Torch-and-Pitchfork Repellant, anyone??
Hey Folks -
I thought I was done with this thread, but the local rag that masquerades as a newspaper just keeps on and on and on and on!!
Below is the latest hysterical letter to the editor. Below that is my response.
- Uke Man
Letter to the Dispatch Editor
'Betrayal' series was public service
Friday, November 9, 2007 3:25 AM
Thanks to The Dispatch for the Oct. 14-17 series "The ABCs of Betrayal," about teachers who are child molesters. I'm astounded to see letters objecting to exposing these people, as well as letters supporting their return to teaching.
For heavens sake, these are the scum who are abusing children! I hope The Dispatch keeps up the good work of exposing them.
KAY S. CARTER
Groveport
To the Editor,
The letter “'Betrayal' series was public service” shows how the sensational handling of a real threat energizes a mob mentality beneficial to demagogic political agendas.
Kay Carter, responding to a real problem that has been sensationalized sounds almost hysterical. From her perspective the ABCs series was focused on a narrow matter: pedophiles who preyed on children. She can’t get around the horror of child abuse to understand how anyone could object to the newspaper’s going after and exposing “scum.”
Well, no one – other than pedophiles - objects to that. But there ARE things objectionable about this “public service.” The series dealt with more than pedophilia; the 1,700 cases since 2000 in which only a third lost their licenses were never broken down. Many of those cases had nothing to do with anything related to pedophilia; many had nothing to do with children at all.
Nevertheless, the Dispatch pounded those misleading statistics in almost every ABCs article. That is objectionable. Such behavior leads casual readers to inaccurate assumptions about, in this case, the teaching profession.
Time will show how valid my second objection is.
Ms. Carter writes: “these [educators] are the scum who are abusing children!” Well, they are not the only ones. Wherever there are young people you will find sick people who wish to prey on them – in Congress, churches, children’s organizations, in one’s own neighborhood, in one’s own family.
For as long as I can remember the Dispatch has been critical of teachers and public schools. The ABCs series certainly didn’t show any serious attempt, while going after the guilty, to avoid tarring the innocent. If the paper continues its series, going after the Boy Scouts or local clergy or YMCA personnel or other institutions; I will apologize for my political suspicions. Time will tell.
Finally, while all those connected with the series are patting themselves on the back, it might be well to consider the unintended consequences of what they have done.
While it may have become more difficult for the few criminals to harm children (it certainly won’t stop them), it also affects how innocent teachers can teach and how they will be treated.
Now, elementary teachers who pat a head, give a consoling hug, write encouraging notes on class work, or show special attention to needy kids are putting their professional careers on the line. There will be a definite chill, an emotional withdrawing from students by frightened teachers and an emotional withdrawing from teachers by frightened students - frightened by the hysteria – the hysteria expressed by one Dispatch letter-writer who says she has reluctantly taught her child to trust no one.
Innocent gay and lesbian teachers will particularly feel this threat. Already the focus of prejudice, the series has increased the likelihood of hysterical witch hunts. Teachers who deal with difficult children have had their authority and leverage further reduced, as savvy kids learn they can use the “sex-abuse” card against those who demand appropriate behavior. And the ripples expand.
They say that Mussolini got the trains running on time in Italy, and that was, indeed, a “public service”; but there were other aspects of El Duce that did not serve the public as well.
Yours –
Tom Harker
I thought I was done with this thread, but the local rag that masquerades as a newspaper just keeps on and on and on and on!!
Below is the latest hysterical letter to the editor. Below that is my response.
- Uke Man
Letter to the Dispatch Editor
'Betrayal' series was public service
Friday, November 9, 2007 3:25 AM
Thanks to The Dispatch for the Oct. 14-17 series "The ABCs of Betrayal," about teachers who are child molesters. I'm astounded to see letters objecting to exposing these people, as well as letters supporting their return to teaching.
For heavens sake, these are the scum who are abusing children! I hope The Dispatch keeps up the good work of exposing them.
KAY S. CARTER
Groveport
To the Editor,
The letter “'Betrayal' series was public service” shows how the sensational handling of a real threat energizes a mob mentality beneficial to demagogic political agendas.
Kay Carter, responding to a real problem that has been sensationalized sounds almost hysterical. From her perspective the ABCs series was focused on a narrow matter: pedophiles who preyed on children. She can’t get around the horror of child abuse to understand how anyone could object to the newspaper’s going after and exposing “scum.”
Well, no one – other than pedophiles - objects to that. But there ARE things objectionable about this “public service.” The series dealt with more than pedophilia; the 1,700 cases since 2000 in which only a third lost their licenses were never broken down. Many of those cases had nothing to do with anything related to pedophilia; many had nothing to do with children at all.
Nevertheless, the Dispatch pounded those misleading statistics in almost every ABCs article. That is objectionable. Such behavior leads casual readers to inaccurate assumptions about, in this case, the teaching profession.
Time will show how valid my second objection is.
Ms. Carter writes: “these [educators] are the scum who are abusing children!” Well, they are not the only ones. Wherever there are young people you will find sick people who wish to prey on them – in Congress, churches, children’s organizations, in one’s own neighborhood, in one’s own family.
For as long as I can remember the Dispatch has been critical of teachers and public schools. The ABCs series certainly didn’t show any serious attempt, while going after the guilty, to avoid tarring the innocent. If the paper continues its series, going after the Boy Scouts or local clergy or YMCA personnel or other institutions; I will apologize for my political suspicions. Time will tell.
Finally, while all those connected with the series are patting themselves on the back, it might be well to consider the unintended consequences of what they have done.
While it may have become more difficult for the few criminals to harm children (it certainly won’t stop them), it also affects how innocent teachers can teach and how they will be treated.
Now, elementary teachers who pat a head, give a consoling hug, write encouraging notes on class work, or show special attention to needy kids are putting their professional careers on the line. There will be a definite chill, an emotional withdrawing from students by frightened teachers and an emotional withdrawing from teachers by frightened students - frightened by the hysteria – the hysteria expressed by one Dispatch letter-writer who says she has reluctantly taught her child to trust no one.
Innocent gay and lesbian teachers will particularly feel this threat. Already the focus of prejudice, the series has increased the likelihood of hysterical witch hunts. Teachers who deal with difficult children have had their authority and leverage further reduced, as savvy kids learn they can use the “sex-abuse” card against those who demand appropriate behavior. And the ripples expand.
They say that Mussolini got the trains running on time in Italy, and that was, indeed, a “public service”; but there were other aspects of El Duce that did not serve the public as well.
Yours –
Tom Harker
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