When I want to know about a particular topic I do not read a newspaper, I wait for a magazine to come out and tell me all about it - they have more time to read the breaking news aspect and to consider the big picture. I'm often a few weeks behind everyone in coming to an opinion, but I find that I am often making fewer stupid opinions. So I tend to mark that as a good thing.
Plus it lets me look the most ardent political fool (either side of the aisle) in the eye and say, "Well, I am still trying to understand the whole topic, what do you think?" And then I can usually do my imitation of a horse (fall asleep standing up, not, er, defecate while walking) and sip my drink in peace.
When I want a somewhat neutral opinion on matters then I pick up a magazine that is devoted to business. It drives my wife nuts that I have so many magazines and renew them every year (she jokes that I want a garage to hide stuff like that from her. I think she is joking). Sure, a business magazine will sometimes have naive opinions, but I am sure I do too, so I don't fault them for that. (Finding fault is my boss's job)
So, I have been intrigued about the Jena 6 situation. While Al and Je$$ie have been all over the Jena 6 stuff, I have long since learned to tune them out. But I think, potentially, the Jena 6 case is important in modern race relations. So, based on my theorem of using business magazines to get a handle on social issues like the Jena 6 I went to Black Enterprise Magazine. (This is a great mag, you can subscribe for less than $10/year and usually you can find re-subscription deals for under that. I have had a subscription to Black Enterprise since I first saw a copy on the newsstand some years ago. :-)
So, back to the Jena 6 and what Black Enterprise has to say. Hmmm, they went with the standard AP story with no commentary. I check the AP story on the Jena 6 with the Black Enterprise version on the Jena 6 and there is no change at all - they just ran it.
So, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the Black Enterprise reading middle/upper class doesn't care about the Jena 6. (The WSJ, in contrast, has six stories today.) I know that Black Enterprise magazine often has political stories (with viewpoints very different than mine, frequently) and takes very strong political positions when they feel their subscribers care. And magazines live and die by subscriptions and re-subscriptions. So if you miss report a critical story in a magazine like Black Enterprise then you can lose 8% of your subscribers just like that - SNAP.
I don't subscribe to Jet, but I will go buy a copy and check out their website and get back to you shortly.
Oh, you want my opinion? Well, I am not sure what a harsh penalty is for three kids beating up another kid. It happened to me when I was in 8th grade and I just tracked them down one by one and administered a beating to each of them in turn. Well, actually, the biggest pounded me again, but then they all left me alone. Maybe the Jena 6 should have been handled the old fashioned way with no police involved.
And I don't know if the white kids who put nooses up on the tree broke any actual laws, but I am shocked that their parents didn't publicly take care of the problem. Had I done something so stupid my dad would have made me march to every black household and apologize. And in a small town like Jena (3,500 total population) you could actually do something like that.
So, my conclusion is that I don't have a conclusion. Did the Jena 6 break the law beating up another kid. Undoubtedly. Was the court trial for the Jena 6 unfair? Who knows. Was it right for the Jena 6 to beat up some kid as a response for the provocation? No. So we are left with a human mess.
Plus it lets me look the most ardent political fool (either side of the aisle) in the eye and say, "Well, I am still trying to understand the whole topic, what do you think?" And then I can usually do my imitation of a horse (fall asleep standing up, not, er, defecate while walking) and sip my drink in peace.
When I want a somewhat neutral opinion on matters then I pick up a magazine that is devoted to business. It drives my wife nuts that I have so many magazines and renew them every year (she jokes that I want a garage to hide stuff like that from her. I think she is joking). Sure, a business magazine will sometimes have naive opinions, but I am sure I do too, so I don't fault them for that. (Finding fault is my boss's job)
So, I have been intrigued about the Jena 6 situation. While Al and Je$$ie have been all over the Jena 6 stuff, I have long since learned to tune them out. But I think, potentially, the Jena 6 case is important in modern race relations. So, based on my theorem of using business magazines to get a handle on social issues like the Jena 6 I went to Black Enterprise Magazine. (This is a great mag, you can subscribe for less than $10/year and usually you can find re-subscription deals for under that. I have had a subscription to Black Enterprise since I first saw a copy on the newsstand some years ago. :-)
So, back to the Jena 6 and what Black Enterprise has to say. Hmmm, they went with the standard AP story with no commentary. I check the AP story on the Jena 6 with the Black Enterprise version on the Jena 6 and there is no change at all - they just ran it.
So, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the Black Enterprise reading middle/upper class doesn't care about the Jena 6. (The WSJ, in contrast, has six stories today.) I know that Black Enterprise magazine often has political stories (with viewpoints very different than mine, frequently) and takes very strong political positions when they feel their subscribers care. And magazines live and die by subscriptions and re-subscriptions. So if you miss report a critical story in a magazine like Black Enterprise then you can lose 8% of your subscribers just like that - SNAP.
I don't subscribe to Jet, but I will go buy a copy and check out their website and get back to you shortly.
Oh, you want my opinion? Well, I am not sure what a harsh penalty is for three kids beating up another kid. It happened to me when I was in 8th grade and I just tracked them down one by one and administered a beating to each of them in turn. Well, actually, the biggest pounded me again, but then they all left me alone. Maybe the Jena 6 should have been handled the old fashioned way with no police involved.
And I don't know if the white kids who put nooses up on the tree broke any actual laws, but I am shocked that their parents didn't publicly take care of the problem. Had I done something so stupid my dad would have made me march to every black household and apologize. And in a small town like Jena (3,500 total population) you could actually do something like that.
So, my conclusion is that I don't have a conclusion. Did the Jena 6 break the law beating up another kid. Undoubtedly. Was the court trial for the Jena 6 unfair? Who knows. Was it right for the Jena 6 to beat up some kid as a response for the provocation? No. So we are left with a human mess.
No comments:
Post a Comment