Yale Daily News

I hear they pass the pipe at Skull&Bones.
Thanks for the laugh.

I have absolutely no idea what this column is trying to be about.

HAHA

I can't wait to see how many people the irony of this piece is completely lost on. I suspect the comments for this piece will be hilariously confused.

I'm guessing that this was an attempt at satire or comedy, but that was hard to figure out because it's so incoherent it almost seems like a poorly-written opinion piece. YDN opinion editor: get your act together and start picking pieces that actually should run in the paper - if it's satire, make sure it's well done, and if it's not, make it about something more interesting that who likes the Yankees!

Yessssss

smoking is gross and hipsters are grosser

Like the second poster, I'm not sure what the point was, but this column was the most hilarious thing in the YDN in a long time. Good job, Mr. Shaffer.

parts of it were really funny. "or is it because he's Hawaiian"... the constant Biblical references reached a point of being kind-of annoyingly inappropriate in context, but funny before they went over the top. nice writing style, yo...

As a smoker, I found this to be spot on and found myself nodding along as I read it...

which is why I'm shocked to see the author is not a smoker. Bravo, for you have truly captured the essence of something of which you know nothing about (no sarcasm - I'm giving a complement).

But if smoking becomes socially tolerable, then everyone will start doing it! And if everyone starts doing it, then the poor hipsters will have to find SOMETHING ELSE TO DO!

Won't somebody PLEASE think of the hipsters?!?

Mr. Shaffer you are one good writer.

Huh? and post #2, perhaps the problem lies not with the author, but with your comprehension of his vocabulary. Pull out a dictionary and try again, I promise its funny.

As a summa cum laude graduate of Yale College with substantial English course background and a deep comprehension of "Lethe" (shall we talk Poe?), I can tell you that the "good" satire was lost on me as well. Mr. Shaffer has written several great pieces this year (the one on the cartoon controversy was particularly well written), but I must say that this is not one of them.

if you're looking for the 'point' of this 'satire,' then you're missing the point. it isn't satirizing a point of view or making a polemical point. this is irony, not satire; observation, not polemic. it humorously takes aim at a number of things without revealing the author's actual point of view, makes some hilarious observations, has good punch lines.

agreed that this is one of the funniest thigns in ydn in a long time.

Well then, "point," you just made my point for me - if this is not a poor attempt at satire, but rather a humor piece with "irony" and "some hilarious observations," then what the hell is it doing on the op-ed page of a respectable paper? Op-ed pages are for people to express opinions on issues, not perform a mediocre comedy routine. Good satire (you know, the kind with a point) can earn its way onto an op-ed page, but this is not good satire, and, as you say, this is not even satire.

The comments here illustrate the problem of satire in an age of insanity... plus the fact that admitting to a sense of humor these days is worse than being a smoker (irony is OK, but irony is just a sad substitute for an authentic point of view).

Keep it up, Matt. Even when you are not funny, you are at least trying.

@#13-

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

I know what all those words mean, but the sentence still means nothing.

There are a number of terms that come to mind when I attempt to describe you. Unfortunately, the YDN comment profanity filter stops them all. So in lieu of being honest, I'll simply ask that anytime you find yourself beginning a sentence with "As a summa cum laude graduate of Yale College with substantial English course background and a deep comprehension of Lethe," you stop and reconsider your value to society.

That comment was written to describe that I felt #13 was being an obnoxious, condescending prick. Seeing as you are probably that individual, here you go.

I think there's one thing we can agree on: the best use of our time, and the best, and the best way to improve the YDN editorial page, is to continue posting snarky insults against people we don't know using pseudonyms. That will effect an immediate improvement.

You're just insecure because you majored in a non-rigorous humanities TTT subject.

Shaffer wasn't writing satire, my dear...he actually feels this way.

I'm a very infrequent smoker but hate still hate the way it's acceptable for people to call smokers out and tell them they're going to die...DUH. That's just rude.

Satire or not, it's nice to see someone writing about smoking on campus. Although I really don't think smokers are as marginalized as some think...they're out there on Cross Campus, brightening my day with a whiff of nicotine...mmmmmm

Fall of 2005, there was a fire on the Branford side of Vanderbilt. The culprit? idiot threw a cigarette into a trash bin that had a plastic bag on it. Can we make a PSA for smokers about how to properly dispose of their cancer sticks? or at least one for Branford kids? i mean really, it's not that hard...

The author called for a haven for smokers- they have one- The Owl Shop on College St., next to Claire's. Just walking past that place will give you stage 3 lung cancer,but it's on campus for the most part, and the place is packed with students and alum alike. They need't have a spot within Yale too. (also, I'm aware this piece is comedic, I'm just stating a fact...)

I'm a huge fan of satire, irony, and facetiousness in general, but this piece is tedious, and really only average at best. I don't think it's the case that people who don't find this article hilarious just "aren't getting it". Sometimes average writing is just average writing.

Bravo to the author, Mr. Shaffer. I just began subscribing to YDN and I was happy to read this article. Boy, with all of these comments here, there are a lot of pompous "Yalies" out there! Some of you kids are too much! The author wrote an article, doesn't even smoke, felt he had something to say, and everyone is picking it apart. How about reading it just for the sake of reading it. Isn't that what "articles" are all about? I think it was a great; and I, for one, am going to use Mr. Shaffer's line the next time someone complains about my smoking: "Don't judge me by the color of my lungs, but on the content of my character." Great line! Thanks for the article, Mr. Shaffer, most enjoyable.

cancer

Please we had these arguments before government's have restricted smoking in everything but your bathroom. And their going after that, seems all those smoking clatches have increased the 2ndary smoke around them so police will be dispursing you all soon. Sorry but the horse left the barn long ago.

"The author wrote an article, doesn't even smoke, felt he had something to say, and everyone is picking it apart. How about reading it just for the sake of reading it. Isn't that what "articles" are all about?"
I don't think people are being unduly critical when commenting on this article, or other recent articles by the YDN. It's not a bad thing to want the YDN to have really high standards for what it prints, and only run the best writing out there, regardless of the genre. I for one would like the YDN to read more like the NYT than my high school newspaper.

I can see how someone might say that this didn't really belong on the editorial page because it doesn't have a single, authentic editorial thrust. But it's still effing hilarious.

I LOLed. Hard. A lot. Thanks.

the people is people aren't accustomed to hearing themselves, the left, satirized.

smug upper-middle class east coaster will laugh at tired joke after tired joke about Palin being a creationist, but they don't know what to do when somebody satirizes their own stupid stereotypesof Palin.

same smug upper-middle classers will laugh at stale tasteless joke after joke about hysterical religious fundamentalists, but are unable to get it when people point out the ways in which they are exactly like religious fundamentalists.

this is good satire/irony/commentary... most people just lack the self-knowledge necessary to get it

the problem is people aren't accustomed to hearing themselves, the left, satirized.

smug upper-middle class east coaster will laugh at tired joke after tired joke about Palin being a creationist, but they don't know what to do when somebody satirizes their own stupid stereotypesof Palin.

same smug upper-middle classers will laugh at stale tasteless joke after joke about hysterical religious fundamentalists, but are unable to get it when people point out the ways in which they are exactly like religious fundamentalists.

this is good satire/irony/commentary... most people just lack the self-knowledge necessary to get it

the people is people aren't accustomed to hearing themselves, the left, satirized.

smug upper-middle class east coaster will laugh at tired joke after tired joke about Palin being a creationist, but they don't know what to do when somebody satirizes their own stupid stereotypesof Palin.

same smug upper-middle classers will laugh at stale tasteless joke after joke about hysterical religious fundamentalists, but are unable to get it when people point out the ways in which they are exactly like religious fundamentalists.

this is good satire/irony/commentary... most people just lack the self-knowledge necessary to get it

LOL!!

ROFL!