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.
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
63 Comments:
Helen: I was with you on this at first, but my husband pointed out that surely the only logical
reading of "No More Prisons" is exile. And I must say, if they actually mean that we set aside
some part of the planet (like a fairly inhospitable island), and exile criminals there for life,
I could get behind that idea. Really, that's what we're doing with prisons anyway--no one really
believes that prisons rehabilitate anyone. An "Exile Island" would be cheaper and safer for the
rest of us. So, all crimes would either result in fines, community service, or exile. No more prisons,
no more death penalty. Voila!
And Georgia?
I suspect that the hard-left slant is cover for their prostitution and 'lifestyle' ads, many of which skirt local vice ordinances. If they get pinched, they can plead political persecution.
Metro Pulse, that's the outfit that sent a couple of reporters barhopping in Nashville, wrote a story about it and then got steaming mad when a local blogger, who was also liberal, poked fun at the story. Sent him emails threatenting to "out" him and the such. Not only no sense but no sense of humor.
At least you don't have to worry about being outed.
Richard Pryor, after visiting Arizona State Penitentiary, doing research for a comic prison movie: "Thank God we got penitentiaries!"
Every city seems to have one of these -- a free weekly throwaway -- always very leftwing in a posturizingly "cool" manner.
I've often wondered whether they might be connected in some way with each other. They sell the type of sex ads which paid MSM newspapers won't run, and that may explain their funding. They share Dan Savage, Tom Tomorrow (or has he moved up?), Matt Groening, Ted Rall (ugh!), and belong to a trade association.
Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_weekly
Now, now. There's an alternative to prisons and the death penalty. The Chinese used it durning the Korean War, and it's currently called "thought reform". While the Chinese practice didn't work as fully as could be hoped, with those treated reverting when removed from the conditioning environment, it would be plausible that modern hypnosis techniques, drugs, and surgeries could supplement traditional Chinese-developed techniques.
For example, most criminals are aggressive males and impulsive. Accordingly, a modest proposal for an alternative to imprisonment would be a general policy of castration (to remove the aggressive effects of testosterone) and leukotomy (a prefrontal lobotomy, to reduce impulsiveness) of criminals, followed by sleep deprivation and psychological torture used by the Chinese tought-reformers. Drugs such as Thorazine could assist as well.
If these techniques did not work, traditional punishments from the era before prisons may serve as well. Whether traditional Western punishments like flogging and branding, or ones from other cultures like the amputation of hands, there are plenty of swift-acting alternatives to terms in prison.
Here in San Antonio, we have the Current.
www.sacurrent.com
It pretty much keeps us "enlightened on the shortcomings of capitalism, the war, suburban life, our terrible prison systems that entrap murderers and thieves, and American Imperialism."
Here in Baltimore we have the "City Paper", which isn't too bad, the last I looked.
As far as "slant" goes, I actually have more of a problem with the big newspaper in town, the "Baltimore Daily Worker", er, I mean "Baltimore Sun". That it's the de facto propaganda arm of the Maryland Democratic Party doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that it won't admit it-- they steadfastly insist that they don't have an agenda. Batpuckey.
At least the "City Paper" is honest about its politics.
Dave, you'd be amazed at how many people in university english courses I've taken don't understand that "A Modest Proposal" was satire.
In Los Angeles, the top of the alternative press pile has been LA Weekly.
Back in the Reagan hating 80s it still managed to have interesting feature articles that had little to do with politics.
Plus back in those days it seemed that despite being committedly leftist it was also committedly anti-PC, not so much anymore.
Now it's mostly the anti-Bush hatefest you'd expect, only now the BDS infects every aspect of the paper (even restaurant reviews manage to slip in a 'boooosh is ruining amerikkka', angle now and then), whereas when Reagan was the evil Republican President du jour they managed to have a sense of humor about other things.
Oh well, not like the mainstream press is any better in LaLaLand (which I call this place I reside with derision, a touch of sadness yet much affection).
Other folks brought up Swift and Modest Proposals and I didn't use that as an excuse to link to my blog called Immodest Proposals (which has a couple Modest Proposals of my own).
I am showing such great restraint.
(oh wait, nevermind)
That's what happens when you attend a course on Restoration Era English Literature.
The Washington Post is our local alternative daily. Operated as an "in-kind" campaign donation on behalf of a multi-national corporate conglomerate to exploit campaign finance loopholes, its financial interests are rather transparent: It consistently advocates on behalf of the party least likely to improve the quality of public education thereby ensuring enrollment in its Kaplan subsidiary's for-profit remedial education business.
Helen, in Indianapolis we have Nuvo as our weekly leftist rag, or should I say alternative newspaper.
Here in Colorado Springs we have the "Independent", a PC, left-wing rag, whose only value is that it has comprehensive listings of the musical acts in town. I take those pages out and toss the rest in the trash with the rest of the garbage.
www.csindy.com
Mike Doughty
Dr. Helen,
When it come to 'alternative' newspapers up here in Boston, we have the venerable Phoenix which has been around since at least the late 70's, as well as the Weekly Dig (full disclosure, they did a review of my Art Show last February that was pitiful writing, even though it was positive on my work).
Then of course, for poorly written generally leftist rags there is always the Boston Globe.
Oh wait, that's not an alternative paper...
Will,
Your paper is something else--I love the editorial that tells people to take to the streets to oppose President Bush--"But a return to non-violent protest in massive numbers is just what’s needed now. With corruption at an all-time high, with body bags coming back from Iraq in droves, with compassion at an all-time low, it’s time to take to the streets in protest." It's priceless--thanks for the link.
Mike,
Your paper is also a hoot. I love the advice column at http://www.csindy.com/csindy/2006-02-09/advicegoddess.html where the woman writes in that her boyfriend doesn't want her going on girl's weekends to talk about things with them that she would not talk with him about--the goddess's advice is so anti-male and sickening--it's a wonder any self-respecting man would pick up this rag--except for the musical listings, of course.
In philadelphia we have 2 alternative weeklies - we have City Paper and PW (which is Philadelphia Weekly - Its been a long time since I have read either one) basically they are the home for any "adult services" you may wish to procure. They run articles on stuff they care about, its more of a way to keep more liberals gainfully employed snarking at people who pay all the taxes.
Atlanta has the venerable Creative Loafing, and more recently, Sunday Paper alt-weeklies. "CL" has always been something of a Leftie funny farm in print, and as you can imagine, it's become increasingly shrill over the last five years. You know the score: white heterosexual suburbanites bad, criminals misunderstood, cars (except for those owned by leftie writers) should be banned, subsidized mass transit is manditory, Bush is evil, etc, etc. The only reason I (and I suspect the vast majority of the readership) bother to pick it up at all are the concert listings in the back. I quit bothering to read the "news" section in the front quite a while back, and I also started skipping the movie and theater reviews last year; they're usually undisguised political rants.
"Sunday Paper" was started by a few "CL" refugees, and tends to be more entertainment oriented and less political (they run a few syndicated columns, none of which are notably worth reading). Its main selling point at the moment seems to be that the old lefties at CL absolutely hate it...
I've never lived anywhere that didn't have one of these, but I've always had the impression that their purpose was advertising, paricularly the singles and "escort" stuff, and a cheap venue for local clubs to get the word out about what bands were playing. It'll be interesting to see how this industry survives the onslaught of Craigslist and it's clones.
In Detroit we have the Metro Times, (http://metrotimes.com/). They are on the wrong side of almost every issue, including Valentines Day.
The OTHER Los Angeles Alternative is City Beat ( http://www.lacitybeat.com ).
Here in Orange County the unchallenged Alternative Weekly is the OC Weekly ( http://www.ocweekly.com/ ).
All 3 are a Pack of Lefties, of course, BUT in addition to frequent good investigative reporting, and muckraking, they offer good entertainment reviews, restuarant reviews, and ifo on all sorts of activities going on in communites all across 2 counties.
On my BikeBlog ( See link in my name ) I've written about 2 recent articles on Bicycling that appeared in City Beat that lead to my receiving some very kind words from the author of them.
On my OTHER Blog ( http://www.sneakeasysjoint.com ) I've found reason to mention these rags a few times over the years, and had Letters to the Editor accepted at the OC Weekly.
That's another thing:
The Letters pages of the LA & OC Weekly both are a hoot to read not just because they accept worthy letters from all comers, but because of the responses to them which can often be quite, shall we say, imaginative, in their use of the English language, while making their points in rebuttal.
I have the exact opposite feelings about mine (the LA Weekly). I read it for the unintentional comedy of their political statements. Or just when the restaurant review has comments about "American Imperialism" or other Bush insults when talking about a French Bistro on Melrose. Good for a laugh in my oppinion.
In Seattle we have two. There is the Stranger (where Dan Savage got his start) and the Seattle Weekly. Both are unashamably leftist. I don't read the Stranger very often. The Weekly has THE best local political rundown in town. It beats both of the daily's (The Seattle Times and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer).
Helen mentioned "Critical Moment, an alternative weekly in Ann Arbor, Michigan."
Actually, in Ann Arbor, a paper like that can't really be considered alternative.
someone else said "I suspect that the hard-left slant is cover for their prostitution and 'lifestyle' ads, many of which skirt local vice ordinances. If they get pinched, they can plead political persecution."
Actually, the ads are a result of the hard left slant - ads go where the target market is - the readership for that slant is also the market for those services.
someone else offered this:
"The Chinese used it durning the Korean War, and it's currently called thought reform."
Go watch "A Clockwork Orange" - I've always been a big fan of the Ludovico method.
An anarchist zine in DC once had an article that began "If there were no laws there would be no criminals." Stupidity, meet Utopia.
Yes we have one http://www.missoulanews.com/
It's not too bad, with the inevitable Modern World strip, Molly Ivins column, plus the leftie from the local poly sci dept. Unlike the daily, they do at least feature some long in-depth stories that make me think the writers actually *live* here. It does beat the local U's paper at least. Unfortunately it has the effect of reinforcing the town-and-gown liberal culture to the point that they're feeling unbeatable now.
I don't mind the Advice Goddess. She's plenty hard on the idiotic (and apparently desparate) women who write to her, which I think is a hoot.
My dream would be to have a conservative alt weekly. Is there such a thing? We'd need a different kind of revenue source, naturally.
In Philly we have a City Paper and the Philly Weekly (now PW, but usually P-U).
They both swing proudly to the whiney left, but they do a great job in following local politics and actually seem to take an interest in what is going on in the neighborhoods. The Inky and the Daily News aren't hep to either.
It is often worth reading, even if you must endure yet another pro-Mumia diatribe.
The Urban Tulsa in Tulsa, OK is actually right-of-center in its editorials and news articles. Up against the "mainstream" left-of-center Tulsa World, I find it interesting that the Urban Tulsa has found niche to the right. I guess this is not the most common setup, but I don't see why other large right-of-center cities with left-of-center papers don't generate more Urban Tulsa style papers.
- Adam C, Redstate.com
Houston has the Houston Press , which is perpetually offended that many Texans (of all people!) would support Bush. If only they'd be more sensible, like people in the mecca known as Austin. Good coverage of the generally-inept Houston Independent School District, however. (Still, suburban school districts are places of evil repression supported by the bourgeoisie.) The restaurant review (Walsh) has his stuff together, which I suspect is the real reason why so many "Bushies" actually pick it up on a regular basis. The music reviewer (Lomax) seems to be a total moron.
On the other side of the state, Memphis has the Memphis Flyer, which is pretty standard Lefty stuff. The publsiher is active in Shelby County Democratic politics, even to running for a local delegate's seat. But the real hoot is the personal blog of one of their writers, Chris Davis.
Here in Seattle we have the Seattle Weekly, which tends ot local issues pretty well, and of course the Stranger, the home of the irreplaceable Dan Savage. Since this is Seattle, you can't be PC if you want to be alternative. Both papers have a record of being blessedly inconsistent in their articles and editorials - left, right, center and behind
>church going impeccable background<
Interesting post; I'm not sure how the 'church going' is germane to your point, it seems a little gratuitous. Unless that is, you are trying subtly to imply, or rather resonate via sub-text with a specific audience, that the victim being ‘church going’ makes her more virtuous, more 'innocent' and by implication, more blameless, than a lapsed, indifferent or non church going Christian, an atheist, a Theravadan Buddhist, or whatever 'cos that's how it's coming over from where I sit!
Or am I being too perceptive on the sub-text here; pray please elucidate Helen?
Nick from "South Africa,"
Is that you again Greg? I've noticed that you left but in your place seems to be a number of similar snide remarks coming from "different" commenters. Please feel free to come back and join in as yourself or go--but do not play these silly games--it's beneath you.
As I understand it, there are two major chains of alternative weeklies. (A few years ago, they got into trouble by negotiating a split of business along the lines of "We'll leave City A if you leave City B." - a classic anti-trust violation.) As noted above, the one here in Houston is typical of the bunch (owned by the Village Voice). I read it for the restaurant reviews by Robb Walsh, who is an excellent writer. The film reviewer is an idiot, who was trying to find a way to bash Bush in every review.
The cover features vary wildly in quality and some appear to be brought in from other papers in the chain. They did a big story on Houston's most prominent mega-church (Lakewood) that clearly was intended to be a "look at the uptight white rubes" piece, but ended up noting that Lakewood was probably the most racially integrated church in the city and run in a pretty transparent manner.
Here in Louisville we have the Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO), www.leoweekly.com, which has it all--PC, left-wingnuts, and language that would make a gangsta rapper blush!
Dr. Helen-- I'm with you on the use of the phrase "wrong place at the wrong time." It smacks of an unthinking fatalism and determinism. I remember hearing President Clinton use the phrase to describe the deaths of a family in LA (parents and 2 kids)who were murdered when they made a wrong turn onto a street which was gang "territory." It sounded like a miserable excuse then and it still irks me every time I hear it.
Years ago, when I lived in Chicago, the Reader had this cover story about a painter. Only what he did was paint, dot by dot, replications of other artists' work. If I didn't know better I would've thought the article was satirical.
Mostly I read it for movie and concert listings. The personal ads were good for a laugh, even if it was difficult to keep up with what all the abreviations stood for.
Definitely...The Stranger in Seattle. By far, the most leftie PC weekly I've seen. www.thestranger.com.
Ice Scribe,
In my work, I have heard more thieves, thugs and murderers tell me they were just in the "wrong place at the wrong time" than I can count--After a while, you realize that this is just the criminal code word for "I was caught."
In my neck of Tennessee, we have the Jackson Sun. It managed to be a mainstream daily and an alternative leftist rag all in one fell swoop.
Here in Hawaii, we have the 'Honolulu Weekly.' My friends and I affectionately refer to it as the Honolulu Pravda. I must admit that it is extremely hilarious to see the Weekly excoriate the local Democrats for not being leftist enough.
Yeah, alternative weeklies are all the same all across the nation.
You know, the ones with the communist editorials, anti-capitalist/pro-Government overregulation slanted cover stories, a Tom Tomorrow cartoon and a three page personals ads for the GLBT community.
Were it not for the invaluable "community calendar" and excellent cultural pieces/reviews, the damn thing wouldn't be fit to line a bird cage.
Sounds like the "City Weekly" here in Salt Lake it pretty much par for the course, based on the descriptions I'm reading from other cities. I had always just assumed it was a Utah thing. In addition to slamming Bush, etc., City Weekly also exists to insult and outrage Mormons, who, like Bush, are bad because they are predominantly white, conservative, and religious.
The reporters seem to come from the ranks of - too liberal to sell out and get a "real" job, and not a good enough journalist to get a job at a regular newspaper.
The readers seem to be angry twenty-somethings that need to purchase female companionship by the hour, based on the content and ads.
The Tucson Weekly
Helen, I think "Nick from South Africa" is a longtime commenter from the Daily Ablution. I don't think he's a Greg-puppet.
Nick, I think Helen's point was that in the eyes of the writers she refers to, being "church-going" is assumed to make you worthier in the eyes of the imagined yahoos who (those writers assume) made up the jury. In other words, you have misunderstood Helen, or possibly there are just one too many twists to this (Helen's assumptions about alt-weekly writers' assumptions about imagined yahoos' assumptions about religious people).
That's a chicken-or-the-egg-which-came-first question.
Unfortunately for the printed alt.weeklies, the sex ad golden eggs will inevitably migrate to the Internet, no matter whether the Leftiness or the sex ads came first.
I predict that many Lefty alt.weeklies are going to go out of business.
So sad.
-- david.davenport.1@netzero.com
someone else said "I suspect that the hard-left slant is cover for their prostitution and 'lifestyle' ads, many of which skirt local vice ordinances. If they get pinched, they can plead political persecution."
Actually, the ads are a result of the hard left slant - ads go where the target market is - the readership for that slant is also the market for those services.
In Tucson we get to suffer from both the Tucson Weekly and The Tucson Daily Star. In all honesty The Tucson Weekly, the alternative freebie, is the better of the two....at least they don't try to hide their commie leanings and some of the border stories are well written/highly informative. The Tucson Daily Star,on the other hand, is clearly far-left except when it comes to Lute Olsen, our basketball coach/hero....some things are sacred, ya know!?
Wow, Doc, that's intense. I like the MetroPulse and flip through it every week. I notice that your Six website has a couple of MetroPulse links, including one to an excellent Jesse Fox Mayshark story on the Lillelid killers. I am wondering why you would provide links to the paper if it is truly so deplorable.
anonymous 4:30
Huh? Where do you get deplorable from my post? I said that some of the articles (like Mr. Mayshark's) were interesting--but that I felt it was getting more and more PC. I am glad you like the MetroPulse--there are parts of it I do enjoy but in the last year or two---it has a PC spin that I find irritating--you are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine.
Helen,
Following on from this…
>>church going impeccable background<
Interesting post; I'm not sure how the 'church going' is germane to your point, it seems a little gratuitous. Unless that is, you are trying subtly to imply, or rather resonate via sub-text with a specific audience, that the victim being ‘church going’ makes her more virtuous, more 'innocent' and by implication, more blameless, than a lapsed, indifferent or non church going Christian, an atheist, a Theravadan Buddhist, or whatever 'cos that's how it's coming over from where I sit!
Or am I being too perceptive on the sub-text here; pray please elucidate Helen?
1:58 PM
Helen said...
Nick from "South Africa,"
Is that you again Greg? I've noticed that you left but in your place seems to be a number of similar snide remarks coming from "different" commenters. Please feel free to come back and join in as yourself or go--but do not play these silly games--it's beneath you.<
My question was posed in good faith, I don’t think it was ‘snide’, it certainly wasn’t intended thus, though it clearly had an implied critique. I think that implied critique still stands, and is still worthy of an equally measured response, because the point I made struck me squarely and I’m a pretty broad based Anglophile who’s cultural perspective, nuance and subtlety is reasonable mainstream as a Brit’, born in India, educated in the UK, lived in UK, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and South Africa.
Sure, I understand if you are running a blog or forum, that you have problems of verification and folks that regularly appear for a gratuitous ‘pop’ at you for all sorts of reasons. Trolls if you will. I aint one of them. Well, I’d be just a tad disappointed if you saw fit, on the strength of my mild mannered and rather measured post, to classify me thus! I just followed a link from Gleg’s blog, I really only know of you from the new Podcasts (by the way I think you guys are doing great on these, good ‘more ears and less mouth style’….many interviewers could learn from this….I digress). As an aside your Southern accent is unfamiliar to me, it’s very clear and easy to understand but the long stretched out vowels took a few minutes to ‘normalise’ to…..cool.
Anyway, Go well
cheers
Nick
copy of e-mail sent to Helen directly
I only read metropulse for the calander section.
/i really have nothing to worth while to add to this discussion.
Manchester, NH, now has The Hippo, which has a left but not nutso slant, other than the obligatory Tom Tomorrow strip (talk about a one-trick pony). However, the film reviewer, Amy Diaz, is marvelous. I don't even go to movies and I like reading her reviews.
They are very big on reporting the local club and concert scene, which I have little interest in, but have no objection to. My wife picks it up because she likes anything free and can read entire books by accident she's so fast. I find it clutters up the bathroom.
Nick from South Africa - a "Brown-Sahib", you are, it seems, from the days of Her majesty's Empire. Do you talk with the funny, Oxbridge/Sandhurst accent too?
I'll second Will Collier's comments about Creative Loafing in Atlanta. It has really gone downhill over the last few years, especially with the hiring of John Sugg and, more recently, Doug Monroe. The tone of the paper has become much more shrill since these two have been hired; John still looks for any chance he can find to talk about his glory days of the 60's, and Doug's not much better. They both resort to name-calling and baseless accusations on a regular basis, and even non-editorial writers like Cliff Bostock and Felicia Feaster never fail to take completely unrelated columns (Feaster, for example, is an arts/movie critic) into raging Bush/"red-state" hatred. CL has apparently lost all interest in civil discourse, and has instead defaulted to angry, insulting preaching to the choir. Need I mention that I have yet to see one article talking about UN corruption, especially Oil-For-Food-related?
Thanks for the advertising Mike! But, as anyone who reads The Flypaper Theory will discover, for all its leftiness there's not much PC about it.
As it happens the Flyer has the most comprehensive, and fair political coverage in Memphis, although the editorials are generally from a progressive POV. We were, I believe, the first paper to ask that Ophela Ford NOT be seated, and even suggested that the County Comish not concern themselves with the fact that district 29 was traditionally Democratic.We're THAT kind of partisan. I suspect most of my co-workers are anti-death-penalty, though I don't know of anyone in the building who is anti-prison. As for me, I'm all about the penal farm--- put 'em to work.
Alt Weeklies-- associated under the AAN banner-- are all unique. I recently attended a writers Con. at Northwestern in Chicago where writers from more conservative papers voiced powerful objections to points by some of the more liberal speakers. 9 out of 10 times, I sided with the conservatives.
The most Lefty speaker on the bill ranted about how weeklies need to be more pro-development. We're such pinkos.
There's nothing "typically" lefty about The Flyer, or any other alt paper. They are all uniquely what they are based on the talent they attract, and the city they occupy. Many are outright awful, some (The Chicago Reader for example) are amazing. They tend to read better than dailies because they aren't dumbed down. On the other hand, since resources are usually limited they can be spotty.
I will add that the Pulse story doesn't seem particularly sympathetic to the murderer. It recounts his crime in pretty brutal terms and distinguishes the facts of the case from the lawyer's spin. The "Wrong man/place etc" comes from a quote, and although the writer uses the line as a jumping off point it never becomes thematic. The question isn't "does the man deserve to be punished" it's "Is the man insane, and if so, how do we punish the insane?" And these are questions worth asking. This post misses the question, and the opportunity to respond to it in favor of bashing the medium. Talk about your fair and balanced.
There are three of them in Montreal:
Le Voir: French, leftist but mostly upper-class art (galleries, classical music, theater, etc.).
The Mirror: English, very leftist, typical alternative but part of a big chain (I think).
The Hour: English, very leftist, typical alternative. Nastier than the Mirror.
They all come out weekly, on Thursday.
Nick, the answer is simple - polls, crime, and healthcare statistics, as well as most social science research, shows a strong corrolation between regular church attendance and what most civilized societies define as virtue. Whether you agree with Judaeo/Christian beliefs, or religion in general, its social impact on peoples' consciences is well established. Even if it's the "opiate of the people" it tends to keep them honest and in conformance with most societal expectations of good behavior. People's behavior generally is better when they think someone is looking over their shoulder, whether it's a cop, God, or Big Brother's electronic eavesdropping.
In Cleveland, we have two such weeklys - Scene, and the Free Times. Interestingly enough, for all their Marxist agitprop, the owners of the two (Village Voice and an LA publisher) were convicted of violating antitrust laws in a deal where the Free Times was shut down in return for the owner of Scene closing a competing weekly in another city. The Free Times resumed publication as part of the settlement. Go figure - warm fuzzy marxist environmentalist robber barons conspiring to create monopolies.
Montreal has The Hour and The Mirror. Toronto has The Eye and Now. Well, and basically all the mainstream papers, too! The Toronto Star would be an example of the fine line between Alternate Weekly and MSM.
RG
Here is Minneapolis, St Paul there are multiple alternative weeklies, the two most prominent are:
City Pages
Pulse
Doc,
Here on the Central Coast of California the alt-weekly in San Luis Obispo, NEW TIMES- SLO has found itself in a world of hurt over a piece it published earlier in the month entitled "Meth Made Easy"...and, yes it was as bad as the title sounds.
Editor (now former-editor) Jim Mullin tried to write an apology the following week but wrote something more aptly described as an apologia or justification for the story.
While the paper is denying that it's related, Mullin stepped down last week.
He wrote a parting shot in the form of a lettor to a SLO Tribune staff writer who covered his resignation, asking them why they had only now waded into the fracas.
The only thing exceeding his bitterness over the situation was his poor editorial judgment.
I'm surprised somewhat that this hasn't gotten more play outside the area as it provides a serious lesson about journalistic boundaries.
Here are some links:
http://mydogsaresmarter.blogspot.com/2006/02/apology-or-apologia-part-i.html
http://mydogsaresmarter.blogspot.com/2006/02/resigned.html
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