Too Much Tolerance? Another op-ed piece from my college's newspaper

It's been a truly fascinating journey for me these past few months after finding an online archive of The Pendulum, Elon University's student newspaper.  I'm finding articles written by me that I had forgotten about.  I can really see the person I was then, and contrast him with the man who I am today.  There is a lot of growth there.  Some things changed in the intervening decades while others remained starkly the same.  I think my beliefs evolved, while staying true to the heart meat of my being.

So here's my essay from The Pendulum's October 1st, 1998 issue... gadzooks that was twenty-five whole years ago!  Well, this one calls for some background.  A year and a half before this was published Joycelyn Elders - the former surgeon general under President Clinton - visited Elon and spoke one night.  And I was a hot-blooded American youth "full of piss and vinegar" who was going to confront Elders on her radical stance on abortion and sexual policies.

Long story short: I did not comport myself as the Christian I had become five months earlier.  Instead of trying to change hearts I only made myself look very foolish.  Some fellow students liked that I had "taken her on."  But over the following weeks and months I came to realize how wrong I was in doing that.

I decided that I had to do something to try and make things right.  This essay was in part an attempt to do that.  Some people expressed appreciation for it.  Others ignored my apology and homed in on what I wrote about homosexuality.  Which wasn't the main focus of the article at all.

Well, anyway, here it is.  Click on the pic to embiggen it.

What do you folks think?

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Another op-ed piece from my time at Elon's newspaper

Last month I stumbled on an online archive that has tons of issues of various newspapers going back many, many years.  Including The Pendulum: the student newspaper of Elon University.  Or at least it used to be.  I've been scrounging around Elon's website and it seems that The Pendulum has gone defunct: a casualty of instant news, social media and streaming video.  I hate to see that happen to any newspaper, because there is a priceless value to be had on printed information chronicling a place and its people.  It is also a magnificent snapshot of the thoughts and ideas and values of those people.  I looked and I looked, but I didn't see any opinion/editorial writing recently on Elon's servers.  Having those gone is an immeasurable loss.

Well anyway, I previously found the first op-ed piece I wrote for The Pendulum, about abortion.  I hadn't gone searching for any more essays until this afternoon.  I came across several more articles.  This one aroused some appreciation but also a fair amount of anger, about what I wrote regarding abortion and homosexuality.  I was only sharing Mother Teresa's perspective on such matters.  It wasn't anything that she herself was not unaccustomed to during her lifetime of service.

So, from the September 25, 1997 edition of The Pendulum, here is my column.  Click to enlargen...

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Found my first op-ed article for my college's newspaper

The other night I was trying to locate something regarding my alma mater Elon University (though it was still "Elon College" when I was there).  During the search I came upon something truly wonderful: an archive of just about every issue of Elon's weekly student newspaper The Pendulum.

I got involved in the The Pendulum early in my first semester at the school.  At first I was a reporter, writing articles about the new food court and elections in the town of Elon.  But increasingly I realized that I could be a journalist... but what I really wanted was to write opinion pieces.  I had already been writing letters to the region's largest newspaper and more often than not they got published.  Carrying that passion to my college's newspaper would be seriously putting myself out there, with immediate feedback when the issue hit the stands.  This was my true calling as a writer: to encourage people to think just a little extra.

My first essay for the paper was published in March of 1996.  And it was about the true cost of abortion.  It was a quote from Mother Teresa that had me pondering some things.  It was as good as anything to write about.  I definitely was going in guns blazing.  It certainly did precipitate a response.  By the time the next issue hit I had received five death threats.  And then there was the female student who got in my face and said "You stupid pro-life f-cking piece of sh-t."

Anyhoo, the other night I went looking for some of my pieces.  And I found the one about abortion.  I took a screenshot of it.  Which included the worst photo of me that's ever been taken.  Seriously, what happened?!?  I look terrible.  Thankfully a better photo was taken for future articles.  But this one... wow.

So here is my first op-ed essay for The Pendulum.  Click on the image to enlarge it big enough to read comfortably:

The other pieces, I'll try to post those too in the near future.  But this gives you an idea of what I was up to in college.  Which, was one of the few aspects about my life as a student that made sense.  But that's something for another time.

Yes, feel free to make snarky remarks about my photo here.  I certainly do :-)

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Death of a Newspaper: What happened to the News & Record?

Margaret Moffett is a journalist's journalist, and I would say that even if I had not known her for quite many years now.  She has brought her enormous talent to bear wherever she has gone, whether it was at The Reidsville Review (when we first met) or at the Greensboro News & Record, where she was reporter and editor of a number of sections.  She has earned my respect many times over.

So when her essay "Below the Fold" was published a few weeks ago, about the decline of what was at one time North Carolina's third largest newspaper, I was more than intrigued.  Having watched the fall from grace of the News & Record during the past decade or so, I wanted to see what a firsthand witness to what transpired had to say about it.

To be brief: it was heartbreaking to read.

Moffett chronicles a series of horrible management decisions on top of what was already a drop in readership typical of the industry as online news grew.  In reading "Below the Fold" I got the sense that the News & Record's fate was an avoidable one, had its leadership not been so eager to grow too big, too fast.

From Moffett's article:

The News & Record used to be a great paper—maybe not every day, but on a lot of them. 

From 1965 to 2013, the newspaper’s owner was Landmark Communications in Norfolk, Virginia, whose papers included The Virginian-Pilot, Roanoke Times in southwest Virginia, and dozens of smaller ones. (It also created The Weather Channel.) 

Landmark, which sold the last of its media holdings in 2021, was in the business of making money—though it’s unclear how much, because the company was privately held. But controlling owner Frank Batten Sr. believed in local journalism, at least enough to keep editors reasonably happy with their resources. 

The News & Record was where staff received a runner-up nod for the Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1979 Klan/Nazi shootings, when white nationalists killed five people at a local “Death to the Klan” rally organized by the Communist Workers Party.

 It was where, in 1985, people lined up along East Market Street to buy Jerry Bledsoe’s latest installment of a series chronicling murders involving three prominent local families, which later became the book Bitter Blood.

It was where Jim Schlosser, propelled by innate curiosity and boundless enthusiasm, delighted readers for 41 years with articles about things he found interesting: an old building the history of Greensboro’s PGA golf tournament, urban foxes.

And it was where I reported and edited, to significantly less acclaim, from 1995 until 2018.

There were a lot of solid writers at the News & Record at the zenith of its glory.  It was the journal of record for that region of North Carolina, and beyond.  It was also where I first discovered the joys of writing for publication: first as letters to the editor, and then a few larger pieces.  I was always thrilled to see a new essay in print, knowing that it was being read by thousands upon thousands of people throughout central North Carolina.

Good Lord... what happened to all of that?

Now, this is just me talking.  Nobody else.  But I have some notions...

The biggest of them is this: the News & Record has gradually abandoned whatever principle it had of being objective and has instead turned full-bore liberal.   It can be seen in everything from its editorials to its array of columnists, to its choice of stories.  In doing so it insulted the intelligence of a vast swath of its readership, who did not care for politicizing its daily news.

As I just said, its selection of op-ed writers has become severely lacking.  Leonard Pitts Jr. is the worst columnist I have ever seen (doesn't this guy see anything beyond the lens of alleged racism?).  Gone are the days when George Will and his kind were considered cutting edge conservatism.  Even Rosemary Roberts (may she rest in peace), as much as I loathed her leftism... she still had some of my grudging respect.  I like to think she had some for me too.

Its letters to the editor reflect the intellectual wasteland that is the modern day News & Record.  When the public input is far more boisterous at the now-online incarnation of The Rhinoceros Times, something has gone very wrong.

Does the News & Record even have a regular sports page any more?  The late Wilt Browning was always a pleasure to read (even if he was biased toward UNC in basketball).  What happened to that?

So much else that I could share aloud, about the fall of the News & Record.  But I will say this in closing: I believe it can still become a good newspaper once again.  It will require some serious revamping however.  And more than a little humility as a publication.  That region of North Carolina deserves to have a journal of record, not just for its present potential readership but for all of those still to come.  Many a time I've driven past the main branch of the public library in Greensboro, and wondered at all of the print copy it possesses of Greensboro newspapers, large and small, that are deposited within.  A printed News & Record and all it has to say about the people it serves should have an ongoing presence within those walls.

I hope it persists.  But as I said, it's going to take some effort.  And maybe more than a little clearing of conscience.

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End of an Era: THE RHINOCEROS TIMES is no more

When I first heard the news I didn't expect to be feeling this much heartbreak.  But I am.  Maybe 'cuz I'm understanding how much The Rhinoceros Times was an influence on my early years as a writer and for long, long after...

Just one of the many fine editions of
The Rhinoceros Times produced
between 1991 and 2013.

It was first reported this morning that The Rhinoceros Times is going out of business.  The issue on the stands right now is the final one that will be printed.

So for those not from this are who are wondering: The Rhinoceros Times (or simply The Rhino Times or just "The Rhino") found its origins in a bar called The Rhinoceros Club in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina.  From a one-sheet newsletter started by John Hammer in 1991, The Rhinoceros Times fast found an eager audience among those who hungered for an alternative to the region's "mainstream" media outlets.  By the time the presses stopped the average issue of The Rhino boasted 150 pages.  Often way more than that.

The Rhinoceros Times was a free periodical: you could pick up a copy at many restaurants, grocery stores and other places of business throughout Guilford County and the surrounding area.  My favorite place to snag a copy was at the original PieWorks location at Pisgah Church Road and Lawndale Drive.  I'd order my pizza and breadsticks and enjoy The Rhino while waiting for the food to arrive.  I fast learned not to read it while eating, as the no-holds-barred style of John Hammer and the rapier-like wit of Scott Yost could cause one to choke from laughter.  The same held true for Geoff Brooks and his zany cartoons which were always dead-on target.

It was a very, very successful weekly news magazine (or "Greensboro's Only Newspaper" as the masthead declared for many years).  During its time The Rhino attracted such writing talent as Orson Scott Card and Jerry Bledsoe.  The letters to the editor were the liveliest and most passionate that I've ever seen in a local publication.  Then there was "The Sound of the Beep": you could call The Rhino's answering machine and leave a message for printing.  Some of those were downright kooky.  I made a few of them back in my college years (yeah some of the kooky ones too...).

This morning John Hammer posted a statement about The Rhino's closing down.  The website will continue for the foreseeable future but the print edition that started it all has been shuttered.  The fault is primarily the economy, the cost of running a newspaper and competition from the Internet which has hurt everybody in the business.  I'm rather surprised that many traditional newspapers in this area are still being published.  That The Rhinoceros Times lasted as long as it did is a testament to itself as a product and the people behind it.  I sincerely hope that it will continue to have an online presence for many more years to come and that it will keep boasting its fiercely independent spirit.  The way the press has become of late, we need The Rhino and other outlets like it more than ever before.

Going on twenty-two years is a good solid run.  Regardless of what happens next, John and William Hammer and their staff have much to be proud of.  And this blogger gladly takes off his hat in salute to a newspaper which broke the ground for many to follow after.

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How did a thirty-year old scrap of Richmond newspaper get into my driveway?

For two days now this has been wigging me out. Think y'all will understand why as you read on...

Saturday afternoon my girlfriend arrived at my house. It's about a hundred miles or so between where we live (only an hour and a half of drive time, and less if the Virginia state troopers aren't looking :-P). She came at 2 and we were hanging out here when a short while later in the afternoon we noticed something on the front bumper of her car.

At first we thought it might be part of some animal that she had hit (though she couldn't remember ever hitting one, which is better than can be said about Yours Truly, but anyhoo...) But when we went out to look at it, it wasn't long before we had wished that it was a piece of roadkill, 'cuz we can not figure out how this ended up stuck in her car's bumper and then survived the trip down here.

That's a photo of it. "It" being a scrap of newspaper from the Richmond Times-Dispatch. And from the April 14th, 1981 edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch at that.

How does a piece of newspaper from thirty years ago make a few hundred miles' worth of journey across the state of Virginia and along the highway to arrive at my house in north-central North Carolina, and not only that but in remarkably intact and un-faded condition?

But that's not the craziest thing that we found about this newspaper fragment. It's from the op-ed section. The lead editorial is an essay about the space shuttle Columbia. The Columbia launched on the very first space shuttle mission, a test flight, on April 12th 1981. It landed a few hours after this edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch was published.

Just over thirty years later, this piece of newspaper with the complete essay about the first shuttle flight arrived in my driveway, a day after the orbiter Atlantis launched the very last space shuttle mission.

Quite the peculiar coincidence, aye?

There are numerous other aspects of this piece of newspaper that make it quite fascinating. A column by William Safire (who died in 2009) addresses the role of the marketplace in the freedom of speech. Below that is an editorial cartoon about the Columbia launch, poking fun at the Soviet space program (note the "CCCP" Cyrillic initials for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) evokeing especially strong reminiscing of those days when we were still embroiled in the Cold War. Nestled between that and another cartoon - an incomplete one about the Warsaw Pact - is an essay by one John Chamberlain warning why Russia would be making a mistake to intervene in Poland's Solidarity movement (Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Defense under President Reagan, is noted). At the very bottom of the page is the start of a piece about gun control. Still another piece notes the passing at age 88 of General Omar Bradley: one of the United States' most honored commanders of the Allied Expeditionary Force during World War II.

The reverse side of the Times-Dispatch page is no less intriguing, despite it being filled with nothing but advertising. The most interesting is an ad for Radio Shack's TRS-80 home computer: you can buy a TRS-80 with built-in 12" monitor, two 5 1/4" floppy drives and expandable to 48K of memory... all starting at just $999! The ad also makes sure to inform you that Radio Shack has other TRS-80 computers priced between $249 to $10,000.

In so many ways, the arrival of this piece of newspaper from three full decades ago has... totally mystified me: how far away it has come in both distance and time, the beautiful condition of the paper (apart from the tearing around the edges), the irony of it featuring an editorial about the first space shuttle mission even as the final one is currently underway...

...and how did it come to be stuck in the front bumper of my girlfriend's car?

We haven't a clue. But it is quite the neat mystery! Maybe someone reading this can suggest a hypothesis for how it came to be here, 'cuz I'm all out of ideas.

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Johnny Robertson jeopardizes son's criminal trial (Plus: REGISTER & BEE's shoddy "journalism")

I'm going to begin calling Johnny Robertson and his "Church of Christ" cult out for what they really are: domestic terrorists.

They just haven't killed anybody (yet). However in the name of "God" Robertson and his followers have and continue to conspire to deprive others of their right to religion, to peaceable assembly and to free speech.

So are Johnny Robertson, James Oldfield, Mark McMinnis, Micah Robertson and the rest of their ilk enemies of the Constitution of the United States? Yup. And I suppose that means others might also be considered willing collaborators, regardless of whether they are "true believers". Make of that what you may.

What precipitates this latest report about the goings-on of the Martinsville Taliban? A few things. The previous post seems to have had some effect, because several people noted that Mark McMinnis was struggling to subdue his silly grin during his broadcast this past Thursday night. But what is more intriguing is that Micah Robertson - son of "Church of Christ" tin-god Johnny Robertson - was conspicuously absent from the live broadcast! The official word: "He has the night off."

Yah right.

Because earlier that day out of the Martinsville feed the two-hour block that Johnny Robertson uses for his inane babbling was filled up with the "debate" between he and Shirley Phelps-Roper from 2005. Yup, that Shirley Phelps-Roper that I also referenced in my previous post! What was the reason for the replay? The two Robertsons had to meet with their attorney about the criminal trespassing charges pending against Micah Robertson, stemming from Micah's repeated attempts to interfere with the services at Westover Baptist Church in Danville, Virginia.

(Several people also noted that the replay of the 2005 "debate" also featured an appearance by Jason Hairston, who was once with Robertson's cult and even had his own hour-long live weekly broadcast until he became a dissident from the movement and was subsequently damned by Johnny Robertson. To this day Robertson the Mad refuses to address the issue but apparently has no problem with continuing to use Hairston to prop-up his cult.)

So Johnny and Micah went to a lawyer, because Micah is looking at a year in jail if he's convicted. And no doubt the attorney has strongly recommended if not outright forbid Micah Robertson from doing any more television appearances or live confrontations until his trial date. However that has not stopped Johnny Robertson from running his mouth without ceasing about it! Robertson devoted the entirety of his two-hour Friday morning show and then 90 minutes on Sunday night's broadcast trying to make his son out to be the victim of persecution.

I can hear the Robertsons' attorney now, the veins in his neck bulging out as he screams "DAMMIT JOHNNY SHUT UP YOU'RE BLOWING OUR CASE!!!"

Does Johnny Robertson want his son to go to jail? Does Johnny hope that Micah will become a "martyr for the cause"? Is this how far Johnny is willing to go in order to somehow "validate" his insane belief system? Is Micah ready to fall on the proverbial sword? Since this cult believes in salvation by human works, is Micah seriously considering this the price he'll pay to get into Heaven?

Robertson the Lesser's court date is May 7th.

Incidentally, The Danville Register & Bee has a report about Micah Robertson's arrest warrant on its GoDanRiver.com website... and in all honesty it's one of the most piss-poor news articles I've seen in the history of anything. "Journalist" Matt Tomsic turned in a story that apart from what's gleaned from the official warrant itself, is nothing but regurgitation from Johnny Robertson! From the article...

Micah Robertson works with his father, Johnny Robertson, for Religious Review Media, a group that tries to bring accountability to religion and to increase dialogue between different religious organizations, according to Johnny Robertson.

He said two Religious Review reporters went to the church event to speak with Elmer Towns, co-founder of Liberty University. One reporter pulled a video camera to record Micah Robertson speaking to Towns, Johnny Robertson said. As he did, church officials asked him to leave. Micah Robertson then pulled his video camera to film the confrontation, and officials told him to leave also.

Religious Review reporters travel with video cameras to document their interactions with others in case they’re accused of anything.

“We are very controversial in the sense that our message is that we should all be together,” Johnny Robertson said.

But Micah Robertson didn’t capture any video Feb. 28 because church officials grabbed his camera as he turned it on, Johnny Robertson said.

Hey, Matt Tomsic: There is no such thing as "Religious Review"! Religious Review is a sham operation that Johnny Robertson pulled out of his butt to give his harassment an air of legitimacy. Religious Review has no website, no printed publication, nothing but a YouTube channel that consists entirely of footage of Robertson and his minions stalking innocent people in the privacy of their homes, in churches and shopping malls, etc.

If I have no other purpose for writing this post, then it is because I am compelled to point out Matt Tomsic's atrocious reporting of this matter and to call out GoDanRiver.com, the Danville Register and Bee, and Media General for allowing this story to run at all.

(And as some have jokingly noted lately, this blog does seem to get more traffic than, ahem, some online outlets that have been referenced lately. Parse that as you will...)

What do I think is gonna happen? Honestly?

If Micah Robertson is found guilty, he will either go to jail for the minimum amount allowed by law (I don't believe the judge will give him a year, but who knows) or given suspended sentence. It'll still be a mark on his record. I like to think that he might even be ordered to remain 500 feet away from religious institutions that he is not personally affiliated with, much like how convicted sex offenders cannot be near schools or daycare centers.

If Micah Robertson is found not guilty, then Johnny Robertson will assume that this means he and his cult now have legal carte blanche to do all the harassment that they want, wherever and whenever they so desire. They will go crazy with their newfound sense of power. And then they will go too far and one or more of them will be hurt or worse.

I hate to say that, but I'm not usually wrong about this sort of thing. Call it nothing more than being a longtime student of human nature.

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NATIONAL POLICE GAZETTE returns and brings back tales of ribaldry most foul!

Way, waaay back in 1845 began publication of National Police Gazette. In many aspects it was the forerunner of such uniquely American journalistic institutions as The National Enquirer, Howard Stern and... maybe blogs like this one! National Police Gazette had a long and illustrious run (and quite an illustrated one as you can see from the image on the left) up until 1977.

And today it's making a comeback, courtesy of Steven Westlake and his alter-ego, "proprietor William A. Mays". Westlake has propelled National Police Gazette into the 21st century via the Internet and it is a scream of a good read! Aim here for the National Police Gazette website. And the website Ragazine has posted an in-depth interview with Westlake that provides even more history about this groundbreaking publication and its return.

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Rupert Murdoch to demand pay for ALL News Corp online content

Rupert Murdoch - who I will always think of as "the billionaire tyrant" from that episode of The Simpsons he did a cameo on - has pledged to begin charging for access to ALL of the content on websites run by his News Corp. That includes the websites for the Fox Network, FoxNews.com and others (perhaps even MySpace?).

Apparently the move is to recoup from more than $200 million in lost revenue for News Corp during the previous quarter, including significantly less profit from The Wall Street Journal, which Murdoch now owns.

This might become the biggest blunder yet in the newspaper industry's series of attempts to regain the ground it's lost to online media. That horse departed the barn about fifteen years ago, and it ain't coming back. The New York Times has already tried charging for access to its site: a plan that promptly went down in flames. Murdoch's scheme will likely meet a similar fate.

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Here it comes: nationalizing of newspapers

Remember how years ago we used to laugh at Pravda, the government-run newspaper of the Soviet Union? It would only print whatever news that the state deemed fit... and only with whatever spin that the Communist Party wanted it to have.

Here's one more reason why the United States will soon have to owe the old Soviets an apology: there's now a bill in Congress to "bail out" the struggling newspaper industry. If it becomes legislation, print news companies that accept government aid will be restructured as nonprofit, and will be banned from making political endorsements (very much like how churches are granted nonprofit status so long as their ministers don't endorse candidates).

What the hell is happening to this country? I mean... government-managed newspapers?!?

Hey, I've worked in the newspaper industry. As a reporter. Twice. And there are a lot of reasons why newspapers are dying. And almost all of 'em are the fault of the newspapers themselves. They've failed to keep up with modern technology, in a time when ever-increasing numbers of people are turning to the Internet for their information. And what was the biggest reason why that has happened?

Because I hate to say this, but too much of the newspaper industry has grown spoiled and complacent. The alleged "bias" that a lot of people ascribe to traditional journalism? I honestly don't know if it's political favoritism as much as it is that the age of the hard-nosed investigative reporter for "the big daily paper" has come and gone. Too many reporters don't want to work hard for the story. They want it given to them pre-digested, without the risk of asking the serious questions.

So lemme be succinct: if newspapers are dying, let 'em die.

They more than earned it. The newspapers no more deserve our money to stay afloat than do the auto companies or the investment firms.

Besides, does anyone really want the federal government managing the funny pages? I sure as hell don't.

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American newspapers struggling to survive

I've long contended that the most accurate perception of what is going on with the United States comes from looking at it from afar. So it is that I find it hard to disagree with what Rupert Cornwell of The New Zealand Herald has written about the newspaper industry and institution in this country. The age of printed media's supremacy has come to an end, Cornwell declares.

It is very difficult to argue with him. In my own neck of the woods, Media General is furloughing employees for ten days of unpaid leave in an effort to cut costs. It's now being whispered that my hometown's The Reidsville Review may not survive past the year. Meanwhile, there is evidence that The New York Times may finally crash and burn come later this spring. Fully a third of American newspapers might be bankrupt come summer, according to the article in The New Zealand Herald.

Well, can't say we didn't see this coming. Between the general state of the economy and how a considerable portion of the population gets its news from online, it was only a matter of time before traditional newspapers started feeling the blows.

But I'm of the mind that this is really just a period of "realignment" for the newspaper industry. Newspapers won't completely go away, but if they are going to survive they must figure out ways to adapt to the new order of things that is fast arising. I think that also means that the bigger outfits - like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal and perhaps even regional papers like our own The News & Record - are going to have to scale back, while the smaller community-oriented outfits are going to continue to thrive.

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