Reply from John Eckberg
First my Mia Culpa: I addressed John as Jack. I saw his email address and saw Jack when it was Jeckberg. I am sorry about that John, if you are reading. This will also explain why I was addressed as such in the email.
Subj: RE: 08/22/2002 Article: City melees got national air play
Date: 08/22/2002 8:33:35 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: jeckberg@ENQUIRER.COM
To: CincyBlog@aol.com
hello jack
i meant civil disobendience in the sense of violent civil disobedience as opposed to nonviolent civil disobedience. if i had to do it over again, which i don't, i'd probably use the term civil distress or civil discord or civil anythingbutdisobedience. i'm not convinced, however, that civil disobedience can only be used to describe nonviolent acts.
clearly the story laid out the violence as i was the first and probably only reporter in the whole town to actually find and interview a 15 year old. you should have read beyond the first sentence.
thanks for your comments and time.
john eckberg
Ok, first the definition of civil disobedience from dictionary.com: "Refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means." The events this weekend were in no way civil disobedience. John reply is way off there. He is right that the word could be used to describe violent activities, but the word in usage is rarely used with violence. In this case why it was really wrong were the kids' motivate for breaking the laws, which was not to induce a changed in governmental policy or legislation. They were out to act tough, flex their teenage muscles, and attract attention, some of the lowest emotions humans are prone to express. Note: I did not mistype the letter above. It is as it came to me.
Thursday, August 22, 2002
SMITH AMOS: Black Family Reunion
This column was not bad, but one issue stuck in my craw.
"Next year, they should add more police on horses, patrolling the streets in cars with lights going, and stationed at the transportation hubs and gathering places."
In less than 2 weeks about 500,000 thousand people will be on the riverfront. I have been there myself, including last year. After the event, on the Cincinnati side, there has to be at least 100,000 if not 200,000 thousand people who walk up Broadway or other streets into the business district. There are not cops lining the way up there. There are not many cops at transportation hubs. Why is that a crowd, half of which are under 21, can walk in huge groups and not run rampant and start attacking bus drivers? I just don't get why 100,000 people can go without rioting, but a few hundred kids can't walk a mile without breaking a few windows. Is it just me?
This column was not bad, but one issue stuck in my craw.
"Next year, they should add more police on horses, patrolling the streets in cars with lights going, and stationed at the transportation hubs and gathering places."
In less than 2 weeks about 500,000 thousand people will be on the riverfront. I have been there myself, including last year. After the event, on the Cincinnati side, there has to be at least 100,000 if not 200,000 thousand people who walk up Broadway or other streets into the business district. There are not cops lining the way up there. There are not many cops at transportation hubs. Why is that a crowd, half of which are under 21, can walk in huge groups and not run rampant and start attacking bus drivers? I just don't get why 100,000 people can go without rioting, but a few hundred kids can't walk a mile without breaking a few windows. Is it just me?
City melees got national air play
Thanks to a new reader I played close attention to the first paragraph of this article. It irked me to such a degree that I had to send the reporter an email.
Subj: 08/22/2002 Article: City melees got national air play
Date: 08/22/2002 8:22:54 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: CincyBlog@aol.com
To: jeckberg@enquirer.com
Jack,
I could not get past the first sentence:
"Two consecutive nights of civil disobedience in downtown Cincinnati will make the Black Family Reunion 2002 a memorable event — but for all the wrong reasons."
How can you call this civil disobedience? Did I miss something? Was there a protest? If you said "uncivil disobedience", then you would more on target. I think you and your editor might want to rethink your terminology. I guess you would call April 2001 riots an "uprising"??? I really suggest that you remove what can only be considered bias.
Brian Griffin
I would guess the bias comment would label me a right-winger. If you don't know I am a full-blown liberal. A Henry Fonda liberal is a colorful way to put it, but I don't know how else to cut my liberalism away from the progressive-populists that are called liberals by the conservatives. I would bet this reporter received a ton of emails, so I doubt a response will come.
Thanks to a new reader I played close attention to the first paragraph of this article. It irked me to such a degree that I had to send the reporter an email.
Subj: 08/22/2002 Article: City melees got national air play
Date: 08/22/2002 8:22:54 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: CincyBlog@aol.com
To: jeckberg@enquirer.com
Jack,
I could not get past the first sentence:
"Two consecutive nights of civil disobedience in downtown Cincinnati will make the Black Family Reunion 2002 a memorable event — but for all the wrong reasons."
How can you call this civil disobedience? Did I miss something? Was there a protest? If you said "uncivil disobedience", then you would more on target. I think you and your editor might want to rethink your terminology. I guess you would call April 2001 riots an "uprising"??? I really suggest that you remove what can only be considered bias.
Brian Griffin
I would guess the bias comment would label me a right-winger. If you don't know I am a full-blown liberal. A Henry Fonda liberal is a colorful way to put it, but I don't know how else to cut my liberalism away from the progressive-populists that are called liberals by the conservatives. I would bet this reporter received a ton of emails, so I doubt a response will come.
Midday with McConnell
The pseudo-anarchist in Mike McConnell came out today. Personal responsibility taken to the extreme is anarchism. When a society determines it is your responsibility to not be robbed, raped, or beaten, then it is an anarchistic society. If Mike wants to live in
Society where it your responsibility alone to prevent yourself from being beaten for walking down a street, I really hope he plans on moving from the Western World, because in a civil society we don't blame the victim and bring shame on the victim for not fitting into his conformist pseudo-anarchism. As a note, yes, it is a contradiction for anarchists to be conformists, but much like the neo-anarchists, who are really just progressive-populists, the pseudo-anarchist is not really what he claims to be.
The pseudo-anarchist in Mike McConnell came out today. Personal responsibility taken to the extreme is anarchism. When a society determines it is your responsibility to not be robbed, raped, or beaten, then it is an anarchistic society. If Mike wants to live in
Society where it your responsibility alone to prevent yourself from being beaten for walking down a street, I really hope he plans on moving from the Western World, because in a civil society we don't blame the victim and bring shame on the victim for not fitting into his conformist pseudo-anarchism. As a note, yes, it is a contradiction for anarchists to be conformists, but much like the neo-anarchists, who are really just progressive-populists, the pseudo-anarchist is not really what he claims to be.
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
Parents Cite Drugs As Root Of Downtown Disturbance
Blaming drugs? Baloney! This story has two main flaws. 1) It only quotes two parents who dodge the blame by dragging out drugs as the cause. That is a garbage claim mainly because the Police made no arrests for drugs and no reports at all indicated drugs. 2) The reporter went to Over-the-Rhine for this story. We don't know where most of these kids came from, but I would guess that those going for the buses were not from OTR. This reporter is turned a hack job, and boo to MSNBC for pushing it as the number one local story on its website.
Blaming drugs? Baloney! This story has two main flaws. 1) It only quotes two parents who dodge the blame by dragging out drugs as the cause. That is a garbage claim mainly because the Police made no arrests for drugs and no reports at all indicated drugs. 2) The reporter went to Over-the-Rhine for this story. We don't know where most of these kids came from, but I would guess that those going for the buses were not from OTR. This reporter is turned a hack job, and boo to MSNBC for pushing it as the number one local story on its website.
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
Police: Unrest wasn't that bad
Can you stop the merry-go-round? The spinning is going to make me hurl.
Can you stop the merry-go-round? The spinning is going to make me hurl.
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