As you know this blog has taken to task the founders of Ditmas Park Blog for their lack of diversity and lack of focus on issues affecting all people of the neighborhoods. This may not fully explain where they are coming from but it does explain a lot.
I just watched on CNN's Reliable Sources a segment on POLITICO, which is where one of the co-founders of Ditmas Park Blog is listed as a "Senior Writer." I assume that he is privy to the "top editors and writers" morning meetings that Reliable Sources spotlighted this morning. I watched in shock that there was not a single woman or person of color who was considered to be a "top editor or writer" in the room. It was all white males. Comparing this lack of diversity to the lack of diversity on Ditmas Park blog is anyone surprised?
It is quite disturbing as blogs and websites are becoming the "new media" in which people get their information. We all know how the old media reports on issues affecting minorities such as police brutality and gentrification. Is this what we should expect from Ditmas Park Blog's co-founder and others who are part of the "new media?" If so, I recommend that if you read anything about race or gentrification and it looks like the author is sympathetic to the cops or sympathetic to developers, you need to be suspicious.
ETA: I contacted the co-founder of ditmas park blog about this and of course he has refused to respond. He really should address this or else we are left to think that he is a racist elf.
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Tina & Eloise, if that's your names. You sound like a skit from In Living Color. I guess the pundits are right that virulent messages of hate don't only come from conservative Republicans. The couple who run Ditmas Park Blog are doing something extremely positive for the neighborhood. If you two have a different vision for the neighborhood, try doing it in a positive way. Your disgusting moronic diatribes suggest you are a couple of idiot crackpots. Please show us you're not.
ReplyDeleteIt's true. This says allot about the ditmas park blog and their kkk style reporting. I have a feeling that anon above me is actually Ben Smith himself. It also makes you wonder why noslapz has not been banned from the Ditmas Park blog.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mediaite.com/online/politicoon-defensive-after-cnn-shows-editorial-meeting-full-of-white-guys/
There's a big difference between a media organization that's run by white men, and a "whites-only" news organization. I'll agree that there aren't enough minorities working in the media, but it's wrong to brand someone as racist simply for being white. After all, he didn't choose his skin color, nobody does. To the commenter who wrote the "kkk" mention in the comments above, that's just ridiculous and offensive to the people who actually did suffer from the klan's hatred. The DP blog covers restaurant menus, the greenmarket, Vox Pop events and neighborhood crime. That's a far cry from burning crosses and lynch mobs and you owe Ben Smith an apology.
ReplyDeleteFurther -- it's not racist to be "sympathetic" to cops. There have been plenty of documented cases of police brutality and racism. But the vast majority of cops (of all races) are good, hardworking people who work under enormous pressure to enforce the law and protect everyone regardless of skin color.
Please seek help for your racism and narrow-mindedness.
ReplyDeleteOK, so where are the names of the minority businesses you claim are underrepresented. I'm sure they exist and many would be happy to support them.
ReplyDeleteIf you really want to "save ditmas park" let your bitterness go for crying out loud and offer the neighborhood an alternate (if that's really your motivation?) - there's a challenge. Definitely room for two blogs if you want to take it to another level.
But if you have a selfish agenda and your bitterness get the better of you, you just come off as an unstable person.
It's not very pretty.
Rants don't endear you or your blog to anyone and are divesive. Let the anger go or let this blog go (or change the name to "save 'insert name here')
I feel too much negativity in this space even spending time writing this.
If you are pro-life/christian - your god says "forgive".
Truth be told, the majority of people don't seem to give a sh*t about what happened between you and a former employer.
Here are the search results for "apothecary" (a lovely, minority-owned tea and herb shop in Ditmas Park) from the DP Blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://ditmasparkblog.com/?s=apothecary
Hmmm....14 articles. And your blog features how many minority-owned businesses? Zero.
To be perfectly honest, I, as an owner of a small business would hesitate to be featured in a blog that is full of inflamatory posts.
ReplyDeleteIt would reflect poorly on the business.
N
To Anonymous at 3:29:
ReplyDeleteAfter all, he didn't choose his skin color, nobody does.
No, he didn't. However he has benefited from white privilege and continues to do so. He has done nothing to advance the cause of minorities so he is to blame.
Ben does not just post "menus" he writes about crime and is mighty bias when doing so. He feeds into the many negative stereotypes about blacks and latinos in his posts.
I just want him to stop.
Ok, I've taken the liberty of copying verbatim the most recent post on the DP Blog (not comments, just the main post) about the recent mugging.
ReplyDelete3/28/2010 "Officers from the 70th Precinct are out in the neighborhood today distributing the sketch of the man who robbed a neighborhood resident at gunpoint last Wednesday outside 11 Slocum. If you have any information on this, please contact the precinct: 718 851 5560." ... Then there's a scan of the wanted flyer.
Where is the racism in that statement? Is it racist to circulate a wanted flyer, if the suspect is latino? I don't think so.
Of course Ben's benefited from white privilege. That doesn't make him a bad person. And it really isn't his job to advance the cause of minorities. It's his responsibility - and mine, and yours, and everyone's - to treat people equally, fairly, and on their merits. Is that not enough?
Please tell me: What should Ben be doing? How would you have posted about the mugging, and what would you have written differently?
First of all, Ben is a bad person. From my understanding he comes from a powerful family that could make a difference yet he doesn't. He has also posted on his other blog some pretty nasty stuff about Michelle Obama. Someone sent me a "story" that he did in which he dug up her thesis to make her look like some angry black bitch. I think he doesn't like black women.
ReplyDeleteNo, he does not treat everyone fairly. Why the hell was I banned and no_slappz was not?
All I am asking is for him to look out for minorities as well and give us a voice in Ditmas Park.
I personally would not have reported on the mugging at all.
Here's a link to Ben Smith's blog post about Michelle Obama's thesis:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/Michelles_thesis.html
Seems clear to me that he's neither attacking nor defending the first lady; he actually says that the political right won't find the inflammatory material they were hoping for, and goes on to make the point that it's ridiculous to judge a person based on a thesis written in 1985.