Spring Break
So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, the rest
Ryan Nowell
Issue date: 3/25/09 Section: Opinion
Well kind readers, for various reasons, I have to cut my tenure here on the opinion page short a few months. The gig's not any less glamorous (the coke-fueled boat parties on the French Riviera will be missed), but time and energy are in short supply and high demand.
Since this is it, I thought it best to touch on the running theme I always felt did the most good and was most important to spread -- the value of deep, nonpartisan cynicism.
Sure, I've had my share of partisan articles, and I'm not about to eat crow over them. I hate George Bush. I think Sarah Palin's an idiot. Sorry. But if I had written an article calling bull every time the Democratic congress did something skeazy, well, I wouldn't have written about anything else. I'm looking at you, Chris Dodd.
I've been accused of a lot of things during my run here -- America-hating, white guilt, liberal self-hatred, tired socialist ranting, McSwane apologetics. And from a hostile perspective, I'm sure I look like a foppish Chairman Mao, lazily blaming all society's ills on faceless market forces and Christian patriarchy.
Since the politics we seem to understand are just cartoons, then really campuses are composed of two people -- there's the pony-tailed eco-collegiates, downing free-trade soy lattes, insisting you'd be a better person if you felt crappy about the plight of the insert-indigenous-peoples-here.
And there are the dashing young Turks fresh from their second read-through of "The Fountainhead," boldly proclaiming socialism a pile of quibbling, sentimental garbage, right before ubermensching up to Red Feather each weekend.
Neither is entirely wrong. Socialism is certainly a pile of something. Not garbage, but not a sustainable economic paradigm, either. But if you believe anybody absolutely, then you're being lazy.
The world, in all its complex magnitudes and bristling minutiae, does not care what letter is stamped on your voter registration, and trying to explain everything with one didactic perspective only pigeonholes you, not humanity at large.
Since this is it, I thought it best to touch on the running theme I always felt did the most good and was most important to spread -- the value of deep, nonpartisan cynicism.
Sure, I've had my share of partisan articles, and I'm not about to eat crow over them. I hate George Bush. I think Sarah Palin's an idiot. Sorry. But if I had written an article calling bull every time the Democratic congress did something skeazy, well, I wouldn't have written about anything else. I'm looking at you, Chris Dodd.
I've been accused of a lot of things during my run here -- America-hating, white guilt, liberal self-hatred, tired socialist ranting, McSwane apologetics. And from a hostile perspective, I'm sure I look like a foppish Chairman Mao, lazily blaming all society's ills on faceless market forces and Christian patriarchy.
Since the politics we seem to understand are just cartoons, then really campuses are composed of two people -- there's the pony-tailed eco-collegiates, downing free-trade soy lattes, insisting you'd be a better person if you felt crappy about the plight of the insert-indigenous-peoples-here.
And there are the dashing young Turks fresh from their second read-through of "The Fountainhead," boldly proclaiming socialism a pile of quibbling, sentimental garbage, right before ubermensching up to Red Feather each weekend.
Neither is entirely wrong. Socialism is certainly a pile of something. Not garbage, but not a sustainable economic paradigm, either. But if you believe anybody absolutely, then you're being lazy.
The world, in all its complex magnitudes and bristling minutiae, does not care what letter is stamped on your voter registration, and trying to explain everything with one didactic perspective only pigeonholes you, not humanity at large.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 6
Jenna
posted 3/25/09 @ 7:37 AM MST
Nooooooooooooo.
Who will bring the lulz to my Wednesdays now?
Alex
posted 3/25/09 @ 12:44 PM MST
Ryan,
I always enjoyed reading your eloquently written, intellectually stimulating articles, you will very much be missed. Here's wishing you all the best
Registered Independent
posted 3/25/09 @ 4:56 PM MST
Good observation about "customizing reality".
Auf wiedersehen, yourself.
Kelsey
posted 3/25/09 @ 8:43 PM MST
Thanks. I always enjoyed reading your columns.
pony-tailed eco-collegiates
posted 3/25/09 @ 10:23 PM MST
Pardon me, that's a FAIR-trade soy latte.
Suheet
posted 3/26/09 @ 7:21 AM MST
Nowell, you are one of the few very few writers who has ever gotten me not to smile, or chuckle but honest-to-god laugh out loud and I thank you for that. (Continued…)
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