61 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
61 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
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WHO WANTS TO THROW WEIGHTS?
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By M.L. Verb
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First, let's admit that Donald Regan, White House chief of staff, is a bozo
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for saying what he said in Geneva about women.
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What he said, in case you read only summit stories about the Nancy Reagan-
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Raisa Gorbachev "Style Wars," was that women "are not going to understand
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throw-weights or what is happening in Afghanistan or what is happening in human
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rights. Some women will, but most women. . .would rather read the
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human-interest stuff of what happened."
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No question, it was a mindlessly insensitive thing to say, and he deserves
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the lashing he's gotten. Flail away. Grant him no mercy. And while you're at
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it, drag in the names of Golda Meir, Indira Ghandi, Margaret Thatcher, Jeane
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Kirkpatrick and Gerry Ferraro, a collection of your average women.
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But if you're through flogging him, let's be honest. There was at least SOME
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truth in what he said. Mr. Regan's error was in thinking that widespread
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ignorance about the substance of international policy is limited to women.
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The harsh, frightening truth is it's not just most women who don't understand
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throw-weights, it's also most men and children. More than that, details of
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what's really happening in Afghanistan (plus Nicaragua, South Africa,
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Washington and Moscow) are mysteries not only to common citizens around the
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world but also to diplomats.
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Some of what we don't know isn't our fault. Because of the oppressive,
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paranoid Soviet system, the sorry state of invaded Afghanistan is closed to
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prying Western eyes. We get only snippets from refugees fleeing in stark
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terror through Pakistan.
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And some of what we hear about nuclear arms and throw-weights is so bizarre
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and unbelievable that we must conclude either no one understands it or people
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are kidding us. I recall visiting within the past year with a man who occupies
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a lofty position among U.S. arms negotiators. It was his straight-faced
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testimony that the most likely date in any year for the Soviets to launch a
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nuclear attack on the U.S. is Columbus Day. More than that, the risk is
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greater in either the morning or evening, I can't remember which.
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If we get through October each year, he said, we're pretty much home free.
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What can even the brightest among us make of such talk? It is like listening
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to the crazed predictions of astrologers and palm readers, knowing all the
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while there is at least some small chance they may be right.
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The part Mr. Regan got at least a little right, however, has to do with what
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we CAN know but don't. Our interest in matters of real importance often is
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distracted by our interest in TV broadcasts of sit-coms, sports or soap operas.
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How else do you explain the outcry that inevitably comes when news bulletins
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interrupt taped TV shows? How else do you explain the enormous popularity of
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magazines like "People," or "Women's Wear Daily" or "Sports Illustrated."?
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Or TV like "Entertainment Tonight," MTV or "Lifestyles of the Rich and
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Famous"?
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Donald Regan is wrong in thinking women are the only ones ignorant about what
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really affects our lives (but he's far from alone in this old-boy
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administration). One gender is no less guilty than the other.
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