Peter NuteNews Editor

A certain letter to the edi-tor from a giant purple peopleeater spliced with a fairy in lastweek’s edition of the Criticcaused a minor uproar in pro-duction, generated a rift be-tween co-workers and dividedreaders. Never before (at least inmy estimation) has two seem-

ingly harmless sentences causedsuch a heated debate of what isand what isn’t proper to publish.

The editor of the Critic,Eric Blaisdell, has recently madeit a goal of his to never evenconsider censoring what hiswriters choose to write, what hisreaders choose to read, or whatthose inclined to write a letterto the editor choose to send in.

These newfound revelations, aswell as a strong penchant towear red and the sudden ap-pearance of a photograph ofKim Jong Il that made it on tothe wall of the Critic office havecaused some to wonder: is itpossible that the editor of theCritic is a communist?

Unlike what the UnitedStates generally considers com-munism, Blaisdell believes innot putting a filter on what thepeople say.

In June of 1928 James P.Cannon - former national secre-tary of the Communist Leagueof America - wrote a letter tothe political committee whowas postponing the publicationof his own paper, the DailyWorker due to the content ofthe stories, the small amount of“experienced” writers, and thesupposed lack of direction andsupport. “Our paper… shouldnot be confined to the groove ofany established ‘newspaper’standard.We should not fear toblaze a new trail in form as wellas in substance and to make apattern of our own. We musthave more features in the paper,especially light and interesting

features, as a balance to theheavier material.”

Though Blaisdell was notfamiliar with Cannon, his news-paper, or the excerpt abovefrom “James P. Cannon and theEarly Years of American Com-munism,” his beliefs in what theCritic is, what it should be, andthe direction the paper is goingin are strong - echoing to a cer-tain extent Cannon’s senti-ments.

“The paper (the Critic) isfor the people. It is the voice ofthe people. It is made by thepeople,” Blaisdell said. “Every-body has the chance to say whatthey want to say. Everyone whohas an opinion is welcome tothat opinion. I’m not going toput my own bias, my own viewsinto what gets published be-cause this is a student paper forthe students.”

The changes the Critic willbe going through will be “subtleat first,” according to Blaisdell.“It will gain momentum.A storyhere and there. Get peoplethinking about what’s best forthe people, not so much what’sbest for the individual.”

Understanding that Blais-dell’s views are not directly as-sociated with communism, thisstill has not explained the pho-tograph of Kim Jong Il on thewall.

“Well,” Blaisdell said whileglancing at the photo. “Heseems to be doing pretty well.”

Blaisdell believes that “KimJong Il has nothing but NorthKorea’s best interests at heart.He’s a role model to try to baseyour life around if you want tobe successful and spread yourword efficiently and effectively.”Blaisdell added that “thereshouldn’t be dictators ortyrants. No leaders; no anarchy.For the people.”

When asked if he was con-cerned that people may believethat he is communist by takingon these views and suddenlyhanging photos of Kim Jong Ilon the walls of the Critic office,he answered “I don’t see thedownfall.”

So is it really possible that ared shirt wearing, Kim Jong Ilworshipping editor of a collegenewspaper is in fact a commu-nist? Perhaps. Or maybe theCritic will just publish anything.

OOPPIINNIIOONNDec. 9, 2011 The Critic, Page 4

Editor of The Critic: Communist?

Photo by Sierra Willenberg

Blaisdell looks ponderingly at the image of Kim Jong Il.

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