It’s not too early for a year-in-review column, I think. Just two weeks remain before finals (and for many, not much longer until graduation and the rest of life), and there are only 10 issues of the Emerald before the end of my tenure as editorial editor. So, now seems an appropriate moment to reflect on a long year of lessons learned.
And the experiences of the last 138 or so issues since I drafted my introduction to the commentary page, “Commentary: An open forum” (Sept. 29, 2003), have provided many opportunities for my instruction.
Among those lessons:
(1) Even if you write moderate political opinion, you’ll eventually be charged with every partisan label in the book.
My position on People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and animal rights makes me a nationalist. But the stance of the Emerald Editorial Board (of which I am a member) on the Illinois mascot debate make me a Marxist. Hopefully, my moderate libertarian stylings have shone through those and similar charges.
(2) Mocking our in-state rivals is easier than I thought.
The Emerald and its (grossly inferior!) counterpart, The Daily Barometer, have maintained an annual tradition of trading blows in the form of newspaper columns — ours informed, theirs unworthy of further mention, of course — come Civil War time. In writing this year’s column (“Burritos and feces: Life at Oregon State,” Nov. 21, 2003), I found that, thanks to OSU’s countless drawbacks, failings and generic downsides, “Burritos” was one of the easiest-to-write pieces I’ve drafted all year.
(3) If you write opinion of any kind, you’ll eventually be called every name in the book.
My sense of journalism? “Sensationalist.” My goals? “Halo preening.” My finer points? “Moron.” “Self-righteous.” “Gutless.” “Hateful.” “Prejudiced.” “An enemy of free speech.”
And in one of the better-worded (but still philosophically dubious) attacks, “Travis’ inability to enter into a meaningful and equally rewarding relationship with a subjective and alive nonhuman other (Friskie) is more than symbolic of the fundamental basis of hierarchical and oppressive power dynamics that have shaped our cultural history.”
(4) Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies holds in print media.
In any controversial issue, Godwin’s Law — which states that as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one — applies to the newspaper page and Web site, too. Some 60 odd years after the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler and Nazism remain the biggest hammers in the toolbox of casual social philosophy debate, and they’ve definitely come up more than once this year. While comparisons of this sort can be worthwhile, they’re usually just meaningless (or slanderous) distractions from the point.
(5) When in doubt, make fun of the column tag.
One particularly critical but memorable feedback post asked me whether “Rivalless wit” was conceit or a joke. While I’ve learned that both a little arrogance and lot of humor is needed for this job, my naysayer missed the point. From that reader’s post (“Rivalles (sic) Wit? Maybe more appropriately ‘Rival-less ignorance’?”) to charges of egomania (unjustified ones, I like to think), at least a few readers have questioned the motivation, if not the accuracy, of “Rivalless wit” during the year. Still, most of these critics have failed to realize that the tag is just an anagram for my name.
But the most important lesson I learned? That, for its many ups and downs, managing and writing opinion is one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs I’ve had.