Here’s the Friday open comments post, following reader responses to a recent poll.
The use of pseudonyms and anonymous postings will be fine.
Although the template has a space for a name, email address, and website, those who want to leave a field blank can do so. Comments will be moderated, against profanity or trolls. Otherwise, have at it.
Today’s suggested topic — opinions on free speech issues. A quick starting point might be the Institute for Justice’s new free speech blog, Congress Shall Make No Law.
Have at it — I’ll keep the post open through Sunday afternoon.
unfortunately there are many many many ways that government uses to stop people from speaking. they hide some of the tricks they use from the public even when they insist they believe in free expression.
Hello, John Thanks for sticking up for free expression. I read your website every day and my friends do, too. We appreciate an independent voice. Keep up the good work.
Here’s the full text of the first amendment for everyone
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”
Speech is free every day although it never makes it’s way into print. That’s the deal difference and the real problem, when there are so few ways to learn what’s REALLY going on. Politicians hate blogs for the same reason that people like them, because they can learn more about community laws and policies.
Although we know that the constitution says that we have speech rights, we all know that if you try to speak out city hall will step on you. They’re sneaky, so they will try to cover their tracks even while lashing out behind the scenes. People know how it works.
I have to second Daily Readers’ comment: I, too, do Thank You, Mr. Adams, for the time and talent that you put into Free Whitewater on an incredibly daily basis. I would not be aware of many local and national issues, if it were not for your efforts. Thank You for keeping us informed, and for providing a forum for sound, sensible discussion. I wonder if our City Manager and Police Chief read this on a daily basis?
Dear John — We need a real newspaper for Whitewater. You’ve said you don’t want to do a newspaper. We still need one. The only newspaper in Whitewater doesn’t even have a real office in the city. maybe you could start one or maybe you could make Free Whitewater into a combination blog/newspaper. I like reading something besides stories that look like they were written by someone’s mother about how great someone is, or is the best public servant of all time with a solution to global warming plus the common cold. I still can’t figure out how they expect us to believe this nonsense.
Thank you for your website.
Let’s face it, these guys don’t get blogs, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, web, internet, or anything after 1975. They didn’t get you when you first started writing and they still don’t get you. They could learn about all these new ways to talk and still they wouldn’t get you. Even since you started writing blogs have become more accepted all over the place.
They grew up thinking that no one would be able to offer criticism because that’s how it was when they started their careers. 1975 will always be safe and secure 1975, when they only had to worry about one community newspaper where one reporter kept his mouth shut in exchange for a puff piece about how great everything in Officialdom was.
Things weren’t great here then either, it’s just that if no one could print about problems they could pretend there weren’t any problems.
To My Goodfellow Anonymous: You will never again see a real, lively, locally produced and written newspaper, like the Whitewater Regsiter of old, ever again. The day the Coes sold to the current owner was the end of a newspaper in Whitewater, for all extents and puposes. To produce a true local newspaper requires a publisher willing to lose money; a full, local staff; advertisers; and subscribers. It is no longer feasible.
For the past year, I have subscribed to The Daily Jefferson County Union. I am impressed with their coverage of all things Whitewater. Thank goodness that part of Whitewater lies in Jefferson County! Also, I daily rely on The Banner and Free Whitewater. Thank Goodness for both, but especially for Free Whitewater, and for Mr. Adams for giving us :The Rest of the Story.”
The Phantom Stranger is not one to potificate, but—if you would like to read a really well-written fictional account of a newspaper crumbling and in crisis, get to the Young Library and request “The Imperfectionists,” by Tom Rachman. It is a short tome, about 272 pages, and a fun summer read. According to Enterainment Weekly, “soon to be a major motion picture.” Brad Pitt has bought the rights…
Thanks much for your comments, and kind words.
The Phantom Stranger’s right about the direction of newspaper publishing in town, and the impossibility of starting one now. We’re just not a a town that can support a stand-alone, daily newspaper (or even a weekly one). If pamphlets were once a cheap and speedy alternative to books, then online publications are a contemporary alternative — much less expensive to produce, yet widely and easily accessible.
There’s likely a lot of truth — and more than some would admit — in the contention that changes in media are hard for many politicians to understand. It must seem chaotic to someone who counted on being able to know and manage the (supposedly simple and well-defined) media landscape.
I’d guess that a new generation of politicians will adapt quite easily, and many politicians or bureaucrats in office now will seem, a decade from now, stodgy and inflexible by comparison.
It’s not age that makes the difference, though — it’s a willingness to be flexible. Some who govern now have very little of that trait, and they first came into office at a time when it was less necessary than now. That’s why a new group of officeholders will seem so different — they’ll require different skills. The kind of person who’s more rigid and unyielding won’t find the new terrain suitable, and will look for a career elsewhere.
Now I’m convinced that I do better by reading than writing, by readers’ suggestions than my own ideas, and here’s proof: I’d not heard of The Imperfectionists, but I have now! The recommendation is much appreciated. 🙂
As for speaking out, generally, I think that the exercise of simple and lawful expression makes a person, and a community, better off. It seems a simple and natural thing, and that’s why one sees (happily) so many bloggers, and websites, etc., cropping up all across America.