[Imc-web] Inappropriate Post
Mike Lehman
rebelmike at earthlink.net
Mon Mar 5 22:51:54 CST 2007
I never really thought that I'd ever need to make a request like this of
an Indymedia editor, at least if I wasn't at SF IMC or some other
benighted IMC backwater, but I suppose there's a first for everything.
In fact, I waited a couple of hours to write this, so that my comments
here deal with the issues and not the pain I'm feeling over this.
One of the first unwritten principles of Indymedia is what we're here
for: Indymedia exists to comfort the afflicted and afflict the
comfortable. This can often be disconcerting, particularly when we see
things that push our personal comfort envelope.
However...
I do NOT see the reason behind the need for a comment that suggests that
regular users of UC IMC are engaged in writing fiction -- most
especially one made by an editor of the site. We might as well leave the
editing to the trolls if that is the best we can do. Even worse is to
think that such a suggestion was important enough to rate being the
subject of an article, in addition to the comment itself.
Wendy, I know you well enough to realize that you probably made these
posts in jest. But in the context, just like the context of the story
the comment was first associated with, it was monumentally insensitive.
Are you really suggesting that the idea that the justice system in
Champaign County, let alone Illinois or the US as a whole, is not
afflicted by endemic racism? That such an idea is a fiction? Because it
sure sounds like that is what you are referring to. I can't help but
think that others, who perhaps don't know you as well, would jump to
that conclusion. And I do NOT -- in fact -- will NOT defend that. Hell,
we might as well hand editing over to the News-Gazette editorial staff
as trouble ourselves with trying to offer any alternatives, no matter
how imperfect they might be.
I realize you have a discomfort with some of Brian's reporting. I'd
suggest that you either meet with him to discuss your issues or you
refrain from further editing if you feel that such comments are in
order. The state's attorney is a big girl -- she can defend herself. It
is completely inappropriate for you to engage in activity which, if it
had been anonymously posted, I would have dealt with for the obvious
trolling it seems to be on the face of it, because holding the reporting
of others, as well as what are surely the heartfelt comments of what
appear to be regular users of the site up to contempt is simply
unacceptable for an editor to engage in. It calls into question the
judgment we all use, if you engage in such behavior.
I would feel much better about this if you removed both posts immediately.
Mike Lehman
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