I was reading the paper today (Wednesday, Feb. 5) and wondering about the front page article about the proposed board cuts. Is this really being discussed or was the story just another Eric Krol mind test for the NIU community? Should we believe it or is Eric trying to excite response letters in favor of costly bureaucracy?

It has appeared to me that during the four years I have been in DeKalb that the Star’s news articles have been of a conservative, even right-leaning nature. This does not surprise me, however. It seems that mass media in America as a whole tends to be manipulated, deceptive, or at least incomplete on many occasions. Television showed us the sexy technology of war, but not the excess carnage and suffering that we have caused.

I believe also that most Americans would be hard pressed to name three of the many oppressive, fascist governments that our leaders have supported or installed during the past 30 years. Maybe people don’t care about the destruction of the rain forests or animal rights or other options besides Democrats/Republicans because the media doesn’t tell us the whole truth often enough. Not that I would blame the media and its accompanying advertisements entirely for our hyperindulgent, meat, sugar and booze society, but I believe freedom of the press in our society quite often wears blinders.

In conclusion, I would like to thank Eric Krol for teaching us readers a small lesson in the psychology of journalism. He has reminded us of the need to question and contemplate the information that we each receive from those in seeming authority.

Onofrio Lagattolla

Senior

Finance