This is the kind of viewpoint one would expect to see in the comments to a T&G article, essentially.
In three words... She wasn't there. And three more... She didn't see it.
To sum it up in one word: exacerbation.
Thanks for all your "help", T&G.
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5 comments:
Thank you for writing this, Jeff.
I think Dianne Williamson is an extremely effective columnist, but sometimes I wonder if she has a "people fired directly as a result of my column" quota. (I actually have a friend who made an (admittedly really bad) mistake and left his/her job directly as a result of Dianne's column, so perhaps I'm biased.)
Also, this is right on par with T&G articles about immigrants on food stamps or homeless getting apartments. Those of us who are already biased will just comment on the article in an offensive way, and the article (in this case, column) does nothing to further the reader's knowledge or a sane public dialog.
It's always a laugh when I see stuff like that column, because in other columns she's been so willing to boost the idea of how the paper is some great big service to the community, how professional and ethical the whole business is, etc.
Going into the next decade, I'll probably be referring to columnists like her as "overpaid, occasional bloggers"...
Well -- I think this instance would have been fine in the following circumstances:
1) There hadn't already been a newspaper article, of which this was essentially a rehash, with additional inflammatory quotes.
2) It added something insightful to the debate. For instance, Vellaccio is the same person who approved/allowed the Worcester Police to start carting drunken students away in paddy wagons ten years ago. It seems to me that he has likely done more to address this issue than anyone else mentioned in the column. Has he decided that that kind of brute force doesn't work? Does he have any legitimate reasons to blame the city for not enforcing things that happen on city streets?
3) She could have pointed out that Barbara Haller is a city councilor, a representative of the people who has repeatedly pointed out the problems in this neighborhood. If the city manager and/or police are not listening to an elected official like Haller, what does that say about our form of government?
But Dianne says none of this. Why doesn't she take the city manager to task for not taking an "active role" (his own words for what the college should be doing) in making sure city neighborhoods (and not just this one) are safe and clean?
You are quite right, Jeff. It's far from responsible on her part and she should no better.
"...he called Ms. Haller a “travesty,” said the City Council was ineffective on a broad range of issues, and indicated that the city and police are picking on Holy Cross kids."
How does she *know* he said those things? She doesn't, because as you pointed out- she wasn't there. She does not do the right thing and say "He is alleged to have said..."
So in essence, she is slinging dirt based on hearsay. Which is very unethical.
-Heyduke
I've known Mr. Vellaccio for close to 30 years, and he's always been a good man. I don't like seeing him dragged through the mud for expressing legitimate frustration with our City Council and WPD for being unable to solve a problem over 10 years old.
I know the partiers are Holy Cross students, but the party hosts live off campus. The college can't lock their undergrads on campus for the weekend, nor can they shut down parties on private property. The WPD can certainly shut down those parties.
I firmly believe this issue is brought up every few years because it makes good headlines for the City Council, and writes easy articles for the T&G.
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