Letter to the editor

Viewpoints should be serious

It is hard to take the Student Voice seriously as a platform for debate and intellectual discussions. The Viewpoints pages are regularly composed of personal grievances and insipid day-in-the-life moments. Are the readers expected to submit serious, well-researched arguments and points of debate when the paid writers do not?

Mr. Evans, did you think at all about your methods? I don’t think it takes a great mind to realize that people will respond to a personal attack over the regular drivel of the Viewpoints page. They are also more likely to respond to a personal attack than they are to a rational, structured and informed viewpoint, but the lack of such editorials leaves me with no evidence to refute my claim.

Instead of once again blaming the readers that the Letters to the Editor section is empty, why not write informative editorials on subjects that are important to people? If your most pointed opinion piece is a wandering story that refuses to take a stand, like Ms. Smith’s, what do you expect people to respond to? Take responsibility for your own newspaper and write something that is worth responding to and I assure you that people will.

The Voice staff has time to research topics and write out well-structured arguments. Stop making Viewpoints look like the newspaper equivalent of a get-out-of-responsibility free card. Take some pride in your writing. Be concise, edit and cut out the filler and frivolous “and then I...” stories.

This is a newspaper, not a magazine for bad short fiction. Every word in your column should be important. Write and edit with precision and give the readers something to respond to.

Abrahm Simons
Student