2008 Woodie Awards
Our reader's voices
Issue date: 2/11/08 Section: Voices
CM Life undermines Rushdie
Central Michigan Life's Friday "Yo-Yo" edition really lived up to its promise. It is interesting how the editorial staff can argue for the supposed irrelevance of perhaps the most politically significant writer of the past 20 years, yet choose to feature wonderfully superfluous human interest stories about outmoded fads like the yo-yo on the front page. We look forward to next week's exposes on frisbees, hula hoops, and watermelon seed-spitting due to their tremendous cultural significance. What authors would the editorial staff actually deem important? Given the logic in Friday's editorial, should we be led to believe that any book not written after 1994 (or when today's college freshman may have learned to read) is irrelevant? We guess that would also relegate people like Hemingway, Salinger, Vonnegut and Austen to the cultural dustbin of insignificance, right behind a spectacularly failed candidate for president like Wesley Clark. Maybe next year we can get somebody more "recognizable" to CMU students, someone like Mitch Albom, a walking human interest story himself, since his book was required reading for incoming freshman for so many years here. All things being equal, we prefer to spend our Tuesday with Salman. A quick note to 'michmediaperson', whose response to Rushdie's selection was infused with griping about his supposed political affiliation: People from places other than the United States do not generally belong to any of the political parties contained therein. We should also note that an author who remains on the hit list of most major terrorist organizations would probably not end up being classified as a Democrat.
Chris Hatfield and Mary Brunner
Mount Pleasant graduate students
Readers comments as they appeared online at cm-life.com
Salman Rushdie is very relevant to higher education despite what some students may believe is important. "The Satanic Verses" is relevant not only to world literature and history but also to religious studies, political science, and international diplomacy. This text involves sensitive issues between Pakistan and India, Islam and Hinduism, and philosophy and theology in a global context. In addition, Rushdie's personal security costs must be included as relevant to the cost of his invitation.
"John Davidson," commenting on Friday's "Too much" editorial
Central Michigan Life's Friday "Yo-Yo" edition really lived up to its promise. It is interesting how the editorial staff can argue for the supposed irrelevance of perhaps the most politically significant writer of the past 20 years, yet choose to feature wonderfully superfluous human interest stories about outmoded fads like the yo-yo on the front page. We look forward to next week's exposes on frisbees, hula hoops, and watermelon seed-spitting due to their tremendous cultural significance. What authors would the editorial staff actually deem important? Given the logic in Friday's editorial, should we be led to believe that any book not written after 1994 (or when today's college freshman may have learned to read) is irrelevant? We guess that would also relegate people like Hemingway, Salinger, Vonnegut and Austen to the cultural dustbin of insignificance, right behind a spectacularly failed candidate for president like Wesley Clark. Maybe next year we can get somebody more "recognizable" to CMU students, someone like Mitch Albom, a walking human interest story himself, since his book was required reading for incoming freshman for so many years here. All things being equal, we prefer to spend our Tuesday with Salman. A quick note to 'michmediaperson', whose response to Rushdie's selection was infused with griping about his supposed political affiliation: People from places other than the United States do not generally belong to any of the political parties contained therein. We should also note that an author who remains on the hit list of most major terrorist organizations would probably not end up being classified as a Democrat.
Chris Hatfield and Mary Brunner
Mount Pleasant graduate students
Readers comments as they appeared online at cm-life.com
Salman Rushdie is very relevant to higher education despite what some students may believe is important. "The Satanic Verses" is relevant not only to world literature and history but also to religious studies, political science, and international diplomacy. This text involves sensitive issues between Pakistan and India, Islam and Hinduism, and philosophy and theology in a global context. In addition, Rushdie's personal security costs must be included as relevant to the cost of his invitation.
"John Davidson," commenting on Friday's "Too much" editorial
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michmediaperson
posted 2/11/08 @ 1:17 AM EST
What's wrong with bringing a legit Republican like a Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity, Mitt Romney, rocker Ted Nugent, when the university brought DEMOCRAT WES CLARK last year. (Continued…)
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