Open Letter

By now I'm sure you've asked yourself: "If he hates what they are writing in the paper, why doesn't he just write letters to the editors." The Oracle has a strict policy on letters sent in to the editor, which must meet the requirements quoted below:

"Letters should not exceed 400 words in length. Letters must include name, major, and year in school. They also must include phone number and street address for verification purposes only. All letters are subject to editing for content, grammar, taste and length. All letters are published at the discretion of the editorial board. Only letters sent via email will be considered."

-For content? "Taste"? The only editing I see that is justified is editing for grammar, profanity, and possibly length; who wants and excessively long paper to be full of typos and trash? But content?! I wouldn't want The Oracle to edit my letter for "content" even if the edit made me agree with someone to the degree of one-millionth. And what is this "taste"? Is it stuff like profanity, or is it arbitrarily at the hands of the editor when it comes to their judgement? The reason I don't send in my letters to The Oracle is because of their eagerness to edit and limit the ideas someone concerned about the viewpoints that The Oracle is carelessly projecting, but on the other hand its writers are free to let people preach impossible dooms-day theories, cut down on successful businesses, speak superficially about economic theory and capitalism, and make shallow attempts to justify socialist medicine; the foolishness is inconceivable.

-Daniel.