Underground Informer
Volume 5 Issue 18
November 5, 1994
Page 1


 ====================  ----------
 Celestial Reasonings  The Editor
 ====================  ----------

     Welcome to another issue of the Underground Informer--a little late this 
time due to circumstances beyond our control, but Murphy's Law catches up with 
everyone from time to time.  Included in this issue are two continuing 
stories, the eighth chapter of Delta's "A.L.F. 2" Magic Bar serial and the 
tenth chapter of StarStorm's "Harrowing of the Gods 2: Godkiller."  Delta's 
story is infused with the wacky charm that readers have come to expect from 
him, and StarStorm is building a fantasy full of political intrigue and 
murder.  

     The UI welcomes Courtney, known as SissyOp on her board, After Hours, to 
this issue.  She gives us a preview of the new Star Trek movie, due in 
theaters later this month, and fondly reminisces about the original TV series 
and its cast who were so much a part of her childhood.  

     Turning to matters political in this pre-election issue, Pip returns with 
a very critical look at Rush Limbaugh.  Pip's article focuses on the Limbaugh 
TV program that aimed to "set the record straight" on the legacy of the Reagan 
years.  And on a more local level, "Sysop Dood" Bruce Murphy of The Murph Zone 
BBS offers an excerpted discussion from his board's message bases dealing with 
illegal immigrants and California's Proposition 187.  Interesting reading.  

     And speaking of politics, I thought I should prepare now, given the 
current state of mud-slinging electioneering in California, just in case I 
should ever decide to run for public office.  I have never hired any aliens, 
either legal or illegal.  That said--and I really don't have any political 
aspirations--I am reminded of how odd that word "alien" has always seemed to 
me, as if immigrants come here from Mars and Jupiter.  Do you ever wonder, as 
I do, how a word that can have such pejorative connotations is still in wide 
use in these "politically correct" times?  True, _Webster's Encyclopedic 
Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language_ defines the noun as "one born 
in or belonging to another country who has not acquired citizenship by 
naturalization (distinguished from 'citizen')."  But the word's other meanings 
include "one who has been estranged or excluded," "a nonterrestrial being," 
and some of its adjectival senses, "strange; adverse; hostile."  Is it any 
surprise that many of us can view these people as outsiders completely 
different from us when we call them by the name "aliens"?  It's a word that 
carries within itself a xenophobic, us-vs-them kind of thinking.  

     Perhaps I am especially sensitive to such issues because my own husband 
is officially a "Resident Alien" (he's from India), although he wryly assures 
me that his head won't be sprouting antennae anytime soon.  Curious about how 
it feels to be called "alien," I asked my husband if he knew of this usage 
before he came to the U.S.  He didn't, so I asked if he had any reaction upon 
first hearing the term here in the States.  "I thought it was quite rude," he 
told me.  That convinced me that I wasn't overreacting to the negativity the 
word holds for me, and I believe the time has come for me to limit my own use 
of the word to characters from Delta's Magic Bar stories.

     Please exercise your right to vote on Tuesday, November 8.  If you choose 
not to vote, think about this:  What right will you have to complain about 
government and politicians if you failed to participate in the process?  And 
if you are voting in California, vote "no" on Proposition 187.  We do need to 
control illegal immigration, but this measure contains nothing that will do 
so--nor can it have any effect on illegal immigrants' seeking Federal Welfare, 
which is already against Federal law.  Prop 187 is ugly, mean-spirited, and 
likely unconstitutional; it should have no place in an enlightened and 
civilized society.

                                                         --Celeste, the Editor

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