Laura Erickson's For the Birds

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Taking on Newsweek again

Glenn Greenwald, tenaciously taking on Time Magazine with regard to a Joe Klein piece, has inspired me once again to take on Newsweek for this little gem, still on their website and still with not a single acknowledgment from the editor pointing out that the author violated state and federal laws, and quite likely local ordinances, in shooting a cardinal that she found annoying. The article is also repeated on gunowners.org with no caveats about the legal issues involved in shooting a cardinal. I believe most conservatives and gun organizations are sincerely in favor of enforcing laws against the illegal use of firearms, and so am mystified why this editorial appears here without such a caveat.

The author, who is apparently a professional writer, wrote of her own decline into mental illness:
After living for 36 months under the siege of Cardinalis, I cracked. My sleep patterns had altered, my ability to concentrate (already declining with age) was spiraling down to about 30-second intervals. My hands were shaky, my head ached, my vision blurred. I had morphed from a cookie-baking granny to a crazed zombie. I turned away from my bleeding-heart pals toward those who enjoy a more pragmatic turn of mind--those who honor the way of the warrior.
But rather than reject her article as Newsweek no doubt normally rejects the ramblings of mentally unbalanced individuals, they rewarded her financially and in print by publishing it as a "My Turn" column. They have yet to apologize, or to have added any caveats regarding the egregious illegalities Walda Cameron triumphantly boasts about, and still have the article online. Russ and I canceled our subscription as a result of this piece, which was printed as a full-page magazine editorial as well as posted online. Although I wrote to the magazine's website, I received no acknowledgment or response from the editors. I know they received many other responses, but only two gently-worded items were published. Does Newsweek have no policies regarding publishing editorials boasting about breaking well-known and clearly defined laws?