In a recent blog post, Asheville Citizen-Times columnist John Boyle rails against a dumb Mountain Xpress cartoon drawn by Randy Molton that implies that some mountain folks are having sex with their pigs. It was on par with a tasteless Deliverance joke. Can we move on from the hillbilly stereotypes, already?
Here’s Boyle’s opening shot:
I don’t usually comment on other publications too much, but I have to wonder if the editors over at Mountain Xpress were asleep at the wheel this week or just finally gave up on editorial standards when it comes to cartoons.
Boyle’s sensitivity seems to me to be ill-placed, especially when his own newspaper allows much, much worse to be propagated every single day as “comments” on news stories. Implying somebody’s having sex with pigs is par for the course on the newspaper’s comment boards, and actually tame. Just take a cruise through and you’ll see gay-bashing, anti-Hispanic vitriol. You’ll see the worst in name-calling. You’ll get hatred and vileness and unending strings of schoolyard insults.
Despite all this, Boyle chooses to pick on a Mountain Xpress cartoon. It rings hollow after spending five minutes on the C-T site. The Citizen-Times will argue that it doesn’t have editorial control over the comment boards, which are technically run by Topix. (But Topix is owned by the same company that owns the Citizen-Times – Gannett.) At the same time, the C-T blocks some stories from Topix comments, showing that it’s fully aware of the gutter most commenters swim in. (Recent example: no comments were allowed on the story of Cecilia Flores.)
You want to talk about editorial standards, Boyle? Clean out your own sty first, then you might have standing.
4 Comments
I think most of us hope the Mountain Xpress was a little more progressive and responsible than the Citizen Times.
It doesn’t make the cartoon in the Xpress OK, just because the Citizen Times prints offensive crap.
I think a lot of people were shocked at the Xpress and have hoped that they could be a more progressive paper.
They both need some better cartoons.
News of Master Rick and his genital mutilation dungeon and the Woodfin Police Chief’s all male diaper parties make hillbilly beastialty pale in comparison.
Its because its ok to make fun of the people that where here originally. If a News paper made fun of the HIppies, Trustafarians, and other people that move here because its groovy, All hell would break loose.
The problem is the Mountain Opressed takes its self way too serious and trys on epic levels to be edgy, hip and relevent. Maybe thats because most the people i know pick it up for movie times and the weird news.
excellent point.