I posted (as did other bloggers) Dennis Zaki's video of a local TV reporter asking Lisa Murkowski to say and spell her name and then to state her title. We all expressed dismay at a reporter's lack of preparation when interviewing, in our state, a US Senator from our state.
A number of people with journalism training defended her action as standard operating procedure for testing the mic and getting the data onto the video.
I think we might all do well to take Rogers and Hammerstein's advice to farmers and cowmen:
[We arrived a little early to a balmy 42˚F (5˚C) Anchorage.]
Monday, October 26, 2009
2 comments:
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It is not much warmer in Budapest. We are lucky in the sense that according to the laws (I am not sure that it is a law actually) but the greatest power in the country is the Holy Crown. When we had kings, the ruler of the country, and the owner of all lands was the crown and he (sometomes she) ruled on behalf of the crown. Nowadays "only everything in Hungary" is the property of the Holy Crown. So it is the source of all power. However you can't interview our crown. He is not really talkative. :)
ReplyDeleteSteve,
ReplyDeleteI see that you departed PDX last evening, probably flying directly over my house. I hope your stay in our 'neck of the woods' was most rewarding.
I'm all for the cowman and the farmer (and the cow and sheep, too) finding common ground in a respectful vein (not sure which metaphors I might have mixed here).
I find grace too often absent in the blogosphere with phrases such as 'knuckle draggers,' 'mouth breathers,' and 'anklebiters' used to dehumanize those whose value systems differ from the writer's.
This is the same type of dehumanization that supports racism, anti-semitism, genocide and hate in its many forms. Easy to dismiss as just 'sarcasm' when we utter it, but so ugly when used by those whose actions we find justifiably despicable.
I particularly abhor this usage on progressive sites where the essence of liberalism connotes open-mindedness and a belief in the essential goodness of humanity.
This is why I was moved to defend an unknown individual who was made the subject of scorn for asking a US Senator to say and spell her name. Whether she did it out of sheer ignorance, standard practice, or just the result of being new to the game or new to the 'market,' it is too easy to lose sight of the fact that there is a human being at the other end of the derision. One who probably entered into her exchange with good intention. A human being to whom we might offer the same grace we would wish to receive.
Mockery is so easy, but understanding requires both curiosity and effort.
Those whose intentional thoughtlessness, recklessness, or deceit harms others may well deserve our scorn, but I would hope we could reserve it for true evil and strive to be constructive in most of our undertakings.
I appreciate that you have spoken up more than once for graceful discussion and disagreement.
Thank you.