I'm honestly starting to wonder who's in charge of going over letters-to-the-editor for the Columbus Dispatch, if he or she even reads the letters sent to the paper, and why this person still has a job. On a number of occasions, I've been lured into reading a letter due to a headline which made me think, "This will likely be so bad it's funny," only to discover the headline completely misrepresented the content of the piece.
Take, for example, a letter I read this morning, written by one Ric Cacchione of Columbus, OH, and entitled, "Ban sought by Trump might not be enough."
Upon first seeing that headline, I thought to myself, as most common-sense individuals would, "This letter deals with Trump's call to ban Muslims from traveling to this country and the author of it is so extreme, he or she feels Trump's ban doesn't go far enough." Here's how the letter actually reads:
"I respond to the Associated Press article 'Trump: Ban Muslims from entering U.S.' in Tuesday's Dispatch. A Muslim couple killed 14 Americans in San Bernardino, California two weeks ago. In June, a white man killed nine Americans in South Carolina, including a state senator.
Does Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump hold all Caucasians responsible for the terrorist shooting in Charleston?"
In other words, the author of this letter-to-the-editor was in no way praising Donald Trump's controversial anti-Muslim remarks, nor was he suggesting Trump's idea didn't go far enough. If anything, he was saying the direct opposite, criticizing Trump for holding a double-standard with regard to white/Christian vs. Muslim terrorists. A much more accurate headline would have read, "Trump's ban is a double-standard" or "Why does Trump treat Christian terrorists differently than Muslim ones?"
I understand we only have a certain amount of time in a day and it'd likely be humanly impossible for Columbus Dispatch employees to thoroughly read through each and every letter-to-the-editor they receive, but at least skim through the letters enough to provide an even partially accurate headline of the writings, so writers don't get misrepresented and readers aren't left with a false impression.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2015/12/14/1-ban-sought-by-trump-might-not-be-enough.html
Take, for example, a letter I read this morning, written by one Ric Cacchione of Columbus, OH, and entitled, "Ban sought by Trump might not be enough."
Upon first seeing that headline, I thought to myself, as most common-sense individuals would, "This letter deals with Trump's call to ban Muslims from traveling to this country and the author of it is so extreme, he or she feels Trump's ban doesn't go far enough." Here's how the letter actually reads:
"I respond to the Associated Press article 'Trump: Ban Muslims from entering U.S.' in Tuesday's Dispatch. A Muslim couple killed 14 Americans in San Bernardino, California two weeks ago. In June, a white man killed nine Americans in South Carolina, including a state senator.
Does Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump hold all Caucasians responsible for the terrorist shooting in Charleston?"
In other words, the author of this letter-to-the-editor was in no way praising Donald Trump's controversial anti-Muslim remarks, nor was he suggesting Trump's idea didn't go far enough. If anything, he was saying the direct opposite, criticizing Trump for holding a double-standard with regard to white/Christian vs. Muslim terrorists. A much more accurate headline would have read, "Trump's ban is a double-standard" or "Why does Trump treat Christian terrorists differently than Muslim ones?"
I understand we only have a certain amount of time in a day and it'd likely be humanly impossible for Columbus Dispatch employees to thoroughly read through each and every letter-to-the-editor they receive, but at least skim through the letters enough to provide an even partially accurate headline of the writings, so writers don't get misrepresented and readers aren't left with a false impression.
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2015/12/14/1-ban-sought-by-trump-might-not-be-enough.html
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