No balance in Israeli viewpoints
First, I am uncertain as to who is born without burden. The evocative homoerotic imagery that opens “A tribute to 60 years of Israel” (May 8) is curious enough, but the indefensibly romanticized portrait Avraham Cohn paints of a soldier and his lopsided rhetorical definition of the “other” is warped and misguided and identifies the author as a bona fide point-misser. Furthermore, there is no real point to the opinion piece; nothing is reported, and we learn little other than that Mr. Cohn is a privileged individual who likes coffee, crappy music and views war through a romantic lens.Recognizing that this is an opinion piece, I am surprised that The Diamondback would run such vacuous content while positioned as the fourth check and balance of government.Why not focus on groups that are seeking unification between Palestine and Israel? Why not focus on food/grain heritage in Israel? However, the onus doesn’t fall squarely on the shoulders of the author.The Diamondback needs to recognize its obligation to mitigating bias. Here, lack of a counterpoint about lilting pastoral olive trees in Palestine or the hard-working woman with seven dead martyr children is probably a good thing.While everyone is entitled to their opinion, fan-fiction-driven doxography stinks up the student paper. Here I would ask both author and editor: Is your goal to tell the truth or to be accurate?
Edward A. BennettGraduate studentAnthropology
Down with Miss Daisy
Every morning I’m on the campus I pick up The Diamondback to thumb through the headlines while waiting for a class or meeting. Not one to usually peruse print newspapers, I take exception when on the campus for reasons such as “it’s free” or “what else is there to spend 10 minutes on?” The greatest reason I pick up The Diamondback is because it is one of the few school papers that actually contains well-written articles.I don’t voice my opinions about articles very often, but I think “Drinking with Miss Daisy” (May 8) deserves an exception. At first when I picked up the paper I thought it was another article about some bar opening or an event, but I quickly found out it was instead a piece on the degradation of our cultural heroes. I thoroughly enjoyed how the author examined the difference between the role models that used to be available and the current state of celebrity worship. The brilliant comparison of the way we would address an honestly great individual (“It’s an honor to meet you.”) with the way we greet celebrities (“DAAAAAISY!”) was only outdone by the truly astounding contrast of the wisdom we receive from celebrities.I have now replaced my favorite quote of “Never give in,” by Winston Churchill, with the sheer inspiration of “Let’s just get really drunk!” I would just like to thank the author of this piece for their exceptional work in bringing us this article. What? None of that was in there? Well, I beg your forgiveness, I must’ve been drunk.
Jeremy PegginsSophomoreElectrical engineering
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