Following a brief hiatus, San Jose Inside’s free-for-all open forum is back in business. Comments on any topic are welcome.
16 Comments
It turns out design build laws were set for all California cities over a year ago. Ps, the LA stadium backers now have a CEQA exemption by specific legislation. So I wonder where all the discussion about “hijacking” is involved.
Generally, over the past 18 months, I have reviewed & posted comments five or six times a day and again in the evening. Two other editors also review comments throughout the day. For the past few weeks, because of vacations and other projects, the frequency dropped off. We should be back on track now and we appreciate your patience.
“She was raped, beaten, robbed and dehumanized by several suspects who were obviously OK enough with it to behave that way in each other’s presence,” said Lt. Mark Gagan, a patrol supervisor in the city’s Northern Policing District. “What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening, and failed to report it.”
“Detectives believe as many as six other men also raped the girl as she lay semiconscious on a courtyard bench, also beating her, taking pictures and stealing her jewelry.”
I have grave concerns about what parents are teaching their kids today. This poor 15 year old girl was raped and beaten for 2 long hours and no one reported it. Very sad world we live in.
HOW TO WRITE THE NEWS LIKE A BIASED MERCURY REPORTER
—“quiet and unerringly polite” —“the tragic incident in which ___ was involved” —“a kind, loving son” —“I can only say good things about _____,” —“… something snapped in him. It could have happened to any of us.” —“He really wanted to do better. He was so nice with everybody.” —“He wasn’t a weird person or anything,” she said. “He was very courteous and curious, always sitting in the front row.” —“____ was a neat guy.”
Who is the wonderful young man described by these words? None other than Quran Jones, the student who bashed in the head of his college roommate for no discernible reason. In her depiction of this murderer, Merc reporter Sandra Gonzales used more ink in her sympathetic description of the murderer than she did to describe the only truly innocent person involved, victim Scott Hawkins.
Here’s what Ms. Gonzales reported about the victim: —“short and stocky”—this absolutely irrelevant tidbit, was in the opening paragraph. —“quiet and unerringly polite”—used to describe both the victim and his killer. —“had Asperger’s syndrome”—shouldn’t necessarily make you murder-worthy. —“He was the sweetest, kindest, gentlest person,”—from his mother. —“have difficulty interacting socially”—no source quoted linking this symptom to victim. —“repeat behaviors”—no source quoted linking this symptom to victim. —“often are clumsy.”—no source quoted linking this symptom to victim.
Discounting the depiction of both men as quiet and polite, the Mercury article contained only one complimentary description of the victim while offering at least ten times that of the killer. Finding people willing to say good things about even the most evil of people is not difficult, as can be witnessed regularly during crime reports from Oakland. Thus, the Mercury reporter’s ability to acquire such quotes is neither unusual nor enlightening. This was a story about someone going berserk, a state that, by definition, has no connection to a person’s normal demeanor. Ms. Gonzales’ going overboard to create sympathy for the killer, though consistent with the the paper’s multicultural agenda, served no journalistic purpose.
And please take note: in a case in which a black man viciously murdered a white man for no obvious reason, not only is the idea of a hate crime not broached, but while busily creating an aura of sweet innocence around the killer the reporter never even mentioned race.
Question: has the Mercury lost interest in race, or does it only suspend its interest when the race card is dealt upside-down? If anything, Ms. Gonzales’ story bears more resemblance to a courtroom defense than a news story: she was, amazingly, unable to find a single pejorative fact about the killer, while about the victim she thought it necessary to convey to readers the image of a young man who was odd, annoying, chunky, and clumsy.
One can only imagine the headlines had a gentle black student been beaten to death by an athletic white student. Does anyone think the question of race hatred would have escaped Ms. Gonzales’ mind—or story? Does anyone doubt that such a killing would have attracted national coverage, calls for a federal investigation, a performance by clown laureate Al Sharpton?
One thing is perfectly clear: if you’re going to be swinging a club of any kind on the Mercury’s beat, better to be a black man viciously murdering an innocent white man than a police officer doing his very difficult duty.
Peer-Reviewed, refereed journals are one method of keeping self-published academic articles honest and accurate. In academic circles its not hard to get something published if you’ve got a Ph.D behind your name and a tenured position at a prestigious school, but they still require you to submit you articles for review before publication (just to keep everyone honest.)
So in journalism, once upon a time we had a vital community of print journalism where the competing daily papers created a climate of healthy (and at times unhealthy) competition. This served to keep journalists (and the sometimes activists publishers) from tainted the news too badly. That model died long ago as corporations cobbled up media outlets and consolidated to the point of diminished competition, leaving only one print publication dominant in most major media markets.
Now for a non-sequitar, LA independent coffee shop owners noted that Starbucks chain outlets coming into their area actually helped their business in some cases. Starbucks increased demand in general for high-priced coffee products and the independent outlets found that even with a new Starbucks “right next door” the still increased business over the same period of time before the new Starbucks. This wasn’t true in all case, but in the once where it beared out, the independent coffee stores offered premium products (freshly roasted beans, etc.) at a competitive price and were able to capture over-flow from Starbucks (why wait in line when its just as good or better next door for the same price?)
So I’m thinking about journalism and the fact that more papers in a market make for better business (and journalism.) But you have to factor in tech changes and consumer habits. Picking up a newspaper is a learned behavior that most of those coming of age now simply never got in the habit of doing. Watching the evening news, skimming headlines on some internet web site, or letting a pundit like Jon Stewert distill jokes out of the days news is the closest most in Gen X and Y get to being critical and regular users of media outlets.
Is there a viable market for a hybrid or online only publication that would complement (and compete) with traditional media outlets? Are brands important for credibility? Does online content from a known print brand carry more credibility than an online only journal? Why or why not? Do people care about accuracy if they hear things that reinforce what they already believe (self-censorship, only reading news outlets that deliver news slanted the way you like it.)
Does voting matter? Can you exercise your right and responsibilities in a democracy without being engaged in the civic dialogue (reading news and such.) Is the ability to access representatives via directed campaign contributions more important than that simple secret ballot vote on election day?
I’m thinking back to a Q/A with historian James Burke who ventured that cell phones with cameras were going to change the world in ways we could not even predict.
The Mercury News needs to get a clue. It slapped us as “white bread” yesterday. No wonder circulations are declining—no diversity in editorial or news writing. It’s all opinion all the time.
The demise of modern newspapering has a lot do with the replacement of “jounalists” with “mass commnications” majors.
H.L. Mencken was a JOURNALIST and examined the cult of Woodrow Wilson with a skeptical eye and pulled no punches in eviscerating “archangel Woodrow” and his utopian fantasies.
Chris Matthews is a journeyman in the trade of “mass communications”. His craft is simply to make as many of the “masses” as possibile receive the mythology of Obama. Truth be damned.
It’s the difference between Socrates and his nemeses, the Sophists.
Socrates lived a life of examining the important questions of truth and virtue through intelligent dialogue.
The Sophists sold their expertise in rhetoric for money. They boasted that there was no such thing as “truth”, and they could instruct people in how to make the weaker argument seem like the stronger.
Talk radio is Socrates. The alphabet networks and the legacy newspapers are Gorgias.
It looks like a former Vice President of the United States . . .
[HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON!]
. . . somehow got the taxpayers of the United States to loan a half BILLION dollars to a foreign company in which he has a direct financial interest.
[HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON!]
Credit crisis? What credit crisis? Who says hard charging entrepreneurs can’t find startup money for good ideas in the Obama economy?
All you need is some connections in high places . . .
[HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON!]
. . . and some spiffs thrown in like, oh say, a fancy foreign sports car.
Oh, wait. Did I say the former vice president was AL GORE!!! And did I say that some of those connections might include famous Silicon Valley money moguls and AL GORE business partners Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers.
(“The Karma will target an exclusive audience—Gore was one of the first to sign up for one.”)
In a simpler time, we used to think of politicians who enriched themselves from government connections and using government money as engaging in “corruption”. But apparently, people lacking in sophistication have failed to distinguish between “bad” corruption and “good” corruption. Gore is presumably one of those engaging in the “good” kind of corruption.
For those proletarians in the south bay who would like to see an unjailed corporate greed bag up close and personal, Al Gore will be on exhibit at the Tech Museum in San Jose on November 19.
Unreal… SF is straight out of Bizarro World! If you’re stopped and don’t have a license, the cops will give you a chance to avoid having your car impounded. SF continues to be the laughing stock of the west… make that the country.
“Obama needs to show leadership on climate treaty” (October 27, 2009)
“An alarming new Pew study last week showed that just 35 percent of Americans said they believe global warming is a serious threat, even as the scientific community grows more certain both of the danger and of the cause being man-made.”
– – – – –
The scientific community is growing more certain? Oh, really! Where is the evidence for this claim?
That doesn’t seem to be what the U.S. Senate has been told.
What is growing is the list of scientists who no longer can be bought off with government grants and who are putting their integrity and honesty ahead of coin operated science for rent.
U. S. Senate Minority Report:
More Than 700 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims
Scientists Continue to Debunk “Consensus” in 2008 & 2009
“Over 700 dissenting scientists (updates previous 650 report) from around the globe challenged man-made global warming claims made by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former Vice President Al Gore. . . .”
If the Mercury News were to make its vacuous claim of growing scientific community certainty under oath in a forum that took things seriously, it would probably be called perjury.
It turns out design build laws were set for all California cities over a year ago. Ps, the LA stadium backers now have a CEQA exemption by specific legislation. So I wonder where all the discussion about “hijacking” is involved.
Just curious, why does it now take so long for comments to be posted on SJI? In the past comments were posted in a matter of minutes.
Wondering the same thing. At times it can be well over a day before anything is updated. Makes the reader lose interest.
Generally, over the past 18 months, I have reviewed & posted comments five or six times a day and again in the evening. Two other editors also review comments throughout the day. For the past few weeks, because of vacations and other projects, the frequency dropped off. We should be back on track now and we appreciate your patience.
“She was raped, beaten, robbed and dehumanized by several suspects who were obviously OK enough with it to behave that way in each other’s presence,” said Lt. Mark Gagan, a patrol supervisor in the city’s Northern Policing District. “What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening, and failed to report it.”
“Detectives believe as many as six other men also raped the girl as she lay semiconscious on a courtyard bench, also beating her, taking pictures and stealing her jewelry.”
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_13643452?source=most_viewed
I have grave concerns about what parents are teaching their kids today. This poor 15 year old girl was raped and beaten for 2 long hours and no one reported it. Very sad world we live in.
HOW TO WRITE THE NEWS LIKE A BIASED MERCURY REPORTER
—“quiet and unerringly polite”
—“the tragic incident in which ___ was involved”
—“a kind, loving son”
—“I can only say good things about _____,”
—“… something snapped in him. It could have happened to any of us.”
—“He really wanted to do better. He was so nice with everybody.”
—“He wasn’t a weird person or anything,” she said. “He was very courteous and curious, always sitting in the front row.”
—“____ was a neat guy.”
Who is the wonderful young man described by these words? None other than Quran Jones, the student who bashed in the head of his college roommate for no discernible reason. In her depiction of this murderer, Merc reporter Sandra Gonzales used more ink in her sympathetic description of the murderer than she did to describe the only truly innocent person involved, victim Scott Hawkins.
Here’s what Ms. Gonzales reported about the victim:
—“short and stocky”—this absolutely irrelevant tidbit, was in the opening paragraph.
—“quiet and unerringly polite”—used to describe both the victim and his killer.
—“had Asperger’s syndrome”—shouldn’t necessarily make you murder-worthy.
—“He was the sweetest, kindest, gentlest person,”—from his mother.
—“have difficulty interacting socially”—no source quoted linking this symptom to victim.
—“repeat behaviors”—no source quoted linking this symptom to victim.
—“often are clumsy.”—no source quoted linking this symptom to victim.
Discounting the depiction of both men as quiet and polite, the Mercury article contained only one complimentary description of the victim while offering at least ten times that of the killer. Finding people willing to say good things about even the most evil of people is not difficult, as can be witnessed regularly during crime reports from Oakland. Thus, the Mercury reporter’s ability to acquire such quotes is neither unusual nor enlightening. This was a story about someone going berserk, a state that, by definition, has no connection to a person’s normal demeanor. Ms. Gonzales’ going overboard to create sympathy for the killer, though consistent with the the paper’s multicultural agenda, served no journalistic purpose.
And please take note: in a case in which a black man viciously murdered a white man for no obvious reason, not only is the idea of a hate crime not broached, but while busily creating an aura of sweet innocence around the killer the reporter never even mentioned race.
Question: has the Mercury lost interest in race, or does it only suspend its interest when the race card is dealt upside-down? If anything, Ms. Gonzales’ story bears more resemblance to a courtroom defense than a news story: she was, amazingly, unable to find a single pejorative fact about the killer, while about the victim she thought it necessary to convey to readers the image of a young man who was odd, annoying, chunky, and clumsy.
One can only imagine the headlines had a gentle black student been beaten to death by an athletic white student. Does anyone think the question of race hatred would have escaped Ms. Gonzales’ mind—or story? Does anyone doubt that such a killing would have attracted national coverage, calls for a federal investigation, a performance by clown laureate Al Sharpton?
One thing is perfectly clear: if you’re going to be swinging a club of any kind on the Mercury’s beat, better to be a black man viciously murdering an innocent white man than a police officer doing his very difficult duty.
Peer-Reviewed, refereed journals are one method of keeping self-published academic articles honest and accurate. In academic circles its not hard to get something published if you’ve got a Ph.D behind your name and a tenured position at a prestigious school, but they still require you to submit you articles for review before publication (just to keep everyone honest.)
So in journalism, once upon a time we had a vital community of print journalism where the competing daily papers created a climate of healthy (and at times unhealthy) competition. This served to keep journalists (and the sometimes activists publishers) from tainted the news too badly. That model died long ago as corporations cobbled up media outlets and consolidated to the point of diminished competition, leaving only one print publication dominant in most major media markets.
Now for a non-sequitar, LA independent coffee shop owners noted that Starbucks chain outlets coming into their area actually helped their business in some cases. Starbucks increased demand in general for high-priced coffee products and the independent outlets found that even with a new Starbucks “right next door” the still increased business over the same period of time before the new Starbucks. This wasn’t true in all case, but in the once where it beared out, the independent coffee stores offered premium products (freshly roasted beans, etc.) at a competitive price and were able to capture over-flow from Starbucks (why wait in line when its just as good or better next door for the same price?)
So I’m thinking about journalism and the fact that more papers in a market make for better business (and journalism.) But you have to factor in tech changes and consumer habits. Picking up a newspaper is a learned behavior that most of those coming of age now simply never got in the habit of doing. Watching the evening news, skimming headlines on some internet web site, or letting a pundit like Jon Stewert distill jokes out of the days news is the closest most in Gen X and Y get to being critical and regular users of media outlets.
Is there a viable market for a hybrid or online only publication that would complement (and compete) with traditional media outlets? Are brands important for credibility? Does online content from a known print brand carry more credibility than an online only journal? Why or why not? Do people care about accuracy if they hear things that reinforce what they already believe (self-censorship, only reading news outlets that deliver news slanted the way you like it.)
Does voting matter? Can you exercise your right and responsibilities in a democracy without being engaged in the civic dialogue (reading news and such.) Is the ability to access representatives via directed campaign contributions more important than that simple secret ballot vote on election day?
I’m thinking back to a Q/A with historian James Burke who ventured that cell phones with cameras were going to change the world in ways we could not even predict.
The Mercury News needs to get a clue. It slapped us as “white bread” yesterday. No wonder circulations are declining—no diversity in editorial or news writing. It’s all opinion all the time.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Newspaper-circulation-falling-apf-3182126693.html?x=0
Dale,
When the Murkey News finally curls up and dies, I plan on celebrating its demise!
The demise of modern newspapering has a lot do with the replacement of “jounalists” with “mass commnications” majors.
H.L. Mencken was a JOURNALIST and examined the cult of Woodrow Wilson with a skeptical eye and pulled no punches in eviscerating “archangel Woodrow” and his utopian fantasies.
Chris Matthews is a journeyman in the trade of “mass communications”. His craft is simply to make as many of the “masses” as possibile receive the mythology of Obama. Truth be damned.
It’s the difference between Socrates and his nemeses, the Sophists.
Socrates lived a life of examining the important questions of truth and virtue through intelligent dialogue.
The Sophists sold their expertise in rhetoric for money. They boasted that there was no such thing as “truth”, and they could instruct people in how to make the weaker argument seem like the stronger.
Talk radio is Socrates. The alphabet networks and the legacy newspapers are Gorgias.
I like that! Well said. Can’t say I agree 100% but there is a lot of merit in your comment.
Well, well, well.
It looks like a former Vice President of the United States . . .
[HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON!]
. . . somehow got the taxpayers of the United States to loan a half BILLION dollars to a foreign company in which he has a direct financial interest.
[HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON!]
Credit crisis? What credit crisis? Who says hard charging entrepreneurs can’t find startup money for good ideas in the Obama economy?
All you need is some connections in high places . . .
[HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON! HALIBURTON!]
. . . and some spiffs thrown in like, oh say, a fancy foreign sports car.
Oh, wait. Did I say the former vice president was AL GORE!!! And did I say that some of those connections might include famous Silicon Valley money moguls and AL GORE business partners Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers.
http://www.redherring.com/Home/23145
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125383160812639013.html
(“The Karma will target an exclusive audience—Gore was one of the first to sign up for one.”)
In a simpler time, we used to think of politicians who enriched themselves from government connections and using government money as engaging in “corruption”. But apparently, people lacking in sophistication have failed to distinguish between “bad” corruption and “good” corruption. Gore is presumably one of those engaging in the “good” kind of corruption.
For those proletarians in the south bay who would like to see an unjailed corporate greed bag up close and personal, Al Gore will be on exhibit at the Tech Museum in San Jose on November 19.
“…Al Gore will be on exhibit at the Tech Museum in San Jose on…”
It would be more fitting to put Al Gore on Exhibit at The Wax Museum.
Unreal… SF is straight out of Bizarro World! If you’re stopped and don’t have a license, the cops will give you a chance to avoid having your car impounded. SF continues to be the laughing stock of the west… make that the country.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/26/BA381A9A9N.DTL#ixzz0V5UotN8C
SO, as numerous SFPD cops are standing around waiting 20 minutes for unlicensed drivers to find a ride, how many crimes will go unstopped or unsolved?
No license ALWAYS means no insurance. The cars need to be impounded. Another bit of Newsom Nonsense in Baghdad by the Bay.
Would the Mercury News fib about global warming?
Sayeth the Merc:
“Obama needs to show leadership on climate treaty” (October 27, 2009)
“An alarming new Pew study last week showed that just 35 percent of Americans said they believe global warming is a serious threat, even as the scientific community grows more certain both of the danger and of the cause being man-made.”
– – – – –
The scientific community is growing more certain? Oh, really! Where is the evidence for this claim?
That doesn’t seem to be what the U.S. Senate has been told.
What is growing is the list of scientists who no longer can be bought off with government grants and who are putting their integrity and honesty ahead of coin operated science for rent.
U. S. Senate Minority Report:
More Than 700 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims
Scientists Continue to Debunk “Consensus” in 2008 & 2009
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=2674e64f-802a-23ad-490b-bd9faf4dcdb7
INTRODUCTION:
“Over 700 dissenting scientists (updates previous 650 report) from around the globe challenged man-made global warming claims made by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former Vice President Al Gore. . . .”
If the Mercury News were to make its vacuous claim of growing scientific community certainty under oath in a forum that took things seriously, it would probably be called perjury.