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Show The National Enterprise. April 27. 1977 Page twenty-thre-e Cheap Shots by Parker M. Nielson 1 My athlete friend Mark recoiled at my cheers as the great Abdul-Jabba- mixed it with the Warriors rookie center Robert It was nothing but a cheap shot," Mark said, like George Atkinsons late hit of Lynn Swan, on his blind side at that, and all of that dirty line play of Conrad Dobler that Karras is alw'ays 1 about. talking thought it wras all of the part game, but perhaps Mark has a point. r Z Parrish under the basket. 001 Mark continued: You see, in athletics there is a spirit of fair play. You dont hit a guy after the whistle, when he cant hit back. You writers take your cheap shot at someone, often the whole world, every week. How can your victims hit back? tc -z UJ t- 5 o o cheap shot artist is one who offers only an emotional response to a conclusion he or she finds disagreeable. The premise e.g. that guns are dangerous and could be dealt with more responsibly, even by police should An emotional, angry and unreasoned not be ignored. argument, against an imaginary premise that peace officers should be denied guns to defend themselves (which was not advanced), may be evidence that the object of publishing an opinion has been achieved, but it is also the equivalent in journalism to the cheap shot. When Georgia Peterson and Bob Hansen charged that I had my facts all wrong, or was not concerned about the accuracy of my facts, they may have been correct. A columnist is not a cub reporter, however, but one whose objective is to express opinion Writing columns, or replying to them, requires a degree of responsibility in the opinion forming process which, if lacking, renders any comment a cheap shot. To those who were thus caught "after the whistle, I offer Marks observation that publishing opinions is not a sporting event. FLWK-- I WAS- our of 101 ABOUT MV FUTURE The important thing is that an opinion be an honest, responsible and reasoned one. To Messrs. Schow and Jack, who did not like my opinion on guns, I need say no more than that my opinion was meant to excite controversy, to prompt you to express your views, and to provoke some dialogue over issues that are vital to each of us. Your opinion, qua opinion, is just as valid as mine. Your view does not sway me, and I do not expect mine to influence you, but there are many readers less opinionated than either of us who may profit from the dialogue in arriving at their own views on the issues of the day. The lack of any meaningful response may be what Attorney General Robert Hansen, Rep. Georgia Peterson, Don Schow and Larry Jack were incensed about when they replied to earlier Counterpoint columns. In the world of columns, however, the cheap shot is not determined by whether it is before or after the whistle, but by the way an opinion is drawn and expressed prior to that time. The whistle in journalism is the act of going to press. Anyone who replies after that without addressing the fundamental premise is clearly caught, and after the whistle. Thus I did not respond to my critics, and will not do so now, for mere criticism is not a proper subject for editorial comment. IIOASHU 0SPAIR and to that facts are only the predicate. Indeed, that factual predicate might just as wrell be wholly imaginary, and frequently is (as in my Feb. 1 "Counterpoint jest over the Great Salt Lake and my sewer overflow). SCHOOL In the world of journalism the I OJVSBH? THETHJE R6U6I0U RfUOIOl). tjofikgP WO m- PIS- - m true mz. ID MV LIFE- - if X AM iMeg 1 0) TlWUO i m6er UO BUT siter As id itJ V6SPAIR, 10 Hope- - SCHOOL. ABOUT mV UfSS FUTURE I (3 m 0)6 U)IU-FIU- P A TRUER RSU6W. WITH 6IRL8. THAIS EFFECT IVE, WITH m Pragmatic Dogmatics. The Barrenness of Ideology by Kent Shearer On April 16, two Republican leaders offered their respective prescriptions for the resuscitation of the Grand Old Party. Both spoke as though ideological positioning was central to any effective resurgence. In California, former President Ford said, the old slogans of Republicanism will not attract the American people. . .too many (of whom) see our party as old, tired, wedded to the He continued, Contests within our past. ranks to prove who is the purer of ideology will not attract the American people. Meanwhile in Utah, outgoing GOP State Chairman Richard Richards proclaimed, If we are to broaden, it should be to demonstrate there is a difference between the two parties. The average man on the street finds it hard to tell the difference. Many of the 50 percent that stayed home election day may have because they see no difference. Weve got to dare to be different. Weve got to stand for principle. In a way. it would comfort were the choice as as Ford and Richards appear to t believe it. If Ford is correct, one could form a party of Clifford Cases and Charles Percys. If clear-cu- Richards is accurate, all one need do for victory is to run carbon copies of Orrin Hatch and Jesse Helms. The problem, however, is more complex, for most of the electorate does not vote on issues. They ballot instead on their perception of relative candidate personalities. Their usual pronouncement is that they vote the man and not the party, which is precisely why one observes anomolies such as the fact that there are two Republican Senators from industrial Pennsylvania and twro Democratic ones from agricultural South Dakota, the further facts that Idaho elects both Frank Church and James McClure, and the additional fact that last year Utahns elevated the conservative Hatch at the same time they handed the statehouse to the liberal Scott Matheson. That being the situation, the answer to electing more Republicans lies in finding greater numbers of GOP candidates who will appeal to the public. They should be physically presentable, reasonably articulate, and percepThey must either have tively intelligent. money of their own or a demonstrable ability to attract campaign contributions. They also must be adaptable and receptive to the tailoring of their campaign to the issues and attitudes discoverable by professsional public opinion sampling. They must be willing to take direction from their staff, and not hell bent to run their own electoral effort. The task of finding these kinds of candidates is difficult, but not impossible. At this time ten years ago, Jake Gam was an obscure Salt Lake City insurance agent and Hatch was lawyering in his native Pittsburgh, Pa. That they now are members of the United States Senate has more to do with being the right sort of candidates than it does with having the right kind of Were it otherwise, Ernest L. philosophy. Wilkinson would now be in his third Senate term and Barry Goldwater would be President Emeritus. suppose this puts me somewhat more in the pragmatic camp of Ford than that of Richards, for I would demand no more of an office seeker than that he considers himself a Republican, trusting as I do that this generally would put him in greater alignment with my views than would be most Democrats. On the other hand I would not be as fearful as Ford of recourse to the old slogans of Republicanism, for with Garn and Hatch as Exhibits One and Two those slogans are not invariably without contemporary political value. I |