Friday, April 01, 2011

Quibbling with the JT

Generally speaking I think the Racine Journal Times has improved of late insofar as they are not as blatantly political as they had been. That said, I have to quibble a bit.

Yesterday the JT had an otherwise excellent story about the AFSCME union threatening Union Grove businesses with boycotts if they didn't put a "We Support Workers Rights" poster in their windows. The print addition headline was "Businesses asked to pick sides." Asked? How about forced?

Today they ran a short story about one charming Katherine Windels who threatened the lives of Republican lawmakers by "putting a nice little bullet" in the head, along with a couple of bomb threats. They forgot to mention that Windels is a teacher. Unimportant detail? I hardly think so. One mitigating factor in the JT's favor is that it was an AP story.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why was it important to state her occupation in the story?

You are trying way too hard Denis.

BradK said...

Ano,

Is it important to list a pedophile's profession? I think you would be a tad upset if you only found out after the fact and it wasn't reported in the news if a pedo was a teacher, especially if it was your child's teacher.

Anonymous said...

People from all walks of life oppose the budget bill, the legislation is so bad, its probably safe to say their are even pedophiles who oppose it. business owners, private employees and a majority of college students oppose it for very sensical reasons.

Stating ones occupation and using it as a clarification point really bares no weight.

Brad, to your point, a pedophile isn't more of a pedophile because he maybe a teacher. Id be just as upset if it was discovered that a mayor was a pedophile.

BradK said...

Ano

My point was merely from an apolitical perspective, it's information the public may be interested in because it suggests alleged violent tendencies in a person charged with teaching our kids. Suppressing or ignoring that piece of information may be more politically motivated than actually publishing it.

B

BradK said...

Sorry - quick follow-up, my comment has no bearing or knowledge on why Denis originally suggested it was important. Merely my humble opinion.

Denis Navratil said...

The reason why the perpetrators occupation is relevant is because it could give clues to her motive. When someone blows up a bus load of Jewish children in Israel, it is noteworthy to mention that said perpetrator is a Muslim because there are ample numbers of Muslims with a hatred towards Jews. If said perpetrator was a Mormon, perhaps this would be irrelevant and religion just might not be a motivating factor. Perhaps the Mormon owned a rival bus company and rigged the bus to explode such that he could get the next busing contract. Under such circumstances, religion might not be a factor while occupation might be.

With respect to the perpetrator in question, her employment as a teacher I think is relevant as it speaks, potentially, to motive as we are well aware that teachers are among the most vociferous in their opposition to Walkers agenda.

Anon, just wondering, if it was discovered that the perpetrator worked for the Koch brothers or for Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce, would you still think their employment was irrelevant? Oh and thank you for acknowledging my exceptional effort.

Anonymous said...

Again, if you oppose the bill then you oppose the bill. I consider myself a conservative who happens to be Hispanic, and i am an employee of a private company i oppose the bill. Does any of my background matter with regard to my position on the bill?

Denis Navratil said...

Anon, your employment seems not to be a factor here. But then, you didn't promise a "nice little bullet" for anyone's head. Had you done so, any factors that might explain your motives would be relevant for a news story. But then I already explained that. I can't however explain your failure to understand the potential link between employment and motive.

Anonymous said...

Or your failure in demonstrating the importance and /or perceived value of that link.

Teachers are most vocal about the bill because they are most effected by it, it shouldn't take much to understand that.

Denis Navratil said...

Anon, your obsession regarding the perpetrators profession illustrates quite clearly its relevance.

Anonymous said...

Except she is not a teacher, she works in a daycare center part time. Nor is she a member of any union.

Anonymous said...

You're right. It looks like she isn't a teacher, she just works with very small children. Therefore it is perfectly acceptable for her to send bomb threats against groups and death threats against an individual. Glad you cleared that one up!

Sean Cranley said...

Oh Denis gets it wrong again in his zeal to attack the hated teachers! I'm curious Denis, from what great credible source did you get this misinformation and will you continue to trust them to feed you info that you pass along only to find that it's wrong which reflects back you?

Brad, I don't totally disagree with your opinion about why it would be iportant to know the perps profession, but obviously it would be VERY importatnt to know if a teacher was a pedophile since that would place them in direct daily contact with their potential victims. Now if the perp was on Walker's security detail you'd have a better analogy.

Anonymous said...

Let me guess - Seany doesn't think someone who EMAILS death threats isn't, at the very least, fifty times too stupid to be around children. Does quantum mechanics allow for a broken clock that isn't correct twice per day?