Letters
Righteous Indignation
How Coud [sic] You?
Dear Oregon Commentator Editorial Board,Have you all no shame? As a staff writer and lover of all God's creatures great and small, I am deeply appaled [sic] at the Commentator's choice of covers for this issue. Must I point out that, no, Mr. Frohnmayer is not dead? Get with it. It is never funny to print that our societies' [sic] cherished public figures are dead, that is unless one is speaking of Pat Buchanan, Kid Rock, or any of the various infomertial [sic] celebrities. (I appoligize [sic] in advance to any Kid Rock fans that might be reading this letter.)
If I were on the Editorial Board of the Oregon Commentator, I would never allow such irresposible [sic] banter to be printed. Instead I would stick to classic wittisisms [sic] from such sources as the Penuts [sic] comic strip and Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. That's funny. David Frohnmayer dead: not funny. Don't make me come up there and...oh, wait...I just turned over to the back cover. Nevermind.
-Ben Nahorney, Staff Writer, Oregon Commentator
How Could Dan?
To the Editor,As Managing Editor of the Oregon Commentator, I was severely dismayed at the actions of the entire editorial board of the Commentator in their attempt to make light of University President Dave Frohnmayer's recent health problems. I particularly take issue with Managing Editor Dan Atkinson's complicity in the parody. I, Dan Atkinson, would take genuine pleasure in any efforts Dan Atkinson might undertake to find humor in the numerous heart malfunctions he is doomed to by heredity. Will he be publishing allegations of his own death when he finds himself in the hospital after his first life-threatening heart arrythmia? I think not. Hell, his own mother is on medication for such problems. Would he find it funny for such travails to afflict her? I demand an apology to Dave Frohnmayer and the entire University community.
-Dan Atkinson, Managing Editor, Oregon Commentator
The Commentator responds
Upstairs at the Commentator in Room 205, we sometimes print a joke, or an article, or a picture that we later regret. Something such as our disrespectful, tactless cover parody of University President Dave Frohnmayer's recent medical trouble (OC v.XVII, i.III).We can make excuses, and say that it was five in the morning, and that we just didn't know better, but that would be making excuses. We would simply be writing off a cruel joke that was unfunny, unwarranted, and unwelcome on our fair campus. When is a joke not just a joke is the question we've been asking ourselves. We have now arrived at an answer: when it isn't funny.
We at the Commentator sincerely wish to apologize to President Frohnmayer and his family for all of the pain we have caused, and for any future pain we may cause for any cheap shots we may make in subsequent issues. The joke was in poor taste, no matter how funny (or unfunny) it may have been, and the same goes for those we may print in the in the future. We are truly sorry (as we will be later on). Truly.
-Ed.