See, this is what epistemic closure looks like.
“We are launching two enterprise projects across our newsrooms this month. The first will deal with the creeping influence of heroin in our communities. The deadly drug has quietly taken over, reaching across all age groups and eclipsing meth as the recreational drug of choice,” [Civitas Nedia Content Director Jim] Lawitz began.
“The second project examines the explosion of ‘conceal and carry’ gun permits across the U.S. Through public records act requests, we will attempt to build state-by-state databases that list those who have the right to carry a concealed weapon,” Lawitz wrote in the email.
If Civitas had just had more people who weren’t terrified of firearms in their corporate offices, one of them might have been able to warn off Mr. Lawitz before he put out an email that referenced junkies and gun owners in pretty much the same breath. Of course, now that this has come out Civitas Media has since disavowed said email in a near-panic, which is nice of them. And I’m being nice when I say it was nice of them: the gun community will not be amused. After all, newspapers trying to set up gun owner databases has an unsavory history to it. Civitas Media is just lucky that nobody noticed the heroin thing…
Oops.
Moe Lane
PS: Actually, they still might be planning to track the junkies.
“Civitas Media never had any plans or intentions of publishing in print or online lists of holders of conceal and carry permits. Nor will Civitas Media develop databases of permit holders. A poorly crafted internal memo meant to highlight editorial discussions and planning incorrectly indicated that such a database was being planned; it has been considered and rejected. Now please don’t boycott my papers or sponsors, I have a family to feed!” –Michael C. Bush, CEO
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I might have added that last line, but I can honestly imagine him thinking that as he wrote that statement.
Indeed.
“Civitas Media never had any plans or intentions of publishing in print or online lists of holders of conceal and carry permits.
This reminds me of the classic Dilbert cartoon:
Pointy-Haired Boss: “I want to put to rest the rumors that management plans to lay you off and outsource your jobs to Eskimos at the South Pole.”
Dilbert: “We weren’t worried, because there aren’t any Eskimos at the South Pole.”
(beat)
Pointy-Haired Boss: “Excuse me — I have to make a phone call.”
This is the Suspiciously Specific Denial in action.
A simple search engine check would have given these people a great deal of knowledge on what happens to media outlets that post our information like that.
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But I guess they figured enough time had elapsed since the media’s last effort at this or that it would be different because they were going to run it.
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What is it going to take for them to back off? Making them legal to hunt?