A confession given with humility

This column is for me, not you.

Two years at the Daily Bruin has left me with some things I need to say. And after writing news stories about things like the cent increase in price for a stamp and editing columns as assistant Viewpoint editor about topics I personally have no interest in, I think I deserve one column ““ and my first one at that ““ to myself.

But at the same time, I want to say something that will hopefully provide you with some guidance.

I’m not really qualified to give any advice, but I know the classes I’ve always done the worst in were the ones I went into thinking I knew the subject matter already. Forget what bruinwalk.com says about professors, my arrogance has hurt my grades far more than any professor’s lecturing ability.

My arrogance has led me to skip classes, ignore readings and write papers the night before far too often. When I think I’m too good for a class, I inevitably end up with a lower grade than when I take classes where the subject matter is entirely unfamiliar.

That’s why my goal for the coming year is to be more humble ““ whether it’s in my classes, conversations with people or just my general perspective of the world. It’s a goal I would recommend.

And not just for the sake of grades. As an assistant Viewpoint editor, I edited countless letters and submissions from people whose arrogance led them to believe their opinions were facts.

They were certain ““ absolutely, infallibly certain ““ that Obama was this, and Israel and Palestine were that. On multiple occasions, I was charged with the task of editing pieces from readers who had no idea what they were talking about in response to letters from other people who had no idea what they were talking about. Arrogance breeds arrogance.

I was reading José Ortega y Gasset’s “The Revolt of the Masses” for a class last year when one line made me pause: “The present-day writer, when he takes his pen in hand to treat a subject which he has studied deeply, has to bear in mind that the average reader, who has never concerned himself with this subject, if he reads does so with the view, not of learning something from the writer, but rather of pronouncing judgment on him when he is not in agreement with the commonplaces that the said reader carries in his head.”

This, to me, epitomized editing for The Bruin. People don’t read the newspaper to challenge their beliefs or understand a different point of view. They read it to reaffirm their existing convictions. When they were challenged, I got to edit angry letters.

Not to say that the Daily Bruin is perfect. The people here, myself included, are just as likely as the average person to react to a challenge of opinion with arrogant certitude. Columnists can put more emotion into stories than thought and research. I’ve seen it. Put quite simply, we screw up.

When that happens, we should be humble and admit our shortcomings, too, and it’s in regard to one of those times that I want to clear my conscience. Most of you probably won’t care, but to those who do, in my opinion, the Daily Bruin Viewpoint section was biased in last year’s USAC elections.

However, it was not biased for the reasons that most people think. The news staff and copy editors worked from noon to well past midnight trying to cover the election fairly. There was not some larger agenda for or against one group.

Here is, in my view, what went wrong. The paper’s bias came from the Viewpoint section, mainly in the form of pro-Students First! columns. These columns were a product of the former laissez-faire policy in Viewpoint on story ideas: If columnists want to write about something, they can write about it. And there were more columnists who wanted to support Students First!, simply put.

I had major concerns about this policy, but I didn’t voice them well enough. For that, I share my portion of the blame and apologize. I’m confident that the new editors have corrected the problem, but when problems like this occur, and they will, please consider the staff’s point of view. They are working on tight deadlines, and things fall through the cracks. Try to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I realize the entire burden in this relationship should not be on you. Gasset makes it clear that writers have a responsibility to put care and research into their work. I intend to do so, and that is a promise I want to make to you.

I’m not going to write columns just for filler, babble about my life without any larger purpose, or proselytize ““ but I am going to try and make you think. If I ever stray from that mission, call me out on it.

I have a lot of different ideas for changing up my columns that I hope will benefit you and the paper. Keep reading, I intend to make it interesting.

With that said, thank you. This column was for me, the rest are for you.

E-mail Elliott at [email protected]. Send general comments to [email protected].