I say we should keep crossing words and names out of the popular lexicon until we've got none left. We should set up a government-sponsored 24-hour hotline to take calls from anyone around the world who finds any name or word offensive for any reason whatsoever. Then, the next day, we'll append the verboten name or…

I'm not alleging the existence of actual bias. I'm merely pointing out that if you're going to dismiss the Paterno-family report simply because it's self-interested, then you have to recognize the self-interest at play in the Freeh Report, too.

That's also a good point.

Bill Murray, from what I've gleaned, is a pretty big asshole. But he's emblematic of the Phil Mickelson phenomenon, in which people and media suddenly and arbitrarily decide not only that someone's cool in spite of the evidence but also that he deserves his own obsequious cult following. Weird.

"Louis Freeh isn't some small-time hack bureaucrat, he's the former director of the FBI." Right, the key word being FORMER. Do you know what he did after he left the FBI in 2001? According to his wiki page, he went to (disgraced) New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey and asked him for a job. That's right: the former…

I think you're misunderstanding my point. When I say that the Freeh Report was motivated by self-interest, I'm not talking about Penn State's self-interest. I'm talking specifically about Louis Freeh, himself—-a guy who'd been irrelevant for 10 years and whose political/government career was effectively dead. It was…

I'm not a Penn Stater or a Paterno supporter, but attacking this report as "prepared by the family's attorney and other experts who were paid to reach the conclusions the family wanted," misses a critical point: that the Freeh Report was as motivated by self-interest as the Paterno-family report. Hopefully, if there…

"Yeah, if you could just take off 4-5 miles an hour."

Words are words. Buck up.

Cruel, sure. But words don't make people kill themselves. At a certain point, you have to show some inner strength and self-worth.

They didn't bully anyone. Bullying is persistent, targeted abuse. Not a one-off gag like the one they played. Truth is, had Clementi not killed himself, this would have never even made the news.

Well, not all mental illness is exclusively innate. Sure, there are some people who have depressive tendencies irrespective of ambient circumstances. But for the majority, surrounding circumstances are very relevant. A depressive with a good job, a good place to live, and a good relationship is much less likely to…

Why? It's what the majority of the city believes, for good or ill.

What happened between you and Bo Schembechler at Michigan?

Tell me: what's "middle class"? If you had to guess, what percentage of Duke undergrads have a father who does not earn $100K a year?

Tell me: what's "middle class"? If you had to guess, what percentage of Duke undergrads have a father who does not earn $100K a year?

Re: "[J]ust not smart enough to be accepted at Duke." This is precisely the nauseous attitude targeted in this piece. Here's a bulletin: your idea that people get into X school or Y school "because they're smart" is risible ruling-class propaganda meant to lend a thin veneer of merit to the privilege-based…

Re: "[J]ust not smart enough to be accepted at Duke." This is precisely the nauseous attitude targeted in this piece. Here's a bulletin: your idea that people get into X school or Y school "because they're smart" is risible ruling-class propaganda meant to lend a thin veneer of merit to the privilege-based…

"Hard-earned Duke degrees." Two things. First, like most elite schools, Duke is chock-full of rich kids who rode the crest of their parents' money into being accepted there. Second, anyone who's familiar with academia knows that grading rigor is *usually* inversely proportional to the school's academic reputation. For…

"Hard-earned Duke degrees." Two things. First, like most elite schools, Duke is chock-full of rich kids who rode the crest of their parents' money into being accepted there. Second, anyone who's familiar with academia knows that grading rigor is *usually* inversely proportional to the school's academic reputation. For…