Seven Questions

I have been receiving much flak about a box called seven questions that the sports section of the Daily runs every Thursday. This section's purpose is to ask a Tufts athlete seven questions pertaining to his or her sport, hobbies, and basically everything under the sun. Some questions posed on subject are serious, but on the majority questions are jokes. The author of seven questions poses the questions and does not alter the answers.

This being said, seven questions is my not my primary responsibility on this paper, and I pretty much do it for fun. I am not a big fan of all of the commentary I have been receiving about the box. In a recent publication of a campus magazine, there was much slandering of seven questions and myself. While I generally respect everybody's opinion without jumping to a rash conclusion, I felt that it was just plain wrong.

I love a good comedian. I often listen to Eddie Murphy stand-up comedy for hours at a time. Granted, Murphy was a star during a different time period, but he said incredibly outlandish statements. I found those jokes often sexist and homophobic, but also tremendously funny. I realize that everybody does not have the same sense of humor, thus the complaints about seven questions.

After some of this criticism started surfacing, a joke from Murphy's Raw continued to run through my mind. Murphy says that he is tired of all the flak he received from Bill Cosby after Cosby learned that Murphy uses profane language at his shows. Murphy says that he is so frustrated by Cosby's comments that he calls fellow comedian Richard Pryor. Pryor responds by saying the next time the Cosby calls to (this quote is heavily altered for the flagrant use of profanities) "tell him to kiss off, whatever makes the people laugh say that stuff."

For whatever reasons, I thought the all of the seven questions published were funny. Could it be that I have the sense of humor that makes me chuckle to many of Murphy's "offensive" jokes? Most likely. Sense of humor is a characteristic that is unique to every individual and mine just happens to be on the lower side of the accepted norm.

Although the campus publication that voiced its collective opinion against seven questions made a dreadful argument, that article and a letter from a disgruntled reader written to the Daily made me study past seven questions.

I am going to be a man and admit that I can see how the seven questions with Alex Gardner could have been offensive to some. Many of the questions were responded to by inside jokes that can be taken the wrong way. Rape is not an issue to be joked about, and not only women eat ice cream at Carmichael Dining Hall.

Regardless of freedom of speech or not, I do apologize to those females or males who were offended by said seven questions. Often jokes between friends are funny when read between friends, but when put on a campus-wide microscope some feelings get hurt.

Although I do understand how some answers given in seven questions can be construed as offensive to some, I do believe that people tend to fight just for the sake of being pugnacious. There are some people who chose to be offended simply because they feel like they should be offended. Through college life I have learned that some people feel like there is an argument and a reason for protest for every facet of life.

While the Alex Gardner seven questions was a mistake in many ways, the content of seven questions will remain relatively the same. The society we live in associates female and male athletes with sex. Arguably the most popular women's tennis player, Anna Kournikova, is ranked 36 in the WTA rankings. Judging from this ranking, she is not known for her world-dominating tennis skills. I guarantee if you poll a group of guys, at least half will identify Wilt Chamberlain as the guy who had sex with thousands of women before they recognize him as the player who scored 100 points in a single game.

I do feel like readers who are concerned with the content of seven questions should actually look past their preconceived notions as to what is sexist and racist and actually take the content for face value. The face value of seven questions in 95 percent of cases is simply a joke. But, I will strive to make future seven questions less offensive to the general population while maintaining the comical and relaxed atmosphere of the box.