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Forum on Salient

— by David Tripe (recently appointed SRC Forum Controller)

When it comes down to the nitty-gritty, perhaps students are not as pissed off with Salient as some people would have us believe. Perhaps the mounting discontent with all those nasty things that those commie editors have been saying was more apparent than real. When students were finally given a chance to get the Reds at last Friday's Forum, the total turnout was a mere three hundred, plus Roger Cruickshank. Considering that a hundred people normally eat their lunch in the Union Hall anyway, and that another five thousand, eight hundred students never made it, the Trotskyite's anti-Salient raves seem a little inappropriate.

But the complaints that were made from this small remaining group of Jesus-Freaks, commie—haters and others who had come to laugh were hardly plentiful either. One bunch of idiots thought that there weren't enough right-wing articles for their taste, but refused to do anything about it. Someone else had been upset by a cartoon from the pernicious pen of Don Franks, at the bottom of one of their articles. And then there was Vince the Wrecker who wanted to see his name in print more often on the sports page. (We hope the subtle reference here will satisfy his ego for this week) And then of course, there was George Fyson.

Considering all the complaints that the Trots have been making — at meetings, in their bastard "Censored Salient", and in their "Socialist Fiction" newspaper — their performance on this occasion was, to say the least, rather dismal. All George Fyson could find to complain about was that not enough of his (or Terry Marshall's, or Peter Rotherham's) articles had been printed. Perhaps George should learn to write the Trots' articles better. So George left, refusing to deny that he was anti-communist, which is, I suppose, pretty conclusive proof that all their YS activism is only a front for neo-fascism. No wonder Stalin presented Leon with an ice-axe.

Then suddenly it seemed as if someone was going to criticise Salient. A plaintive shout — "I don't like it, I can't read it, and I can't understand it". There was a hushed silence, but then the voice continued: "and my mummy doesn't either."

But no, nobody has really got any complaints to make about our Salient or our editors. They are absolved from blame by the massive vote of confidence in them by the non-attendance at the Forum, and the failure to inflict any damaging criticism. This is indeed a Kirk-like mandate for the continuation of present editorial policy.