Lat's Article Was 'Insulting'

I find it extremely ironic that the very day after The Crimson printed Evan Cucci's piece, "Forsenic Etiquette," on the futility of personal insult in the course of a debate, David Lat has the audacity to write "Rebels Without a Cause," at best a "critique" of the protests that occurred during Junior Parent's Weekend.

His sheer abrasiveness is indicative of the depths to which some students have plummeted, all in the name of academic discourse. No matter how pointless Mr. Lat found these protests, his branding them as "stupid" or laughable is truly uncalled for and serves no real purpose.

In fact, I am sad to say that this is not the first time he has resorted to such tactics; in his attack on AFARM, he spent his entire editorial poking fun at that group's name. Intellectual debate? I don't think so.

As both Harvard student and a reader of The Crimson, I feel intellectually insulted that he could waste entire pages of the editorial section with this kind of banter.

Quoting Camille Paglia may be appropriate in such a discourse as his; however, his choice of quotes--"Puhleez!"--is dubious. Rather then telling these students to "shut up," perhaps Mr. Lat should first listen to what they are saying.

The lack of tact (and timing) of this piece is a perfect example of the extent to which some students ignore the issues. I finished his article feeling that not a single valid point was made, except maybe that the sixties were over (quite a revelation indeed).

Looking at past editorials--first the "Liberal White Female," a superficial and degrading insight on feminism, then the attack on AFRAM, replete with homophobic epithets, and finally "Rabels Without a Cause," a cliched response to the protest last weekend--one can see that Mr. Lat relies too heavily on insulting other points of view, without addressing the relevant facts.

He belittles students who stand up for their beliefs by comparing them to the Energizer bunny, while in effect his point is diluted by the use of trite metaphors.

Mr. Lat thinks that what the minority student leaders need to here is, "Sit down, you're rocking the boat."

Free thought is based on this very rocking of the boat, and Mr. Lat should realize that without that freedom, there would be no editorial page at all. Bridget Wagner '95