Seattlest to Seattle Times: Fuck You, Grandpa.
Seth over at Seattlest cancelled his subscription to the Seattle Times this morning…
One sentence into the lead editorial of today’s Seattle Times, we decided to cancel our subscription. Here’s the assertion that broke this camel’s back:In the aftermath of a mass shooting that took the lives of six Seattle area young people, including two girls ages 14 and 15, there is plenty of finger-wagging.Actually, Seattle Times, there isn’t any finger-wagging anywhere except on your editorial page. The P-I, the Stranger, the Weekly, Seattlest, and pretty much everyone we’ve talked to have had the same reaction—disbelief at the actions of the killer, compassion for those who died, and the morbid relief concomitant with surviving random tragedy.
Not the Times. While hundreds were mourning the victims on Capitol Hill yesterday, the mystifyingly disconnected Times editorialists were busy blaming. Their scapegoat? As the Stranger’s Josh Feit predicted the day of the shooting, it’s the Teen Dance Ordinance.
Too lax, the Times says. You are heartless, reactionary, 837-year-old fools, we say.
We’re cancelling our subscription. No more Times on the porch for us. No more incomprehensible ramblings of “TV Addict”, no more of the affront to comedy that is “Sideline Chatter.”
Right on, Seth.
I used to work at the Times and any sentimental favoritism I held for them has vanished in the wake of their coverage of this event. They've been utterly horrible. I've followed Seth's lead and canceled my subscription. I encourage others to do the same. If you do, feel free to tell them why by sending an email to this address: opinion@seattletimes.com.