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Show Editorial Obituary An era, of sorts, came to an end yesterday when the Pillar of Salt died after a prolonged illness. The eulogy was delivered in the final Pillar editorial, and now it is time for the autopsy. Who killed the Pillar of Salt? With its dying breath the Pillar pointed an accusing finger at financial non-contributors and undedicated non-staffers, gasped "Apathy!", and rolled over with a promise to return reincarnate at an unspecified time. The aforementioned non-entities, however, are not the causes of the malady they are only symptoms of the disease. The Pillar died, not because it lost its voice, but because it had nothing to say. There is a substantial difference between apathy and boredom. Conceived in protest and born in rebellion, the Pillar couldn't sever its own umbilical cord; and the issue from which it drew life in the beginning made dull copy six months later. A newspaper must first of all be a newspaper not a broken record. The Pillar's needle seemed to be forever stuck on worn-out worn-out issues, tired iconoclasm, and stale invective. That's what killed it. As we once more don our hats after paying our proper respects, the thought runs through our mind that even the Pillar of Salt had its sacred cows, the most revered of which seemed to be its own self-image. |