Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 15, 1993 TAG: 9310150325
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: D2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOBBY S. PUTNAM JR.
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The purpose of a newspaper should be to inform and entertain its readers. A good paper appeals to a representative cross section of the population in the geographic area it serves. Until now, I have felt the Roanoke Times & World-News had done an admirable job of offering a balanced view on most issues. With your recent decision, however, I begin to wonder if you intend to focus on a narrower target audience.
Without doubt, ``Outland'' - like ``Bloom County'' before it, ``Doonesbury,'' ``The Far Side'' and other comic strips of a similar nature - may sometimes offend certain readers. In many respects, that is their intent. They offer a view of the human condition often outside the norm. They force us to look at ourselves and our relationships to others in a new light. They remind us that every individual is unique, yet may share common characteristics and behaviors with others.
Further, they remind us that Americans are not part of a homogenous melting pot, but are, rather, distinct components in a colorful mosaic, with each different character richly contributing to a greater whole.
These comic strips and cartoons are outrageous, irreverent and, more often than not, politically incorrect. In this, they permit us, as people, to laugh at ourselves for the sometimes ridiculous beings we are and the even more ridiculous things we do. Humor, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. You run many comic strips that I seldom, if ever, find funny. I include in that number ``Cathy,'' ``Dennis the Menace,'' ``Beetle Bailey,'' ``Andy Capp,'' ``Peanuts'' and ``The Wizard of Id.''
I also felt the July 25 Oliphant political cartoon was more tasteless, more offensive and less funny than anything I've ever seen in ``Outland.'' Yet I welcome its inclusion for publication, as well as the other strips mentioned, because someone, somewhere may enjoy such work, even if I don't.
Free expression of ideas and provision of a forum in which to express them is a fundamental aspect of a democratic society.
Elimination of ``Outland,'' and the addition of ``Curtis'' and ``Where's Waldo,'' may, indeed, broaden the appeal of your comics section to some readers, though to what end? I, for one, am not pleased with this change, a change for the worse in my opinion. You are merely reducing your newspaper's content to the lowest common denominator.
The integrity and editorial courage this newspaper has displayed in the past is lessened by your recent decision. In an effort to avoid offending some of your readers, you demean us all by assuming we are incapable of judging for ourselves what is tasteful, socially acceptable and humorous.
By the way, the irony of your July 26 editorial entitled ``Pepless propriety on campus,'' in light of your own self-censorship with regard to ``Outland,'' is particularly significant. There is no need to look to the campus in Charlottesville to locate the thought police. They already are here among us at the Roanoke Times & World-News.
\ Bobby S. Putnam Jr. of Roanoke is a registered nurse at Community Hospital.
by CNB