The Other Press

March 18th to April 1st 1982

 

 

  

Are you tired of cutbacks, have you heard
enough about student protests to make you
puke (those damned radicals)? | know | have.
But unfortunately cutbacks and protests are the
things affecting students the most right now.
Sure, there are a lot of issues happening in and
around Douglas that we seem either to ignore
or deal with superficially and in times of

“prosperity we would be placing more emphasis on
these areas, but several factors (besides cutbacks)
inhibit us from doing so.

1) Lack of writers. We need people with the
dedication and inquisitive concern to go out, find
stories and make them seem interesting.
2) The unnatural fascination our major staff
reporter (me) has with cut-back stores.

THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!!!

We know that nobody reads us, we know we’re
boring, but, God Damn it!! we get tired of
writing about cut-back stores too!! So stop
cut-backs, so we can stop writing about them!
Join this paper so we can write about something
interesting for a change!

Next staff meeting is Tuesday at 4:00. Be there,
or be bored!

by Ian Hunter

 

 

 

staff Box

lan Hunter Editorial Coordinator [fixing the type-
setting machine]

 

 

Warren Laine Production Coordinator [on his

25th cup of coffee]

 

Doris Feichtinger

Typesetter [trying to get her
fingers untied] ;

 

Micheal Knowles Photographer [where does the
film go?]

 

Cal Reyburn Business Manager [keeping track of
our over-spending]

 

Dan Hilborn Old Hack [I now call this production
night to order! ]

 

Charlene Kamachi Guest Graphic Artist Extraor-
dinaire [can | draw a picture here! ]

 

Chris Page Copy Editor [fixing our lousy speling]

 

Peter Julian Uncoordinated [I cant cut straight! ]

 

 

 

 

 

N\
y
a

   

~

Effect Change Yourself!

By Michael Wilson

It is rare today to meet a thinking
human being who is truely optimis-
tic. The multiple dilemma within the
general areas of politics, the environ-
ment, science and the economy seem
each in themselves capable of ma-

king life not worth living, if not

ending the possibility altogether,
Individuals who see this often feel
that they are personally powerless to
effect a change. Even those who
make the effort tend to project a
negative or superior attitude that
serves only to alienate many who
are genuinely concerned with the
changes that are obviously coming.
The general consensus seems to be
that the future is something to fear.
This attitude creates a situation in
the world where large numbers of
well meaning- people render them-

‘selves powerless to contribute to the

solving of our collective problems.
The aphorism ’’I can’t do anything
about it’’ is killing us.

The fact is, a single individual could
make all the difference. That indi-
vidual is the one | talk to now.

This notion -is not likely to be pop-
ular. We have been trained (wil-
lingly) to believe: that we are not
responsible, yet we are each respon-
sible - if not in the obvious sense
for the genesis of the problem,
certainly for allowing it to continue to
have power over us.

I’m sure we have all encountered,
at one time or another, a human
being who understands his respon-
sibility. These are the people who
have seen that there are two
meanings, or two approaches to
responsibility. Notice how the word
divides into two distinct parts.
Responsibiliy is not just ’’it’s my
fault’’, it is also ’’1 can do something
about it.’’

Responsible people are those with
real power in the world. They may
manifest as parents (certainly in my
case), teachers, heroes, or just as
nice people. They are distinguished
by the fact that they are growing,
hopeful, and loved..

 

The world is changing. “Our lives
must change with it, adapt to the
new'situations as they arise. People

tend to view change either in.

fantastic terms (if | won the lottery)
er with fear (what if the banks fail,
or there is a war, or | lose my job,

‘etc). It is true that the future

holds many frightening possibilities.
The world situation demands that we

give up our obscene luxuries, and).

fantastic securities.

The future also holds many truely
wonderful possibilities. We now
have the resources and technology to

_ feed every human being on the

planet. Genetic research is at the
point where scientists are predicting
that within approximately — thirty
years aging may be totally halted,
people will be immortal within the
life of the planet. The elimination
of the necessity of death will also
lead to the solution to problems such
as pollution and nuclear waste simply
because’ it will no longer be future
generations who have the problem.
Technology can eliminate the need
for people to do factory work and
other forms of physical labour,
unless they want to. Several
theorists have created economic
systems in which people are not
enslaved for wages (work or you will
starve!) but rather are paid dividends
from individual shares in the gross
national product. Then people would
be free to do what they really
want to do.

So we have a choice between death
and utopia, fear and laziness lead to
death, responsibility leads to utopia.
Next issue | will explore the
mechanism-:of choice, and attempt to
demonstrate: that being responsible
is actually a lot more fun than being
irresponsible. As a final word, |
would like to put out an idea for
those readers who have some sort
of ’’religious’’ world view in which
God will save them from evil on the
““judgemen day’”’ - perhaps it is not
us who are to have faith in God,
but rather God who has faith in us.

 

 

 

os