Congratulations to the powers that be, you have definitely gotten a reaction. I can only assume that was the objective of the article “Why I hate white people,” it certainly wasn’t literary achievement or to enlighten the masses of great injustice, political hoodwinking or social woes that were being swept under the carpet.
The content of the article, though crude and infantile in its use of metaphor and analogy, was not in and of itself the cause of injury. I don’t blame the vehicle but the driver, and the person who saw fit to issue such license in the first place. An editor’s search for a reactionary article is not grounds for letting such a poor excuse for journalism be put to print.
Yes, my peers and I did understand the article. It had all the subtlety of an axe. A white guy stereotyping white people … how original. What we take issue with is the lack of literary skill in which it was executed and the assumed motivation of its author and the person(s) who deemed its message worthy of notice. Though posted in the humor column, it was, rather should have been, below them.
The next time you need actual subject matter for an article, maybe you should pay attention to the people (not of the student body or academic employment) who were soliciting our signature as we hurried to class last fall. Educate your fellow pursuers of higher education that apathy is just as dangerous as ignorance. To blithely sign a petition without questioning the reason or purpose for its existence, which I saw done on countless occasions, is to admit yourself a monkey.
The next time you find yourself with a deadline, an overeager underachiever who wasn’t breast-fed, and vacant space, take the high ground of ethics and responsibility and make a better choice. Screw the deadline, stick a bottle in it’s mouth and paste in a skit from Calvin and Hobbes. We’ll love and respect you for it.
Laura Sparks is a physics senior and a Mustang Daily guest columnist.