Misery Hates Company

To the editors:

Noah Oppenheim's most recent piece (Opinion, Jan. 20) suggests that "one of the best ways to hunker down is to derive at least some small, sick and twisted satisfaction in the fact that someone has it worse than you." Those who have it "worse," include starving Russians, massacred Kosovan refugees, and adolescent murder victims.

Rather than sympathizing with the oppressed, Oppenheim chooses to make them the butt of his feeble jokes. Of course, Oppenheim concludes his column by admitting that "this is probably poor advice," which begs the question why he bothered to give it in the first place. DAVID B. ORR '01 Jan. 20, 1999