Letters to the Editor: Poor Taste
Vivek Thuppil
Issue date: 4/8/05 Section: Ed-Op
Editor:
The Rectangle is a special issue. The Ed-Op section of the newspaper is one of the highlights of the satirical paper. In the past, it has included commentaries on outrageous topics such as the advocation of driving under the influence of alcohol, a commentary from the Gerber baby, Bostonians being confused by Philadelphia accents and the like. I expected more of the same this issue.
I instead opened The Rectangle to see a commentary with a horribly modified picture of me on it. This commentary ("Liberal reporter makes national news, suffers neurological deficit," The Rectangle, April 1) focused mainly on a situation of me being arrested for public masturbation at a local pornographic theater. There are a thousand different satirical and funny commentaries that could have been written, on a range of topics from my political views to my ethnic background to other topics that would have ranged in appropriateness.
In my opinion, the topic of the commentary that was chosen however was neither funny nor appropriate. Many that I talked to shared similar views. Since I have never discussed this topic or any topics similar to this in any of my writings, I fail to see the relevance of the commentary. Rather, I found the commentary to be just a cheap pot-shot on myself, and as such I found it to be vulgar and unfit for publication.
On The Triangle's forums, the author said that "it was a last minute write-up on a spur of the moment idea" and that he relied on the "judgment of The Triangle's staff to determine whether it crossed the line." Fair enough. I believe The Triangle's editors failed in that regard. I am deeply disappointed that The Triangle's staff did not exercise more discretion and that they were unable to determine where "the line" was. There were a lot of good things in this issue, such as the Notable Quotable referencing me. It is unfortunate that this commentary had to mar an otherwise top-notch section.
Vivek Thuppil
Environmental Science '06
The Rectangle is a special issue. The Ed-Op section of the newspaper is one of the highlights of the satirical paper. In the past, it has included commentaries on outrageous topics such as the advocation of driving under the influence of alcohol, a commentary from the Gerber baby, Bostonians being confused by Philadelphia accents and the like. I expected more of the same this issue.
I instead opened The Rectangle to see a commentary with a horribly modified picture of me on it. This commentary ("Liberal reporter makes national news, suffers neurological deficit," The Rectangle, April 1) focused mainly on a situation of me being arrested for public masturbation at a local pornographic theater. There are a thousand different satirical and funny commentaries that could have been written, on a range of topics from my political views to my ethnic background to other topics that would have ranged in appropriateness.
In my opinion, the topic of the commentary that was chosen however was neither funny nor appropriate. Many that I talked to shared similar views. Since I have never discussed this topic or any topics similar to this in any of my writings, I fail to see the relevance of the commentary. Rather, I found the commentary to be just a cheap pot-shot on myself, and as such I found it to be vulgar and unfit for publication.
On The Triangle's forums, the author said that "it was a last minute write-up on a spur of the moment idea" and that he relied on the "judgment of The Triangle's staff to determine whether it crossed the line." Fair enough. I believe The Triangle's editors failed in that regard. I am deeply disappointed that The Triangle's staff did not exercise more discretion and that they were unable to determine where "the line" was. There were a lot of good things in this issue, such as the Notable Quotable referencing me. It is unfortunate that this commentary had to mar an otherwise top-notch section.
Vivek Thuppil
Environmental Science '06
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