Check yourself

The recent brouhaha over "Seven Questions," which appears every Thursday in the sports section, is utterly ridiculous. Elliott Wiley, Jr.'s column, ("Almost an Athlete" 10/30) in defense of his section started off on-point but ended on the wrong note. He states, "While I generally respect everybody's opinion without jumping to a rash conclusion, I felt that (the angry response) was just plain wrong."

However, he then goes on to state exactly which of the "Seven Questions" he sees as legitimately offensive and promises to try and moderate the athletes' responses in the future. In my opinion, Wiley, Jr. should feel no need to apologize or to make any excuses for his praiseworthy and comical section of the paper.

While most people enjoy watching sports and participating in them, we realize that they are, after all, a game. You can play in a heated pick-up hoops game on a Thursday night and get fired up, but after the game is over you head out on the town and laugh about it. Keeping this in mind, the sports section is the ideal spot for a sidebar like "Seven Questions." It is a comical piece and may get personal occasionally or even often, but it is meant to be taken with a grain of salt.

One of the biggest social problems at Tufts is the fact that an incredible amount of political correctness is required in everyday dealings. The majority is forced to pander to the insecurities of the few, virtually limiting our freedom of speech. Rumor has it that the ice cream comment in Alex Gardner's "Seven Questions" offended a few people.

If someone wants to crack a joke about fat girls eating too much ice cream at Carmichael, so what? When the group "fat girls" was singled out, no one person was named. So, if this comment offended you, what does that tell you about yourself? It basically means that you are insecure about something.

As far as the sexism that is allegedly inherent in "Seven Questions" goes, this is ridiculous. No one has forced the female athletes to answer these questions, and they do so of their own free will. Who is Radix to speak out against the free will of others? If the female athletes happily respond to the questions, how can Radix tell the girls what they should do?

That would be as if I wanted to have a public viewing of "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" at my house, and Radix told me, "No, it would be a disgrace to all white people because there are jokes in there about your ethnic group." Thanks, I'm sorry, but I do not care what you have to say, because I'm old enough to decide for myself.

Likewise, Andy Katzenberg's statements in "Seven Questions" were a blatant satire of his relationships with black people. Did anyone (other than Radix) actually think he was at a loss when he was asked to name the black people he knew? Once again, I find it interesting that the person who chose to write "Seven Questions" with Andy Katzenberg is a member of the ethnic group that The Radix is trying to defend.

In conclusion, no one is tolerating racism and sexism in "Seven Questions." This sidebar is rarely serious, and if Mr. Wiley, Jr. suddenly decided to give it a serious tone in response to the insecurities of the few, no one would want to read it. Its edgy humor is precisely the reason why people enjoy it so much. So, here is a message to those who are offended: relax, don't take yourself so seriously, and try to enjoy life.

William Miller is a senior majoring in economics