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Comments
A Further Distinction
By Suldog
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 7:09am
Ms. Cohen is editor of the op-ed page, not of the newspaper as a whole. If someone has a problem with the overall content of the Herald, they need to cast a wider net to come up with the person or people responsible.
In case anyone here doesn't understand their function, the op-ed pages are where opinions are allowed to thrive. These may or may not be the stance or slant of the paper as an entity. For example, Jeff Jacoby appears on the Globe op-ed pages and regularly takes a more conservative view than that for which his paper is noted. Another example? Letters to the editor, which often state that something was incorrectly reported or may vie to make an opposing viewpoint to that expressed by a Herald writer.
So, Ms. Cohen may rightly be held responsible for what appears in her section of the paper - and she embraced that notion in her piece - but her section is also where many are given a chance to express views which may or may not be hers personally. For anyone - not necessarily you, Bob, but there are many here - to excoriate her for other perceived notions they have concerning the Herald's content is pure ignorance.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Perceived notions?
By Brian Riccio
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 9:30am
I'm sorry, there's nothing perceived in a newspaper that regularly panders to the fears and prejudices of people who weren't taught better.
I would ask you then am I perceiving something in error when Laurel Sweet finds it pertinent to mention in a story on a black offender's being " a practicing Muslim" or the racist rantings of Howie Carr? Or the ridiculous rantings of morons like Jennifer Braceras and the execrable Adriana Cohen?
You'll forgive me, Suldog, but this is not a paper that prides itself as a beacon of the First Amendment, it prides itself as the rag of choice of the ignorant. Therefore, if Ms.Cohen chooses to associate herself with such drivel, you'll understand why I don't give her a pass on this one. She knew exactly what she was doing and who that cartoon was supposed to appeal to.
The example was in her column
By Waquiot
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 12:32pm
But perhaps I confused things with what I wrote. The editorial pages of the Herald, by and large, reflect a conservative viewpoint. Not a racist viewpoint, nor a sexist viewpoint, nor a homophobic viewpoint. I would not even try to claim that all of those whose work appear on the pages are not racist, sexist, or homophobic (and I would not give that claim to the Globe's writers, either), but read some of Jonah Goldberg's columns and you will see that conservative and these things are not the same.
People get all worked up by the Herald. The opposite side gets worked up by the Globe. These are major newspapers. They do offer tempered viewpoints of the right and left respectively. Tarring Cohen as done above would be akin to saying that her equivalent at the Globe makes his living by promoting socialism and America bashing. It's just a horrible charge.
Tarring Cohen as done above
By Scratchie
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 1:01pm
One which Cohen and her colleagues are only too happy to make, over and over again.
Are you sure?
By Waquiot
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 2:18pm
Have you met her? Have you sat down with her and discussed the state of the media in Boston? Suldog has, and he seems to note otherwise.
There's a columnist at the Herald who used to write in the sports pages (as he likes to mention). I have heard from others that he is not the nicest of guys, and while his columns (and this is on the news side, not the editorial page side) display a strong social conservativism, he never speaks ill of other newspapers in the city, in fact penning a column noting how bad things would be in Boston if the Globe went out (which, as you remember, the New York Times was threatening).
Again, make all sorts of accusations about the readerships of Boston's dailies, and even though I would challenge them (I subscribe to the Globe, buy the Herald at the newsstand en route to work, and do the Metro's Sudoku), I would see the points given. Howie Carr (a "news" columnist, not an editorial columnist) aside, the papers present quite moderate versions of their ideological leanings. They are professionals, and if you read what Cohen wrote, she feels horrible about the failure to go the job well that has lead to all of this.
Yes I have read the Herald,
By anon
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 11:03am
Yes I have read the Herald, and yes she makes a living promoting the filth that populates it.
Would there be the same
By Ted hughes
Wed, 10/15/2014 - 8:07pm
Would there be the same outrage if the late JFK was depicted enjoying a boiled dinner or Guiness? Former Mayor Menino enjoying pizza, pasta, or wine? No there absolutly would not be.
You might have a point if
By MC Slim JB
Wed, 10/15/2014 - 8:58pm
Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans were routinely depicted as eating those traditional foods in a stereotypical way that disparaged them as simple-minded, child-like, ignorant rustics, the way African-Americans eating watermelon were.
The slur dates back to the days of slavery and is a stubborn one: there are emails widely circulated among racist right-wingers that depict the President gleefully eating watermelon, and signs at Teabagger rallies doing the same.
Nice try at excusing the Herald's sorry-not-sorry racism, though.
The Irish aren't commonly
By Ted hughes
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 7:20am
The Irish aren't commonly depicted as brawling, beer pounding fall down drunks? You've never encountered the stereotype of the fat ignorant "gabagool" munching italian man? White guilt really does blind some people.
"White guilt"
By lbb
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 8:47am
Maybe it's all that "white guilt" that allows some of us to recognize distinctions that evade those of you who view the world in black and white (literally as well as figuratively). For instance, I can (and do) see the drunken Irish stereotype or the goombata Italian stereotype as offensive, objectionable and harmful to a degree, while at the same time understanding that at this point in history, those stereotypes do not significantly restrict the social, economic or political options of people of Irish or Italian descent. These stereotypes might cost you the friendship or esteem of someone who's fool enough to give any weight to them, but they won't cost you a job. If it's "white guilt" that makes me capable of understanding this distinction, then yay white guilt, bring it on.
Exactly.
By MC Slim JB
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 9:16am
Stereotypical depictions of Italian- and Irish-Americans are indeed offensive, but their impact on the lives of their targets are no longer within two orders of magnitude of how virulent bigotry, reinforced by pejorative black stereotypes, manages to tightly, adversely circumscribe the lives of African-Americans. Attempts to conflate the two in 2014 are ridiculous and even offensive.
I think you're being intellectually dishonest.
By Felicity
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 9:09am
We live in a white supremacist society. White Irish, Italian, etc are privileged in it. Blacks in America have been systematically oppressed for centuries.
Quality of current cartoons?
By theszak
Wed, 10/15/2014 - 10:34pm
What current cartoons are of that great quality of the cartoons that followed President Theodore Roosevelt?
https://www.google.com/search?q=theodore+roosevelt...
Teddy Roosevelt had William McKinley assassinated
By Waquiot
Wed, 10/15/2014 - 10:41pm
And the whole thing was swept under the carpet.
Citation?
By Michael Kerpan
Wed, 10/15/2014 - 11:36pm
Pretty outrageous -- unless unmarked snark.
Somewhat snarky
By Waquiot
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 12:35pm
I read too much about crazy conspiracy theories, and I spent too much time in Buffalo one summer (nothing against Buffalo, it was a great trip) so I put 1 + 1 together and made up my own JFK conspiracy.
I just need one for James Garfield. I think watching Die Hard 3 a bunch of times in a row will help me out. Won't help anyone around me, but I'll have all the presidential assassinations covered.
Oh, please.
By jmeltzer
Thu, 10/16/2014 - 10:55am
"The Boston Herald unaware of possible racism in cartoon".
Suuuure.
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