Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Bigotry Rushes In

The Journal Sentinel has got to get rid of a free-for-all-comment section that operates under different rules than its letters-to-the-editor department - - names published, addresses and other contact information verified - - because so many stories about African-Americans in this town get instantly poisoned.

That story linked above  - - "Holloway names Pratt interim county exec" - - was posted at 9: 16 a.m.

Sample comments:

When does Michael Mcgee get out??
Affirmative action in full swing. Its funny, holloway seems to only apoint members of the black community to posts.
Maybe Oprah could be the next public appointee in Milwaukee?
A corrupt politician appoints an incompetent one.

And somehow, this is called leadership.

Welcome to Mogadishu on Lake Michigan.
Ghetto politics.

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Hours later, they're still at it:
I thought he would name Kanye West...
Thugs taking care of thugs in the hood.
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And, yes, there were voices of reason:
As a white male living in Milwaukee, I feel ashamed of some of the comments on here. To call out these men because of the color of thier skin is absurd. I consider myself a republican and don't agree with thier political views, but we should be blind to what they look like and focus more on what they stand for and the work they do in office.

If Holloway or Pratt were white and had the same political views would you have the same resent towards them..I would guess not.

Open your eyes people! This is 2011 and not 1963

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Regardless, enough is enough.

6 comments:

Graeme said...

For similar reasons, I think RebeccaForReal should disable comments on her Facebook page.

Anonymous said...

Yes, all speech should be moderated. Bigotry and stupidity comes ultimately from words and some should be banned from our language to ensure that ideas are formed and molded correctly. Ultimately, we may have to eliminate the participation of some people in order to ensure a pure, civil environment. Ideally, this would be decided by a competent committee of trained and educated deciders.

James Rowen said...

To Anon: No...it's far more simple. As I know you know.

No one has an absolute right to speak on the jsonline platform. As the company does with letters to the editor, it can establish rules.

Just as talk show screen callers.

Betsey said...

James,

You outta check out the comment string on yesterday's JS story about the child care fraud indictments.

You just know which stories are going to generate racist comments.

Actually, this story's comment string wasn't as bad as I would have expected. And some posters take the bigots to task.

However,I agree that JS should moderate. How many liberals get cut off when they call in to Sykes and Belling?

jpk said...

The comments on Bruce Murphy's article on voter ID are despicable.

Jeff Stone should realize that when one's policy position is supported by bigots it may not be such a grand idea.

Terry said...

Ok so it's just a coincidence he only elects only black people. The guy is a complete disaster and the government should be dissolved.