To the Stanford Community,
Over the past week, tensions have run high in our discussions of freedom of expression, the legitimacy of knee-jerk outrage, and the role of humor in on-campus dialogue. We at Flipside see ourselves as the voice of students, and we aim to find the humor in our everyday lives, hopefully bringing well-executed comedy to our readers every week.
In light of recent events, and in light of our Provosts’ concerned email to the Stanford body, we at Flipside would like to apologize all the peoples that we have offended in the past.
As we have learned all too painfully, an occasional lapse in judgment on our part can often result in hurt feelings and unintended harm (“Ted Cruz Just Hundreds of Extremely Conservative Rats Wearing Human Skin,” Issue 232). Please know, that as an editorial team, we value our readers above all else, but every so often we misjudge our comedic tone and unintentionally trivialize legitimate issues (“10 Dogs That are Just Okay,” Issue 202). Words have the power to hurt and damage feelings (“John Etchemendy Releases Thousands of Eggs in Last Stages of Vice-Provost Birthing Season,” Issue 201), and we would like to apologize to those whom we’ve indirectly offended (“Popular Theory that the Little Mermaid is Genghis Khan Probably False,” Issue 169). We have always tried to push the limits of humor to their absolute maxima (“Snack Chips, a Flavorful Revelry of the Mouth,” Issue 221), and we recognize that sometimes we fly too close to the sun (“Ask a Child Who Bought Too Many Balloons and Is Now about to Float into Restricted Airspace,” Issue 227).
We hope that the Stanford community forgives us, the Flipside, for causing all the heartache experienced on this campus at the hand of misjudged satire. We understand that it is no one’s fault but our own, and we look forward to moving past this low point in our publication’s history.
-The Flipside Editorial Team
