PC Alternative Weeklies
Do you have a PC alternative weekly paper in your area? We do here in
Knoxville--it's called the Metro Pulse and while it can sometimes have
some articles of interest to me, I have pretty much given up on
reading it. Why? The tone of the paper has gotten steadily more PC
over the past few years and I am frequently confronted with insulting
and belittling editorials and features that paint suburbanites as
bourgeois capitalists, Americans as rubes, and criminals as just being
in the wrong place at the wrong time. For example, in a cover feature
on Greg Thompson, an African American male who murdered an innocent
woman, the Metro Pulse had a cover story entitled "Not Crazy Enough."
The story reports that Greg Thompson is psychotic but the state says
he's sane enough to execute. I have no issue with the paper discussing
the death penalty but in addition to implying that this murderer was
in the wrong place at the wrong time, they paint his victim's
innocence as almost the reason that the all-white jury gave him the
death penalty. The victim, Brenda Lane, was a newlywed, church
secretary, soloist in the church choir and the 1982 Outstanding Woman
of Bedford County. Thompson forced Lane at knifepoint from a Wal-mart
parking lot to a soybean field where, "on impulse," he stabbed her
with a rusty knife, stole her car and left her to die. The lawmen who
found her say they can remember the horror on her face when they found
her body. Where in the hell does "wrong place at the wrong time" come
into play in that gruesome senario? I guess if you are African
American and you kill a white woman with a church going impeccable
background, you should be found innocent just based on the bourgeois
credentials of your victim.
And if I thought the Metro Pulse was PC, it looks fair and balanced
compared to the Critical Moment, an alternative weekly in Ann Arbor,
Michigan. On the back of a recent issue that a reader sent me, there
is a large stenciled template (done by this outfit) of Tookie
Williams, the four-time murderer on the back page with a caption, "No
More Death Penalty" and "No More Prisons."
Huh, "no more prisons?" What do you propose we do with murderers,
thieves, and crooks? or to use language you can understand, what do
you propose we do with the CEO's of Enron, etc.? Send a social worker
to their house to help them feel the pain for what they did?"
I could go on with various weeklies and the propaganda they spout (and
I accept their right to put such nonsense out there) but I don't have
to like it or read it. Do you have an alternative weekly in your neck
of the woods that you read or ignore? Let me know or provide a link in
the comment section so we can see what other gems are out there to
keep us enlightened on the shortcomings of capitalism, the war,
suburban life, our terrible prison systems that entrap murderers and
thieves, and American Imperialism.
posted by Helen at 7:08 PM 72 comments
Raising Nonviolent Girls
Kudos to Child magazine for having a small but worthwhile blurb about
how to raise a nonviolent girl. The blurb mentions the work of James
Garbarino, author of See Jane Hit : Why Girls Are Growing More Violent
and What We Can Do About It, a new book coming out this week. Girls
are getting meaner and Garbarino, professor of psychology at Loyola
University Chicago, says that "positive social changes are behind the
emerging aggressiveness." "Girls today are taught to communicate their
feelings rather than bottle them up and feel victimized, and are
encouraged to express themselves physically in sports. While these are
positive developments, they can have negative side effects", says Dr.
Garbarino who offers these violence-prevention tips:
Treat girls equally. Research has shown that boys who are taught
the boundaries of being physically aggressive are less violent.
Through roughhousing and playing sports, parents can also teach
girls ways to be aggressive that aren't harmful to themselves or
others. Explain to them that "it's okay to be aggressive during
soccer, but you can't punch people in the nose or pull their hair.
You have to follow the rules."
Develop character. Teach your child to identify her emotions and
recognize how others feel. Remind her that while it's okay to speak
up for herself, it's never okay to hurt others with words.
Limit exposure to violence. Protect kids from the violence shown in
the media. In recent years, TV shows and video games have been
flooded with female action stars--which can send the wrong message.
Well, I don't agree fully with all of these points--unlike Dr.
Garbarino, I do not think it has been that positive a social change
for girls to be told they are victims who have to communicate every
feeling of displeasure. If you see yourself as a victim, it is easy to
believe you cannot hurt others, even when you punch, hit and verbally
abuse people. I think that some exposure to aggressive video games can
be okay--but it would be best if the star is not seen as a hero who is
cruel to others and rewarded. But, on a positive note, maybe parents
and society will take heed from Garbarino's book and quit it with the
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