Some recent feedback from a reader regarding “violent language” in my stories makes me convinced that this new heightened concern about rhetoric after the Tucson attack has gone way off the rails
The stories in question? In a story about the State of the State address Thursday, I stated that thousands of state employees may have felt like they “dodged a bullet” because Gov. Rick Snyder did not mention wage cuts.
Then in today’s paper, I wrote the city of Lansing is “looking down the barrel” of a $15 million shortfall.
Granted, neither one of these are examples of inspired metaphor. They’re common tools of my trade. But is it possible that the use of such terms leads to a culture of violence – the kind of atmosphere that leads one person to pull out a revolver, aim squarely at an opponent and fire one clean between the eyes?
People are certainly free to ask the question. I personally find it hard to believe that using such metaphors in news stories leads to any degradation of our culture – and subsequent outbreaks of violence. If it does, then our problems run much deeper than my new stories, given that we have a TV and movie culture in which gunfire, pain and misery seem to be main theme.
As I feared, the call for toning down our language following the Jan. 8 attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is going too far. Democrats recently were unreasonable by demanding that Republicans change the (admittedly asinine) title of their healthcare repeal bill because it contained the words “job-killing.”
And even I’ll admit that the jabs at Sarah Palin for using cross-hairs on an election map are somewhat idiotic. I mentioned them critically in another staff’s member blog recently only because everyone was talking about them, but, in truth, putting a crosshair on an election map is fairly innocuous: More yawn-producing than violence-provoking.
(Having said that, Palin does deserve to be rapped for coarsening our culture in other ways. I remember vividly her political rallies in 2008, while running for vice-president, in which she implied Barack Obama was an enemy of the state for supposedly consorting with a former domestic terrorist. As she said this, I recall at least one person at a rally yelled “Kill him!” Palin, to her discredit, said nothing in response. Does this kind of speech by Palin encourage violence? I’ll let you decide.)
At any rate, rest assured I have no plans to holster up my verbiage. I’ll continue to tell stories in the most direct, engaging way that I can. And I do welcome any and all feedback.
Readers, give me your best shot!
