Hello out there in Internetland. This is the very first installment of my new weekly blog column, titled “The Man Who Was Thursday. ” That title (for which I must thank the incomparable Justin Crowder) comes from the title of a novel by G.K. Chesterton, although the only real connection between the book and the column is the fact that this column will be posted every Thursday. I intend for this column to cover, well… just about anything which can be succinctly discussed in ~300-500 words. Of course, all of my commentary will come from a conservative standpoint, although I will certainly not simply write about politics. Thankfully, we live in a free society in which the government is relegated to its own sphere, leaving room for one to ponder issues beyond the increasingly onerous ineptitude of our elected politicians.
I suppose some sort of short biographical introduction is in order. I am one of the Editors of the esteemed Carolina Review. An ex-communist, I am now something of a libertarian conservative (I’m sure I’ll narrate my conversion at some point). I am a big fan of William F. Buckley, Kierkegaard, G.K. Chesterton (of course), and the Austrian School of Economics. As I’m sure my political, philosophical, and aesthetic tastes will become apparent in coming weeks, I’ll stop there.
I would like to devote the remainder of my space to announcing the creation of the Arielle Reid Award. This award is designed to honor a member of the Carolina community who, against his or her own best intentions, accidentally provides a boon for the Carolina Review. Of course, it is named after Ms. Reid in honor of her Letter-to-the-Editor of the Daily Tar Heel (DTH letter to the editor “Carolina Review’s February issue is offensive garbage,” March 16), which set off a whirlwind of controversy, prompted a set of rebuttals, rebuttals to those rebuttals, and rebuttals to the rebuttals to those rebuttals, and will surely increase the readership of our next issue. As of now, Arielle is the front-runner for this year’s award, but by no means has she already won. There is still plenty of time for someone to burn Bryan and me in effigy or to start a movement to ban the Review from campus and steal the coveted prize away from Ms. Reid. The winner of the Arielle Reid award will be announced on the last day of class.
So,in my Comparative Religions class we just finished a discussion of the Dalits and the caste system in India. Students were outraged that a person’s life could be so impacted simply by the family they were born in to, and not their personal accomplishements and merit. When will the Ms. Reid’s of the world realize that Affirmative Action is our American “caste” system? Any student who has earned their collegiate admissions based on their own accomplishments should be outraged by an antiquated system that allows people admissions who haven’t reached the same level of accomlishment.As long as there are different admissions standards for any race or gender, people who have actually earned their admissions based on their accomplishments alone will be “assumed”to be inferior. Affirmative Action is an unfair practice for any merited student.
Nash, many things CAN be succinctly discussed in 300-500 words. Many things SHOULD NOT be discussed in 300-500 words. As someone who reads books, I hope you’ll recognize the difference in your column.
Nash, I had the same question as Anthony! Since I’ve already burned you in effigy twice this year using cutouts of all your CR articles as fuel for the fires, I think I should be eligible for the Arielle Reid Award even though I am on staff.
Cordially, Chelsea E. Walker
(I’ve decided while reading Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription to start writing eviscerating notes to people and to sign them in a perfectly courteous manner, following the example of WFB in his “Notes and Asides” column.)