If some people were not so entrenched in their prejudices and opinions, this would be a funny story. Unfortunately rather it is now a story of awful bias and narrow minded thinking.
I denied my copy artist his request to put a caricature on the page with my story about the Atlantic Highlands councilwoman who doesn’t like the Catholic Church in town to have all of its own activities in the town where it is situated. Instead, I okayed his simple dark lines on a photograph and decided to make it an experiment.
Keep that in mind. Three dark lines on a photograph.
The experiment showed a couple of things that surprised me and sorrowed me.
The first is hundreds, perhaps thousands, because my blog goes to at least four continents around the world, read the story about the councilman questioning a recent religious appreciation service for the volunteers who protect the Bayshore.
She said she had been analyzing the situation and told a non-member of the Church at a public meeting, on record, that maybe that Church, and the international organization that has a council that is connected with that Catholic Church in town, should not hold that appreciation service at their own church in town every year.
She even suggested that maybe they should think of holding the ceremony at the chapel at Fort Hancock, a non-denominational chapel, which, of course, has been closed for religious services for decades.
Three dark lines on a photograph.
Why she suggested this is confusing in that the issue at hand was NOT anything to do with the appreciation service, it had to do with whether the borough or its council members would donate anything to help the volunteers defray the cost of their party afterward.
She suggested it, she said, because the ceremony is to show appreciation and thanks to not only Atlantic Highlands volunteers but also the Coast Guard, National Park Service and other towns in the Bayshore.
Like it’s a bad thing for volunteers and their families from other towns to look forward to an annual event in Atlantic Highlands, one, by the way, that celebrated 20 years this year.
So that was my first disappointment and surprise came after I authored the story, and posted it on my blog along with a photograph and heavily marked lines over the upper lip and eyebrows.
Three dark lines on a photograph.
The issue at hand was NOT anything to do with the appreciation service, it had to do with whether the borough or its council members would donate anything to help the volunteers defray the cost of their party afterward.
I received hundreds of ‘likes’ for the post, a few “go get ‘ems” and “nobody else would do this, congratulations” Most of those came, unfortunately, not from the town affected, but from outside the town. Some from outside the state, and I’m not sure, but I think some were from outside the country.
But from a handful of people who live in Atlantic Highlands, there were some vicious comments and some charges of my being racist. The disappointment there was first, the idiocy of that, and second, the lack of attention to the story itself.
The issue at hand was NOT anything to do with the appreciation service, it had to do with whether the borough or its council members would donate anything to help the volunteers defray the cost of their party afterward.
There were no comments from anyone in town that a councilwoman was actually suggesting that one denomination in a town filled with many people of many different religions, was even suggesting they shouldn’t be honoring these volunteers at their own premises every year.
Doesn’t that bother anyone?
Doesn’t that bother anyone that an elected official would dare suggest that a religious sect NOT use its own facility to do what it wants? Especially when what it wants is to show appreciation for volunteers. Is that a bad thing?
The issue at hand was NOT anything to do with the appreciation service, it had to do with whether the borough or its council members would donate anything to help the volunteers defray the cost of their party afterward.
So how did it get to be about the appreciation ceremony?
A bit of song and dance to get away from answering a question?
A bit of a song and dance to possibly bring up the fact of how well the ceremony itself was attended?
A bit of a song and dance to possibly show a bit of personal feelings rather than address a specific question from a taxpayer?
The experiment showed the other terrifying thing.
That is the mental picture these people conjured up of the depiction with the drawing over lip and eyebrows. They charges of racism were lodged against me because these critics immediately conjured up thoughts of war and evil, or horrific acts and sick minds.
These critics immediately thought negatively; they did not think the issue had absolutely nothing to do with the ceremony, the church, or the fine men and women who worked so hard to honor our volunteers. Switching from that subject was clearly a song and dance.
For those with an open mind, those lines definitely showed sarcasm…they were meant to…but it was not of an evil person as some sick minds may have thought it was.
Those lines were designed to depict a real song and dance man. Someone who cleverly entertained people with his song and dance routines.
Look at it again. Look at those three lines…remember there are THREE lines.
The song and dance man is Charlie Chaplin…dancing around the real issues at hand.
