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Berg: If it's war the poor writers
want ...
By Amanda Berg, AsiaXpress.com
March 7, 2008
Max Karson called for a war against Asians. I’m
calling for a war against poor writing.
My first response to Karson’s article for The
Campus Press, “If it’s war the Asians
want… It’s war they’ll get,” was
not of horror or shock. I was not offended or hurt by
his insults and threats.
I was, however, appalled.
I was appalled by Karson’s poor writing and lack
of satirical skill. I understood that his intent was not
to vilify or threaten the Asian population of CU-Boulder,
but to lambaste the Caucasian students and their supposed
racist attitudes.
Unfortunately, it took several re-readings for me to
gather these points because his piece was so jumbled that
only half of the column could possibly be considered sarcasm.
Felix Im, another CU student, also wrote a piece for
the school’s publication which coincided with Karson’s
article. Apparently Im’s article, “A few words
on the Asiaphillic plague,” was intended to be a
parallel to Karson’s sentiment about racism toward
Asians – only it was told from an Asian-American
viewpoint.
Sadly, this piece was just as confusing as the other.
Im began with a tear-jerking tale of self-loathing due
to his Asian heritage, a topic I can relate to well. But
then he switched into an unexpected, unmerited and rambling
diatribe against Caucasians for fetishizing his race.
He finished by saying, “Dear Asiaphile, I hate you.”
This statement was only vaguely relevant to the last part
of the column and completely failed to conclude the piece
or give any clear meaning to his writing.
These two pieces sparked an incredible amount of controversy
between those complaining about the lack of diversity
and tolerance at CU-Boulder and those supporting Karson
and Im’s First Amendment rights. Some believe that
the journalists, Karson in particular, wrote damaging
and bigoted articles calling for violence and hatred between
races. Others believe that the freedom of speech should
not be questioned or hindered, and therefore neither Karson,
nor The Campus Press should be punished. It’s
the 1950s versus 1791.
No one is seeing the real problem here. It’s not
civil rights pitted against First Amendment rights. It’s
poor writing and poor taste. Karson’s and Im’s
articles both have valid points and some amount of humor.
Neither is clear and neither maintains a comprehensible
flow. Satire and sarcasm are difficult to master and it
takes some amount of skill and practice in order to write
well with those tools. Even then, any good journalist
should know that there is great risk when writing satire
for a broad audience because one never knows how said
audience will react.
I do not know what consequences there should be for Karson
or Im, but perhaps requiring them to take some basic writing
and composition classes should be the first step. Then
we can tackle solving the race war.
Dear poor writing,
I hate you.
Amanda Berg is a staff writer for
AsiaXpress.com. Amanda can be reached at amanda.berg@asiaxpress.com.
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