J.D. Prose – 6/2/13

 


This page was last updated on June 5, 2013.


White’s online antics are no laughing matter; J.D. Prose; Beaver County Times; June 2, 2013.

In the print edition, this column appeared in the op-ed section labeled “ON THE LEFT.”  Given Mr. Prose’s body of work and the BCT’s left-leaning positions, did the BCT really think readers didn’t know he’s a “Surly progressive?”

According to his Twitter page, Mr. Prose is a self-described “Surly progressive.”  As you read this opinion column and his Twitter “tweets,” keep in mind Mr. Prose wears at least one other hat for the BCT.  In addition to being an entertainer/pundit, Mr. Prose is a part-time reporter covering political stories.  Ask yourself this.  When a pundit gives his political opinions in one part of the paper, can he be trusted to report politics objectively elsewhere in the paper?  After all, would a person whose opinion is 1+1 equals 3 report 1+1 really equals 2?  Does he have a “Chinese wall” in his head to keep his opinions from bleeding into his reporting?  (You may recall NPR claimed it fired Juan Williams for doing exactly what Mr. Prose does.)  If it can get worse than that, Mr. Prose has made name-calling and personal attacks a foundation of his columns.  If pushed, I’d be willing to bet Mr. Prose would try to excuse his writing by claiming he’s paid to be controversial and stir debate.  The problem is, you don’t need to get into name-calling and personal attacks to accomplish those goals.

You can find the archive of my Prose column critiques here.

Below is a critique of portions of this column.


“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” – Marmion, Sir Walter Scott, 1808.

Before getting into Mr. Prose’s comments, here’s some info about this topic.  You can find other comments I wrote about this subject on Facebook.  You can find links to other White-related critiques here.  Here’s a piece written by one of the persons attacked anonymously by Mr. White.  Even a fellow Democrat state rep called Mr. White’s actions “creepy.”  Most reports rightfully focus on Mr. White’s overall actions.  As you read more reports, however, you find Mr. White didn’t just login with anonymous/fake IDs.  Assuming the reporting is correct, Mr. White spent a lot of effort/time on his scheme, including setting up and registering a website (GasRootsPA.com) and Facebook pages in an effort to make his bogus IDs look legitimate.  It’s possible (likely?) Mr. White has not stopped lying.  In his “apology,” Mr. White said, “To be clear, I did not use government resources while posting comments on these sites.”  The problem with that claim is KDKA reported “The internet protocol — or IP — address of those people came up as the same computer as Rep. White’s state e-mail address.”  The report didn’t say if the IP address was that of the state e-mail server or of the PC Mr. White used to send/receive his state e-mail.  If the address was that of the server, Mr. White lied without a doubt.  If the address is of the PC Mr. White used to send/receive his state e-mail, it’s possible he uses a personally-owned PC to handle his official e-mail.  Another question is from where did Mr. White execute his scheme?  That is, did Mr. White ever do anything related to his scheme from his state offices in Burgettstown, Cecil, Harrisburg, and Washington (PA)?  Predictably, at least two officers of Beaver County Reds gave Mr. White a thumbs-up for his efforts to deceive.

The primary reason for this column’s topic is to avoid topics like Benghazi, the IRS targeting groups on the right, and how the Obama administration treats the press (The AP and FNC’s James Rosen are examples.).  Secondarily, Mr. White’s scheme was so poorly executed, people like Mr. Prose had no choice but to claim publicly their “disapproval” (wink wink, nudge nudge).

The column is a hoot.  You’ll find Mr. Prose dumps on “Friend of the Column” (aka “good buddy”) State Rep. Jesse White (D-46) for doing what Mr. Prose does on a regular basis.  We’re looking at an example of “do what I say, not as I do.”

Mr. Prose wrote, “Well, if anyone knows about getting hammered by anonymous trolls – online and otherwise – it’s us.  We’ve been the subject of the most vicious attacks imaginable.  Even our family hasn’t been spared.  Do we like it?  Of course not, but we never considered creating online personas to retaliate.”  Mr. Prose isn’t really in a position to complain on at least two points.

First, if you’re familiar with his body of work, you’re also aware Mr. Prose invites attacks by engaging in name-calling and personal attacks himself.  It’s not an excuse for readers to respond in kind, but flamethrowers can’t complain when others retaliate with flame-throwing of their own.

Second, Mr. Prose regularly uses anonymous (imaginary?) sources in his columns.

Mr. Prose claimed he “never considered creating online personas to retaliate,” but how do we know that to be true?

Mr. Prose wrote, “Calling your own constituents trolls and other insulting names is bad enough, but White also used ‘whore’ to describe some women who support drilling.”  If “calling your own constituents trolls and other insulting names is bad,” why is it OK for Mr. Prose to refer to his readers (his “constituents”) as “trolls and other insulting names?”

As for “whore,” consider the following excerpt from a recent Prose column: “If the National Rifle Association’s congressional whores — and trust us, they’re whores in every sense of the word ….”  If it’s wrong for Mr. White to “use ‘whore’ to describe some women who support drilling,” why is it OK for Mr. Prose to call our congressional representatives whores when he doesn’t like the way they vote?

You may say elected representatives and entertainers/pundits are different and you would be right.  Does that excuse boorish behavior?  You decide.

Finally, I suspect Mr. Prose’s criticism is similar to what we saw with Rathergate.  You may recall the mainstream media (except the BCT) eventually criticized Dan Rather and his team because incredible bungling by the Rather team forced their hand.  The MSM wasn’t upset with the attempted false smear of then-President George W. Bush; they were bummed it was such a clumsy execution.  I suspect this is the case with Mr. Prose; he likely supports what Mr. White did, but is bummed by the incompetent execution.


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