tant black organization that describesrnwhites as “devils” created as a curse uponrnthe world by an embittered black scientist.rnThat evening Hackney came out andrnmet with the student militants, and thernfollowing day he refused to condemnrnthe minority students for their theft ofrnthe paper. His statement reads like anrnapology. Hackney lamented that “twornimportant university values, diversity andrnopen expression, seem to be in conflict.”rnOne wonders if Hackney regretted thernconflict between the morals of normalrnAmericans and the publicly-funded homosexualrnpornography in Mapplethorpe’srnphotographic exhibit in his pastrndefense of free expression. Perhaps hernwould have been quick to come to myrndefense if I had been receiving federalrnsubsidies for my work.rnAs of this writing, the theft of the paperrnhas been deemed a violation of thernopen expression policy of the university.rnThis cerebral realization representsrnsomething of a milestone in universityrnlife. Perhaps some backlash will crystallizernagainst the previously unstoppablernjuggernaut of university thought control.rnHowever, the security officer who arrestedrnthe voung Muhammad has been suspendedrnfor detaining two of the protestingrnthieves. Penn’s enforcers of thernpolitically correct have apparently foundrnanother scapegoat on whom they canrnvent their bitter brand of sensitivity.rnGregory P. Pavlik is a senior at thernUniversity of Pennsylvania.rnLetter From thernLower Rightrnby John She!ton ReedrnThis and That FromrnHere and TherernIt’s been a while since my last roundup ofrnregional news, so some of these itemsrnhave a little age on them, but you probablyrnmissed them anyway, so they’ll bernnews to you, right? An implicit themern(not implicit now that I’ve mentioned it,rnI guess) is that Southern culture is stillrnkicking, even if in some respects it’s onrnthe skids.rnLet’s start with the fact that here inrnChapel Hill we have a local bandrncalled—Southern Culture on the Skids.rn(Their best song is “Eight-Piece Box.”) Irnask you: Would anyone name a band,rnsay. New England Culture on the Skids?rnI rest my case.rnBut not all of the musical news theserndays is, ah, upbeat. A recent marketingrnstudy, for instance, reveals that twothirdsrnof the country-music audience isrnnow female. I have to say that we traditionalistsrnsuspected as much.rnSee, it used to be that country was arnpretty masculine world. Most of the fansrnwere male, and so were most of thernsingers, old boys who could tear yourrnheart out with a sad song or make vourngrin with a lyric like “Her daddy callsrnher ‘angel,’ and her mama calls us threerntimes a night.” That was the era of greatrncountry titles, like “Because of thernCathouse I’m in the Doghouse withrnYou,” “Footprints on the WindshieldrnUpside Down,” and, of course, “lakernYour Tongue Out of My Mouth (I’mrnKissing You Goodbye).” Women singersrnwere a minority, but there were plenty ofrnthem. Many of them knew their placernand sang songs like “1 Wint to be a Cowboy’srnSweetheart” or “Stand By YourrnMan,” but there was always room for arnspunky, take-no-crap gal like Lorcttarn(“Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ WithrnLovin’ on Your Mind”) I ,ynn.rnBut it seems that now yvomen havernquit telling their husbands andrnboyfriends to change the station, and Irnthink the advent of the music video hasrnsomething to do with that. It’s no accidentrnthat homely guys like Ceorge Jones,rnJohnny Paycheck, and I lank Williams Jr.rnarc being replaced by studly hunks whosernvideos show their pecs. Ironically, thisrndevelopment hasn’t been good for femalernsingers. New women singers arerncoming along, and they’ll have careers,rnbut there are fewer Lorettas and Dollysrnand Tammys these days—Reba McEntirernis about the only female superstar—rnand the megabits are from guvs withrnnames like Vince and Garth and Clint.rn(A friend of a friend recently movedrnfrom Siler City, North Carolina, tornNashville and changed his name torn”Brick”—watch for him.) It’s almost incidentalrnthat some of these boys canrnreally sing: others can’t, and it hasn’trnhurt them one bit. “Achy Breaky Heart”rnhas a good beat and Lord knows you canrndance to it, but I could sing it as well asrnBilly Ray does.rn^ i|: ^rnSpeaking of music ‘ideos andrnNashville, I find it almost touching thatrnofficials at David Lipscomb Unixersity inrnMusic City banned MTV from televisionrnsets in dormitory lounges and thernstudent center, objecting to both thernnoise level and the frequently suggestiverncontent. Hard to believe, isn’t it, thatrnthese good souls live in the same worldrnand century as the Nethedanders whorn(Reuters informs us) recently wrote a reportrnrecommending special fire-safetyrnregulations for brothels catering tornsado-masoehists. (I hadn’t thoughtrnabout it, but obviously it takes longer tornescape from a burning building if you’rernhandcuffed to a bedpost.)rnYes, our wodd is made up of manv diversernand mutualh uncomprehendingrncommunities. It always has been, ofrncourse, but these days thcv can’t simpivrnignore each other. Tbrcing disparate culturesrnto notice one another is the great effectrnof the modern mass media. Communicationsrngurus like to argue that thernmedia arc making us look more alike,rntoo, but that’s less clearh’ so. As a recentrnarticle on “territorial television” in thernbroadcasting trade magazine Channelsrnshows, different folks watch differentrnprograms—and region is one of the differencesrnthat makes a difference. DesigningrnWomen, for instance, used to bernone of the best shows on tele’ision (ecnrnif it did get a little prcach- sometimes)rnand it’s certainly one of the best cer setrnin the South (although that’s not sayingrnmuch). Southerners seemed to appreciaternthat: at its peak the program had ratingsrnin Atlanta and Little Rock nearlyrnhalf again as high as the national average.rnThat’s about the same regional bonusrnthat Newhart and Murder, She Wrote enjoyedrnin Budington, Vermont. Similadv,rnthe relatively wholesome CBS miniscriesrnLonesome Dove was watched by 38 percentrnof all Houston households, but b’rnonly 19 percent of those in New YorkrnCity (where it was outdrawn bv Full Kxposure:rn’ihe Sex Tapes Scandal). MiamirnVice got a bigger audience in, no surprise,rnMiami. And so forth.rnThis is nothing new. Twentv-oddrnyears ago the Nielsen ratings showedrnonly one program (the Lucy Show) inrnthe top ten for both the South and thernNortheast, and that was at a time whenrnthere were at most three channels forrnviewers to choose from. Now that cablernSEPTEMBER 1993/39rnrnrn