So, why start an opinion blog?

12 Nov 2008, Posted by Soundoff in Backpages, Soundoff, 0 Comments

Assorted comments from the Editorial Page Editors about the motivations and intentions for our new opinion blog. (11/10)

Lisa Ma, Editorial Page Editor: The Backpages were started for one reason and one reason only: to wipe the smirk off of Sports Editor Ben Cohen’s face. Cohen has repeatedly rubbed his blog in our faces. But no longer: we’re taking our place in the sun (and, by “sun,” I mean, “eerie glow of the Internets”). What we’ve found here in cyberspace is a forum to forward the discussions that we’ve started on our print pages. We want our columnists to follow up on the issues they’ve brought up in print or to delve into more detail on the subjects they’ve alluded to. We want our editors to respond to questions concerning our coverage and policies. We want our student leaders to engage in dialogue with one another and with a cyber community. We want our guest contributors to have a space for their voices to be heard.  And, most importantly, we want to beat Cohen at his own game.

Austin Boehm, Editorial Page Managing Editor: For me, the best part of opinion is its nuance. A lot of us fundamentally agree on a lot of things, a lot more of us disagree, but the most interesting part regardless is hearing someone express a nuance that makes you think. Makes you challenge. Makes you want to respond. It’s in this last aspect, the want to respond, that I see us as disappointing our readership. Maybe that’s a good thing, but it’s worth finding out—and that’s the epitome of The Backpages for me. Getting a dialogue going, fleshing out those nuances, but most importantly, interacting.

Let’s be honest, that was my ego talking—deep down, this blog exists for one reason, and one reason only: giving us editors more work that will make the proverbial pile that much taller. We’re gluttons for—in fact, we’re addicted to—punishment.

Rebecca Wu, Editorial Page Managing Editor: Why start an opinion blog? Three words: To. Share. Opinions. This blog will not only allow guest contributors a venue to express their ideas, but will also be a great opportunity for columnists to really flesh out their ideas and expand upon concepts for their readers (and dare I say, fans?). Once a column is printed, readers have the ability to post comments online and write letters to the editor. Columnists, however, are prohibited from responding. The fact is that some comments are downright ugly and hey, columnists have feelings too. So, columnists, let’s get this party started. This opinion blog is your second chance to say what you might not have gotten to the first time around.

After a couple days of intense self-reflection, the editors reconvened to offer some follow up thoughts. (11/13)

Lisa Ma, Editorial Page Editor: Our print edition often forces us to make decisions based on space and we’ve found that the Internet has provided us with the ability to mitigate the effects of this problem. Our staff contributors are able to flesh out their ideas and our guest contributors will always have a soapbox to stand on here. We hope that all members of the Duke community will find this space a forum for them to not only continue discussion begun on our pages, but to also to initiate dialogue on issues that our contributors have overlooked.

Austin Boehm, Editorial Page Managing Editor: Our immediate overuse of the term seems to imply that “fleshing out” (see #2) ideas is pretty much the heart of this blog. I think I’m okay with that. But Lisa made a better point than she may have intended when she brought in the other blogs here at The Chronicle. There is a high bar, and seeing the successes that other departments have had with their blogs makes it pretty easy to think that engaging people’s opinions can be at least as interesting. Duke is a place filled with a myriad of opinions, and if we can channel even a minority of them into discussion, it’s bound to be a good experience.

Rebecca Wu, Editorial Page Managing Editor: It is not completely correct to say that this opinion blog was started “to wipe the smirk off of Sports Editor Ben Cohen’s face.” It was also started to spite the Local and National Editors.  We will no longer stand by idly when they rub the Sports Blog and Election Blog in our faces. Now that the election is over, readers can have something fresh and exciting to read about online.

Oboomers

12 Nov 2008, Posted by Letter to the Editor in Backpages, Exclusive guest commentary, 2 Comments

I jokingly articulated on Facebook that we will see a large spike in the number of births across the nation in about nine months. I coined the phenomenon “the Obama-Boomers,” or the Oboomers for succinctness. I did not initially mean to insinuate that President-elect Barack Obama’s ascension to the presidency is on par with the conclusion of World War II but the more I think about it, the more I realize there are some interesting, even striking parallels between the two events.

For starters, they are both globally and historically exciting. The amount of international faith Obama has inspired is actually kind of surprising. Also there are these notions of democracy which have been reaffirmed by these monumental events. Obama’s victory has been hailed as a testament to American democracy, the likes of which we haven’t seen in at least the last eight years.

But what exactly is so exciting about Obama becoming the president-elect? Yes, Obama’s tunneling through the political-racial barrier is a major historical phenomenon, but the common misconception was that this was inevitable.

Personally, I imagined it was going to be a piecemeal victory. I imagined a slow, but steady approach, with the American people favoring black candidates in Congress. Instead, the civil rights community has been wailing on the front door of democracy, and Obama has walked around and found the a side door unlocked. This definitely caught me by surprise. When I was in high school, I concluded I would not live to see the first black president, which is really kind of sad considering that I should be too young to be so cynical.

It’s fantastic to be in college experiencing this monumental event. It truly feels like we are “living history” both in the personal and historical sense. I can already imagine what it will be like for future generations to read about this moment in textbooks, and I pity them for not having gone through it themselves.

Jesse Hilaire
Trinity ‘09

Why voting is wrong

03 Nov 2008, Posted by John Schneider in Backpages, Backtalk, Soundoff, 1 Comments

I would like to follow up on my Oct. 22 anti-voting column “Please don’t vote” and do my best to clarify my position:

By advocating not voting I don’t mean to say that voting doesn’t matter—it quite clearly does matter. The last eight years prove that elections affect everyone’s lives to some degree. By the same token, I have a very strong preference in this election—I am not apathetic. But I am not apathetic on the Duke/UNC rivalry either, but that doesn’t mean it’s OK for me to kidnap Tyler Hansbrough. I’m not equating politics and basketball, but the point holds—just because you would prefer one outcome doesn’t mean that doing everything you can to achieve that outcome is OK.

So why is voting so wrong that you should abstain from it when the stakes are so high?

1. It legitimizes the tyranny of the majority. By voting you are not only voicing your preference, but declaring your intention to abide by the outcome—you cannot participate in democracy on the condition that your side always wins. But why should the fact that many people disagree with me matter? Obviously Hitler and slavery are extreme examples, but there are plenty of others I could have invoked: abortion, civil rights, the Patriot Act, government-subsided health care, lowering the top marginal income tax rate…whether any of these issues are right or wrong has nothing to do with how many people support them, just as Hitler and slavery were not OK because they were supported by a majority. (more…)

Welcome to The Backpages!

01 Nov 2008, Posted by Lisa Ma in Backpages, 0 Comments

The opinion pages—featuring editorials, letters to the editor, guest commentaries, cartoons and columns—are often referred to as the backpages because of where we can be found in the print edition of The Chronicle: at the very end of the paper.

As we enter the blogosphere, however, we are no longer bound by the restrictions of the printing press. Here, we are not the end of your rummagings through the paper; we are not rudely interrupted by word limits; we are not cut short by unforgiving deadlines.

But for all the opportunities the Internet will provide us—and for all that it has inspired within us—we also know what it is capable of. We know what that it lends ease to anger and fosters the growth of anonymous warfare. So we ask that you write passionately and boldly—with a heart that knows compassion and with the weight of your reputation, as we have put both into the work we do.

We’ve named our blog The Backpages to remind ourselves that the standards that we have set for our pages in the print edition follow us into the World Wide Web and that the obligations we have made to you, our readers, remain the same no matter where we go.

We hope this blog brings us closer to fulfilling our promise to be a tower of campus thought and action.