There is a point at which serious journalism descends into pettifoggery.
That point is reached when critics, betraying a lamentable want of bad taste,
take something seriously that was intended in a humorous vein. One doesn’t shed
tears at a joke or laugh raucously at a tragedy – not without getting thrown out
of the theater.
Kevin Rennie is a fine journalist when he takes seriously serious
points and laughs with the rest of us at the foibles of politicians who,
especially in Connecticut, tend to take themselves a wee bit too seriously, a professional
hazard of almost all supermen, most of whom, at least in Connecticut, are professional Democratic politicians.
Mayor Erin Stewart of New Britain is NOT one of these. And
one has only to look at some of the pictures of her displayed in the Hartford
Courant beside the latest effusions of
Mr. Rennie – an oh so serious review of Ms. Stewart’s Fourth of July scarf – to
understand that Ms. Stewart does not
take herself quite as seriously as Mr. Rennie.
On the Fourth of July, Ms. Stewart “wrapped herself in the
flag,” actually a flag-patterned Riverberry scarf, and sent the Instagram to
some close friends. Mr. Rennie was not one of these, and he took umbrage.
Five days after the Fourth of July and one day after Mr.
Rennie’s twelve word commentary on Ms. Stewart’s scarf selection appeared on his blog,
the Hartford Courant ran a eleven
paragraph story on Mr. Rennie’s commentary, “New Britain Mayor Faces Criticism Over Social Media Posts.”
The story was accompanied
with a side bar showing eighteen pictures of Ms. Stewart.
Of the eighteen pictures, there are only two that do not show Ms. Stewart
laughing raucously. She likes to have fun – even to poke fun at herself. One picture
shows Ms. Stewart wearing a Dr. Seuss “Cat In Hat” red and white floppy top hat
while reading to students Dr. Seuss’ “Oh,
The Places You’ll Go.”
The students appear
to be having more fun than the dour Mr. Rennie, who commented on Ms. Stewart’s scarf selection,
“Poor New Britain. This may not be what they expected last November." One
can only imagine what the citizens of New Britain might think of Ms. Stewart’s
taste in floppy red and white hats. Very likely, they will get the joke and
wonder why the Courant has spilled so much humorless ink over what appears to
be a mayor poking fun at herself by “wrapping herself in the flag.”
Get it?
Mr. Rennie and the
Courant, both suffering from humor deficiency, don’t.
Comments
Speaking of Republican mayors worthy of Rennie's finger-wagging, reliable report has it that Buddy Cianci walked in the Bristol parade this 4th, but looked terrible. The report is reliable even if the character of the reporter is not. The guy voted for Obama twice, and disapproves of Buddy's corruption.