism that conceals simple envy? Where does this return to the idea of a nationalist state come from this explosion of hatred for everyone — for gypsies for AIDS patients for all who are different? We wonder after all whether we are not all children of totalitarian communism whether we do not all carry inside ourselves the habits the customs and the flaws of that system The death of the commuhist system does not mean ever-growi- the end of totalitarian habits We must reflect ou what these new developments mean The hateful chauvinism is a degenerate reaction to the human need for national identity and national sovereignty a need that was beaten down by communism The envious populism is a degenerate reaction to the human longing for a just social order Into the place left empty by communist ideology these two fiends steal The present period of transition from dictatorship to democracy must consist of a compromise among the main political forces There must be a pact for democracy The breaking of this pact makes public life brutal and introduces anarchy and eventually chaos And chaos cannot be reformed Chaos leads inevitably to dictatorship Every revolution bloody or not has two phases The first phase is defined by the struggle for freedom the second by the struggle for power and revenge on the votaries of the ancien regime The struggle for freedom is beautiful Revenge has a different psychology Its logic is implacable First there is a purge of yesterday's adversaries the partisans of the old regime Then comes the purge of yesterday's fellow oppositionists who now oppose the idea of revenge Finally there is a Isn't It Obvious Why Flag Is First on Bush Agenda? By John Young Cox News Service WACO Texas — The United States spends more than any other country in the world on health care yet ranks 20th in infant mortality George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning America leads the world in medical technology yet 40 percent of American children under age 4 don't get basic immunizations deorge Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning k study by the United States Conference of Mayors found that 33 percent of the nation's homeless population is made up of families with children George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning John Young is editorialpage editor of the Waco Tribune-Heral- d One million American students drop out of high school every year and in some inner-cit- y districts the dropout rate is nearly 50 percent George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning Adult illiteracy in the United States ranges from 10 percent to 30 percent depending on how one defines "illiterate" George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning Every day in the United States 2753 teenagers become pregnant 1099 have abortions and 1287 miscarry George Bush wants to amend the Constitu tion to ban flag burning As many as 600000 American women give birth each year with either little or no prenatal care George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning The Economic Poicy Institute found that of American children lived under the 1989 government-define- d poverty line of $11204 for a family of four George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning The United States has fallen behind in upkeep of its national infrastructure — highways bridges airports — and the costs of rebuilding them will reach $3 trillion George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning The National League of Cities warns that $180 billion that could go to improving the nation's infrastructure this year is devoted by necessity to paying off the national debt George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning It takes the combined taxes of every taxpayer west of the Mississippi to pay for a year's interest on the nation's $3 trillion federal debt George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning Unless checked it will cost our children 25 cents of each tax dollar to pay the interest on the national debt George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning A 1989 study found that smog "perceptively impaired" visibility at the Grand Canyon 42 JS4)6 4'1' 44' 'AZ tle :4(el° IPA 1‘111 it although Never in Summer except when the PGA fried a few golfers by scheduling its tournament here in August the fools For golf there's always the willing and who pareager Rep Dan Burton ticipated in five big tournaments last year without spending a farthing or paying a greens fee He was a "celebrity" player at the Kemper Open the Sugarloaf Invitational and three others all of which donated profits to charity Which is swell For the Bob Hope Classic in Palm Springs Calif Burton actually paid his own way and stayed with friends That could be dangerous it could be catching Burton missed Florida but Rep Marty Russo didn't Russo an Illinois Democrat but not his checkbook brought his to the Chrysler Team Championship Golf Tournament at Palm Beach Polo and Country Club in Wellington His expenses airnot paid by him included round-trifare from Chicago to West Palm Beach plus five days' lodging No doubt Russo sharpened his game at the three tournaments he graced with his celebrity presence His scorecard must look great these days The scorecard in the Senate Freeloaders' League shows Sen Dave Durenberat the top with 20 expense-pai- d ger trips from corporate or trade groups in 1989 Tied for second six trips behind R-I- p NN '' ‘ !!'t - Zsitk11-1Nlazkv- -- f— No ' t ' : - I Ok Rg ME WET- ) Ksi fait DIA01114W-Y- ! 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Oit I Cit - a 4ittiN I‘ - ' 1"1N 1 4N 1 N N - 'k N' -- --- k '''‘ 44(k 'SA - A Irvit A:ItA 411k ‘ - 1 ‘cN x ‘ 1 N ' t i 1 I i k VO' ' Az-7'- Z 4 A Free speech on trial in the Great Hall of the People: Djo Bi Den presents his amendment watched approvingly by Deng Xaio Bush and Li Peng Dole days including a couple days of complete "whiteout" George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning A United Nations-sponsore- d science team concluded with "virtual certainty" that global warming of 3 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit will occur over the next 60 years George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning e are Sens Orrin Hatch and James Jeffords Republicans from Utah and Vermont respectively Next another trip back are Sens Charles Robb and Kent Conrad Democrats from Virginia and North Carolina Finally in a tight grouping at 12 freebies are five cadgers: Sens Joseph Biden Da Del John Breaux Charles Grass-le- y and Don Nickles Alan Simpson company Why doesn't a baseball-car- d branch out by publishing cards from the Freeloaders' League? The statistics year after year could be printed on the back So many free trips so many golf tournaments so many errors — when the cadger broke the rules by paying his own way as Burton did to a golf tourney Cards could be traded with one Durenberger worth say a Robb and two Dixon& Each set of cards for sale could contain one joker an Abraham Lincoln card with excerpts from his speeches on the back Each year the relative value of a card would change Durenberger might hold his league lead for just a year giving it up to a young who could go to his right It's not easy being at the top Although the cards' values will vary one aspect will remain constant The cadgers will always come here to gorgeous South Florida but Never alas in er Over 10000 inadequate hazardous-wast- e sites will have to be cleaned up by the next generation George Bush wants to amend the Constitution to ban flag burning A burning supertanker named Mega Borg is slowly venting untold gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico George Bush wants to amend the Constitu lion to ban flag burning A nation is growing changing compete with tough competitors George Bush wants to amend tion to ban flag burning A world is turning changing maintain its balance George Bush wants to amend tion to ban flag burning struggling to the Constitustruggling to Some Remaining Oblivious to AIDS Meanwhile the Body Count Soars North America Syndicate WASHINGTON — I was stunned to pick up Thursday's newspapers and read that and socialite SteWashington lawyer-lobbyiven A Martindale had died at the age of 46 After vomiting blood for several days he went to a hospital where he died Martindale had AIDS I was not surprised to read in the same newspapers a report by the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention saying that black gay and bisexual men are practicing grossly "unsafe sex" at a rate 212 times that of the adult gay population as a whole Black gay men apparently have not gotten the message of the horror of the disease that killed Martindale so they practice anal sex without a condom often promiscuously one of the surest ways to become infected with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome I was pleased to read in the same newspapers that the House of Representatives had authorized $873 million in grants this year to the states and cities that bear the brunt of calls what Rep Henry A Waxman "a tidal wave" of AIDS cases I was dismayed to learn that despite a 408 to 14 House vote to spend some $4 billion to fight AIDS over the next five years the Bush administration is objecting that the bill has a "narrow disease-specifi- c approach" In other words "why spend all this money on AIDS?" A similar bill was passed by the Senate 95 to 4 so a Bush veto is likely to be overridden A look at just one day's newspaper articles st By JD Considine swear words and sexually explicit rhymes the double album gave new meaning to the term thanks to songs like "rapping hard-core- " "Me 'So Horny" "If You Believe in Having Sex" and other titles too dirty to reprint here That proved a little too nasty for Nick Navarro the sheriff of Broward County Fla who earlier this year warned South Florida record-stor- e owners they could be arrested for selling copies of "Nasty" Outraged 2 Live Crew and its leader Luther Campbell (whose independent Skyywalker Records released the album) filed suit in federal court There Judge Jose Gonzalez agreed with Campbell and the Crew declaring that Sheriff Navarro's warnings constituted "improper prior restraint of free speech" But Gonzalez also ruled that "As Nast) As They Wanna Be" was every bit as obscene as Navarro said Consequently not only would record-stor- e Lauowners in the Miami-For- t derdale area face arrest for selling the album but so much as owning a copy would constimisdemeanor punishtute a second-degreable by up to 60 days in jail andor a $500 fine Things really got nasty after that Campbell complained of racism wondering why his e band had been singled out while equally foulmouthed white performers like Andrew Dice Clay went untouched Civil libertarians complained of censorship wondering how a rap record could be declared obscene when hundreds of explicit sex videos go unprosecuted y And figures simply complained wondering how the 2 Live Crew stink would affect the progress of record-labelinbills across the country music-industr- g Considine is The Baltimore Sun's critic pop-musi- c Is "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" really as nasty as its critics claim? Is the album as Gonzalez ruled "an appeal to dirty thoughts"? Or is it as defense attorney Bruce Rogow insisted legitimate art that has been misconstrued by "a bunch of white folks who don't understand the culture"? Well yes Confusing as it may seem it's all those things As Gonzalez says it is an appeal to dirty thoughts one that seems to revel in the smutty detail of recreational sex At the same time it's also a legitimate form of artistic expression one with deep roots in the merican musical tradition and recorded precedents stretching back more than 60 years But obscene? "As Nasty As They Wanna Be'' may be dirty but it's not obscene Why not? Let's start with the tluTe-poin- t obscenity test established by the Supreme Court in 1973 First does the album appeal to African-A- t does — it's as as "Debbie Does Dallas" or the latest issue of Hustler — both of which remain legally available in South Florida Second is it patently offensive? Again the answer is yes One song "Break It on Down" prurient interests? Sure it puts it bluntly: "Our explicit lyrics tell it like it is "If you don't like dhat I'm saying get the out of here" But dirty words aren't the only issue the lyrics on this album are horribly sexist viewing women almost entirely as sexual receptacles to be used and discarded Though even at its worst it still seems on par with the misogyny of Andrew Dice Clay's (utterly legal) sex jokes It is with the Supreme Court's third test — whether the work has any serious artistic political or scientific value — that the court's judgment seems weakest In his ruling the judge argued that "the specificity of the descriptions makes the audio message analogous to a camera with a zoom lens focusing on the sights and sounds of various ultimate sex acts" But during the trial 2 Live Crew's defense sex films team entered as evidence hard-cor- e that showed just that Is Gonzalez arguing that there's more art involved in placing a camera in front of a copulating couple than there is in writing rhymes and recording rhythm tracks for a rap record? Apparently he is f— Such an attitude would be easier to understand if "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" were some sort of aberration on the rap scene But the fact is 2 Live Crew has been cutting explicit sex raps since its first single in 1986 That's one reason Luther Campbell believes attacks on his group are racially motivated As he told Rolling Stone nobody cared what the group said on its recordings until "we started selling records crossover to whites and everyone else" Moreover "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" is in many ways just the latest in a long line of "party records" to find favor with the African-America- n community Campbell frequently cites Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor as influences and indeed both comedians owe much of their initial reputations to the blue material they recorded in the '60s and early '70s But a more appropriate ancestor would be Blowfly a musical comic who made a career of recording parodies of R&B hits Or Little Richard whose original lyrics to "Tutti Frutti" were as lascivious as anything in Campbell's catalog Profanity isn't a particularly reliable indicator of sexual content however Partly that's because lyrics were often altered to render a song recordable — for instance the chorus to Stick McGee's "Drinkin' Wine -O-Dee" originally contained two of the seven words George Carlin claimed couldn't be said on television And partly because older sex songs managed to get the point across off-col- SpoDee- 4WOPIt14W! !ol4Rks4 - 1 I AltAlls"' ' iy - i 4 ' ‘06 lir Carl T Rowan' 1 r '''' t tells me: AIDS is no respecter of race or social class and could become a greater threat to non-ga- y people who get transfusions work in medical facilities or are for other reasons regularly exposed to the HIV virus Medical facilities in communities with large gay populations are being overwhelmed and must have federal support No program can succeed if it does not include massive efforts to educate black men and other unsophisticated members of gay communities including inmates in the nation's prisons We face disaster if the power wielders think of AIDS as just God's punishment of immoral people — a disease that is not worthy of the conversations or money of "good and decent" people The people in the Congress who fight to beat back the AIDS epidemic are true heroes None of us can afford to believe that for us this "distasteful problem" called AIDS can be put out of sight and out of mind AIDS-preventio- n anyway as recordings like "Please Warm My Wiener" by Bo Carter (from 1935) or Papa Charlie Jackson's "You Put It In I'll Take It Out" (1934) make plain Besides many words that were offensive 30 years ago are polite conversation now Take 'funky" for example though the term is a compliment among today's musicians 50 years ago it was thought to stink of the gutter Go back even further and the slang becomes more arcane with words like "jelly roll" or "barbecue" applied in place of the more common Anglo-Saxosex words Of course that sort of double-entendr- e seems fairly quaint today when the can be heard as often as gunfire in movies like "Die Hard" or "Total Recall" To that extent 2 Live Crew's relentless profanity is simply a matter of keeping up with the times Getting that point across to Sheriff Navarro and Judge Gonzalez — or to anyone else with insufficient perspective on the musical trachtion from which 2 Live Crew springs — is not going to be easy Indeed the battle against the rap group has already expanded after police in San Antonio Texas decided that any album worth banning in Florida was worth banning in Texas too and ordered record stores there to remove all copies of the album or face prosecution But the point remains: "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" is part of a legitimate (if obscure) tradition within American popular music and ought to be respected as such After all if America survived "Please Warm 111v Wiener" it can probably handle "Me So Horny" n ) tP4W 1 the Constitu- 'As Nasty As They Wanna Be' Still Isn't as Nasty as They Could Be The Baltimore Sun Rap artists have always been prone to boasting but when the members of 2 Live Crew declared that they were going to get "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" to quote the title of the quartet's current album they weren't fooling around Offering almost 80 minutes of t - 1SN ''"" I ItiVei I -- --7 )a - '4 N k iiiiki timig 40f Wiwi' VA:HT ' 'IA N4 t 4k e tk eig slit'Itior '16'A s kt4 e- -- tv4 i k o Itlk tAggttlk0 Awi ' Ilk merA114 aktV4okb: C 5 V St -- ''Nk ? - t 44 - -- Elx24: N I:" ' '' 3" "11 '' 4! I 1 '114 :7-N1:!!:341411111 Judeo-Christia- lp:':'1'''ri:rol'o:4'':3:::7s: " C"'" 471 TriV111 ----- one-fourt- h popular in Florida t S'IN democracy will make it even more fragile We face in these circumstances a peculiar conflict of loyalties What is more important we ask ourselves loyalty to the fragile democratic order or to the defenseless truth? None of us has a ready answer to the question of which of these two loyalties should prevail We are doomed to inconsistency We are doomed to live in a state of tension uncertainty permanent risk Still it is not true that we know nothing We are children of a certain tradition And we know that this tradition does not permit us to renounce the truth with impunity We are the n culture and children of our we know that this culture which recommends loyalty toward the state commands us to bend our knees only before God We know therefore that we should put faithfulness to truth above own participation in power We know by reaching for our roots that the truth of politics resides in the end in the politics of truth that every political order is polluted by the original sin of imperfection We reject the belief in political utopia We know that our future is an imperfect society a society of ordinary people and ordinary conflicts — but precisely for this reastn a society that must not renounce its ethical norms in the name of political illusions N1S ' Keeping Score on the Senate Freeloaders Lea By James G Driscoll Fort Lauderdale News & FORT LAUDERDALE Fla — Alan J Dixon likes us or at least he likes where we live Last year Dixon a US senator from Illinois flew to West Palm Beach Fla five times at someone else's expense A Democrat but obviously no fanatic about it Dixon gracefully let big business pick up the airfare for his trips south Pratt & Whitney paid for one trip and Barnett Banks Inc BellSouth Corp Olin Corp and the Chicago Board of Trade for the others Nice of them so generous No fanatic and no fool either Dixon hewed to the snowbirds' rule of good living: Never in Summer His expense-pai- d trips were in February and March allowing him to travel to his West Palm Beach condominium without the bother of digging out his rarely used credit card Probably boosted the local economy during his stays — a meal here a round of golf there his business hosts were at hand and wanted to chat perhaps he found time for them Maybe they offered their views about Shakespeare or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nothing substantive It all dovetailed nicely as one of Dixon's aides noted with the keen perception common to political pinkies: The speaking engagements fit in with the condo visits and "the associations and groups have an awful lot of events and affairs in Florida" He noticed Golf tournaments also are - 1 ' k c1 s's" 11 - : -c s:'- 4' )1s s I -- temporary Europe provides examples of countries that were able to stop after the first revolution and phase of the thanks to that they may now enjoy democratic order and wealth We know if only from looking into the mirror or deep into our own hearts how perverted we are by totalitarian communism We lack democratic culture and democratic institutions We lack the tradition of democratic coexistence in the framework of a democratic order In Central and Eastern Europe each of our countries has its distinct biography its own secret knowledge about threats to democratic order An intellectual is pretty helpless in the face of these dangers: as a political man he must be efficient as a man faithful to the ethical origin of his commitment he knows that he must abide by the truth That is how we are divided in two We know how fragile are the bases of democratic order in Poland and we know that to denounce continuously the slippages in cur 4b I --- purge of those who defend them A psychology of vengeance and hatred develops The mechanics of retaliation become unappeasable We inherited from the totalitarian era like a birthmark the conviction that wisdom is the same as' permanent suspicion And yet con- |
