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Salient. Victoria University Newspaper. Volume 38, Number 14. June 20, 1975
Henderson Replies
Henderson Replies
Dear Bruce,
I am astonished and to-some degree upset by the recent flood of mail into the Salient letterbox complaining about the articles which have been appearing under my name in the Salients of late. These letters attack me for 1) Frivolity 2) Egotism 3) Banality and 4) My generally unrespectable appearance, I would like to handle these in reverse order.
| A) | My appearance. I am now quite a respectable looking human being. I have washed my hair, cut my hair, and have taken to wearing decent clothes. Satisfied, Lacki? Especially when you consider that I did all these wonderful things to myself a long time before I saw your letter. |
| B) | Banality. My articles are not banal. You, Mr. Minge, might consider them banal, but is that any reason for anyone else to consider them banal? I do expect my readers to have a certain degree of intelligence and a certain understanding of the word 'subtle'. |
| C) | Egotism??? I am not an egotist. A longstanding Salient tradition is that writers of articles sign them for the purposes of identification. I am not the biggest sinner in this respect. Who would you prefer to attack—a real, living, identifiable human being or a coward hiding under a cloak of anonimity? And you call me an egotist. |
| D) | Frivolity. Ok, many of my articles are frivolous. And many of my articles are read. And many of my articles are read because they are frivolous. You can thank your lucky stars that I do inject a bit of humour into my articles. Can you imagine what Salient would be like without them? |
And in conclusion, I would like to say two things. First, I am no longer writing my exec. reports. I will recommence this 'service to students' if and when I get a directive or a request from said students asking me to do this. Secondly, would you please redirect your efforts from attacking me to attacking the state of the catering services. It is a much more worthy cause.
John G. Henderson.