ESPN reporter, Britt McHenry has already been shamed for rude tirade. Firing her goes too far.
April 19, 2015
Last week, ESPN reporter Britt McHenry was caught being very rude to someone working the counter at a car towing facility, where presumably she had gone to retrieve her vehicle and pay the fine. Her diatribe was not pretty. And neither was she in that moment.
This widely seen video prompted another reporter, Rex Huppke (Chicago Tribune) to write that ESPN should immediately fire the reporter. his story is here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/huppke/chi-britt-mchenry-espn-20150417-story.html
I don’t think so. Britt committed no crime and was not at work, let alone on the air, at the time. Last I checked going off on a rant was not against the law. It’s not nice. But then neither is releasing a video depicting it. In my opinion both acts are forms of shaming, wouldn’t you agree?
Therefore, again my opinion, they cancel each other out. This story should be over. But Mr. Huppke vehemently argues that there is “too much meanness in the world” to tolerate such behavior.
Are you without sin, Mr. Huppke, to cast such a heavy stone? Have you never gone off at the DMV or flipped someone the bird for cutting you off on the highway? In your years on this planet you’ve never had a tantrum at someone’s expense? Called someone a dipshit? I sure as hell have. But unlike Britt McHenry you and I were not caught. Yet.
I’m no Christian but I do believe that Christ’s judgment over those who were stoning a woman for bad behavior to be one of the best lessons from the scripture.
“He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Yes, the world is a mean place. It has been since the time of Christ. However, punishing what you deem meanness is also meanness and a very bad road to go down. If saying something stupid were a crime we would all be fired or worse. How often have we seen finger pointing lead to gun pointing? I look at radical Islam and see teachers being harmed for educating young women. I see Putin jailing countless people in Russia for disagreeing with his dogmatic rule. This sort of tyranny often starts with allowing certain people to punish certain other people for merely opening their mouths. Power and the fear of power is deeper rot than rudeness.
From his pulpit Rex Huppke wants to take down a woman for berating another woman. But you are not God, Mr. Huppke. And I dare say you are not without sin. You cross a line when you call for this lady’s exile.
If this argument is too lofty for a newspaperman in Chicago, here’s one you and every journalist can and must relate to: the right to free speech.
He rises, inspiring us all
Today is Good Friday. Our agency is closed but there are numerous people in working on a new business pitch for Monday. And so I am here. But, in honor of the day, and Easter and Passover for that matter, I do want to say something about God. Don’t click away heathens. I will be brief.
I absolutely believe in a power greater than myself. We’d be in big trouble if the world revolved around me or, frankly, anyone. There’s divine madness here. I’m certain of that.
I’m not Catholic but the Resurrection myth appeals to me on many levels. Being reborn (presumably into something better) is the ultimate aspiration. As we move through life, accumulating the good and the bad, making many mistakes, collecting resentments, winning and losing, and on and on, the idea of shaking up the Etch-a-Sketch becomes irresistible. Oh, to have a clean slate! Christ promises as much if we turn our body and soul over to him. But even if we can’t go there, the pragmatic idea of refreshing oneself remains relevant and powerful. To me, anyway.
Even my passion for horror stories, particularly zombies and vampires, are tied to a fascination with resurrection. After all, are not the undead resurrected themselves? Though terrifying, is not their appetite for human flesh a lot like sacrament? For obvious reasons, these unsavory creatures are linked with Satan. Not because they’re scary but because there is no redemptive quality in feasting on others merely to exist.
In my novel, The Happy Soul Industry redemption is a key part of every main character’s journey. In reality, I hope it is a part of mine, too!
Another aspect of the book, perhaps blasphemous to some, is the notion that all religions are but ad campaigns for God. In the story, God decides the next campaign should come from the experts. Therefore, She (yes, She) sends an angel to Earth to find an ad agency! As you might imagine, all hell breaks loose.
For those of you not celebrating a religious holiday this weekend, there’s always the Easter Bunny. But go easy on the chocolates. Bikini season is just around the corner!
Catholics Come Home. The big church recruits lapsed users with a new advertising campaign.
January 8, 2010
In my novel, The Happy Soul Industry God hires an advertising agency to market Heaven. Tries to anyway. All hell breaks loose before the Lord gets hooked up.
But if God had found an agency, and subsequently gotten an ad campaign, it might have looked something like the above commercial on behalf of the Catholic Church. The client is identified by the mantra “Catholics Come Home” with a website by the same name. If the client is, indeed, the Catholic Church then the money to produce these ads must come from the Archdiocese’s various regional branches.
Whatever, it’s the strategy and creative executions that interest me most. Beseeching lapsed Catholics to come home implies the target audiences are those who have drifted from the church or abandoned their faith all together.
Showing adults the “movie of their life” and forcing them to watch the lowlights is an obvious but admittedly effective approach, especially if you once believed in God, heaven and an afterlife. In one spot, a middle-aged man watches his younger self yelling and screaming at his terrified wife. In another scene, he sees himself dressing down black subordinates at work. And so on.
Yet, instead of threatening the man with the prospects of hell the church suggests that living with his dark past is punishing enough. This strategy assumes lapsed Catholics (if not all of us) are greatly tormented by (our) unflattering memories. That guilt, remorse and shame make ‘here and now’ a form of purgatory.
But, suggests the church, it’s never too late to alter the movie of one’s life. “Thankfully,” the soothing voice-over says, “you still can ask God to help edit your life story and create the ideal ending.”
Hammy yes, but refreshing in that God is now being portrayed as a loving father instead of a punishing one. He is helpful as opposed to vengeful, “no matter what you’ve done.” Coming from the Catholic Church this is “good news.” Not to mention fairly contemporary. Instead of positioning itself as a grueling but necessary chore, the Catholic Church wants to help lighten your load, and right now, not after you’re dead. It’s an enlightened approach. Lord knows they need one.
For another review of this campaign as well as other religious marketing schemes visit Church Marketing Sucks.
The Happy Soul Industry
The Last Generation
Gods of Advertising 