Headline Makes the Man
Or
does this headline undo the man? “Auto mechanic challenges Del.
Barry Knight for 81st District Seat.”
The headline makes
Del. Barry Knight, a Republican, sound like an Oxford don. His
challenger, Jeff Staples, sounds like, well, an auto mechanic. You
get the impression that an auto mechanic isn't worthy to challenge a
delegate.
But the auto mechanic is a Lynchburg College graduate. Del.
Barry Knight, a high school graduate, is a hog farmer.
So the
headline should read “Auto mechanic challenges hog farmer for 81st
District Seat.”
Forget the Middle Class
The
other day, I received a flier from the New Virginia Majority Fund,
another advocacy group advocating for something.
A woman portrayed in the flier says “The middle class is disappearing. How can you help restore
it?"
Politicians and political groupies constantly harp on the
declining status of the middle class.
We
never refer to the wealthy as America's upper class. We refer t o
them as the one percent or those who hold the majority of wealth in
this country.
We
never refer to the poor as lower class. We refer to them instead as
low-income earners and the under-served.
Rather
than pander to the middle class, we should ask: how can the bottom of
our society be raised to the middle?
Pimping for Politicians: Pilot Endorses Hog Farmer
I have never been an advocate of
newspapers endorsing political candidates, for many reasons.
By any name, it's pimping. But The
Pilot endorsed hog farmer Barry Knight, who is being challenged by
auto mechanic, Jeff Staples, who is a Lynchburg College graduate.
Knight isn't a college graduate.
"I am proud to announce that I
have been endorsed by the Virginian-Pilot newspaper. I consider it a
great honor to serve the 81st District," Knight said in an
email.
Pimping
is becoming more prevalent among the media, as the media goes from reporting to opining.
Jesse
Scaccia, the editor of AltDaily pimps for Andrea McClellan,
Norfolk's newest socialite who wants to unseat Norfolk's oldest
socialite, Barclay Winn, in next year's ward elections. At least
Scaccia is unapologetic and honest about his pimping, either
for himself or for those who fit into his world view. His profile
says he has “many biases and local involvements.”
Neither
is Mike Rau, who writes for AltDaily.
In
his latest slant, “A friend to those who really need one,”
Sheriff Bob McCabe is akin to a saint for hiring Karen Hopkins,
McCabe's public information officer and campaign manager.
McCabe,
on the cusp of canonization, has probably jailed half the population
of Norfolk at one time or another in his career. More people inside
and outside of prison know McCabe better than they know their own
mother.
Editor's
Note: LEAD (LEDE): The first few sentences or paragraphs of a story,
usually spelled lede to prevent confusion with lead, the metal that
was once used in printing. LEADER: Row of dashes or dots used to
guide the eye across the page to text or figures.