1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Does this kid deserve a sympathetic NY Times profile?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by YankeeFan, Aug 24, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    Deserve ain't got nothin' to do with it.
     
  2. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    Your premise is that George Zimmerman was never sympathetically portrayed?
     
  3. MisterCreosote

    MisterCreosote Well-Known Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  4. britwrit

    britwrit Well-Known Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    But you know, either way you frame your narrative (a youth gone tragically wrong, some criminal thug who met his just end) our young hero provided a perfect capstone by being shot down right there in the street.

    Well done, Shaaliver Douse. You're a storyteller's dream.
     
  5. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    Agree with most of the posts. ... That is a "sympathetic" profile?

    I don't care what the circumstances of his death were or what kind of trouble he had gotten in.

    It's the story of a 14-year-old kid. He was just a boy.

    To answer the question of the thread title, I didn't really find that a "sympathetic" profile, but I actually do think a dead 14-year-old child, who was swept up by gang life in a horrid housing project really does deserve anyone's sympathy -- even if I think sympathy is wasted on someone who is already dead.

    That kid never stood a chance. He was just a child making childlike decisions, with piss poor guidance all around him. He hadn't reached adulthood yet, so he didn't have great tools to make better decisions. No wisdom or life experience or maturity to help guide him -- not that that often even overcomes that kind of environment. In this case, though, he was just a kid. Who doesn't read that and feel sad?

    Anyone here. .... when you were 14, did you have gangs and guns around you, a crappy housing project as your backdrop, and every wrong signal about what to glorify? How mature were you at that age? Do you really think you would have been much different than that kid if that is the crappy hand you were dealt?
     
  6. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    And yet, the article doesn't look into his influences. I'm guessing he wasn't influenced by Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh, because the article didn't mention it.

    His family likely wasn't involved in the Tea party, or Brian Ross would have tweeted about it.

    So, what were his influences?

    And, why when a mentally ill young man in Connecticut commits a crime with a gun, is there so much anger directed at his (murdered) mother for her failings, but we barely get a look at this child's parents?
     
  7. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    The aunt calls it murder:


     
  8. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    I love the way the Times closes the article:

    “He dressed well, always had the most expensive shoes on,” said Sabuwh Muhammad, 31, a close family friend. “He really didn’t need for nothing. That’s what I’m trying to tell you, he’s not a kid that went around having to rob people or sell drugs.”

    Yeah. That makes a lot of sense.

    A 14-year-old, growing up in public housing, always has the most expensive shoes on, and that's presented as evidence for why he wasn't robbing people or selling drugs?

    So, how did he afford the sneakers?
     
  9. cyclingwriter

    cyclingwriter Active Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    "Hey, you know something people?
    I'm not black
    But there's a whole lots a times
    I wish I could say I'm not white"

    Frank Zappa
     
  10. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    If FoxNews put Aunt Quwana on the air to give the exact same quotes that the NYT uses, most Times readers would think that Fox was being patronizing and racist. Most Fox viewers upon reading Aunt Quwana's quotes in the Times would think that the Times is being overly sympathetic to a criminal and anti-law enforcement.
     
  11. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    The quotes from the aunt are not in the Times article.
     
  12. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    Re: Does this kid deserve a smpathetic NY Times profile?

    Yes it's a sympathetic piece, written to tell the sad tale of a New York kid gone wrong.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page