Today, the Oxford Eagle chose to run an editorial by an English Instructor named Reed. You can read the editorial here for the next 18 hours or so (the Eagle has not discovered permalinks yet). He wrote:
I’m certainly not going to pray for a president who I’m convinced will “change” my country for the worse and deny my grandsons the freedoms I’ve enjoyed…
I prophesy that the man secular progressives call “Messiah” will begin showing his true colors — those of a charlatan and a liar — as soon as the inaugural honeymoon is over.
Here’s why. He who lies down with dogs rises up with fleas, and since his political life began, Obama has lain amongst mangy Illinois Democratic curs, including two of his current corrupt chums, Rod Blagojevich and Rahm Emanuel.
I predict Hussein Obama will abandon Israel…
I predict that the bumper sticker joke —“If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it’s ‘free.’” — will become harsh reality, and all Americans will be over-taxed inmates in a nanny state where medical care, education, military protection, and all other societal infrastructures will degenerate to levels comparable to those of the rogue nations dreaming of destroying Americans.
I predict that abortion will be unrestricted, and will become a sort of “drive-through” procedure, no questions asked. I predict that homosexuality, an abomination in God’s eyes, will flourish to the point that same-sex marriages will become almost commonplace.
I predict that private gun ownership will be outlawed, although the enforcers will have to pry my cold dead fingers from my beloved Smith & Wesson.
I have written to the editor, as follows:
In today’s Oxford Eagle, you ran a deeply offensive, insulting, and even unpatriotic column by someone named Jimmy Reed.
If a Democrat were to say, as Reed did, that they “certainly not going to pray for a” Republican President who had not yet taken office, they would be attacked for lacking respect for the office and for lack of patriotism.
Further, I am shocked that your paper would run a naked, unverified assertion that President Obama would “‘change’ my country for the worse and deny my grandsons the freedoms I’ve enjoyed.,” along with other deeply offensive fabrications on his part, such as calling President-Elect Obama a charlatan and a liar.
This is the sort of racist and obnoxious insult to journalism that typified much of the Mississippi press during the civil rights era.
If this is the editorial policy of the Oxford Eagle, you should be embarrassed and ashamed. If it is not your editorial policy, you should say so and apologize to this community for having run this piece.
I’ll note in passing that it additionally bothers me to learn that the writer is an instructor of English at the University of Mississippi a local community college.
You would certainly have to go back to the Meredith crisis to find a low point this low for the Eagle. I’m disappointed in them.
h/t to Ben Cole for sending me the most annoying heads-up in a long, long time.
Updated to correct where Reed “teaches.”
NMC, I have looked on the Ole Miss directory and the NW Miss Comm. College faculty list and can’t find this guy. I think it’s funny the Eagle and his own site says a college prof., but doesn’t say where. Are you sure he is an Ole Miss prof.?
But you’re right, I don’t like this letter.
A quick google found him http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/people/professors/curriculum%20vitae/Peter%20Reed%20CV.pdf
Sorry couldn’t get the link code to work.
GlitterGirl: That is Peter Reed:
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/people/professors/bios/reed_peter_main.html
Not the same person as Jimmy Reed:
http://www.jreedbooks.com/view/24
I thought the same thing at first too. I didn’t even try and get the code to work. I hate HTML!!
Oops-sorry, but I didn’t see his name at the top of the editorial. See his portrait here, http://www.jreedbooks.com. Seems you may be able to judge a book by the cover after all.
Do you think it could be any worse that it actually sez in his bio at the end of the article that he managed a cotton plantation for 20 years???
I wonder if he’s an instructor if he’s not on their site…
NMC: I am not sure. I know part time profs aren’t always listed, but if they have taught a class the previous semster (Fall 2008) they would be listed.
For example, Musgrove is listed as DISTINGUISHED VISITING LECTURER IN POLITICAL SCIENCE, and his office # is 16629153189. If Musgrove is listed and Reed isn’t I really question if he is a UM prof.
[Removed by site-owner. The Eagle may welcome bigoted reactionary cranks, but folo does not.]
Agreed that this is a reprehensible action by the Eagle. Note that their own website says the following regarding a letter to the editor: “Subject to approval by our publishers, we will gladly publish any letter as long as it does not contain libelous language.”
As for guest columns: “Generally, columns should be no more than 600 words and should be helpful, informative and/or entertaining to our readers. The Oxford EAGLE reserves the right to accept or deny any guest column based on the quality of writing and content.”
Guilty until proven innocent, oldfaithful?
Not to pile on but does the use of more than 3 cliches or worn out phrases when published in your small town newspaper garner you tenure in English? This man needs some training in rhetoric and logical thought. Certainly the Iggle might consider it entertaining but for quality, meh.
Some of my posts are better thought out.
NL
He’s not tenured, for sure, NL. I’m beginning to doubt he’s even an instructor.
Pardon, I noticed that my post was in some part ad hominem but: “cold dead fingers, lie down with the dogs, nanny state” in addition to the cheap use of Mr Obama’s middle name all strike me as shallow, like the logic. I would surmise that this gentleman’s premises and mine differ a bit but this particular phrasing does not even begin to make fair use of any of them. It is the shrill whine of one who would be a demagogue.
NL
So the Eagle’s publisher is more civilly backward than technically so. Impressive feat, that.
“Troy’s King Priam had everything going his way until Agamemnon gave him a wooden horse concealing a bellyful of Greeks.”
Oh yeah this country has sure had things going their way for the last eight years. Has to be the worst analogy ever.
Based on past editorials, I always figured Reed was some English major poking fun at the Eagle or trying to get a rise out of Oxonians. I don’t know anyone who has ever met the man. Now I’m thinking this may be an even more elaborate hoax.
Evil,
Interesting idea but having submitted some swiftian proposals in the past to traditional media and have been summarily rejected, passively, by the WSJ, NYT and some locals, I would be very surprised if such was the case. They just ain’t ready for me and my ilk.
NL
EVELL, ya mean, NL.
I’ve read the editorial above again and again. I get the intolerant, right-wing, “Guns and God” angle of it all, but I don’t get racist from it. Obviously he disagrees with Obama’s policies and doesn’t like the man, as do almost all of my friends, but they are not racists. Let’s not “Bobby Rush” this guy, notwithstanding the whole plantation manager angle.
Sorry about the sentence stricture er structure. Cannot edit on this iPhone.
Hi Lotus we’ll wave as we drive by mid FL, maintaining Dad’s house in Englewood (and taking bird photos). Gotta great Moorhen, and some baby Great Blue Herons. They might make a good Friday animals post.
NL
Morning, OWIL. That “Hussein Obama” crap is the tipper on racism.
Waving back, NL. Y’all have a fine foray, and yeah, now that I know how to post pix, send ‘em on in!
I thought the same thing OWIL @ 18. Seriously, if you can find some of his old letters to the editor, they all have the same feel of this guy is skirting his obvious contempt for anyone who doesn’t look, act, talk like him. Certainly not overtly racist, but his message is never one of tolerance, love or hope. Just pining for the good old plantation days when life was simpler and Christmas came twice a year courtesy of the USDA.
Evell Snoats wrote: “l have the same feel of this guy is skirting his obvious contempt for anyone who doesn’t look, act, talk like him.” That would be bigoted. As I said.
Do you think Ann Coulter would challenge him to a death match?
Perhaps I remember my mythology wrong. Did the gods make Cassandra sound like an ignorant jackass in order to punish her?
Cujo, I suddenly though– you know it really was that Cassandra was going around talking like a crazy person that made people refuse to heed her warnings.
Sounding like a crazy person does not establish that your tied into cosmic truths.
One mystery has been solved, BTW– the man is an instructor of English at North West Community College.
That explains a lot.
well God Bless North West CC-
This was nothing but a rehash of the last Republican presidential campaign.
I have avoided his articles for awhile, so I didn’t even notice it last night while scanning the OE, however reading it now, it honestly makes me physically ill. Good letter Tom – I hope they print it.
Just for everyone’s information– this guy is printed in the Eagle as a “columnist,” not an op-ed writer, and he’s right there under the regular editorial column by editor Don Whitten (and above an obnoxious rant by syndicated radio talk twit Micheal Reagan)
Naturelover, I lived in Englewood for 18 years before moving to Oxford two years ago. I adore the place but it got a bit expensive after the hurricane. Give it a big wave there! I worked at the Englewood Sun for almost 10 years. I miss it. It’s a lovely town.
Forgive me for avoiding the topic at hand for obvious reason but I wanted to address Naturelover’s comment.
I’m not following you, lotus. Hussein is his name and is used by some to falsely imply Obama is a Muslim or a follower of the Islamic faith. All unsuccessfully, I think. But how is that racist?
OWIL: from wikidedia “According to the United Nations conventions, there is no distinction between the term racial discrimination and ethnic discrimination.”
In this case, the use of Hussein Obama is certainly meant to dredge up fear and distrust.
OWIL: He virtually admits to bigotry when he notes that on judgment day, he’ll have to deal with problem relating to tolerance. The “Hussein Obama” shot (followed by the immeidate link to Iran and “countless terrorist groups”) is why I referred to bigotry and racism. The tone of the piece was entirely infected with attempts to attack Obama for being different– we would not have seen this particular tone but for Obama’s race.
My teeth were also set on edge by his website, but that’s another story.
NMC just covered the points I’d have made, OWIL, except for this more personal one — that I so treasure my Persian sister-in-law (a mucky-muck at Apple and my perennial candidate for World’s Funniest Person) and her sisters, that mindless Muslim-bashing very personally offends me. Even though my relatives aren’t observant and have lived in the States for decades, the attacks on their natal culture and basic humanity by knuckle-draggers like this guy make me see red.
Knowing you to be intelligent and subtle-minded, I find your question disingenuous, by the way.
Actually, Lotus, I’m willing to acknowledge that my calling this guy a racist involves some reading between the lines. I’m pretty hostile to writing that seems to me to use “dog whistle” appeals to racism, which the use of Obama’s middle name is, clearly. On the other hand, I’m very aware a lot of people are less likely to jump to that sort of conclusion.
NMC @ 25 – Yes, talking like a crazy person doesn’t show that you’re onto something. If anything, the opposite is likely. Nevertheless, there are certainly times when the truth sounds crazy. Quantum physics and the arguments against our war in Iraq come to mind. What I usually go by is the strength of the argument presented, and its relationship to reality. Not a surefire predictor, of course, but it’s the best I can come up with.
NMC @ 37 – The problem with dog whistles is that you can’t actually hear them. The whistle goes to the lips, and the dogs react, but you have to make an inference. I try to avoid making such accusations for similar reasons – it could actually be some code phrases, or it might just be ignorance, insensitivity, fear, or failed attempts at humor.
There’s too much going on in this one for it to be ignorance. Do you think it’s ignorance?
38:
Cujo, with examples of times the truth sounds crazy, wrote:
“Quantum physics and the arguments against our war in Iraq come to mind.”
The arguments about Iraq never sounded crazy to me. The way ideas like quantum physics are counter intuitive gave them a higher hurdle, and probably with reason.
Shouldn’t a newspaper expect a columnist to base his opinions at least partly on something other than irrational fear and prejudice? All his predictions are stupid and/or delusional. The Obama and Congressional agenda is so moderate that a real radical would call it bourgeois. No one has suggested gun confiscations, drive-by abortions, surrender to terrorists, or any of the other imaginary scare scenarios. And of course, several of these issues are solidly within the realm of the Supreme Court, which still has a 7-2 majority of Republican nominees as has been the case for more than 30 years, except when it was 8-1 for a while in the 90s.
NMC @ 40 – I try not to guess about what’s on someone’s mind, particularly when that mind seems to be so different from my own. Ignorance and fear often lead to some bizarre conclusions. If that ignorance is common among the people he associates with, those opinions are more likely to be firmly held to the point that he will denigrate anyone with contrary opinions.
Regarding Iraq, what sounded crazy was that there seemed to be all these “serious people” who felt like there was a real case for war. I didn’t believe them because their case sounded weak, but had to wonder at times just due to their numbers. This was back in 2002, don’t forget. While I knew other people who felt the way I did, there didn’t seem to be very many.
He was strongly affected by 9/11:
“In that minute, I became every American who ever was, is, or yet to be.
I became the first Pilgrim stepping on Plymouth Rock. I became Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon.
I became Generals Lee and Grant, saluting each other at Appomattox. I became Alvin York of World War I. I became Audie Murphy of World War II. I became Ira Hayes, hoisting Old Glory at Iwo Jima.
I became Roy Rogers, John Wayne, Spencer Tracy, Marilyn Monroe. I became Kate Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Elvis.
I became Jesse Owens, Knute Rockne, Chris Evert, Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, John Elway, Dale Earnhardt.
I became Orville and Wilbur Wright, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Chuck Yeager. I became Billy Graham, Jonas Salk, William Faulkner … Rudy Giuliani.
I became you, my fellow American, and you became me. We became one … one nation under God … in a New York minute.”
There’s some black people in there. What a finale though, Graham to Giuliani in two staggers.
Who said that, Rodney?
Actually, it would be an interesting parlor game to say: “Here’s a series of names a writer chose to write. Your assignment is either to explain the sequence (what process is causing the writer to go from one name to the next) or to provide the next name in the sequence, with an explanation of why that would be the next name. Here’s the sequence: ‘Billy Graham, Jonas Salk, William Faulkner … Rudy Giuliani.’”
I can’t come up with anything. It’s not even a drunkard’s walk, because each step is in a drunkard’s walk is connected to the last step in the walk.
Oh, and Rodney, I originally read you to say “he was STRANGELY effected.” That too. It’s hard to be Kate Smith, Marylin Monroe, and Ira Hayes, all at once.
(I keep thinking of Johnny Cash’s song now)
The bigoted reactionary crank referred to in the title of the post,Lotus.
http://www.jreedbooks.com/view/40
I can track with all the other transitions until that one. But wooie.
Lydia
Dad has a house there, his dementia prevents his living there alone so we travel to check the house. Many of my bird photos originated at the Venice Rookery. Prices on houses have plummeted- you could move back.
To all above, just a demagogue calling to his masses, a prophet in his own mind as he even asserts. It is interesting as researcher points out that the positions taken are moderate left, irritate a bit some even somewhat more left like Lotus and do not include his
proffered doomsday scenarios. Many of the health plans
are more Germanic in type than the reviled Canadian &
British gov’t only plans. These involve competing pvt
plans and are notable for the gov’t intervening to cover a
larger portion of the pop. I guess it all makes sense if you believe that there is a conspiracy to get to the feared
endpoint of homo sex for all followed by a drive by abortion after which you are pistol whipped by the police since your trusty Smith and Wesson has been melted down for plowshares for them d***ies in those envious other countries. But and it’s a big but-(I know cosn I have one) we see conspiracies everywhere as well- ours are just evidence based.
NL
Got some major dissonance going on here, yes we do.
Sorry if I offended earlier but I only was just George, Nature lover and American after 9/11. Still am, expect to continue, not very grandiose or hysterical of me but what the hey.
NP
Jawge, I didn’t hit refresh before writing so didn’t see your 50 until after. My 51 applies only to Reed.
Wow, politics really brings out the best in people, doesn’t it? I’m glad I don’t have any children being instructed by Reed.
I don’t understand why anyone who purports to love their country wouldn’t pray for its leaders, irrespective of whether they voted for those leaders. I haven’t voted for a winning Presidential administration in years, but I always pray for those who won the election. (Sometimes I wonder whether it does any good, but I do it anyway.)
Hi there, MSlawyer, howya been keepin’?
This guy Reed stands in the shadow of the OTHER Jimmy Reed from Dunleith–1925-1976–Shame, Shame, Shame!