To Whom It May Concern:
Kathryn Caruana writes in her article on her semester in the UK about a gentleman that sits near British Parliament with a sign condemning the war in Iraq. Wrote Caruana, "I can’t even imagine what the compassionately conservative Bush administration would do if such a display were on view from the White House lawn."
Please inform the writer that in addition to the daily protests and demonstrations that take place in front of the White House, a man and woman, anti-war team have been camped out in Lafeyette Park since 1981. While they are made to move for certain events (innauguration, Sept. 11 evacuation, etc.) they remain, handing out literature from a ramshackle booth whenever the park is open. They have outlasted Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and will most likely continue on until their last dying breath.
Also, I am interested to know what exactly the dire circumstances are that Ms. Caruana "can't imagine" face protestors at the White House.
Sincerely,
Andrew P.
Liberal Bias?
It is a concern of mine that your “paper” only prints the left wing agenda. However, if the liberal agenda is so right. Why are they afraid of conservatives? Why won't you challenge your own beliefs?
I submitted an article called The Politics of Hip Hop (9/13/05 issue) and you included everything except THE POLITICS. There nothing wrong with the liberal point of view except not offering the other point of view.
“When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his ‘proper place’ and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.”-- Dr. Carter G. Woodson, "The Miseducation of the Negro"
-Rick Johnson
Dear Rick,
Sometimes, the editors at Generation are forced to trim the fat off of submissions because they are either a) too long, or b) incoherent as submitted. As the disclaimer on the left side of the page says, “We reserve the right to edit all submissions for content and length.” (my emphasis)
I’m sorry if you felt I removed “the politics” when I trimmed your piece, but the material I left out was a large-ish batch of quotations from random academics or rappers that had little or no framework and ended up being largely repetitive and difficult to understand. This is a technique you are obviously fond of, given its usage throughout the submitted essay and the letter you wrote defending it, but it has little value for anyone not residing within the confines of your skull.
Furthermore, the accusation that we only print “the left wing agenda” is a little perplexing. The “article” you submitted contained little or no politics even in its full text. It mostly ran through the reasons that hip hop is the voice of our generation, then proceeded to list a lot of quotes from rap songs, seemingly in an effort to show that rappers do, indeed, have political lyrics. There was nothing in there that could be construed as left- or right-wing.
Our publication is not “afraid” of conservatives. In fact, we have one that works for us, and we even feed him, too. Jason Tracy (author of this week’s cover story) is a proud conservative and has no problem keeping us honest and sharing his own views in his post as assistant features editor. In last week’s issue, Jason published a conservative-friendly editorial that ran prominently. So no, I guess I can’t see where you’re coming from on that. I’m sorry if you felt the editing was too harsh, but it was necessary.
Oh, and it’s a magazine, not a “paper.” Next time you get angry about the way your work is displayed, do your homework first.
Don’t Stalk Me,
Jacob Drum
Associate Editor, Generation
