I was flipping through some of last week’s articles and took issue with some of the articles you chose to run. First off, in “Chris Brown deserves a second chance,” Michelle Profis talks about still listening to Chris Brown’s music. How is this news? Obviously you noticed that this article would leave some people questioning the writer’s real attitude toward domestic violence because you put a disclaimer on it. Why not just pull the whole article? The author denies condoning domestic violence vehemently but then backtracks by saying just because he’s young and “talented” we should throw more money at him. The writer shows she doesn’t understand the seriousness of the crime by starting the article off by calling it “classic celebrity catastrophe,” as if it were just a wardrobe malfunction. It’s bad enough that celebrities routinely get off lightly for what would be heinous crimes if committed by you or me, but when you publish these kinds of opinions as mainstream thought, you only further the mentality that we accept this kind of behavior.
On a disturbingly related note, in “‘Jersey Shore’: The new Roman Empire?” Tommy Maple refers to a face of one of the female characters as being an “eminently punchable mug.” Whoa. Where’s your disclaimer for that article? There were many problems with this article, another not-news article, but this oversight is glaring. You know by publishing this you are condoning violence against women, right? By saying Snooki’s face is punchable, Maple is saying he is willing to punch a girl in the face. I want to see an official apology from the Alligator and a real news article covering the state of womens’ rights and domestic abuse in Alachua County. Obviously this “newspaper” is nothing more than a pandering lip service to consumerism and ignorance. Even when you publish an article denouncing the follies of a scripted show, you only reveal to have completely missed the point.
