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I still wonder who at The Recorder allows Ben Clarke to continue his Rush-Limbaugh-wannabe tirades, and if someone will tell him that his humor is not funny in the least.
True humor is fun – it does not put down, kid, or mock. It makes people feel wonderful, not separate, different, and cut off. True humor has beneath it the understanding that we are all in this together.
- Hugh Prather
The line “Ben Clarke spent the past 10 years working as a speechwriter and political consultant in Washington, D.C. He has recently relocated back to Greenfield, where he works as a freelance writer.” garnishes the end of each article that Ben Clarke writes for The Recorder, a newspaper serving the people of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region in Massachusetts.
As an unapologetic liberal let me translate the section He has recently relocated back to Greenfield, where he works as a freelance writer into After George 43 there was no more use for him in Washington D.C. Ben Clarke is a hardcore Republican, but, honestly, I won’t hold that against him. My wife is a registered Republican, and we haven’t killed each other yet. In fact, we’re doing very well.
My utterly unimportant blabbering is about his misguided sense of humor under the motto “If I can offense somebody, let’s do it.” He does it so eloquently, and he does it continuously.
On March 3, 2010 he wrote an article titled The Conservative Greenfielder’s Lament. Again, I will not address his political affiliation, but rather the remarks he deems to be humorous. Let me quote:
“I have always resented the liberal presumption of intolerance among conservatives – the notion that we huddle around campfires in endangered forests and seethe in our abhorrence of gays, ethnic minorities, illegal immigrants and France. Don’t get me wrong. I am not proposing we amend the Constitution and smuggle in an undocumented lesbian from Honduras to run for president. But I would at least hear her out. Assuming she could cook.”
In the meantime he wrote another article (which I, unfortunately, did not keep) about his childhood in which he joked about selling his brother’s kidney.
Today he addresses the oil spill situation in the Gulf of Mexico, lecturing us that BP stands for British Petrol (Duh!), and making some discriminative comments like “These guys are BRITISH.” Regardless, let’s have a look at another paragraph where he states:
“The only thing that we should focus on banning in America right now are romantic comedies starring Meryl Streep, referees in NBA basketball games, and tampon commercials.”
I still wonder who at The Recorder allows Ben Clarke to continue his Rush-Limbaugh-wannabe tirades, and if someone will tell him that his sense for humor is off. Maybe that is exactly the reason why he is not a speechwriter anymore.
Supplement June 17, 2010
Ben Clarke contacted me through this website, telling me that a friend had told him about this post, that he liked my blog, and to keep it coming. Ben, you continue your disturbing sense of humor, and I will definitely keep going. His remark also proves the point that the George-43-gang was – and apparently still is – out of touch with modern communication technologies. My wife googled Ben, and the only reference she could find was through my blog. Say thank you, Ben!
If you want to stay in business as a writer it is imperative to have a blog, and to verify the impact of your writing you put yourself on Google Alerts (i.e. you don’t need friends to keep you up to date). Last, but not least, as a truly professional writer you don’t use GMail. May I add that I am twenty-plus years older than Ben, but that’s merely biological, not mental.
I just discussed an article printed in the local newspaper, The Recorder, with my wife. She had kept it for me to read and was interested in my opinion about it. Before I share my – utterly unimportant – opinion, let me quote from the article (March 3, 2010) titled A Conservative’s Lament by Ben Clarke.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
- Lester B. Pearson
I just discussed an article printed in the local newspaper, The Recorder, with my wife. She had kept it for me to read and was interested in my opinion about it. Before I share my – utterly unimportant – opinion, let me quote from the article (March 3, 2010) titled A Conservative’s Lament by Ben Clarke. The first two paragraphs read:
“I have always resented the liberal presumption of intolerance among conservatives – the notion that we huddle around campfires in endangered forests and seethe in our abhorrence of gays, ethnic minorities, illegal immigrants and France.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not proposing we amend the Constitution and smuggle in an undocumented lesbian from Honduras to run for president. But I would at least hear her out. Assuming she could cook.
…Ben Clarke spent the past 10 years working as a speechwriter and political consultant in Washington, D.C. He has recently relocated back to Greenfield, where he works as a freelance writer.” (Meaning, after George 43 there was no more job for him.)
Okay… Assuming she could cook. I am still not sure whether he was joking or not, and if he thought he was joking, maybe he should think twice about his writing. My analysis, leaving that last degrading comment unanswered for the moment, is that Ben Clarke is as divisive as the rest of hardcore conservatives he accuses as being out of touch with reality. What I didn’t like in his article was the touch of aggressiveness against everything and everybody who is not on his side, especially the utter hatred pointed against liberals. Regardless of my personal political affiliation, I despise radicals, may they be left or right, and Ben Clarke is apparently one of them. I am always shocked when I hear of young people hanging on to old ideas that reflect an utter incompetence to learn from experience.
Ben Clarke, as far as I know (his mother, my wife, and I are on the board of the Franklin County Community Meal Program), was born and raised here in Greenfield, and he reflects an attitude I see in many Greenfielders who are so vehemently opposed to changes in any shape or form. When the typical – in all regularity conservative – Greenfielder can’t have it his way, he comes up with lies. A comment like Assuming she could cook is written proof that Ben Clarke is out of touch with reality. His blabbering definitely strengthens the theory that liberals are more intelligent than conservatives.
P.S. Let’s see if Ben Clarke has his name on Google Alerts…;-)
Being A Successful Newspaper The Old-Fashioned Way
New York Times, Washington Post, and all other big newspapers all over the country struggling to survive the Internet boom, here is my ode to the Recorder, serving the people of Greenfield, Massachusetts and the North Quabbin region.
Trying to be a first-rate reporter on the average American newspaper is like trying to play Bach’s ‘St. Matthew’s Passion’ on a ukulele.
- Bagdikian’s Observation
We moved to Greenfield about eight years ago, totally unprepared for the cultural clash, but who could imagine that you can live in an American equivalent of Leonard Wibberly’s Duchy of Grand Fenwick, or even that a Chevy Chase movie like Funny Farm was not based on mere fantasy, but careful observation.
To put it in a nut-shell, the town of Greenfield (population 17,000+) is mentally, and in many cases visibly, stuck in the 1950s. The native Greenfielder (i.e. born and raised in Greenfield) is emphatically opposed to any changes that would interfere with his established lifestyle, even if it means hanging on to sub-standards, for instance, in medical care and fighting modern intrusions such as a big-box store (Oh Devil, Thy Name Is Walmart!). I frequently make it a point that The Greenfielder is a Soviet-Communist-Amish people – See my post A Species Of Its Own: The Greenfielder.
Maybe that is one of the reasons why The Recorder is still as successful as it is – at least there have been no news that they’re struggling. The Recorder has accumulated a large and stable list of followers, and I don’t expect that this will change in the near future. Their reporting is good, and keeps us up-to-date about what’s happening locally; National and international news are usually by Associated Press. Commentaries written by Chris Collins are a feast to read; those by Ben Clarke usually make me (and my wife) broil, and I can’t wait to get my hands on that keyboard for a flaming response to his offending humor – See my post Speechwriter Ben Clarke And His Offensive Humor.
And yes, The Recorder does have a website (http://www.recorder.com/), one of those amateurish throw-togethers that make you cringe and run for some TUMS. I always compare it to painting a car, because, believe it or not, everybody can paint a car. You take some oil paint and a big brush… You get the picture; it will not come out as a professional job, and The Recorder‘s website is a fine example.
But, in fact, it doesn’t matter. All those big newspapers around the country depend on top-notch websites these days in order to survive by creating additional income. It even goes so far that a highly regarded newspaper such as the Washington Post needs to sell advertisement space to known scammers, who are currently being investigated by the FBI and the Federal Trade Commission.
The online version of The Recorder is also designed to include ad space, but it is usually about playing golf in the Pioneer Valley, the hidden hills of Western Massachusetts, local TV listings, and the such. In the same spirit they can afford to post on their website:
Greenfield, Massachusetts may be mentally stuck in the 1950′s but their world is still in order when it comes to their local newspaper. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned; I just don’t know what it is.