Let the Fear Mongering Begin!
POTTSTOWN, PA – Similar to its highly biased fear mongering of the proposed centers concept for the Pottstown School District six years ago (anyone remember the phrase “mega campus”?), The Mercury is at it again. This time, the topic of fear is Rupert Elementary School and its future serving the students of Pottstown, based on the very preliminary discussions which occurred during Monday’s President’s Task Force meeting.
Elementary schools task force closing in on options
The headline of today’s print edition of The Mercury shows a photo of Rupert and the following caption: “The fate of Rupert Elementary School is under consideration as the Pottstown School Board looks at ways to cut costs.”
Of course the “digital” version of the story appearing online has no photo.
Why was a photo of Rupert splashed on the front page of the print edition and not one of Barth Elementary? After all, the article states Barth’s importance to the community, so wouldn’t a photo of Barth be a more POSITIVE aspect of the story?
And we know that by commenting on this article and its questionable photo selection and fear baiting overtones, we’ll get a finger wagging from the author telling us how wrong we are.
But are we?
The Mercury is well-known for its pot-stirring of news events in Pottstown by evoking fear among its subscriber base (the majority of which are retired seniors). And the fact that the paper chooses to accept paid advertising from a school board member who has shown over the years his tireless efforts to attempt to keep Rupert open at an astronomical cost to Pottstown taxpayers is all the proof needed to indicate how correct we are in this theory. It’s worth mentioning that even today, as we write these words, Tom Hylton is frantically filing right to know requests with the school district in a feeble attempt to keep Rupert open based on information from past school board meeting minutes and related addendums.
As a service to our senior readers, here is an excellent article on how to identify fear mongering tactics used by the media (and those formerly employed by the media). See if you can recognize any familiar modus operandi.
Seniors: How to Identify Fear-Mongering Tactics
The article states that seniors are especially vulnerable to fear mongering tactics because they were raised in an era in which they were admonished not to question others…which makes them easy targets for scheming politicians and media pundits.
Francis Bacon said it best: “Knowledge is power.” Knowledge based on factual information opens the door for a reasoned response…instead of what The Mercury and Tom Hylton both excel at…financially profiting from fear-mongering and knee-jerk reactions of Pottstown citizens.
Oh my Dear Save Pottstown, thanks for the laugh, but when it comes to finger wagging, I bow in the presence of the masters.
And here I thought our reporting of the apparent agreement on the task force that Rupert is the school least likely to stay open would be welcomed here by those who have repeatedly expressed that opinion.
But that would have been a more POSITIVE reaction I suppose. I must have missed your report on this meeting.
And why would senior citizens, who presumably no longer have children in elementary schools, be terrified by the prospect of one of them closing? One might suspect logic is not a factor in “all the proof needed to indicate how correct we are.”
And I suppose I could argue that running a photo of Rupert is the logical choice because it is currently about the ONLY thing on which the task force seems to agree, but what would be the point? Not part of your world view I suppose.
Speaking of which, I must say your attempts to build community consensus by repeatedly insulting the intelligence of Pottstown’s senior citizens is somewhat puzzling to me. I must be missing something. Are they not part of the community?
But hey, it’s your site.
Also, I like your photo too.
As often as I disagree with Mr Brandt, sometimes I have to admit he’s got it right! As in this instance. I DO welcome the agreement that Rupert must close! That school is an accident waiting to happen and I don’t want my grandkids to be in it when it does! The sooner it closes, the better and hang Tom Hylton!
I also agree with Mr Brandt regarding the constant slapping given to senior citizens by Save Pottstown. We make up a large portion of the community, why keep trying to shove us to the back of the bus?
Evan, when you’re right, you’re right. And this time you’re right in all aspects!
Once again the Mercury is stirring the pot. The Mercury remembers the sensationalism which prevailed a few years ago when the closing of five schools was being discussed by the Robertson board. So, to once again, help their favorite paid advertiser and keep his pet agenda from going over the cliff, the Mercury is trying to create hysteria to help Tom Hylton and George Wausnock keep Rupert in the district to have it restored historically at tax payer expense. I certainly hope the President’s task force sees the newspaper article as Hylton pressing the Mercury to further his personal agenda –an agenda that will be very dangerous to the purse strings of this community and state of the art education for future generations in this town. Why couldn’t the Mercury wait to report final thoughts by the task force? To keen observers the answer is simple. Hylton is worried the task force won’t grant his personal agenda, so he has the Mercury under his direction stir up the community and terrorize it into helping the Hylton dream come true. Thank-you SP for being one of those keen observers!!!!!!!!!!!!
I consider myself a pretty civil person (most of the time) and I have to respectfully disagree.
I didn’t read into any senior bashing in this article. I did read into Mercury and Tom Hylton bashing – and that’s fair game in my book because they both deserve it.
I think the point here is that in the past both The Mercury and Tom Hylton have used fear mongering to whip up citizens into a frothing mess. Who else remembers what happened when The Mercury announced that Edgewood was going to be closed two years ago? Both the paper and Hylton seized the opportunity to make a total mess out of the situation. Here’s the Mercury article I found to make my point:
http://www.pottsmerc.com/articles/2009/02/08/news/srv0000004654149.txt?viewmode=fullstory
It was also from this meeting that Tom Hylton recruited now board member Valerie Harris – a true Save Rupert patriot – who works for Tom’s Pottstown Preservation buddy George Wausnock (Geo has also been very outspoken in keeping Rupert open as I recall).
I think The Mercury does get people in Pottstown – all people – worked up needlessly. I absolutely agree. Rupert should be closed. Make it into low income senior housing like Tom Hylton wants down by the river.
OK…. so it’s not stirring the pot for Evan Brandt to say this site “insults” seniors and doesn’t consider them part of the community? Really? Just look at the very first post following EVAN’s statement.
I have never interpreted anything written by Save Pottstown to be anti-senior. In fact, I would argue that Save Pottstown cares far more about seniors than does The Mercury, because Save Pottstown is trying to improve the tax base – which would lower the tax burden on Pottstown senior homeowners and help keep them in their homes – while The Mercury facilitates Tom Hylton’s agenda of keeping this town in its obviously broken state.
Thanks, Evan, for demonstrating exactly what many of us frequent posters complain about when it comes to The Mercury.
Here is what I think is true, and what might be what Save Pottstown was trying to get at:
Many of those who subscribe to The Mercury (home delivery) are senior citizens.
Many of Pottstown’s “super voters” (those who vote in every election, primary and general) are senior citizens.
Many of the people who have voted for Tom Hylton and his private-label school board candidates are senior citizens.
Many of the senior citizens who subscribe to The Mercury get virtually all of their local news from The Mercury.
The Mercury has never provided well-rounded coverage of issues important to Tom Hylton. It always adopts Tom Hylton’s opinion, editorializes in Tom Hylton’s favor, and often lets its editorial views slip into its “news” coverage.
Therefore, at least some of the senior citizens who have gone out and voted for Tom Hylton and his candidates over the past 4 or 6 or 8 years have done so without having had the opportunity to consider all of the factors that those who choose to expose themselves to other sources of information have had.
This is not to say that those voters don’t have the ability to weigh facts and make good decisions. It is to say that their trust in The Mercury to provide an unbiased review of issues is misplaced, leading them to sometimes make decisions that are not necessarily in their own or the town’s best interests.
Again – Evan demonstrates EXACTLY what irks many of us about The Mercury. He twists a statement into something it is not in order to ignite a firestorm of negativity.
S.R. – Don’t let Evan manipulate you. Save Pottstown is much more likely to Save Seniors than is Evan Brandt or his employer or his other boss, Tom Hylton.
WAYFTP – perfectly worded!
I find it interesting to note that a convenient use of the phrase ‘transparency in government’ will soon be all over the media (or glossy mailers, perhaps). You know, things are transparent when you string all the facts together and don’t single out words or phrases that only support your argument. So, is that act (in and of itself) practicing transparency or a hybrid form of transparency (it’ll be in the form of a little yellow and black book called ‘Transparency for Dummies’)? Time will tell.
It is my hope that this time will be different and many sides of an issue will get their due, it is just a hope. My expectations are quite low for that to actually happen, except in cyberspace.
Despite the many theories floating around out there about what motivates people to not consider and embrace other points-of-view, I still have to wonder is our system sustainable as it stands now? What will it look like in the years to come if nothing really changes?
Evan Brandt said… Speaking of which, I must say your attempts to build community consensus by repeatedly insulting the intelligence of Pottstown’s senior citizens is somewhat puzzling to me. I must be missing something. Are they not part of the community?
Evan,
First, I don’t think your report was biased. You were fair as you usually are. The picture of Rupert, however, could be considered a bit “over the top”, due to the fact that it could easily have been construed to be an intentional mustering of rival emotions, in much the same way as the Mercury used the term “megacampus” in the past. That argument goes to “Save Pottstown”, IMHO.
But my main objective to his post was to comment on your quote above. I just don’t see it. I would contend that senior citizens, a rank in which I am a newly participating member, have not been dishonored in this blog post. The point that SP made is indeed factual. The article in “Senior Citizens Journal” that the blog linked to was also factual and not insulting. And, it was written with a left slant that I’d think you would appreciate.
Surely you cannot honestly deny that Tom Hylton has participated in fear mongering to seniors in many of his paid editorials and slick campaign flyers. Quite frankly, I find THAT as a dishonor to seniors.
Rob Morgan
Hi Rob,
Nice to hear from you. I miss your calmness at school board meetings.
I suspect you and I may disagree in our humble opinions here.
Perhaps you can answer the question everyone else has ignored:
How does running a picture of a school everyone with a hand in the decision (task force) says will probably be closed, terrify seniors who have no children in that school?
And to spur things along, I’ll answer one of Save Pottstown’s questions:
They asked: “Why was a photo of Rupert splashed on the front page of the print edition and not one of Barth Elementary? After all, the article states Barth’s importance to the community, so wouldn’t a photo of Barth be a more POSITIVE aspect of the story?”
Answer: What the article stated is that Joel Johnson, who heads the Montgomery County Housing Authority, which owns Bright Hope, sent a letter stating its importance. Now given that this site has previously slapped the housing authority around for putting too many rentals in Pottstown, I might suspect, if I were a suspicious person, that their sudden agreement with the authority’s position is more one of rhetorical convenience than conviction.
Nonetheless, snark aside, the real answer is this: It is more important to tell people their school may be closed than to tell them it will stay open. Staying open is the status quo and thus, not a change and less newsworthy unless someone was suggesting closing it. I heard no such suggestion Closing an open school would be a change in condition, and thus, news. Hope that helps.
P.S. And Rob, if you feel that a generation of people who fought in World War II and Korea and, in some cases, Vietnam, (and held down the home front)need a primer on how to tell them when someone is trying to scare them, then I guess our humble opinions are going to diverge on that as well.
But since neither one of us are seniors (yet, close though, very close) our opinions matter less than those at whom the post was aimed. I’ll leave it to them to speak for themselves.
Evan Said… Perhaps you can answer the question everyone else has ignored:
How does running a picture of a school everyone with a hand in the decision (task force) says will probably be closed, terrify seniors who have no children in that school?
It doesn’t, Evan. There are two issues at play in this SP blog entry. One issue is Save Pottstown’s perceived propensity of the Mercury toward influencing opinion by stirring emotion, and the other is fear mongering to seniors. Your question above speaks to the first. As you say, our humble opinions may be at odds on that issue.
As to your point about the golden generation not needing a primer on fear mongering, what you are missing is that, in this regard, “seniors” are just like everyone else. Many DON’T need such a primer. Sadly, most could benefit from it. That’s not an insult to seniors as much as it is an observation about people of all ages.
And what do you mean, “neither of us are seniors”? I’ll be 66 in a just a few months, and proud to be a Senior Citizen.
SP,
Just an idea here. To curb the endless “I’m Always Right and You’re Anonymous and Always Wrong” comments, maybe you should direct your Mercury observations to Nancy March (since it’s beneath her journalistic dignity to comment on your site).
That way you can ensure that there will be none of the endless commentary that always seem to drag on when articles in the paper are questioned. Because, after all, we all know that the editor calls the shots and makes the headline decisions. Let the big cheese defend the operations and decisions!
Rob,
Just giving you the benefit of the doubt.
Do you have a portrait in an attic somewhere that is getting older?
And seeing as BBQBill is tiring of a dialog among non-anonymous posters, (who wants the editor to comment so there won’t be endless commentary on a site whose commenters are said to be more civil and want to have a more “honest and useful” community dialog) I’ll shut up and give you the last word.
Evan, did you take your ball and go home?
Just complying with the wishes of the civil commenters here.
Well, there are degrees of civility.