The Westerner World (Lubbock, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 18, 1969 Page: 2 of 4
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Pag© 2
THE WESTERNER WORLD
Thursday, December 18, 1969
Reasons Examined For Ad Bans
By DAVID WHITE
IDebi's Doodles
er I
Caffee
"Well, we're definitely late for school . . . let's try out our
excuses on each other!"
REFUSAL of the Avalanche-Journal to
publish advertisements of “X”-rated motion
pictures has elicited much comment, both
pro and con.
Careful analysis of what we presume are
the newspaper’s motives should produce
the actual reasons behind this move and
provide perspective through which to view
the ban.
"TO PROTECT our youth from dirt and
smut . .
Admittedly, this is a noble motive. But
lack of available newspaper advertising
forces a theater showing an “X” picture to
resort to heavy radio advertising. Isn’t a
glance down the movie page considerably
less harmful than periodic repetition of
lewd advertising?
"MOST TITLES of, and pictures accom-
panying ‘X’-rated movie ads are objection-
able . . .”
True. Illustrations and titles of “X” films
are frequently not suitable for publication
anywhere. Yet, it would be'much more of
a public service if the Avalanche-Journal
were to publish just the name of the the-
ater, its phone number and the fact that an
X film was being shown, thus remaining
in good taste, and at the same time, in-
forming those interested.
"A VAST majority of Lubbock people
don’t want to see “X” movie ads in the pa-
per and applaud the ban ...”
That statement is correct, but it is no
reason (other than for public relations ben-
efit) to ban “X” films. The Avalanche-
Journal would certainly not allow the pub-
lic to tell them how to write their news
stories; lay out their pages or much less,
how to run their advertising department.
Rationalization, yes; valid reason, no.
"TO DEPRIVE “X”-rated motion pictures
of publicity . . .”
Supposedly, solid justification, but at
closer examination—weak pretense. The
AROUND THIS time every year the
United States Post Office is flooded with
millions of letters addressed to Santa Claus.
Such correspondence is usually burned to
relieve the post office of the problem. Sup-
pose, however, the real owner of those let-
ters showed up to claim his property . . .
well, it might go something like this:
“Good morning, sir. May I help you?”
"YES, I’d like to pick up my mail,
please.”
“Certainly, sir. And what is your name?’’
"NICHOLAS Claus.”
“Is that spelled with a k?”
"NO. C, like in Christmas.”
“Oh, of course. Well, let me check for
you. Let’s see . . . Carson, Cedar, Chaney,
Clemments . . . hmmm, there doesn’t seem
to be any mail here for a Nicholas Claus.”
"BUT I know I must have some. See if
there are any for Santa Claus.”
“Well, I’ll check again, but . . . did you
say ‘Santa Claus’?”
"THAT'S right.”
“Not the Santa Claus?”
"I'M THE only one I know of.”
“But, but . . . you can’t be. I mean . . .
this is a joke, isn’t it? You can’t be the
real Santa Claus.”
"I CAN'T? Well, that may upset Mrs.
Claus.”
“But all these years, I thought . . .
“Yes, I know, a lot of people do. May I
have my mail now, please?”
"WELL, I’m afraid that’s impossible.
You see, we didn’t know what to do with
it, so . . . we burned it.”
“You burned my mail!”
"I'M TERRIBLY sorry.”
“You can’t just burn people’s mail. That’s
no way to run a post office!”
"I'M REALLY very sorry.”
“Why pick on me? What have I ever
done to you? I try to spread good will to
all the children in the world and you burn
my mail! What are you, some kind of kid-
hater or something?”
"NO, OF COURSE not. I love children.
I even like reindeer, but we always burn
conspicuous absence of a theater’s adver-
tisement from the movie page promotes
much “word-of-mouth” advertising. That,
coupled with the aforementioned radio
coverage, totally defeats any attempt to
“unpublicize” an “X” film. Also, it must
be realized that some of the better movies
to come to Lubbock in the future, deserving
top advertising priority, will necessarily
be rated “X” because of the subject mat-
ter with which they deal, and it seems a
shame the public will be denied journal-
istic knowledge of these motion picture
achievements.
"BANNING OF ‘X’-rated films ads serves
the public interest . . .”
Agreed. But, if this ban serves the pub-
lic interest, would it not also serve the pub-
lic interest to place bans on advertisements
of alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, automo-
biles and countless other things which are
just as detrimental to our community, if not
more, than “dirty movies?”
IT SEEMS that if the Avalanche-Journal
really did have the public interest at heart,
they might write a series of editorials ad-
vocating a new rating system which would
more accurately reflect the content of mo-
tion pictures. Lubbock movie-goers were
not so pleasantly surprised at a recent “G”-
rated musical comedy which was so subtly
suggestive as to make it just as risque as
many “M” and “R” movies. It is possible
to see that the Avalanche-Journal has de-
feated the purpose of rating symbols.
Are these symbols, for which the public
clamored, to be hidden in every righteous
editor’s desk drawer?
CONSTRUCTIVE criticism rates much
higher than banning; an act which requires
little thought and provides -no workable
solution to one of our most demanding so-
cial problems.
letters to Santa Claus because he’s not a
real person. I mean, you’re not a real per-
son. Oh, I mean . . .
“You mean you’ve been burning my mail
for no reason.”
"NO, I DON'T mean that. At least, I
don’t think so. Look, we couldn’t deliver
your mail anyway because you don’t have
an address.”
“I most certainly do.”
"WELL, IT'S not on your letters. All
those kids put on the envelope is ‘Santa
Claus, North Pole’.”
“If you got a letter addressed to Presi-
dent Nixon, Washington, D.C., where would
you send it?”
"TO THE White House, of course.”
“Well, this is the same thing. How would
President Nixon like it if you burned his
mail?”
'ttyau&e pi ' 'ifyoCpHeA,
Last week, Lubbock High was treated to
a fine performance of “The Cross Patch”
by drama students from Texas Tech. This
first offering of the 1969-70 MADD series
gave LHS students a taste of good light
drama and we hope that the remaining as-
semblies will prove to be just as entertain-
ing as “The Cross Patch.”
* * * *
High school football has ended for the
season and basketball is in full swing. Un-
fortunately, LHS sports fans have been un-
able to adjust to the move indoors, and
turnouts for the contests have been rather
sparse. Homework, as some games are on
school nights; cold weather and the pres-
sure of the approaching holidays naturally
hinder attendance. However, the basket-
ball team are also representatives of Lub-
Teens Query
A BIG QUESTION now creeping over
the campuses of the country is “Should
marijuana be legalized?” Opinions vary
over this topic. Does it lead to bigger
things? Or does it have no effect at all?
Six LHS students were posed with this
question.
MIKE HUMPHREY. Sophomore — No, I
don’t think marijuana should be legalized,
because of the brain damage it is costing
"CONSIDERING some of the letters he
gets, he’d probably appreciate it.”
“That’s beside the point. I want you to
treat my mail the same way that you treat
the President’s.”
"YOU WANT me to send your mail to
the White House?”
“No, to my address. Let me write it
down for you. There, now. Please send
all of my mail to this address and don’t
burn any more of it.”
"CERTAINLY not, Mr. Claus. It won’t
happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t. Things like that
could put me in the unemployment line.
Well, goodbye and Merry Christmas.”
"GOODBYE, Mr. Claus and Merry
Christmas to you, too. Oh, wait! Wait a
minute, Mr. Claus! Oh, dear, he didn’t
hear me. Doesn’t he know he’ll never get
his mail at this address he left? He forgot
to put his zip code!”
bock High and merit a good show of sup-
port.
* * * * *
Tomorrow is the long-awaited day . . the
final day of classes before the Christmas
holidays. Two weeks of festivities and a
little rest should rejuvenate spirits to
finish the first semester in high style. See
you in 1970!
THE WESTERNER WORLD
“Sportsmanship Then Victory”
Subscription rate $2 per year
Advertising rate $1.25 per column inch
Editors------Kathy Holmes
Deborah House
Managing Editor_____Abner Euresti
Assistant Editor___Tricia Tilson
News Editors______Debby Pinkston
Greg Stallings
Copy Editor_______David White
Feature Editor _ Kathy Schulze
Sports Staff_______Dave Daniel
Dean Glaze
Clubs Editor_____Willie Wilson
Photographers____Jan Anderson
Bill Jackson
Cartoonist_______Debi Caffee
Business Manager___Sandra Sharp
Sponsor____Mrs. Mary C. Wilson
Drug Laws
the people to have. And I think if you are
caught selling marijuana, you should be
thrown in prison.
VICKI PRICE, Senior — No, I don’t real-
ly think that grass is that
™ harmful, but after being
around other teenagers
gaff , f and students who smoke
jP \ grass and dtope regularly,
,,,. . | I think that if marijuana
jF* I was legalized, more peo-
I/ *. fpll pie would try it and then
- mk would get tired of just
^ smoking grass and start
F JPk, on drugs that are harm-
ful. I believe the drug
VICKI problem is worse in Lub-
bock than most people realize and I don’t
want to see it go^down any worse. And I
think it would be a great deal if marijuana
was legalized.
MIKE WILEY, Sophomore — I think
marijuana should be legalized. If it were
legalized, it would make a lot of the low-
life pushers go out of business. Also, peo-
ple like tobacco industries and liquor com-
panies could put more money in experi-
menting with it. If marijuana were legal-
ized, it would help a lot of unemployed
people get jobs working in the marijuana
field and companies. I do think there
should be laws of how old a person
should be before he could use it.
KERRI HILL, Senior — I’m not sure.
It’s been proven that
grass is not harmful in
itself, but I doubt if
anyone could smoke
grass for very long with-
o u t trying something
else. At • least, if grass
were legalized there
wouldn’t be so many
people in jail. I know a
lot of people who do use
grass and other things
and I know a lot more
who would do it if it weer legalized. There
are a lot of heads in Lubbock—more than
some people think—and if grass were legal
there would be a heck of a lot more.
DELAINE STACY, Junior — I feel that
to legalize marijuana
would be a big mistake
because it would be used
by more people. Those
who now shy away from
it because of the danger
involved would see no
reason for not taking it.
Also, it has been said
that many of those who
have used marijuana, go
on to use stronger drugs
which do have harmful
effects. If marijuana were legalized, I
think that it would be the cause of many
more drug addicts than there already are
in the U. S.
Student Support Of Team Questionable
KERRI
DELAINE
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The Westerner World (Lubbock, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 12, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 18, 1969, newspaper, December 18, 1969; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth699790/m1/2/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lubbock High School.