The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 54, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 4, 1967 Page: 8 of 12
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comments on Vietnam war
By BARI WATKINS
Thresher Reporter
The SA has forever redeemed
itself. And if Senator J. Wil-
liam Fulbright had needed re-
demption he would have won it
too. By naming Fulbright's
"The Arrogance of Power" as
the Book of the Semester the
SA has brought before us all
a book which cannot be ignored.
The book transcends politics,
not by ignoring the issues
at hand — the Vietnamese war
and American Asian policy to
be specific—but by approaching
the problems through a re-ex-
amination of the precepts upon
which such issues are based.
Two Americans
The conclusions he reaches
are terrifying, especially to a
culture-behind-the-walls. We do
not wish to see the war fever
raging in our country. We re-
fuse to acknowledge the horror
and suffering we are bringing
to the people—and children —
of Vietnam. And we deny the
.state of mind that makes such
things possible.
Fulbright, however, faces the
mind of America squarely. He
sees two Americas; he says,
"one is the America of Lincoln
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and Adlai Stevenson; the other'
is the America of Teddy Roose-
velt and the modern superpa-
triots."
It is the latter America that
is now in control; we are faced
with a kind of moralism of
"absolute self-assurance fired
by the crusading spirit." This
America denies the right of dis-
sent—a right that Fulbright
calls an "act of patriotism, a
?her j
tha^pie familiar rituals of na-
tional adulation."
God of Consensus
The universities of this war-
crazy America ai-e being denied
their position in the intellec-
ual side of the decision-making
process. The Senate is being
denied jts constitutional right
of "advice and consent." The
ordinary man who questions
our position in Vietnam (or the
Dominican Republic or Indo-
nesia) is regarded as a traitor
to the great god of consensus.
Fulbright sees this denial of
the democratic process, and
makes the reader feel it deeply
as an acute task. His book does
not scream hysterically for re-
demption, but it cries deeply
and passionately for a redress
of grievance?.
In slightly more concrete
terms, Fulbright sees a para-
noia in American foreign policy
that is reflected in our attitude
toward the nationalistic revolu-
tions of the Third World of
Asia, Africa, and Latin Ameri-
ca.
Paranoia
We claim to be in favor of
nationalism and humanitarian
reform, but since most of these
revolutions are at least asso-
ciated with nationalistic, Yugo-
slavia-style communism we feel
we must resist. American pa-
ranoia toward communism as
an absolute evil has made us
unable to see the forest of
nationalism for the trees of
suspected communism.
Our resultant ambivalent at-
titude results in the tragedies
of Cuba, Vietnam, and the Do-
minican Republic. It also leads
to beti'ayals of trusts—of the
Charter of the Organization of
American States, and of the Ge-
neva Accords of 1954.
All is not protest and be-
wailing, however. The Senator
presents a rational, truly moral
basis for future policy in the
Third World, and specific pro-
posals for implementing them.
Need For Protest
It might have been noted that
in the preceding paragraphs
American policy and errors —
and tragedies—have been con-
sistently referred to as "ours."
They are ours—just as much as
Robert McNamara's or Lyndon
Johnson's or the man-in-the-
street's.
Rice has not protested. Not
as a university, not in groups,
not even vocally as individuals.
Such protest is the first step
toward the humanitarian demo-
cracy of Lincoln and Stevenson.
If this book cannot force pro-
test and discussion into the
open, then the university is
dead after all, and we are dead
with it.
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Summervacationitis.
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it
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Lip lingo. ■
They're letters from good buddies;
away for the summer. The best
way to avoid them is not to be
there when they arrive. Be in
Puerto Rico instead.
The good books.
They have the possibility of being
good symptoms. That's if you
seek summer scholastics. Say in
Mexico City. 0r Acapulco.
Racquet squad.
That's the tennis team in your
neighborhood during the summer.,
You'd find snorkeling or scuba diving
in the Bahamas would make playing
tennis seem like last summer's
bad sport.,
College fatigues.
That's the uniform you wore all semester,
Get rid of those o.d.'s (olive drabs).
Break out the white levis. And throw on
a colorful Mexican serape.
BLT Down.
That's all you've known summer
after summer. A change of palate'
would do you good. In Bermuda a
few savory morsels of Hopping John
with a sauce of Paw-Paw Montespan
usually does the trick.
We want everyone to fly
Note: If symptoms get worse, see your travel agent or call Eastern, _
THE RICE THRESHER, MAY 4, 196 7—P A G E 8
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Coyner, Sandy. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 54, No. 27, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 4, 1967, newspaper, May 4, 1967; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245003/m1/8/?rotate=270: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.