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Ask a stupid question...
Jun. 29th, 2004 03:05 pmOn the way to my networking class today, I got shanghaied by an undergrad reporter for the Daily Iowan, the official UI newspaper. Each issue includes a man-on-the-street talking-heads column similar to the one the Onion has, only not funny -- catch some random people, get pictures of them, and get their responses to some question or another.
What pressing issue did they have for me, you ask? "If you were to write a column or letter to the editor for the DI, what would it be about?"
Having trouble coming up with articles, anyone?
Now, never let it be said that I am not an opinionated person. I have enough opinions to keep an entire editorial department busy for the next few years running. But most of those opinions have to do with Big, Important Topics. Open-source software. The occupation of Iraq. The proper role of the rule of law in a free society. Whether multiple inheritance makes for good code. Whether or not it matters if a higher power exists. The state of public education today. Why Hemingway wipes the floor with Faulkner. The relative merits of d20 vs. GURPS. Hell, I even have opinions that have to do with the university, e.g., why the graduate student union keeps shooting itself in the foot every time it goes to the bargaining table with the board of regents.
But most of my opinions make really lousy soundbites. Sure, I could explain the problem with COGS ... but I couldn't do it without providing a good five minutes' worth of background information, from why providing health care with a $5 copayment is far cheaper for the university than health care with no copayment to what COGS is in the first place. It's not the kind of thing that fits well in 1.5 square inches of 14-point type, and merely saying "the grad student union leadership are a bunch of impractical booger-eating morons" makes me look bad.
So, instead, I blathered something about how most of the undergrads here really don't have the math and science preparation they need in order to do reasonably well in their core classes, and then I got my picture taken and headed off to networking.
Watch. They'll probably misquote me.
Fucking undergrads. I hate every last one of you.
What pressing issue did they have for me, you ask? "If you were to write a column or letter to the editor for the DI, what would it be about?"
Having trouble coming up with articles, anyone?
Now, never let it be said that I am not an opinionated person. I have enough opinions to keep an entire editorial department busy for the next few years running. But most of those opinions have to do with Big, Important Topics. Open-source software. The occupation of Iraq. The proper role of the rule of law in a free society. Whether multiple inheritance makes for good code. Whether or not it matters if a higher power exists. The state of public education today. Why Hemingway wipes the floor with Faulkner. The relative merits of d20 vs. GURPS. Hell, I even have opinions that have to do with the university, e.g., why the graduate student union keeps shooting itself in the foot every time it goes to the bargaining table with the board of regents.
But most of my opinions make really lousy soundbites. Sure, I could explain the problem with COGS ... but I couldn't do it without providing a good five minutes' worth of background information, from why providing health care with a $5 copayment is far cheaper for the university than health care with no copayment to what COGS is in the first place. It's not the kind of thing that fits well in 1.5 square inches of 14-point type, and merely saying "the grad student union leadership are a bunch of impractical booger-eating morons" makes me look bad.
So, instead, I blathered something about how most of the undergrads here really don't have the math and science preparation they need in order to do reasonably well in their core classes, and then I got my picture taken and headed off to networking.
Watch. They'll probably misquote me.
Fucking undergrads. I hate every last one of you.
