Normally I don’t like making fun of Columbia journalism students, because it’s like shooting fish in a barrel, if the barrel were full of Columbia journalism students.
And that would be very wrong.
But when I saw this video, I couldn’t resist. It’s of a panel, in which students are pointing out how predictable cover letters won’t help you get a job in the post j-school world. So what would? How about a rap?
And so it begins, as one student unleashes his inner Jay-Z, listing in all earnestness a lengthy promise of his many qualifications.
Roll tape, roll-tapers:
[youtube rZpwrWdmAjw nolink]
So, no surprise: the student raps benign pap that his professors and like-minded dorm-rats would applaud – from railing against complacency, to never losing touch with “his humanity.” But I’ll repeat the part the kid really wanted them to hear:
“There’s no need to hear crazy, or create a false sense of parity, like Fox News and Hannity.”
And that’s the big point: That when applying for a job, the student knows to regurgitate the shared assumptions of the elitists around him. In short, if you bash Fox News, you might land an unpaid internship at Mother Jones.
That still exists, right?
Now, it wasn’t a bad rhyme, but it was a bad idea – emboldened by the present comfort of conformity and driven by the need to prove to those hiring that the applicant holds the “right beliefs.” It’s silly and stupid, but also sad: these beliefs are cemented even before they enter a paying newsroom.
And what’s the crux of these beliefs?
That Fox News is evil.
Which to me, is pretty cool. I like being considered evil – especially when those doing the considering are sheep who can’t rap.
And if you disagree, then you’re probably racist.
Tonight we’ve got the lovely Juliet Huddy, the hilarious Brad Morris and Blood Manor’s sex and deadly, Rachel.
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