“800 words?” Columnist Laments Former Student Apathy
North Texas Daily: 3/01

Have you noticed how short the opinion columns have been lately? Have you also noticed how long and numerous the letters have been?

We were once advised by the Daily staff to keep them within 1,000 words. Then they recommended 800 or less. Now we must keep these modern day miracles of free speech between 600 and 800 words.

I still consider it an honor to write this semi-weekly column for the enjoyment (and in some cases, the annoyance) of my fellow collegians. I will have to play by the rules, so I will learn to be less prolific and a little more concise.

Ashley Stevener strives late into the night to squeeze-in as many letters and columns she can. And with the criticism she has to put up with from critics such as myself, I think she is doing an admirable job—Especially for a non-journalism major.

Political activism and spiritual debate on this campus increased this year, leading to more letters to the editor and a surplus of students willing to write a column about their pet issue. I do not envy Stevener’s job.

When I first came to NT in ’97, the Commentary page editor thirsted for long, meaty columns. Controversial comments were few and far between. But then again, this was a time when I would go to a College Republican meeting and hear the chairman ignorantly proclaim, “Politics is not about different ideas.”

“Hogue, we need you to piss some more people off,” former opinion editor Sarah Broom used to joke. Such fond memories! Times have changed. Three years may seem like a blink of the eye, but the campus is finally ready for action again! Some self-proclaimed experts tell me this sudden rise in student activism is due to the presidential election. I don’t think this is the case; I plunged heavily into the campaign of ’96 and we didn’t have near this level of enthusiasm.

The protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle, the Republican counter-demonstrations in the Florida election scandal and even the hype surrounding the Justice for All display last semester is proof of a new trend emerging from the ashes of moral indifference.

Generation-X are at large upperclassmen and graduate students, now. The apathy of my generation is starting to give way to the enthusiasm and curiosity of what we are now calling “Generation-Y.” I have never seen so much fire and devotion to causes before!

I suppose the newer generation is rebelling against my generation. After all, the very first of Gen-X are the parents of the forerunners of Gen-Y! I am no sociologist, but I do think the apathy and dormancy of Gen-X is due to rebellion against a very socially active Baby Boomer generation. In contrast, I believe Gen-Y is rebelling against the “it’s all good” mentality of Gen-X.

If this is true, I’m going to have to try harder than ever to provide commentary that is worth your precious time to read. The marketplace of ideas is more competitive than before. We columnists must offer stronger words, innovative perspectives and some inspiring anecdotes to get our respective points across.

I’m going to miss the lack of competition. I’m also going to miss the vast expanse of free ink the commentary page once offered me.

I’ve had my chance to write full-page manifestos in the past. In the back of my mind, I wondered if the short attention spans of my classmates would ever entertain the entire text of my message. Perhaps it is to my benefit to write briefly. I loathe saying it may be to the advantage of my ideological opponents, as well.

How am I now going to appropriately respond to “agnostic Unitarians” like Aaron Dolson, who assume moral judgment is a bad thing? How can I say intelligently, without coming off like a simpleton, the original language of the Bible has several instances of the word “judge,” and there is a stark difference between prejudice, passing judgment and judging personally right and wrong?

Or how am I going to be able to testify, in 600 to 800 words, my presence at the Vagina Monologues? I was accused of being a liar, and I have a lot to say about that. For instance I was there for a brief amount of time off-and-on and was asked to stay out of the entryway due to the fire code. I had also read some of the monologues beforehand in the book by Eve Ensler, which is unfortunately available in most bookstores. I knew what I was talking about, though I couldn’t find a seat in the sold-out performance.

I must choose my words more wisely from now on.

Now for my rant of the week. The reason I am against the Texas Lottery is simple:

[end.]