Friday, February 16, 2007

Is It Something About Places Called Delaware?

My standing Google search for Delaware mentions turned up a posting from a blog called "I Live in Delaware County" today that had me fooled for a moment. I thought I'd discovered a new Delaware Blog.

The title -- Sounding off on "Sound Off" -- threw me off.

One of Delaware's two daily newspapers, the State News, features a regular "Sound Off" column in which readers can call in, anonymously, and comment. It's a good example of just how foolish you can be when you are speaking anonymously.

It turns out that the Daily Times in Delaware County features that same low level of public input. At least according to one Delaware County blogger:
Sound Off is supposed to be a part of the paper that gives a chance for the "people" to speak. The problem with that concept, however, is that the average person is completely stupid and misinformed and basically just wants to read their messages in the paper the next day.
That sounds so familiar, though I will admit that I haven't read the Sound Off column in the State News for years. I can't take it. I do still read some of the comments on the News Journal's web site, though it pains me.

Here's an example:
What a friggin moron. Gives a false name, most likely an undocumented alien, and a total moron to boot. Why is it that the second I read " a Georgetown man", did I suspect he was going to be hispanic. Go figure.
If nothing else, having a look at some of the comments in Delaware County's paper makes me feel a bit better: it's not just here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

surprisingly, DNS has a variety of input that occasionally gets it quite right.

mmahaffie said...

Do you mean DSN (State News)? Maybe things have improved. It has been several years since I've read the State News' Sound-Off.

I noticed you had done some comment-recovery from the News Journal forums in one of your latest posts. I see the a potential benefit from those forums, but I am so often depressed by what I read there.

Richard said...

I am shocked, shoked that you would impune the cogent, lettered comments of our fellow Delaware citizen in the News Journal.

Those comments are the funniest thing that the News Journal has to offer. I have decided to not take them seriously as the alternative is to be depressed.

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