ShortFormBlogcontroversies Archives

My reaction is, that’s just very insensitive. [There] isn’t a more vile, negative word than the N-word, and for him to leave it there as long as he did, before I hear that they finally painted over it, is just plain insensitive to a lot of black people in this country.
Herman Cain • Complaining about the hunting camp Rick Perry once owned, which once had a name that included a racial slur (we’ll let you figure out which one). Perry’s camp already came out on the defensive against this, claiming it was painted over long ago, and the quickly-rising Cain (who just won another straw poll) has every reason in the world to combat this. Perry will have to work hard to come back from this mess. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

claim A Washington Post article, published Saturday, claimed that a hunting camp once owned by Rick Perry (and at other times, his family) was once named after a racial slur we won’t be saying here. Even after his family owned the property, the name was still visible, though painted over.
rebuttal Perry’s staff was quick to the punch on this controversy: “Governor Perry’s last visit to the Crooked River Ranch was December 2006. He stopped leasing the property in 2007.” (The article states this.) An associate of Perry says the article has a number of inaccuracies. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

When a company like Huffington Post or GAP employs crowdsourcing to get proprietary design work done for free, the result is almost always negative. To many designers, it’s the same as asking a plumber to do some work on the pipes and in lieu of a paycheck, they’ll just put up a sign in the bathroom acknowledging all of the plumber’s hard work. But as with any fight (or tango), it takes two. Huffington Post shouldn’t have asked for free work, and up-in-arms designers should understand that their own willingness to accept work on spec is what keeps this practice around.
Good Magazine senior editorial designer Dylan C. Lathrop • Taking both designers and The Huffington Post to task after HuffPo held a contest to have people redesign its logo for its politics section. Now, HuffPo isn’t the only publication to ever do this — but the problem is, they’re a very successful company that can afford to pay a designer to do this, and let’s face it — the pig needs a top-down coat of paint. The Gap tried something similar when people decided that they hated their logo redesign, and they felt the pain too. Fact of matter: If you’re a company that makes millions of dollars a year and has an audience larger than a couple of people, you can afford to ~~pay your writers~~ pay someone to design your logos. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

claim After the company faced weeks of criticism from right-wing blogs who perhaps equate Muslims with terrorism too quickly, Houston Press claimed that Whole Foods backed away from a Ramadan promotion, which was meant as groundbreaking but instead created a bunch of headaches for the company. Fail.
rebuttal However, Whole Foods claims that they never ended the promotion. “We never sent a communication from our headquarters requesting stores take down signs or remove parts from this promotion,” the company tweeted. Instead, they say one regional branch decided to back away from the promotion (which led to the criticism). source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Oct 2011 21:11