To the Editor:
As Editor-in-Chief of the Dartmouth Free Press, I am writing in response to Sam Buntz's most recent opinion column ("Profane Tank," July 1). While I take issue with many of Buntz's claims, I am most concerned that he feels the "principal failing" of our "Fck that Shit" column lies in its mistaking "the f-word and its kin as being humorous in and of themselves." Though I often do find profanity hilarious, especially when it ruffles the feathers of prudes, I can assure Buntz that we do not intend our "Fck that Shit" to leave our readers "giggling" or in a state of "shock" -- and we certainly do not intend for it to add any "clear and logical" argument to our campus discourse.
Instead, "Fck that Shit" exists solely as a rant column for our writers to complain about issues that bother them on campus while inevitably parodying excessive profanity. Yes, this means our column almost always lacks any logical argument, but that is the point of a rant. If you have ever stubbed a toe, you would hardly try to construct a thoughtful argument about the misfortunes of clumsiness or misplaced furniture before letting loose a bunch of profane nonsense. "Fck that Shit" tries to maintain this same stubbed-toe sentiment, as a release for our writers and perhaps some of our readers.
All this aside, I feel that it is a dishonor (hilarious as it may be) for Buntz to lump our space-filling rant column written in a three-minute sitting into the same category of carefully-crafted "radical" literature written by progressives like Allen Ginsberg, Voltaire and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Brian May '10
Editor-In-Chief, the Dartmouth Free Press
