Abortion. Reparations. Affirmative action. Evolution vs. Creationism.
The opinion page has examined a number of controversial and sensitive issues this semester that have understandably drawn fire. But Macs?
Anytime columnists examine controversial topics, the paper is sure to receive passionate letters to the editor. On average the Daily probably receives four letters for each column it prints. But even the most controversial column rarely receives more than eight letters to the editor.
It was for this reason that I was incredibly surprised when I came into the newsroom on Tuesday. Upon checking the e-mail account for the opinion page, I found the mailbox flooded with over twenty letters to the editor, well above the norm for a weekday. I immediately wondered what column could have caused such a commotion. I soon found my answer. Someone had bashed Macs.
The day Farhan Shakeel's column "Macs, great paperweights, horrible computers" appeared in The Daily, the paper received over twenty letters to the editor concerning his column. Since those original twenty emails, the paper has received literally dozens more, from states as far away as Montana and Washington.
Bear in mind that the opinion page examined some controversial issues this semester, and none of them drew responses anything like Shakeel's column on computers. Nor have all of these letters been light-hearted -- some of them have been very impassioned and personal and a few have even resorted to name-calling.
What has surprised me most is that an apparently trivial subject could evoke such heated responses.
Many of these letters have been unprintable because the authors have wished to remain anonymous. Nevertheless, I couldn't help but share some of the feedback Shakeel's article has received. Below is a list of some of the comments which I found most interesting.
-- "Nice piece of flame bait. Hope you get roasted. Cheers, Bob."
-- "I usually don't respond to morons like you, but this opinion column is so utterly ridiculous I can't help it. I can do things on my Mac that simply can't be done, or at least done easily, on a PC."
-- "The 'article' on Macs is beyond the pale."
-- "I could argue all day about how there is a philosophical difference between Macintosh and PC, but I feel that I would be wasting my time."
I'm sorry, but if you're even contemplating arguing the "philosophical differences between Macintosh and PC," you've already wasted your time.
The above responses are harsh, but nothing compared to this one.
-- "You're ONLY a graduate student in Prickville, Oklahoma. What do you know about computers in the real world? Now if you were from let's say New York or LA then you would have a say. But Oklahoma, get real! Did you know that the User Interface of Windows XP was designed on a MAC? That's why Windows XP and OS X look similar. Get real, Oklahoma buddy. Get a real computer. Buy a Mac. And oh yeah, don't forget to sleep with your Oklahoma sister."
So what do we glean form this unexplainable situation for which the psychology department would probably love to claim ownership? Just this: Topics like abortion and affirmative action will elicit some response, but if you really want to get feedback, bash on computers.
-Ryan Fulda is a letters senior. He can be reached at dailyopinion@ou.edu.
hello there & you too