Bruce VanWyngarden notes the havoc that social media mischief can wreak.
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Month: April 2013
If you’re one of those who doubts the power of social media, check out what happened to the Dow-Jones today when the Associated Press’ Twitter account was hacked and the following tweet appeared:
A precipitous drop occurred on the tweeted “news” that the president had been injured in a bombing incident at the White House.
AP quickly regained control of its site and tweeted that it had been hacked, but the response from Wall Street clearly illustrates the damage that can be wreaked when social media mischief occurs. As one wag tweeted:
“Somewhere the Twitter CEO is stroking a white cat saying ‘excellent’ realizing Twitter can tank the market.”
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Forrest Rides Again
Well, the fans of Jefferson Davis and Nathan Bedford Forrest have had their fun with park names. What now?
As if we didn’t already know, social media and civics don’t mix well. The online name-the-parks popularity contest was no contest. Either hundreds of Forrest/Davis fans voted to restore the original names or else a handful of hardcores from the Sons of Confederate Veterans voted multiple times.
The committee appointed to rename the three parks met Monday for 45 minutes but made no decisions. Members got handouts with the results of the web poll as well as a list of suggestions from the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce.
The former Nathan Bedford Forrest Park that triggered this exercise got 525 responses, with 481 of them favoring that name. Ida B. Wells, endorsed in some well-publicized newspaper columns, public statements, and blogs, was the second choice, with just three votes, the same as Civil War Park.
The former Jefferson Davis Park also got 525 responses, including 484 in favor of that name. Confederate Park got 463 votes, with Confederate Memorial Park the runner-up with 7 votes.
Each of the parks also got a sprinkling of votes for such hilarious names as Consolidator Park, William C. Boyd’s Folly Park, and Lost Cause Park.
The cool cats at the Chamber of Commerce recommended the names Rock N’ Soul Park for Jefferson Davis Park, Tiger Park for Confederate Park, and Volunteer Park for Forrest Park. Somewhere in there is a message of business development.
Committee members suggested there were some voting irregularities. Ballot-box stuffing in a web poll. What shockers are next? Happy Meals don’t make you happy? Politicians lie? Contests that pick the “best” dry cleaner or barbecue sandwich are unscientific? Commenters use fake names?
Some members complained that responses came from people who do not live in Memphis. Unlike the public comments made in person at an earlier committee meeting, respondents did not have to provide personal information. Keith Norman said that factor and “the harsh tone may be some of the very reasons why we are here.”
Well, nobody had a monopoly on rigging the poll. The Rock N’ Soul fans and Ida B. Wells supporters could have done the same thing. A small number of people, it seems, care a lot about park names, while a large number of people don’t care much, if at all. But the Civil War buffs overplayed their hand when they made personal calls to committee members on their cell phones. That is likely to backfire and strengthen any resolve to rename the parks, poll numbers and public comments aside.
For removing a fairly innocuous marker at Forrest Park two months ago, Memphis has earned unwelcome national publicity, a Ku Klux Klan rally that cost $177,000 in public services, and a controversy that won’t go away.
What the renaming committee and the Memphis City Council should do now is leave the statues of Forrest and Davis — inscriptions and all — alone. Any talk of moving them or rewording them will prolong this foolishness and create an even bigger fiasco. Put up new signs renaming the parks, using the “placeholders” already approved by the council — Memphis Park for Confederate Park, Mississippi River Park for Jefferson Davis Park, and Health Sciences Park for Forrest Park.
Let the commenters and critics have their say. But no new statues. No more polls. No more renaming. Blander is better.
Racism in Memphis runs deeper than monuments and inscriptions erected 50, 80, or more than 100 years ago. The local history that makes it nearly impossible to develop the public Promenade on Front Street does not involve the Civil War. Downtown’s resemblance to a daytime ghost town has everything to do with the consolidation of banks and brokerage firms and the convenience of suburban offices and nothing to do with Jefferson Davis. Baptist Memorial Hospital didn’t leave downtown to get away from Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Write this unfortunate chapter off to experience and move on.
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“A Murder is Announced” in Germantown
The Agatha Christie whodunnit, A Murder is Announced, is playing at the Germantown Community Theatre through April 28th.
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Griz Lose Heartbreaker to Clips, 93-91
Chris Herrington looks at Monday night’s soul-crunching loss to the Clippers and sees some encouraging signs.
- LARRY KUZNIEWSKI
- Mike Conley rebounded with a massive Game 2.
Losing a playoff game on a last-second shot is supposed to be a gut punch. But after how demoralizing the Grizzlies’ loss to the Clippers was in Game 1 of this series, last night’s Game 2 loss — with “Point God” Chris Paul hitting a tough, off-balance, go-ahead runner off glass, over the tight defense of Tony Allen, with .1 seconds on the clock — felt as restorative as it did disappointing from a Grizzlies perspective.
The Grizzlies now return home for Games 3 and 4 with a sense of missed opportunity but also with a renewed sense — and, perhaps just as importantly, a renewed sense among restless fans — that they can battle this Clippers team: That they can win a fourth quarter (20-18). That their league-best three-point defense, post-trade, can put the squeeze on the Clippers’ deep array of shooters (2-15). That Mike Conley’s tentative, out-of-his-depth play from Game 1 was not a terminal condition (a bravura 28 points and 9 assists in 44 minutes). That maybe Clippers’ coach Vinny Del Negro doesn’t have it all figured out (Eric Bledsoe played fewer than 14 minutes). And that maybe Lionel Hollins has figured out a few things (No Austin Daye, more Tony Allen, a tighter rotation that relied more on starters).
In a loss like this, frustrations are many, starting at the foul line: The Grizzlies missed 11 free throws (23-34) in a two-point loss, and then let Matt Barnes and Bledsoe have multiple uncontested fourth-quarter dunks where hard fouls were called for. Jamal Crawford scored 10 quick in the second quarter as Tony Allen first watched from the bench and then from the scorer’s table, waiting to check in. “Foul trouble” limited Zach Randolph’s second-half minutes just as he was finally heating up. Randolph had 7 points and 7 rebounds in 14 second-half minutes. In retrospect, it’s hard to fault Lionel Hollins for pulling Randolph after he got his fifth foul — down six with 4:34 to go. Darrell Arthur made two big plays in Randolph’s stead down the stretch, helping the Grizzlies tie it up, though Arthur’s recent history certainly didn’t suggest this could have been expected. Might Ed Davis — a superior shot-blocker who was benched after a couple of first-half miscues — have contested the final shot better than Arthur? Perhaps, but that’s nitpicking.
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RIP Richie Havens
We’ll miss him. What a man. What an artist.
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Park-Naming Committee Reviews Suggestions
John Branston reports on Monday night’s meeting of the city’s committee on park names.
Hundreds of supporters of the original names of three downtown parks with Civil War themes overwhelmed all other choices in a web poll conducted by the city of Memphis.
The committee appointed to rename the three parks met Monday for 45 minutes but made no decisions. Members got handouts with the results of the web poll as well as a list of suggestions from the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce.
The former Nathan Bedford Forrest Park that triggered this exercise got 525 responses, with 481 of them favoring that name. Ida B. Wells was the second choice, with three votes, the same as Civil War Park.
The former Jefferson Davis Park also got 525 responses, including 484 in favor of that name. Confederate Park got 463 votes, with Confederate Memorial Park the runner-up with 7 votes.
Each of the parks also got a sprinkling of votes for such names as Consolidator Park, William C. Boyd’s Folly Park, and Lost Cause Park.
The Chamber of Commerce recommended the names Rock N’ Soul Park for Jefferson Davis Park, Tiger Park for Confederate Park, and Volunteer Park for Forrest Park.
Members of the committee complained that many of the responses to the web survey came from people who do not live in Memphis. Keith Norman said that factor, along with “the harsh tone may be some of the very reason why we are here.” It is not clear how the home towns of the respondents were determined in the web survey. Unlike the public comments in an earlier meeting, respondents did not have to provide an address.
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Stacey Makes a Bomb Joke
Knoxville state senator Stacey Campfield has made a funny joke about the Boston Marathon bombing, says Bruce VanWyngarden.