Publishing a newspaper is harder than you might think.
You, dear reader, might think that being satirical is easy and fun. Just change things around, make it ironic or catchy, make up a few names, hit the magic “publish” button and lo and behold, a paper is born.
You also may or may not have heard of Zach Nold, an opinion writer for the (regular, old) Daily Nebraskan. You may or may not have read his pieces about leggings, feminism, or voting rights, to name a few. You may or may not be angry about the things he says, believes, and gets published.
Yes, you are allowed to have any opinions you want. But there are lines everywhere, and crossing those lines isn’t always the best course of action.
As this is written, we the staff of the Dailyer are toiling over the decision about whether or not to run an opinion piece written on this whole Zach Nold debacle. Knee-jerk reaction says yell about it on the internet, the reaction after that is something along the lines of “don’t pay it any mind, lest you give them what they want: attention.” And so forth. This hair-pulling decision took up more of the weekend than one would care to admit. Because when it comes down to it, Nold is just another college kid. He may not get much of anything right, or he may have just mainlined some hard truth onto however many unsuspecting internet trolls. That’s not for us to say.
Generally, the Dailyer shies away from directly addressing the DN’s editorial decisions. The two staffs do not always see eye to eye, but as publications trying to make it on the same campus, we feel their decisions deserve the same respect they give us. Satire doesn’t have to be mean. Satire is meant to point out things that are ignorant, absurd, or just plain goofy. In this case, the DN ran an article many students found highly offensive, by an author with a history of similarly controversial views—and the DN was apparently shocked by the overwhelmingly negative response. Again. A writer was brought into a point/counterpoint they probably never should have had any part in to begin with. Again. And now an article (and the ensuing backlash) have been documented by others outside of this university for all the world to see. A reflection upon us all.
We personally believe it’s a shame that bigotry, intolerance, and racism—on both sides of any given issue—exist (some of the online commenters responding to Nold’s views probably should not be let out in public). But the honest truth is that such opinions do exist; whether the DN should publish them, and whether their surprise at the backlash is legitimate, should be the real debate. The Dailyer isn’t a perfect publication either. We have messed up, searched our collective (grungy) souls, and decided what our line is. Now it is the DN’s turn.
So we are addressing the debate, right inside this very issue. On our opinion page, you’ll find an article “written” by the DN editorial staff… sort of. We encourage you to read our take on the situation — and please read the rest of the paper, too. Plenty of writers put hard work into their articles and deserve a chance to entertain you, and we hear Vice President Biden is up to no good again.
When you’re done with our humble satirical rag, go read Zach Nold’s piece and Ruth Boettner’s rebuttal on the DN website (fork over those precious internet pageviews, baby!). If you do nothing else, stay informed, and draw your own conclusions about the situation. It’s a small thing, but it’s all we can ask.
