Comments on: Bumper sticker logic

By: facebook-1759003306

facebook-1759003306 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:02:54 +0000

I appreciate that you were able to transcend your initial anger and transfer that energy into this article, I enjoyed it.
As for the mystery vandal, perhaps it was the elusive “shit house poet” attempting to show that beyond the one dimensional toilet humor he usually scrawls, he is a secret lover of ADBUSTERS magazine. The color of his marker is all wrong, and there was no attempt to either adopt the font of the sticker or create enough contrast with his on the fly, semi-hesitant lettering. Notice the heavy point and saturated stop points on the first letters of Killing, as if he was second guessing his choice of words. For Shame. Step up your game, man, or keep it in the stalls!

By: Billy Pilgrim

Billy Pilgrim — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:52:35 +0000

It looks as if I need to work on my computer skills as well!

By: Billy Pilgrim

Billy Pilgrim — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:47:26 +0000

Mark,

I will concede to your point that true objectivity is not possible. However, if the authors bias or opinion is an uninformed and unfair assessment of facts, it has no journalistic quality.

Upon re-reading my initial post, I still believe that the reader should ultimately be given credit enough to judge for themselves. Whether you're reading Mother Jones or National Review, you know what slant you're going to get.

It seems to me that in pointing out your own bias from the start, you're not trusting the reader to judge the facts for themselves. Although, the Catch-22 of this argument is that you did cause me to re-think parts of my initial reaction.

So it goes.

By: Billy Pilgrim

Billy Pilgrim — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:45:33 +0000

By: Billy Pilgrim

Billy Pilgrim — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:43:46 +0000

By: markkelly

markkelly — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:34:35 +0000

Billy Pilgrim, thanks for a close and thoughtful reading of the piece, as reflected in your comments. I hoped to stir some discussion with the riff on objectivity, and while we appear to disagree on the thesis, I think we have room for some give-and-take there as it relates to the mingling of fact and opinion. My point is that true objectivity is not possible, and that if one accepts that, one then can confess bias while remaining dedicated to following the trail of truth wherever it leads—even if that is to a conclusion that runs counter to one's own beliefs.

It's a discussion worth continuing, though not at the late hour I'm typing this. Let me say thanks again for sharing your thoughts. I'm glad you enjoyed the piece and appreciate your taking the time to write.

By: Billy Pilgrim

Billy Pilgrim — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:14:04 +0000

Journalistic integrity breaks down when there is no clear distinction between opinion and fact. It is of great disservice to readers when we are told what to believe. That is the nature of rhetoric and opinion based reporting being substituted for facts. When you confess your biases you are preaching to the choir.

As an opinion piece you clearly make a compelling argument for your support of our president. Your views are justified given the staggering number of political pundits who are morphing into lemming and rushing en masse towards oblivion.

The vandals who defaced your Obama bumper stickers were just that. Vandals. To equate their actions with those of the politicians you mention in your article only serves to fuel the fire of your bias. You point out what was to be the crux of your article but you never take it anywhere. Unless attacking your foes is where you wanted to go. I do not wish to put words in your mouth. And neither do I wish to be given opinion disguised as news.

I am still not sure whether this was meant as an opinion column or as a news report but it seemed to be an intermingling of the two and I thoroughly enjoyed it, although I still want non biased reporting. You gave your views and I made my judgement, no matter how far off the mark some people might see them, there they are.

In these times it truly seems we are all strangers in a strange land.

By: patronus09

patronus09 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:48:32 +0000

Mixelplix, maybe you should learn how to spell. I guess I'm an elitist because I think that when you comment on someone's article, you should have the courtesy and sense to run a basic spell-check.

By: jmatthewcobb

jmatthewcobb — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:22:18 +0000

Sorry to hear that about your car. If they believe so strongly in those comments, they would have posted it on their own vehicle. What they do was full of malice and stupidity. Thanks for writing this article…and for snapping that photo.

By: nyoka

nyoka — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:56:11 +0000

The President gave the best answer to the question on David Letterman's Show – He was black before the election, too!
I know that there are people who are segregationists, but there were people who objected to having a Catholic president, and some would object to a Jewish president. My reasons for not voting for him had nothing to do with race or religion, but rather because of his platform and philosophy of government.

By: MadisonU

MadisonU — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:28:50 +0000

I believe, Mixelplix, that if you read the entire column you'll see that Mr. Kelly, though initially angry, eventually arrives at a much more reasonable position, in which he advocates the lessons of Matthew.

I feel very confident that Mr. Kelly would disapprove of burning vehicles as well. Just a hunch, though.

By: markkelly

markkelly — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:38:56 +0000

Thanks for your comments, however much they distort what I wrote.

By: Mixelplix

Mixelplix — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 17:03:03 +0000

You start out by quoting Matthew, love your enemies, and then proceed to bash everything not in line with your thoughts.

This is very specious of you.

I am sorry someone did that to the sticker on your car, it could have been mush worse. In Tampa Fl during the election, a person with a McCain Palin sticker had their car burned buy Obama supporters.

You say everyone is racist who disagrees; I submit that if anyone here is racist it is you.

You have already shown your willingness to paint everyone who disagrees with the same brush, this is what racists do.

Please be fair in your comments and stop race baiting, others have honest disagreements with the direction of our country.

I myself am a registered independent and believe that both Dems and Reps are the causes of the problem, not blacks and whites.

I Hope you wake up and Change before it is too late.