Thursday, September 27, 2007
OVER THE TOP
This week our state, nation, and world have witnessed several examples of over-the-top behavior from persons in responsible positions, who should have known better.
We have seen this from one of our own state university football coaches, our state’s largest newspaper, the president of a prestigious ivy-league university, and our own national president.
For what appears to be good cause, Coach Mike Gundy engaged in a 3-minute tirade against a sportswriter and her editor. The Militant Moderate read the original article that Saturday morning, and he had pronounced it inappropriate and hurtful to a college kid who could not defend himself. The coach took public time from relishing the joy of a hard fought victory to defend the player in a wild, angry tirade. Not so good!
However, we disagree with those who say the conversation should have been private with the news reporter. Her offense to the young man was public, and the coach made a public defense. However, the manner and style of his rant was “over the top.”
The newspaper took its front page to make an over-the-top response. This was akin to using the proverbial ball bat to kill a mosquito. The tempest in the teapot became the oceanic typhoon.
The coach has become something of a national folk hero as a result. Oklahoma TV stations have reported 90% responses favoring the coach. That probably indicates something about the public’s view of media in general, and that reporter and newspaper in particular. It may also indicate the public’s irritation with a perceived imbalance in sports media coverage.
Then we have Columbia’s President Bollinger’s over-the-top, insulting introduction of a visiting foreign dignitary speaking by his invitation on campus. What utter rudeness! Regardless of negative public views on President Ahmadinejad, he deserves courteous treatment when an invited guest on campus.
Again, there are other more courteous ways of eliciting the guest speaker’s “real” views on certain controversial utterances of the past – rather than making a frontal public attack on his character in an introduction as he stands politely quiet as an invited guest before a largely hostile audience. The university president’s behavior in insulting a guest he had personally invited was cowardly and despicable.
It might have been interesting to hear what Ahmadinejad would have had to say directly to an American audience, rather than through his political speeches to his home crowds and in interviews with our bullying media reporters like Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes.
Lastly, President Bush was a minor player in the “in your face” scenes of the week. Even with his negative perception throughout the world as an ignorant bully, he chose his trip to the U.N. General Assembly to call out the sins of Myanmar (Burma) and a few other smaller nations, to insult them, and to threaten sanctions.
While these criticisms may have been justly deserved, could not our president have been more positive from the world’s platform for once?
When will we ever learn?
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
We have seen this from one of our own state university football coaches, our state’s largest newspaper, the president of a prestigious ivy-league university, and our own national president.
For what appears to be good cause, Coach Mike Gundy engaged in a 3-minute tirade against a sportswriter and her editor. The Militant Moderate read the original article that Saturday morning, and he had pronounced it inappropriate and hurtful to a college kid who could not defend himself. The coach took public time from relishing the joy of a hard fought victory to defend the player in a wild, angry tirade. Not so good!
However, we disagree with those who say the conversation should have been private with the news reporter. Her offense to the young man was public, and the coach made a public defense. However, the manner and style of his rant was “over the top.”
The newspaper took its front page to make an over-the-top response. This was akin to using the proverbial ball bat to kill a mosquito. The tempest in the teapot became the oceanic typhoon.
The coach has become something of a national folk hero as a result. Oklahoma TV stations have reported 90% responses favoring the coach. That probably indicates something about the public’s view of media in general, and that reporter and newspaper in particular. It may also indicate the public’s irritation with a perceived imbalance in sports media coverage.
Then we have Columbia’s President Bollinger’s over-the-top, insulting introduction of a visiting foreign dignitary speaking by his invitation on campus. What utter rudeness! Regardless of negative public views on President Ahmadinejad, he deserves courteous treatment when an invited guest on campus.
Again, there are other more courteous ways of eliciting the guest speaker’s “real” views on certain controversial utterances of the past – rather than making a frontal public attack on his character in an introduction as he stands politely quiet as an invited guest before a largely hostile audience. The university president’s behavior in insulting a guest he had personally invited was cowardly and despicable.
It might have been interesting to hear what Ahmadinejad would have had to say directly to an American audience, rather than through his political speeches to his home crowds and in interviews with our bullying media reporters like Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes.
Lastly, President Bush was a minor player in the “in your face” scenes of the week. Even with his negative perception throughout the world as an ignorant bully, he chose his trip to the U.N. General Assembly to call out the sins of Myanmar (Burma) and a few other smaller nations, to insult them, and to threaten sanctions.
While these criticisms may have been justly deserved, could not our president have been more positive from the world’s platform for once?
When will we ever learn?
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
