Pick the Prick

Doubtless Mr Franks will label me a patronizing comfortable Liberal, but may I suggest that he has yet to crawl out of the cocoon of pubescent righteousness that most of us turned in with our P.Y.M. badges.

My basic complaint is against his tendency to write as if the world fell neatly into black and white compartments. While this might make him feel better, one must keep an element of reason in discussing any topic. Emotionally I agree with much of what he says, but he misuses the medium of the printed word. This does Not mean he is called upon to be a hypocrite; it merely requires that he stir in a modicum of Augustan reason now and again, and occasionally admit the possibility of his own fallibility. Okay so McKinley is a prick as his recent fascist manoeuvres have amply shown, but to convince others (which presumably is Mr Franks' intention in writing articles) he must attack McKinley's ideas and not his person. When you confront your reader with labels you close his mind to the thought behind it.

May I recommend that Mr Franks take up the politics of laughter and leave his bitterness behind. There is no saner man in the country than Shadbolt, simply because he knows how to laugh at human stupidity.

Many campus radicals have great capacity for back biting, but lose sight of their original goal and consequently they achieve nothing.

What I ask of Mr Franks is a leavening of humanity, and I don't mean ali that Christian love-thy-neighbour crap either! His stereotypes are too bleak, and his wit is too easy.

Tony King.