Lately, there's been a surge of backlash against Odyssey. Angry Facebook and WordPress users have made claims such as: "Odyssey isn't art." "Odyssey has no journalism or literary value!" "I'm so tired of seeing privileged kids write about conservative ideas!" "If I see one more 'An Open Letter to the Guy that Broke My Heart..."
As someone who has a penchant for looking for contrasting ideas/viewpoints, I want to evaluate these claims.
Before we start, I would like to say that this is an opinion piece. If we flashback to elementary school, we can recall that while facts can be wrong, opinions cannot be wrong.
"The Odyssey isn't art!"
According to Webster's dictionary, it's pretty easy to define the word "art." However, obtaining the authority to evaluate written pieces and claim them to be kitsch is pretty damn difficult. The most basic lesson about art is that it is subjective. You may find certain articles dislikable or too generic, which is fine because it is entirely up to you to decide what you do/don't like.However, disliking an article or organization does not give you the authority to label it as kitsch.
"The Odyssey has no journalism or literary value!"
This claim is nearly comical. Nearly. Let's take a look at the mission statement of The Odyssey:
While the first claim stated that The Odyssey wasn't artistic enough, the second one feels that it is too creative and cannot be used as a journalistic or literary source. I do not fully understand what about the Odyssey makes people think that it is meant to be journalistic. The mission statement even reads, "The platform empowers its thousands of creators to to contribute and share what matters to them [...]"
This means that, as a writer for The Odyssey, I don't have to write hard-hitting journalism pieces. I could if that was what mattered to me. But, like a good portion of writers, I strive to create content that people can relate to, that may help them. The Odyssey publishes a lot of articles that deal with the transition from high school to college, which is can be extremely helpful during a time of such change.
The Odyssey isn't a full-blooded journalism site, which can be very beneficial to the writers and the audience. Again, I'm at a loss for what made people ever think it created for journalistic integrity.
As for literary value, the correct term would be literary merit as literary value is, again, entirely subject to personal taste. If you say that the Odyssey has no literary merit, you may have a point. It is very difficult for prose to achieve literary merit; typically the text has to be unchanging and been around for quite some time. A lot of websites we frequent, magazines we read and books we love do not have literary merit. (Harry Potter does not have literary merit, I am sorry to tell you).
In summary: No one ever told you to use The Odyssey as a scholarly source in a research paper, so please don't.
Here is a solution if you find that The Odyssey isn't journalistic or literary enough: Change that. Become a writer for The Odyssey and be that change.
"I am so tired of seeing privileged kids write about conservative ideas!"
In order to operate sufficiently in a world with so many views, you need to (at the very least) accept that there are different views in the world. You will see these views and encounter them your entire life. I'm not saying every view is right, however, claiming you don't want to read the article because the view contrasts with yours, is insane. If you don't like it have to you don't read it. But you should still realize that, whether or not you like the article it will still be there. Whether or not you agree with a political party or not, it will still exist.
There have been many articles on Odyssey that don't align with my personal views. Articles against feminism or free tuition have pissed me off and made me question humanity. The viewpoints I've seen in some article exhaust me, but then I have that same elementary school flashback "Opinions can't be wrong". We can disagree with opinions, start an argument about the principles that formed the opinions, but the opinion itself isn't wrong. At most, it may change how you view the individual behind the opinion.
I believe Odyssey needs more diversity and would benefit greatly from it. Some articles do seem a little "privileged." I encourage everyone to apply as a writer for the Odyssey. Bring the diversity.
"If I see one more 'An Open Letter to the Guy that Broke My Heart'..."
I've seen a lot of these articles about heartbreak. I've seen a lot of articles similar to heartbreak. I'm not the biggest fan.
But I have to admit that writing an article about a personal pain, no matter how generic or "white girl typical!" it may seem, takes a lot of courage. Especially because you know that while writing it, people will label you as a generic writer: "another person who got their heart broken and had to let the whole world know!" For the author, it has to be freeing to some great extent. Think about it, if done right it could be the ultimate "screw you", which again can be very freeing to the author.
If you don't allow yourself to write about something that speaks to you on a personal level because you're afraid of the backlash, why write? People will always find a flaw in whatever you write. If it's not because you are "generic", it will be for another reason. Don't let opinions hold you back.
Art is subjective. Don't use Odyssey or Harry Potter as a source in a scholarly paper unless your professor explicitly says it's okay. Write for Odyssey. Make Odyssey more diverse. Don't let privileged students speak for everyone. It is okay and even courageous to be generic. Facts can be wrong, opinions cannot.
I will never understand people who complain about a problem but do nothing to fix it.
