2008 Woodie Awards
notes from the desk: The responsibility of power
Jay Dolan
Issue date: 5/1/08 Section: Opinions
As a senior at Middlebury, I'm afraid I can't leave this campus with anything all that entertaining or insightful. Still, I'll do my best to relay an interesting realization I had while working on the Opinions section these past two years. It is directed to anyone who has ever submitted a letter or op-ed.
I often find myself editing and placing submissions that openly criticize organizations or individuals. I will admit that I enjoy these pieces because they demonstrate that people read the section and care enough to write about it. They also guarantee a response from the organization that is attacked. These are the responses which almost always reveal a flaw in anyone's strategy for responding to an attack. This flaw is each person's tendency to vehemently defend themselves, and their position, at all costs.
While it is some times necessary to practice this art of defense, I have seen countless responses that should not have used this strategy. I have limited space, so I will share one example with you. You might wonder how I decided on which example to discuss. Well, I wrote them all down and put them into a hat. Actually, I used two hats. One was filled with examples of people who laughably defend themselves to no end. And the other hat contained examples that did the same, but also took away my radio show. I drew from the second hat.
Earlier this year, WRMC was accused of skewing the MCAB concert survey by rallying their loyal group of hipsters and pushing for a swift vote of Cake. People were upset and wrote to this section. Then, as predicted, WRMC wrote back defending themselves with the usual rhetoric of, 'WRMC is a diverse group of students with varying tastes in music and would never … yada yada.' What I will never understand is why groups such as WRMC do not admit that they held the power, and they used it. I mean, rather than defend yourself with a drawn-out, bleeding-heart response, just tell the truth. Say, "Yes, as members of the executive board, we decided we wanted Cake and we used our power to get it done. We did it because we could. We have that power and it wasn't fair, but we did it anyway."
I often find myself editing and placing submissions that openly criticize organizations or individuals. I will admit that I enjoy these pieces because they demonstrate that people read the section and care enough to write about it. They also guarantee a response from the organization that is attacked. These are the responses which almost always reveal a flaw in anyone's strategy for responding to an attack. This flaw is each person's tendency to vehemently defend themselves, and their position, at all costs.
While it is some times necessary to practice this art of defense, I have seen countless responses that should not have used this strategy. I have limited space, so I will share one example with you. You might wonder how I decided on which example to discuss. Well, I wrote them all down and put them into a hat. Actually, I used two hats. One was filled with examples of people who laughably defend themselves to no end. And the other hat contained examples that did the same, but also took away my radio show. I drew from the second hat.
Earlier this year, WRMC was accused of skewing the MCAB concert survey by rallying their loyal group of hipsters and pushing for a swift vote of Cake. People were upset and wrote to this section. Then, as predicted, WRMC wrote back defending themselves with the usual rhetoric of, 'WRMC is a diverse group of students with varying tastes in music and would never … yada yada.' What I will never understand is why groups such as WRMC do not admit that they held the power, and they used it. I mean, rather than defend yourself with a drawn-out, bleeding-heart response, just tell the truth. Say, "Yes, as members of the executive board, we decided we wanted Cake and we used our power to get it done. We did it because we could. We have that power and it wasn't fair, but we did it anyway."
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dvdprkr
david
posted 6/01/08 @ 11:10 PM EST
Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? I was not a member of the WRMC board, so I don't know whether or not they did, in fact, fix the poll for a "swift vote of Cake," and I'm assuming Jay Dolan doesn't know for certain either. (Continued…)
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