Bisbort on northend
I received this letter today in the mail from Cheshire resident, Alan Bisbort. And since he took the time to write it, I felt it deserved a front page post. And for background... I do recall someone posting a comment with his name. But I believe I deleted it as soon as I saw it... that was a judgement call on my part. I just felt it was out of bounds as it was personal. Anyway... the following is Alan Bisbort's response to a recent anonymous posting...
"Dear Anonymous,
You find the fact that I exercise my freedom of speech and voice my opinions "distasteful"? That's really strange and, dare I say it, un-American, because it is one of the underpinnings of our Constitution. Yes, I oppose the "lifestyle center" in the north end. Yes, I am a citizen of Cheshire. Yes, I have just as much a right to voice my opinion as you do, and vice versa. No, I do not have some unfair advantage just because I write for a living. You have just as much as shot at the letters to the editors section or "guest editorial" section of the Cheshire or Meriden papers as I do, and vice versa. Instead of whining about the fact that I take advantage of these things, why don't you do the same? And, by the way, I lose pay every time I come to a meeting on this mall, because I have night job. Can you say the same?
To reiterate: This lifestyle center is going to be a disaster. I don't want it in Cheshire. If you have a problem with my expressing this opinion, I suggest you stop hiding behind the "anonymity" and put your name on what you believe. I do.
You will be seeing much more on this issue, under my name, in the future. That's a guarantee.
Thank you.
Alan Bisbort
I've gotten several comments lately about the "anonymous" comments being over the top. I hope everyone can try to keep the discourse civil. Otherwise, as specific comments come to my attention, I will delete them, as I have been doing.
14 comments:
Alan - Why don't you and David move up to Vermont, as you are clearly best of friends.
Tim,
The two items that mentioned Bisbort were hardly "over the top"; one even included his full Hartford Advocate column on the matter. How anyone can be in favor of freedom of speech (not just Mr. Bisbort, but others) and then ask for removal of posts is beyond me.
Using the logic you've just set forth and guidelines for previous removals of postings, Tim, somebody ought to remove the post of Mr. Bisbort's letter in your latest entry to the blog. But I'm not going to do that because I believe that freedom of speech is a two-way street, unlike certain people whose names will not be spoken for concern that others will ask their posts be removed.
If Alan believes strongly enough in his message, then he ought to have the courage of his conviction and not be running around asking for the removal of blog postings. And whether he cares to admit it or not, his positions as a journalist and his mention of his opposition to the development project constiute an unfair advantange in the minds of some people. Perhaps he has never heard of the old line "Never get into an arguement with someone who owns barrels of ink" (I'm not sure if I've got that quite right, but you get the idea. In this case, Mr. Bisbort may not own the ink, but he certainly works for some folks who do.
Alan didn’t reference a specific comment. So I think I may have confused a couple of different comments in which he was mentioned… the comment that I deleted referred to “his meds,” which is extremely personal and entirely inappropriate and unfair.
I think I now recall the specific comment to which his comment is addressed. And that one may or may not be fair… don’t recall. And unfortunately, I don’t have the time to research and opine on it right now.
TW
Let's start a "Bisbort for Town Council" campaign.
He and a certain incumbent could run on the "End of Cheshire as We Know It" ticket and adapt REM's song "End of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)."
Yeah, that's the ticket... Not!
8:22 Is that your advice, Liz, to anyone that might have an opinion different than yours that they should "move out of town"?
The republicans in this town think that they know better than the rest of us what is good for us and we are too dumb to understand when we don't agree. And if we don't agree they will go do anything they can to destroy us.
10:02 And the dems are any different? If you don't agree with them, they will do as they please anyway or they will say if you don't like it move out of town.
Bisbort's ranting in the Hartford Advocate make Michael Moore sound like George Will. I think most thoughtful people would do the exact opposite of what this self-righteous blowhard demands
The guy has the right to speak...who cares if he works or writes for a paper...journalism people cant participate in town matters? as a republican who is somewhat neutral on this item...to my fellow republicans and towns people..show some class for a change...at least he has the balls to get up in public...where are all the anons?
journalists all think they run the damm world when most of them lack the skill set to get real jobs running private businesses or public insitutions
Breach:
Yes, Bisbort has a right to speak at public meetings he attends as a private citizen and also to write letters to the editor.
But to me, there is a clear ethical issue of someone who is a journalist using his medium (media) to comment on an issue of which he actively speaks about as a private citizen. It was his use of the Hartford Advocate column I find troublesome.
The average person, whether it is you or I, doesn't have nearly guaranteed access to mass communication. Yes, Bisbort, has editors at the Hartford Advocate, but he also has a track record with them that ought to make it easy to get his views on a subject like the north end project in the paper. And tell me, when was the last time you saw a story in the Hartford Advocate that involved Cheshire (unless, of course, it was related to the prison.)
Hey 11:46 a.m.:
"Anonymous said...
journalists all think they run the damm world when most of them lack the skill set to get real jobs running private businesses or public insitutions."
You ought to think before you speak.
The job that most decent journalists do is try to make infromation public that people have a right to know. But increasingly, the private sector and the government (Are you listening Mr. President?) abuse their power in an effort to keep the public in the dark.
Journalists also have a specific skill set that in many cases doesn't translate well into running a business or public institution. But some have made the transition successfully.
Alan is a highly intelligent person who work I don't always agree with. In the case of this Cheshire development issue, I just happen to think he is engaging in hyperbole of the first order.
Alan is highly intelligent...sure...he's just a louder and less talented Hunter S. Thompson wannabe.
Maybe he worked as a sales clerk once. If he did, that would mean he knows more about the retailing business than the average journalist
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