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A website boasts that Ithaca is "The City of Evil"
Copyright ©2004 TWEAN News Channel of Syracuse, LLC, d/b/a News 10 Now. ^
| Updated: 5/12/2004 7:49 AM
| By: Abbie Ginder, News 10 Now Web Staff
Posted on 05/12/2004 4:20:25 PM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
Ithaca was once called America's “Most Enlightened City”. But now, a group is using an Internet site to call it something very different-- "The City of Evil."
The site is run by the group "Behind Liberal Lines." It lists reasons why Ithaca is the city of evil. It includes everything from the fact that the city once had a socialist mayor to the fact that Ithaca is home to Lucifer Falls.
The site also takes a stab at local politics, bashing the strong-hold the Green Party has in the area and poking fun at political leaders.
"What they said on their site is the county now has a chairman who's a former anti-war activist. Well, yes. Current anti-war activist, too. And that's one of the interesting things about the site, is that that's all they need to say for them. They don't feel the need to argue any issues or the validity of ideas but to simply say, 'He's a liberal. Ha! Point proven!'" Chair of Tompkins County Legislature Tim Joseph said.
No contact information is listed on the "Ithaca is Evil" website, and we were unable to find out who runs it.
But they are trying to make money off the idea by selling "Ithaca is the City of Evil" bumper-stickers, t-shirts, and even barbecue aprons.
You can log on to the website at freerepublic.com/ ~behindliberallines/
TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: callawaaambulance; ccrm; cheeseandwhine; cityofevil; conservativebashing; culturewar; dairyproducts; doublestandard; fr; freerepublic; frinthenews; ithaca; ithacathecityofevil; loveitorleaveit; mediabias; missingkeywords; newyork; reddupes; usefulidiots; whodeletedkeywords
The original site has a link to a video of the story that is even more fun.
First you have one local politician, Joseph Wetmore, decked out in a beard, long hair and tye died shirt, complaining that Ithaca is being... unfairly stereotyped. Wetmore then suggests that, "if [a conservative] doesn't like it here, go somewhere else," echoing the "love it or leave" narrow-mindedness that the left once attacked.
Then you have Tim Joseph, quoted above, who also complains that he thinks it is wrong to call anyone who disagrees with you "evil." This from a guy in a city that has no problem attacking other viewpoints as racist/sexist/homophobic, etc.
Then Joseph and the reporter both disparage the idea that one should make a profit on selling "CoE" merchandise, displaying that generalized antipathy toward anyone not sucking at the teat of higher ed that Ithaca is famous for.
Finally, there's the fact that they felt a need to do a story at all. Are the public officials and journalists of Ithaca so threatened by a few cute graphics and snide comments ("one person's rant" they called it) about their fair city that they feel the need to treat it as a major news story?
Probably. After all, for all its talk about inclusiveness and diversity, the powers that be in Ithaca generally treat any conservative (or even moderate Republican) thought with nothing but contempt and do their best to marginalize and demonize it.
And that, my fellow FREEPERS and newbie lefty lurkers, is the real reason that Ithaca is the City of Evil.
To: Technocrat; governsleastgovernsbest; bentfeather; gaspar; NativeNewYorker; drjimmy; Atticus; ...
Final, hopefully, City of Evil bump
To: alisasny; Tamsey
here ya go
To: Behind Liberal Lines
bump!!!!!
4
posted on
05/12/2004 4:28:15 PM PDT
by
Soaring Feather
(~The Dragon Flies' Lair~ Poetry and Prose~)
To: Behind Liberal Lines
bump!!!!!
5
posted on
05/12/2004 4:28:16 PM PDT
by
Soaring Feather
(~The Dragon Flies' Lair~ Poetry and Prose~)
To: Behind Liberal Lines
They call it news...
I'd call it FREE ADVERTISING!!
Wooo Hooo!!!
To: Behind Liberal Lines
As someone born and raised in upstate NY, I verify that Ithaca is indeed evil...
:::shudder:::
7
posted on
05/12/2004 4:29:30 PM PDT
by
Tamzee
(Kerry's just a gigolo, and everywhere he goes, people know the part he's playing...)
To: Behind Liberal Lines
Next: The Passion of Ithaca.
Yes, Ithaca has a lot to clean up, and denying it is evil makes it even more evil and flabergastingly incapable of computing or having self introspection.
8
posted on
05/12/2004 4:30:01 PM PDT
by
JudgemAll
To: Behind Liberal Lines
This is funny.
You could start issuing press releases to the local media up there. That would really get their panties in a bunch!
9
posted on
05/12/2004 4:30:05 PM PDT
by
sauropod
("I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. You will service US.")
To: Behind Liberal Lines
This is funny.
You could start issuing press releases to the local media up there. That would really get their panties in a bunch!
10
posted on
05/12/2004 4:30:12 PM PDT
by
sauropod
("I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. You will service US.")
To: sauropod
Yep, we have nothing to answer to these Ithacean going to hell. God aint going to clean their mess, that's for sure.
To: Behind Liberal Lines
Big (Commie) Red BTTT.
12
posted on
05/12/2004 4:49:14 PM PDT
by
NativeNewYorker
(Don't blame me. I voted for Sharpton.)
To: Behind Liberal Lines
LOL! Gig em'!
13
posted on
05/12/2004 4:59:19 PM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
To: Behind Liberal Lines
BTTT with first hand knowledge....
To: Behind Liberal Lines
PING the FReeper Of Evil
To: Behind Liberal Lines
Wetmore then suggests that, "if [a conservative] doesn't like it here, go somewhere else," echoing the "love it or leave" narrow-mindedness that the left once attacked.
When I saw the story on TV last night, I turned to my wife and said the exact same thing.
16
posted on
05/12/2004 6:20:07 PM PDT
by
drjimmy
To: drjimmy
Hey, great minds think alike. ;-)
To: Behind Liberal Lines
Disrupter free (hopefully) bump!
18
posted on
05/12/2004 8:21:04 PM PDT
by
Fixit
(My Pitiful Blog - http://comedian.blogspot.com)
To: JudgemAll
Well...if the people of Ithaca don't like being called evil, they can always move.....:)
19
posted on
05/12/2004 8:35:31 PM PDT
by
Salamander
(“Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
To: Salamander
Well...if the people of Ithaca don't like being called evil, they can always move.....:)
20
posted on
05/13/2004 1:35:21 AM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
To: Timesink; *CCRM; martin_fierro; reformed_democrat; Loyalist; =Intervention=; PianoMan; GOPJ; ...
Media Schadenfreude and Media Shenanigans PING FR in the news. The leftists don't like it.
21
posted on
05/13/2004 1:37:00 AM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
To: sauropod
LOL!!!!!!!
22
posted on
05/13/2004 1:39:17 AM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
To: weegee
I can't see it.....:(
23
posted on
05/13/2004 1:44:23 AM PDT
by
Salamander
(“Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
To: Salamander
Rats. It's an old ad that says "Us Tareyton smokers would rather fight than switch!"
24
posted on
05/13/2004 1:59:20 AM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
To: weegee
Gotcha.
I recall the "black eye" ads....:))
25
posted on
05/13/2004 2:09:43 AM PDT
by
Salamander
(“Those whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
To: Behind Liberal Lines
BTW, a few weeks ago I saw someone with the license plate frame on his car (a big old gas guzzling Buick or something like that). I told him I admired his sentiment, and he said his son got it for him.
26
posted on
05/13/2004 6:57:21 AM PDT
by
drjimmy
To: drjimmy
Coooool....
To: drjimmy; Behind Liberal Lines
Good spot, there's only 4 of those plate holders in existence. (Unless someone is making their own.)
28
posted on
05/13/2004 7:13:38 PM PDT
by
Fixit
(My Pitiful Blog - http://comedian.blogspot.com)
To: Behind Liberal Lines
YHBT. YHL. HAND.Keep up the good work!
To: Behind Liberal Lines
LOL, I like the press release idea somebody had.
BTW, you might want to fix a spelling error on your profile page, since they gave the address -- in the first paragraph, 'insure' should actually be 'ensure.'
30
posted on
05/14/2004 8:10:20 AM PDT
by
Sloth
(We cannot defeat foreign enemies of the Constitution if we yield to the domestic ones.)
To: Sloth
To: Behind Liberal Lines
I am a senior producer at the station in question that did the story. The story was done simply because it's good television. I mean, I think we can all agree that Ithaca is a liberal bastion, and to have this website going counter to what the vast majority of Ithacans feel is the "right way to live"; well, you have to admit, it's pretty compelling.
I also know the reporter in question, and she is a fine journalist who loves Ithaca, but who also takes her journalistic ethics very seriously. She never was biased towards the website, and only pointed out that FACT, you do sell things on here for a profit. If anyone has their panties in a bunch over that, then you're being hypocritical. It was a statement of fact, without any type of left leaning slant to it whatsoever.
As a member of the "liberal media" (I'm a card carrying Republican by the way), I'd love to offer the guy who runs this website to do an interview with News 10 Now, and give your side of the story. Hell, if nothing else, it's good PR.
I also know for a fact the reporter tried many different avenues to contact BLL, and ran into quite a few deadends. Obviously, you're passionate about your point of view... why not let News 10 give your side of the story? If you'd like to contact me, and debate over this a little more, post on the forum or contact me at ryan.parkhurst@news10now.com I'd be interested in hearing your point of view.
Thanks again,
Ryan Parkhurst
Senior Producer News 10 Now
32
posted on
05/14/2004 7:53:00 PM PDT
by
RyanParkhurst
(Here's the thing....)
To: RyanParkhurst
I appreciate your efforts to clarify the station's position on this matter and to give the site further opportunity for publicity on your station.
However, you'll have to excuse me if I don't accept your invitation for an interview.
I know of at least one former conservative Ithaca website that was pretty much hounded off the web by the "tolerant," and "enlightened" people of Ithaca, some of whom made a concentrated effort to discover the identities of the people behind that site as part of an effort to intimdate and harass them. And I've witnessed enough incidents of organized protests against other conservative voices in town (the Cornell Review, for example) to believe that it was not an isolated incident.
When you get past some of the humor here, much of the point of the "CoE" thing is that we have a city of people who claim to celebrate diversity but refuse to tolerate conservatives or conservative thought (witness Joe Wetmore's "Ithaca...love it or leave it" comments to your reporter).
To: Behind Liberal Lines
I understand your concern, and appreciate the response. If you ever change your feelings on the matter, you have my e-mail. I'd be glad to talk to you at any time.
Ryan Parkhurst
Senior Producer News 10 Now
34
posted on
05/15/2004 8:46:07 AM PDT
by
RyanParkhurst
(Here's the thing....)
Comment #35 Removed by Moderator
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