'Bloom County'

To the Editors of the Crimson:

Oh yes, it's a standard Harvard line. Right after "Gee, Harvard food...." and "The heat in in our room..." comes "Boy, students of today are so unconcerned, so apathetic." Such a safe bet--you can't be on the wrong side of the argument: the burden of proof is on those who dispute the evidence of apathy.

In rehashing this standard line in their self-congratulatory editorial of Monday morning, editors Antony Blinken and Errol Louis have displayed an annoying misconception about the purpose of The Crimson. I do not mean to suggest The Crimson tends to hold incorrect, antagonistic, unrepresentative views. While The Crimson tends to reflect my own views, it need not (as so many, like our friends at the Salient, suggest) represent a cross-section of the campus. And The Crimson clearly recognizes its 'best'--Harvard, Cambridge, and academics--and covers it very well. But the editors are indulging in wishful thinking if they believe the political editorials on "Central America, the arms control debate, the Reagan budget, and national elections" are anything more than journalistic exercise prepping the author for a future at the Times or the Post. They are welcome, but don't attach such import to them.

Were I in need of an editorial on "big issues." I doubt I would flatter The Crimson by turning to page two. I would look to the Globe, the Times, the New Republic, Moral Majority News, Workers Vanguard--anywhere but The Crimson. Whether or not the average Harvard student is ignorant, apathetic, or stupid, it is not up to The Crimson to chastise him.

Finally, if a "big issue" is what one needs, the censoring of Bloom County is as big as they get. Everyone loves to laugh at the Moral Majority, but is is scary indeed when the left--the guardians of free speech--choose the same tactic. Certainly the offending strip was boring, even trite, on the day in question, but its moral value was not for The Crimson to judge. The hypocrisy of such a stand for press self-censorship is terrifying indeed. The fact that Harvard students responded as they did suggest a rather healthy grasp of important issues. The Crimson has every right to be self-righteous, even trendy; but it should stay out of the business of censorship. Padraic J. Kennedy '85