I really, really like VICE, though I admit it can get a little wearing sometimes.
The point is, I think, as they say in the Illuminatus Trilogy, "THINK FOR YOURSELF SCHMUCK!". The Dos and Donts Special Issue actually had on the cover, something to the effect of, "WHAT TO DO ABOUT EVERYTHING, EVER". And yeah, some people perhaps do swallow every little thing they write and take it as gospel. But fuck, that's their problem! Some numbskulls didn't see the satire in the Dead Kennedys either. Should Jello have kept it a bit simpler, explained everything really simply, to appeal to the "lowest common denominator"? Would have ended up like those dogmatic lecturing bores Conflict. Coz that's WAY more offensive and patronising in my book - not giving your audience the credit that they might be able to think for themselves...it's the censorship argument, and it stinks.
I'm all for the slaying of sacred cows myself. I grew up under humourless, severe 1980s feminism and New Marxist kinda schtick, misguided "experimental parenting" - certain things could NEVER be questioned....there was a "party line" on a lot of issues, e.g. pornography. There's no way this is a healthy state of affairs. VICE plays Devil's Advocate, and there's NO OTHER widely available magazine doing that and they should be commended. The irony is, coz it's free a lot of folk probably don't even read the articles and just look at the (very good) photography.