Thursday, June 21, 2012

The Charly Doctrine in Thought and Action

You know, that doctrine that the Grey Old Versaillean Madame is a masterpiece of discretion between the "Editorial Stance" and the "Article Content"...because the old bitch really really tries so hard. News Fit to Print..No Editorializing Here, no Siree Bob

6 comments:

Tecumseh said...

The latest of these transpired this past week, as various news outlets deploying Tea Party memes brought Ms. Hawkins dubious national attention, portraying her as an invidious enemy of patriotism. The catalyst for this deluge was her decision to cut from a roster of songs to be performed at a coming end-of-year kindergarten ceremony the country singer Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.”

From the pure perspective of critical appreciation, that might be a benefit. Lyrically prosaic, the song delivers the vague sense that it could be used as the soundtrack for a certain kind of exploitative car commercial. A grade-school principal might choose to nix the song because of grammar violations alone — “ain’t” appears more than once, for instance. But Ms. Hawkins’s rationale for excising the song, Jessica Scaperotti, a spokeswoman for the Education Department said, had to do with the belief that its opening lines, in their suggestion of dramatic misfortune, might unsettle 5-year-old minds.

Hey, that's straight news reporting, says Charly. Straight as a wet noodle.

Charly said...

Touché.

As a side note, the choice of Justin Bieber as a substitute ads a wonderfully surreal note to this. Let's free these children from the plague and expose them to cholera instead. Les chères petites têtes blondes sont en de bonnes mains.

Charly said...

"whose claim to moral supremacy might be challenged on the grounds that he has been married four times"

Wow. Which century was this written in ?

Mr roT said...

moral supremacy at 4?

after one, i am finished with that insane custom.

Tecumseh said...

From the comments to the NYT "news" piece:

Ugh. It is like the 50's again with McCarthy, with out the benefit of rising wages and liveable incomes.

Man, oh, man.

Mr roT said...

don't forget 'itler, moonbeam.