Word: yoon
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...Yoon's call for serious intellectual debate is nothing more than a call for didactic and patronizing writing. Instead of allowing editorialists to make complicated arguments in creative ways, Yoon wants us all to reject satire, wit and the fine traditions of Swift, Pope and Rabelais. Simply because he does not (or cannot) grasp more difficult genres doesn't mean that all writers must do away with them, however...
...Yoon then urges editorialists to engage in self-censorship, to try as much as possible to avoid offending anyone. He claims that writers usually write offensive articles for the sheer purpose of offending people. Clearly this is wrong and intellectually irresponsible. But Yoon gives no concrete evidence for his accusation...
...Yoon writes, "rational, well-argued editorials typically generate little mail and even less interest." No, Tehshik, you've confused them with the boring editorials. In this sentence, Yoon attempts to conflate the editorial that gets no mail with the "good" editorial. Yoon sets up a false dichotomy between "well-argued" editorials and funny editorials--failing to recognize that editorials can be both...
...Yoon pathetically attempts to turn receiving no reader mail into a badge of merit. I see things differently. Getting no mail doesn't mean you persuaded everyone of your point; it means that nobody bothered to read your piece. Your words now sit in the fireplace of someone's common room, in a somewhat altered form...
...Yoon states that the job of the editorialist is to "persuade, not to ridicule." As a member of the parliamentary debate team, if I have learned any thing, it's that ridiculing weak logic is one of the best ways to expose its flaws. I have a different vision of the editorialist's role in the intellectual community. Harvard students are so opinionated that persuasion is not only an extremely presumptuous goal for a writer, it's also an impossible...