I am writing to defend Pornocopia’s inclusion in the course catalogue.
Dear Mr. Benjamin, Unfortunately for you, though I graduated, I still read the Argus. (Think the admissions committee is shocked?) Let’s pick up where we left off: You responded to Prof. Pfister’s statements with the intention, I assume, of demonstrating that the commoditization of all parts of American culture in the post 9/11 world shouldn’t be blamed (solely) on G. W. Bush.
1 The World is all that is the case. … 2 It is the case that to write a vacuous narcissistic Wespeak is the functional equivalent of urinating on one’s self publicly. … 2.01 A vacuous narcissistic Wespeak can be understood as one full of invective rant but without a discernible point. … 2.011 Omni-directional criticism, no matter how witty, by definition has no central message.
To Martin Benjamin ’57: This being at least the second time you have written to this fair paper of ours, I had imagined that I had a pretty good idea what to expect from you. Imagine my surprise when at the end of your diatribe, you lashed out at my very own major, Film Studies.
Dear readers, Accidents happen. Regarding my LETTER TO THE EDITOR (Oct. 2), a couple of paragraphs were run together. Wishing to caution the speeding reader to avoid the collisions, I submitted a second letter asking that the editors acknowledge their honest mistake. “As honest as the wheel in Rick’s.” “My muse, your nose is shiny; […]
Dear Editor, Anita Hill’s Commencement Address was well received… “At best, politely received, you mealy-mouthed suck-up; it was the usual mess of progressive potash.” One muse’s opinion. “Excuse me?” The only one that counts. And I was about to say that under the aegis of Michael Roth, that celebrated student of the stance (his point […]
Dear Editor, Thank you for running 99.44% of my April 27 letter. The missing .56% appears right after the very first sentence, the one which noted that book reviewer Roth had cast the authors of “Free Speech on Campus” as “fundamentalists” who take a “dogmatic approach to freedom of expression.” I then wrote: “Translation: your […]
Dear Editor: Reviewing Chemerinsky and Gillman’s “Free Speech on Campus,” BMOC Michael Roth is a marching sandwich board of starchy clichés: the authors (UCal officials) are “fundamentalists” who take a “dogmatic approach to freedom of expression.” The Man continues: “Their rhetoric suggests that a succession of horrible events will be the unintended consequence of even […]
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT ROTH Dear Michael, Will there come a day when… “Drop that laptop!” “Don’t shoot! Take it, take whatever I have – it’s yours.” “You said it, Bubby, and don’t you forget it.” “My muse! How merveilleuse you look!” “There goes half your hoard of French.” “I wish you wouldn’t talk that […]
Dear Michael, It’s being bruited about the Street that, in the Great Game of Liberal Education (a bruising, no-holds-barred affair), you have to be and are the go-to guy – a guy whose literary bravura recalls the shock and awe of the Bores’ War. (Granted, down on Wall the bar isn’t set very high. To […]