Column exemplifies Chronicle ineptitude

In my one-plus semesters here at Duke, I have come to see that The Chronicle is little more than an unprofessional, often blatantly biased, junior high school-type publication. From sports reporters who picked our football team to beat Florida State (and every other team except Virginia, whom we beat), to mindless, irrelevant, offensively unfunny cartoons and articles, The Chronicle has proven time and time again that it has no respect for itself, anyone else, or any of the canons of professional journalism.

Until today, however, I simply let The Chronicle's egregious crimes against taste slide, telling myself that I had better things to do than worry about them. But the Feb. 6 edition of "Monday, Monday" pushed me over the edge. I had to respond.

This "Monday, Monday," in which some clown who calls him or herself "COLONEL CHUTZPAH" (whatever happened to the good old-fashioned byline?), is an absolute disgrace. I call into question not the fact that it pokes fun at Jewish people (being Jewish, I appreciate Jewish jokes as much as anyone), but the fact that it has absolutely no point, is absolutely not funny and has absolutely no place in the daily newspaper of one of the world's top universities.

Race- and religion-related humor is, as far as I am concerned, fine as long as it is one, humorous, and two, clearly in jest. The column in question only meets one of these criteria (barely). Even if it were funny, I still feel this article and the countless others like it that have appeared in The Chronicle are not appropriate fare for any publication that aims to command respect.

As a regular reader of The Chronicle (for lack of a better alternative), I simply want to open it and see objectively written news stories, intelligently written and well thought-out opinion columns and sports stories that don't pick us to beat Carolina by 30 points in basketball. I feel that the people who run The Chronicle need to get a better grip on journalism and professionalism and screen the material that goes into their newspaper more effectively to make sure that such sensationalistic garbage ceases to be a part of their publication.

I don't think that's too much to ask.

Jeffrey Wuhl

Trinity '98