Political Football

ScrappleFace Editor Responds to Real Editor

ScrappleFace.com publishes funny parodies of the news. Once a parody is cut off the website and pasted by someone into an email then they distribute it around the world without the next reader understanding original intent (the parody part…) someone, eventually, will most likely be offended. Such was the case of some Katrina victims, defended by the editor of a Black Panther sponsored newspaper in San Francisco, who apparently had never heard of ScrappleFace.

Below, find a reply from the author of ScrappleFace when asked to explain (link at the top of the page). In any case, the Editor asked the Author of ScrappleFace to explain himself; and he did.

I’ve severely edited his 1,400 word reply below to about 250 words. Please read this and his entire letter (again, link above) if you can find the time. This is a serious piece from someone who normally writes pretty funny stuff.

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In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, journalists sought someone to blame. They, predictably, found President George Bush was the best scapegoat. If anyone “out there” is to be blamed, it is the large, remote, centralized federal government which has become a surrogate father to so many millions of Americans. Over the decades, we have ceded power, authority and responsibility to the federal government far beyond anything envisioned or desired by our founders. This is not a matter of ‘blaming the victim’, because the victim has become so immersed in this twisted view of human life that he cannot see what has happened.

The problem is that the morsels of that wealth [that trickles down] never provide enough to do anything other than keep folks in a perpetual state of dependence upon the State. The threat of this system is that it strips a man of what makes him a man, and turns him away from his inner resources, or the inclination to partner with neighbors to solve problems. It humiliates him, blinds him and ultimately cripples him.

The victims of Katrina are not really the victims of Katrina herself. The tragedy began long before the hurricane hit.

We need to cultivate the inner resources in ourselves, our children and our neighborhoods to cope with the inevitable. When we cede that power and responsibility to the federal government, we surrender a part of what makes us human and leave ourselves more vulnerable to the tempest.

Since what we know about America flows mostly from the media, we can be certain that most of what we know is just plain wrong, or at least atypical. My old journalism professor used to say, ‘News is coups, earthquakes and three-legged chickens.’

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