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Show )c Suit akc tribune Sunday Section Morning-Aug- ust 21, 1986 luliloriuls Vfilmin' Page 16 A Lctlrrs Time Now to Grace Campaigns With Substantive Discussion There were hints during Utah's primary election race that certain candidates got further with shallow but catchy campaigns than with per d arguments. If suasive, that is so, voters were manipulated at the expense of good government. And they have only themselves to blame. M. Tom Shimizu, the inconspicuous Salt Lake County commissioner who collected 62 percent of the vote in the 2nd Congressional District race, shied from the spotlight prior to the primary. Yet his campaign image was never far from the public eye. Playful billboards portraying him as a levelheaded guy, both literally and figuratively, made their point. Then there was Merrill Cook, who with a twist of irony slipped into the finals to fill Mr. Shimizus vacant spot oq the county commission. After spending half a million dollars and considerable time explaining his views in an unsuccessful race for Salt Lake City mayor last year, he won the primary this year with a much quieter, less expensive strategy. Even at that, though, he spent more than his even softer-spokeopponent, Lloyd Frandsen. If there is any message at all in , these examples, it might be that substance isn't always what voters require. An effective ad campaign can make the difference. While a certain amount of money is needed to finance those billboards, radio and television spots, it may be that too much spending and pontificating tends to turn off voters in smaller races. These kinds of criteria obviously issue-oriente- n shouldnt be determining the election of government leaders. Rather, voters should focus on candidates leadership qualities and attitudes on major issues of the day, from taxing policies to public services. But that takes more time and concentration than many voters seem willing to give. And it calls for balanced coverage by news organizations; access to the means by which candidates can be heard. Under such circumstances, those political aspirants with abundant resources would be foolish not to capitalize on the publics abbreviated attention span. In an ideal political world, all candidates would have an equal chance at political posts. All nominees for a particular office would receive the same amount of money and comparable opportunities to explain their views and goals to eligible voters. Meanwhile, however, candidates must assume the responsibility to conduct informative, fair campaigns, and voters should be receptive enough to make those efforts worthwhile. Utahns have just such an opportunity now, while their candidates prepare for Novembers showdown. Mr. Shimizu apparently plans to debate his Democrat 2nd Congressional District opponent Wayne Owens in a series of neighborhood forums. If candidates for other political offices around the state will make similar arrangements and voters will listen, this years election still stands a chance of matching the best qualified politicians with those government offices being contested. More Mideast Shuffling Israel and the Soviet Union may restore some sort of diplomatic relationship. But, obviously, it will be an extremely difficult process. For reasons still not fully understood, Moscow initiated formal, government discussions in Helsinki between Soviet and Israeli officials. And with each side giving a different version of proceedings, the Monday session ended abruptly, leaving observers to wonder what, if anything, was accomplished. The Russian explanation is that they merely wanted to have a delegation of theirs visit Russian Orthodox church property in Israel, held by the Jews since the 1967 li war. The Israelis contend they would agree if a comparable Israeli group could visit Moscow and confer with Jews there. But considerably more would seem to weigh in the balance. Since the question of confiscated Russian property in Israel is even now before Israeli courts, the purpose of an inspection tour is obscure. However, because the Soviet Union has been excluded from the Israeli side of the Middle East conflict for 19 years, after diplomatic relations between the two countries were severed during the '67 war, taking advantage of a chance to somehow reenter exerts a certain allure. Israel, for its part, is no doubt beguiled by the idea of developing a procedure by which Moscow would ease low-lev- el Arab-Israe- its unblinking support of Arab belligerents. The Israelis are no less anxious than any other nation to achieve the fullest possible amount of diplomatic recognition. But obstacles to this particular reconciliation are enormous. As tempting as reestablishing a larger Mideast influence for itself may be, the Kremlin cannot afford to damage close ties it already has with Arab clients. The Israelis are constitutionally obliged to include talks about the estimated 400,000 Jews now denied emigration from Russia as part of any dealing with the Soviet Union. The brief Helsinki talks quickly demonstrated these hindering facts. Before the convened, Arab publications complained about betrayal and Israeli civil rights organizations insisted on negotiations for detained Russian Jews. Indeed, in discounting the meetings importance, Soviet spokesmen blamed Israels introduction of the emigration issue. Nonetheless, as with the surprise, but equally unproductive meeting last month between Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Moroccan King Hassan, the short, but still official shuffle in Helsinki indicates Mideast conditions and circumstances are shifting. No one can say precisely in what direction, but those with capacity to do so ought to be using every opportunity and possibility for delaying and avoiding any renewed warfare. get-togeth- er Sports Reflecting Culture? Evidently, a revolution has curred in professional game spectating. A demand for renewable personnel has replaced the allure of old "fan favorites. The local authority for this historicity is Utah Jazz Coach Frank Lay-deCommenting on Jazz failure to lure Philadelphia 76er great Julius Irving to Utah, Coach Layden supplied a fascinating analysis. Acquiring Mr. Irving, the Jazz mentor claimed, would have helped Utahs ticket sales without harming Philadephias. Thats because, he explained, professional sports audiences local athletes but arc tire of long-tim- e excited by a newcomer. Really? oc- n. Formerly, commentators pre- ferred an opinion which held that certain pro sports teams did poorly at the box office because they offended fans inby trading away established stars, loyto the different always important alty factor. The Layden theory challenges such sophistry. No question, modem pro sports methods embrace revolving doer personnel as well as teams themselves skipping from city to city. Perhaps that reflects a culture and a society which fully endorses mobility, including frequent hops from employer to employer, from city to city, from region to region. Permanency and loyalty may indeed have been replaced by constant change and peripatetics. As far as spectator sports are concerned, the suspicion lingers that if player trades and new name acquisitions translate into more victories than defeats, the audiences will keep buying tickets in abundance regardless. The Jazz coach nevertheless scores a provocative point. Whether its a winning one probably depends on more close examination of a slow motion replay. Common (ai rtici mtfctoNCE,YoO KNC,,, EXPERBfcEPMBEifftN VET mi WASPs: Americas Last Minority E. Tise Special to Newsday Now that I have HARRISBURG, Pa. passed the barrier of 40 years of age and I am supposed to be (and am) encountering various forms of midlife crisis, I've begun to reflect upon my life, my role in American society and my final place in human history. Yet even now. I realize I won't be able to reflect upon my life with total joy, since I was born with a mark, a defect, a genetic problem I cannot change. My problem is that I was born in the United States into a white Anglo-Saxo- n Protestant family. Moreover. I was born in the South. I am a native southern, white, Caucaunhandisian, heterosexual, middle-agecapped, nonveteran male. Every experience I have had from the moment of birth has told me over and again that I am the worst type of human being in American society. I was a war baby born to parents who did not want the father to be a war casualty. My appearance helped defer his call into the army. I was just old enough to grow to adolescence in a totally segregated South. I remember well the separate water fountains, bathrooms and seating areas in all public places as well as the intonations of doom sounded by parents, relatives and friends in 1954, when the Supreme Court told us that schools must be integrated. Over the next 10 years, I heard endlessly how awful it was to be a white southerner. Even though I personally always wanted to see our schools and everything else integrated, I still had to bear the odium of having been born a white southerner who by definition was supposed to be against such ideas. I went to college, divinity school and graduate school just at the time colleges were seeking minority students to endow with scholarships, grants and fellowships. Good black students could easily get financial aid. My female friends and associates, and although white, southern, Anglo-Saxo- n Protestant, suddenly became members of a minority as well. They, too, qualified for the abundant aid available to minorities. It did not bother me that I had to work my way through school and that I could not qualify. I supported such opportunities for all minorities as good and right and proper. I finished graduate school and earned a doctorate in history just at the time affirmative action became prevalent. Whenever I applied for a job, the first question I was asked (before an encounter with By Larry d, my prospective employer) was, "Are you a minority? By then, "minority had come to mean not only certain racial groups and women, but also a variety of ethnic groups -especially folk of Hispanic, Oriental and native American derivation. My family was a and Engmixture of German, Scotch-Irislish. and all got to America by the beginning of the American Revolution. I could find no traces of acceptable ethnicity to help me in my search for employment. As one door afh Larry E. Tise is the state historian for Pennsylvania and lives in Harrisburg. ter another closed in front of me, I found my WASP maleness a liability. Among the good things in my life is that I have always enjoyed good health. Although I lost my front teeth in a high school football game, I have never had any real physical handicap. But I was able to sit out the war in Vietnam that killed, maimed or emotionally altered many of my college classmates who left the halls of ivy for glory in the jungles of Southeast Asia. I missed the war because first I was in school, then married and then with children. When I was still jobless and the children were young crying and I sounding very hungry and dependent began to realize it was something of a handicap to be a healthy, white, nonveteran male. If I could only get a good simple physical handicap, or claim a military background, or alter my white, nonethnic maleness; I could instantly name the job and the salary. Fortunately for the hungry children and my own sanity, I eventually got a job. For the past 12 years, I have met the challenge of being a devoted public historian. Among the challenges have been responsibilities in the area of personnel relations. With staffs of 200 to 350 for more than 10 years, I have had to hire, fire, demote, promote, reassign, correct, cajole and reprove a lot of people. Throughout, I have been subject to endless grievances and suits claiming sex, race or of these age discrimination. Three-fourth- s cases would not have been heard if the appellants had not been nonwhite, nonmale and nonmiddle-aged- , and if I had not been a white, maturing male, who by birth and character was supposed to discriminate. Fortunately, none of the dozens of cases resulted in a decision upholding a charge of discrimination. I like to think that is because I have not a single discriminatory bone in my body. Others, of course, might attribute the absence of a negative finding to the stranglehold white males have on all institutions of society. By good fortune and inclination, I have been able to deal with most of the assaults on my race, gender and age. The most recent is the assault on my also the most trying sexual preference. I am heterosexual. In re- - cent years, I have observed an abundant number of my colleagues come out of the urhomosexual closet. I live in an inner-cit- y ban area in an architecturally rich historic district that is being gentrified. Four out of five of the gentrifiers are gay men. Wherever I look, I see nonheterosexual men establishing new lifestyles, camaraderie and social and cultural practices that are the antitheses or just different from of my chosen way of life. They, too, have become a minority asking to be heard. Yet I cannot permit my preference in lifestyle to blind me to their American right and freedom to select and pursue the minority status of their choice. When I was a boy, I somehow got the idea that it was good to be a white male in American society. I liked the idea of the breadwinhead of family. In the ning husband-fathe- r intervening years, however, our society has quite consciously, openly and with the aid and cooperation of the afflicted group made and endangered class the of white, Caucasian, heterosexual, middle-aged- , nonhandicapped, nonveteran males the last and only group in American society that it is all right and even appropriate to discriminate against. I feel compelled to call upon my fellow WASP males to join with me to ensure that we take our place alongside all the other venerable, lauded and loved minorities in American society. Instead of rallying around worn-ou- t and pathetic images of the suburban breadwinner, the Marlboro Man or the cosmopolitan playboy, we must teach and practice the righteous indignation of our predecessor and contemporaneous fellow minorities. Lest we go too far in this direction, however, I want to make sure that we define a new role for maledom that demands absolute humanness, respectfulness and caring for others. We will preach it to ourselves, carry placards and teach others how good we can be. Who knows? If we play our cards right, we might even become the most beloved minority in American history. U.S. Must Help Residual Refugees led 21 of their colleagues to Hatfield, express their concern in a joint letter to President Heagan addressing the problem of Southeast Asia's residual populations and urging the administration to maintain this country's commitment to the protection of refugees. The United States Catholic Conference has joined an ecumenical group of 11 national organizations to propose a solution for a segment of the Khmer residual population. That solution is a program that would expedite resettlement for eligible Khmer those with the closest family ties to the United States. To remove these people from their present situation, the proposal suggests accelerating regular U S. immigrant and refugee process- By Nicholas DiMarzio Special to The Washington Post Residue. The word evokes images of white-coatechemists poring over mysterious experiments; of gelatinous liquids bubbling and boiling, coating slender glass test tubes with sticky residues, rank leftovers to be discarded. Far from the chemists lab, in the distant jungles of Thailand and in isolated corners of d Msgr. DiMarzio is executive director ot Migration and Refugee Services of the States Catholic Conference. Lnit-e- Hong Kong, a different residue collects. We call them "residual populations." They are leftover refugees, residue of the world's bailing political conflicts. "Residuals" are people who have fled their homelands only to find that the international community has no permanent solution to their plight. They are "leftover" refugees because they are unable to take advantage of any of the United Nations' three durable solutions. They cannot be repatriated to their homelands; their first asylum host countries don't want to integrate them locally. current Western policies offer them no immediate resettlement prospects. Many have languished for years in refugee camps while the world pays fickle attention to how it will resolve its residual crises. Among the most urgent residual crises today is that of the 300,000 Khmer in Thailand. The majority of these residuals straddle the border, serving as a human buffer between Vietnamese troops and Cambodian resistance fighters. Fearing that the international trend toward reduced Western resettlement oppora trend set by the United States -tunities will saddle the country with residual populations, the Thais will not grant these Khmer official refugee status. Thus they cannot receive protection from the U N. high commissioner for refugees, nor can they even apply for Western resettlement. Just two months n - family-reunificatio- d ing. ago, at least 11 Khmer refugees were killed and several of them innocent children another 40 wounded when Vietnamese troops shelled a refugee camp just inside Thailand.' Some people would argue that our responsibility in Southeast Asia has long since ceased. But let's compare the Southeast Asian resettlement history with what took place after World War II. Not until 1958 was the process of resettling World War II's millions of refugees completed, a time frame roughly comparable to what we are looking at in Southeast Asia. The United States cannot forget for a moment that its military involvement in Vietnam, Cambodia and was a commitment to the people in that corner of the world. When the last Americans were airlifted out of Saigon 11 years ago, U S. responsibility did not end. Many In the United States do recognize this countrys responsibility to the residual Khmer, some 13,000 of whom have close relatives already in the United States. Last and Mark April, Sens. Robert Dole, Unfortunately, the Khmer aren't the world s only residuals, and the crises require more than one solution for one population. Residual refugee are present in every region of the world, in Hong Kong and Pakistan, in Italy and Indonesia, in Mexico and Djibouti, residual refugees languish. The international community must concern itself with all residuals, constantly reviewing and improving efforts to resolve the problem most humanely. As a traditional leader in refugee protection and resettlement, the United States must take a lead role to ensure that the world s residuals are treated humanely As long as we provide adeouatc resettlement opportunities for refugees with no other options, countries will offer haven to people fleeing persecution. Each time the United States curtails resettlement opportunities, the world reacts other resettlement nations reduce their own numbers; countries most of them developing nations themselves begin refusing haven, fearing that their already overburdened economies can't bear the costs of sheltering new refugees who cannot be repatriated or absorbed and who, for lack of resettlement opportunities, might never go away. first-asylu- first-asylu- - |
