20061228 Real Editor seems to have annoyed ScrappleFace Editor

“Real” Editor seems to have annoyed ScrappleFace Editor

ScrappleFace Editor Responds to Real Editor

December 28^th, 2006

In what is tantamount to must-read Internet, a “real” editor, from of all places, the Utopian Republic of San Francisco, seems to have attempted to take to task ScrappleFace for a satire piece he wrote, “One Year Later, Some Katrina Victims Still Slow to Respond,” and ScrappleFace drops the palliative vehicle of humor and responds.

The result is a very real and serious manifesto that cuts right to the quick of the matter, for not only the media’s response to Katrina, but much of what is wrong with our country today.

Please find the time to read his entire post: “ScrappleFace Editor Responds to Real Editor.” It is more than worth every minute of your time.

Mr. Scott wrote in his ScrappleFace post:

“In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, journalists sought someone to blame. They, predictably, found President George Bush was the best scapegoat. But in lashing out, yet again, at their favorite source of all discontent, they missed a bigger target. If anyone “out there” is to be blamed, it is the large, remote, centralized federal government which has become a surrogate father to so many millions of Americans.”

[Meanwhile… I wrote several columns about the tragedy of Katrina in The Tentacle:

October 5, 2005 “Kurosawa's History of Hurricane Katrina” American Anthropologist Ernest Albert Hooten once said: "History is principally the inaccurate narration of events which ought not to have happened." How will history record Hurricane Katrina?

September 14, 2005 “Katrina – Who Did What and When?” The intemperate criticism directed at the Hurricane Katrina response – the rescue and recover efforts – is more polluted than the floodwaters of New Orleans and contributes nothing to a noble American tradition of coming together at a difficult time and helping fellow Americans in a time of need.

And

September 9, 2005 “Shut up and call the cavalry” Compassion exceeds all else in importance on the Gulf Coast in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. Only the truly heartless can be left untouched. Our hearts and prayers go out to the victims and the rescuers.]

Mr. Ott begins the post by saying”

“… since ScrappleFace began, my little satirical stories have reached millions of people. Those who read them on the website, for the most part, understand the satirical context. However, thanks to the magic of clip-and-paste, many stories have been ripped from their context and distributed … causing consternation and ill-will in some cases. Normally, the vast editorial staff at ScrappleFace when notified of such offenses, dutifully ignores them, preferring to let the work speak for itself.

We simply continue to ply the trade of creating “fake but accurate” news that we learned in journalism school, and at the feet of Dan Rather and The New York Times.”

With that, he isn’t even warmed-up yet. It gets better.

Apparently, Mary Ratcliff, the editor of the “San Francisco Bay View,” took offense at one of the pieces and has decided to climb upon the soapbox of moral authority and lecture Mr. Ott.

Right from the get-go, one can tell what is coming. Usually such folks – total strangers – in a manifestation of their total disdain for authority and their moral superiority begin with the condescending salutation of addressing you by your first name…

“Dear Scott,

I hope the story you wrote, “One Year Later, Some Katrina Victims Still Slow to Respond“, is satire and is not based on comments actually made by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. An excerpt from your story had been sent to me, and I forwarded it to this list…”

Usually such folks are total hysterics who feed off the tender morsels of found tidbits of a story and at that - - they draw broad-sweeping, self-adulating conclusions that are inaccurate at best, if not intellectually reprehensible.

The “tender morsels” are then extrapolated to the far reaches of reduction add absurdum.

Witness:

“If your story is satire, please tell that to the people on this list. As you can see, your story has caused them immeasurable pain. Think for a moment how it would feel to be condemned by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the person next in line to become president of the U.S. if something should happen to the president and vice president…”

This priceless. San Francisco representative Nancy Pelosi has not even been coroneted the Speaker of the House and here, in one mere sentence, Ms. Ratcliff has her speaking with the imprimatur of the president. Oy vey.

Having been the CEO of a local government with a larger than average share of morally superior secular progressives in our esteemed constituency; that believes that the job of government is solve every problem known to humankind; I’ve been there and got the t-shirt.

Such folks are insufferable. Usually such precious moments are full of breathless thespian pious pithy protestations and appeals involving, “Do the right thing…;” “it’s for the children;” or “everyone agrees…”

If the performance is in a public setting, usually the local newspaper will ignore 90% of the thoughtful comments and responses of well-intentioned citizens and report upon the small minority of folks who attempted to promote their miss-guided agenda by being unpleasant.

In 2005 I chaired a public meeting in which one of these actors began to launch into a soliloquy only to pause to look around the room and discover that the press was not there. At that point she lamented the lack of the press and fell silent.

It was profound. In other words, if she couldn’t grandstand for the local press, which loves her theatrics and words of wisdom, it was not worth her time to venture an opinion. (And no, insiders should be aware that in this example it was not the “RO Factor.”)

Mr. Scott warms up by writing:

“Your email address indicates you are an editor of something. Part of an editor’s job is to check sources before “going to press.” You clipped and pasted a bit forwarded to you from a satire website and sent it out as if it were something that Rep. Nancy Pelosi said. Now, you have asked me to write to this group of people (on a listserv) who have endured some of the harsh realities of life, that I might somehow atone for the confusion you have caused.”

He then continues later with:

“Over the decades, we have ceded power, authority and responsibility to the federal government far beyond anything envisioned or desired by our founders. As a result, instead relying on our own intelligence, resources and ability to work with others in our communities to solve problems, we have turned to Washington D.C..

This is not a matter of ‘blaming the victim’, because the victim has become so immersed in this twisted view of human life that he cannot see what has happened. The federal government’s dehumanizing effect has torn up neighborhoods, torn apart families and turned brave, capable people into compliant recipients of redistributed wealth.”

Mr. Scott at this point just gets better and better – and better.

Read the entire post here.

I hope Mr. Scott runs for president in 2008.

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