Stir it up

I really haven’t had anything interesting happen lately. It doesn’t help that my latest blog post was pretty scandalous. It’s a tough act to follow, so I’ve been neglecting to do so.

Many of you were curious to see the story that came out of my time with the boys. There’s a reason you haven’t been able to find it anywhere. My publisher did not allow me to print it. You can judge for yourself how offensive you think it might be. I’ve posted the text below.

The prohibition on publishing raises an interesting issue. It’s essentially a form of censorship. This event happened in Mineral County, so I covered it. I didn’t even pitch the story – it was actually assigned to me by our former editor. If the event took place in our community, why should we ignore it?

The publisher’s argument was that people in the county don’t want to be enlightened. Even if the homophobic beliefs, the norm in town, are close-minded, people like it that way. They don’t want to change their views.

In my view, that’s absolutely a double standard. The week before I covered this gay thing, I had to write three stories about the churches. It made me very uncomfortable, but I did it. I even gained a little more respect for the good work churches can do in a community.

As I said at my sister’s wedding, everyone needs to look at everyone else as an individual – not as a church member or a gay person. Sounds like common sense to me.

But here is a newspaper, the one I work for, ignoring such a basic principle. Aren’t newspapers supposed to rock the boat a bit? Isn’t there a reason that some people in town don’t like me and never will? I’m not saying we need to stir up controversy, but we shouldn’t avoid it, either.

(These pictures are just from my reporting)

Comments welcome,
Andrew