NOTE: If you can make it through the rant, there are zoo pictures on the other side!
In yesterday's post (published this AM) I told the story of a news article in which a man riding his motorcycle was run over by a car. At issue in the article IMHO was the following paragraph a few lines from the end:
Police later found the driver of the car, Prionda Hill, at the Rally’s several blocks down the road from where she hit Oliveri. She told police “she was driving and out of no where God told her that he would take it from here and she let go of the wheel and let him take it.” She’s now facing several charges. (From WANE.com)
And without further elucidation on the woman's fate or mental health- which you always seem to get in such stories- WANE reporter Sara Wagner finished with some quotes from the man involved. Which of course led to fine comments like these from the area's atheist population:
Any moron who believes in an invisible skydaddy should be committed...
superstitions/religions are dangerous....
"guardian angel wings" come on: seeing jesus' face in toast is childish crap, and so is imbuing the supernatural into someones bruises
and yes, if his "guardian angel" was watching over him, why did this angel let him get smashed? paranormal nonsense...
Christian's beliefs have been putting others in danger since the beginning. No secret there...
When you ride with God, you ride alone....
So my thought process was, why when a story NOT involving God in some fashion would generally finish with, "Police took the woman to X hospital for psychiatric observation", was it NOT part of this story? Lazy reporting, Hidden agenda? And it made me think of other questionable calls by WANE.com of late. Despite the presence of a responsible Christian as anchor and all-around good guy (Mark Mellinger, and not trying to be sarcastic there), WANE seems to be shifting the way of all flesh to the PC, the whole PC, and nothing but the PC. So I put it to Mr. Mellinger like this:
The story that
WANE.com ran on the guy who got run over on his motorcycle ended with the part
about the woman “being told by God” to let go of the steering wheel. No mention
was made of any mental health concerns or treatment for the woman. This opened
the door for all the site’s atheist fans to have a field day bashing God and
religion. Don’t you think that story should have had a coda to point out that
this was not an indication of the “delusion of religion” but rather it was the
sign of a woman needing help? I have to wonder sometimes how you justify your
continued presence in mainstream media when your employer seems to be as big a
proponent of the liberal “god-free” agenda as the rest of the MSM. Just
curious, like to hear your thoughts.
And the response:
Well, we just
report the facts as given to us by investigators and the police; there’s no
agenda. People are, within the bounds of propriety, free to say whatever they
want on our ‘comments’ sections. Folks who are Christians or theists have every
right to voice their opinions in that forum as well; we don’t police those
sections very strictly regardless of the points of view that are expressed. I’m
not sure if this is a satisfying answer for you, but that’s my take on it.
Thanks for your interest and take care.
All
The Best,
Mark Mellinger
I'll let you all make the judgment. I wasn't real satisfied, but he did answer, and politely. And he ain't lying about the "Not policing the sections very strictly"- I had to post a comment with a word I KNEW would get flagged to make them look at the posts of a dude making basically terrorist threats on a story about Ft Wayne having the best looking guys (if you can believe any of that). Even then, they took away his posting privileges, but left his posts up under "anonymous".
In the meantime, zoo pictures!
|
Lynx was awake to greet everybody. |
|
"What did I just get on my hand?"
"Heh heh heh..." |
|
See the rainbow... |
|
15 pictures at seal tank: 12 necks, a tail, and these two... |
|
More chipmunks than peacocks these days... |
|
Weekly meeting of headwaiter's union local 75... |
|
Just call me Bob... (as in bobbing along...) |
|
ZOOOOOM! |
|
One of many friends Laurie made this trip... |
|
Wildest, noisiest animals in the park. |
|
Dingoes chillin' |
|
You wanna piece o' me, suckah? |
|
Laurie: "It's not a butterfly, it's a booberfly!" |
|
He stayed on Laurie's hand for about ten minutes listening to the Kangaroo lady. |
|
The miracle of photographic zoom- we were nowhere near this close. |
|
Biturong in a bowl- now at IHOP. |
|
He was determined to sleep in the smallest slice of shade possible- just moved to this spot. |
|
Serval- if you remember the Black Pines post, this is what they breed with a house cat to get the Savannah Cat. |
|
Honey Badger be like, Y'all get lost, I be snoozing! |
|
What's the oldest joke at the zoo? Hey, what's Gnu? |
|
That was a nice nap. And now.... Mom? Dad? |
|
Zoo guy: "Sir, don't stand so close. Only because his head weighs about 200 lbs, and he's too young to realize that and just swings it around." |
|
Chris: "How old is he?"
Zoo guy: "16 years."
Meh. Teenagers. |
|
Th-th-th-th-th-th-that's all, folks! |
Chris:
ReplyDeleteTwo quick things about the WANE story:
1- They DON'T police comments? Then why did 2 of my DISQUS accounts up and go bye-bye when I never became bellicose or swore?
2- All the information given to reporters need only be DISCRETE in the manner that they choose to report it...it's called JOURNALISM...for a REASON.
(least, it used to be).
*********************
---Now, when Wifey told me you two went to the ZOO...the first thing I thought was:
"Funny, didn't see Chris's car come by our area at all".
Them it hit me...Wifey meant the CHILDREN'S ZOO uptown..
Excellent pictures, I might add.
---"Local 75 meeting"...LMAO!
---Noisiest animals...ain't THAT the truth!
---The TIGER pic is outstanding
(and he/she was out sunning...heh)
---Can I get strawberries w/ that Biturong?
---A 200 lb head and a 2 foot long tongue inside it...NO COMMENT.
(what? No OTTER pictures? Next time)
Glad you two had such a good time.
(and stayed away from the animals down here...lol)
Great post.
Stay safe (and cool) up there.
Mellinger:
ReplyDelete1- Because some troll didn't like what you said and whoever was at the desk at the time decided to use their finger rather than JUDGMENT, would be my guess.
2- I thought that, too. But my dissatisfaction was that his answer smacked of the "Company guide to answering e-mails" rather than true thoughts.
Zoo:
1- You'll never see me coming... bwah-hah-hah-hah!
2- I liked that too, but I thought my best bit was the "oldest joke" one.
3- It was the truth today!
4- Waaaay back in a corner, almost missed her.
5- And whipped crème, along with two eggs and your choice of sausage links or bacon.
6- The otters were off-exhibit, something about introducing the male to "a new friend"...
The giraffes are always my favorites.
ReplyDeleteThis is where I normally insert my "women liking long tongues" joke, but you are a bit new around here, so I'll settle with, "I just wish Zoo Guy woulda let us pet him."
DeleteFun pictures!
ReplyDeleteFun day!
Delete"Any moron who believes in an invisible skydaddy should be committed.."
ReplyDeleteThank goodness you also posted pictures of the zoo. Otherwise, an idiotic, condescending statement like that would really frost me.
Hee...hee...hee
You can never go wrong with monkeys (or apes). Unless they're throwing poop at you.
A) that was why I e-mailed Mellinger in the first place. B) That's why I didn't save the zoo pics for later.
DeleteWhether or not a person believes in God is irrelevant when they purposely let go of the wheel and run over someone. I'm pretty sure God's kinda busy and would probably prefer that a human stay in charge of the vehicle. And whether or not they believe in God, their choice to listen to whatever voice had horrible consequences and she should have her mental health checked on.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. My bitch is with those who used it for a political/social agenda- much like the whole Tony Dungy business, which is a fine example of how stupid people are willing to look to further the agenda.
DeleteKANGAROOS!!!! and TIGERS!!!!! my faves.
ReplyDeleteAs for the lead story, I just wonder why they would even relate the woman's reason (?) if not to do exactly what it did, provoke a stir unrelated to the original story.
The Kangaroo Lady knew her stuff, and we talked a long time (well, she did). And that was exactly my point to Mellinger, but I guess that's what he considers free expression of ideas.
Delete