Pitts Targeted by White Supremacists

I agree whole-heartedly. These deaths were gruesome and horrible and Pitts was much to flip about them. He has points, but fails to drive them home because of his tone.

 

And what's odd about that, CI, is that such insensitive flippancy is not representative of Pitt's usual work, which I normally find quite thoughtful. It was out of character and not his best work, I don't think he put as much time or thought into it as he normally does, and I wonder if he was even fully informed on the details of this crime before he wrote the piece.

I realize his ire was meant to be directed at the kooks and racists that have tried to use this case for their own purposes, but I'd think under these circumstances he'd have seen how such a cold-hearted tone might also offend and sting some innocent folks who don't fall into that category.

 

On the thread I started about these murders, I made a comment that was similar to "Cry me a river."
In retrospect, it was not one of the smartest things I've ever said and quite possibily one of the dumbest (and given my tendancy to say dumb things, that's really saying something).
That's all I have to say about this at the moment.

 

If Leonard Pitts is so outraged, then tell the loved ones of these two murder victims "Cry me a river." Until he does that, he's just another coward hiding behind his ability to write a column.

 

Uh, wrong.
MSNBC, led by Duke alum Dan Abrams, was right there, as was the NYT, which started examining the case when it began to be clear that the facts were in dispute.
Two words -- James Giles.
That's the difference.

 

With all due respect, pallister, you seem to have missed Pitts' point entirely.

 

I think Pallister's point is that you can't separate the murders from the way some people are using the murders to serve a certain agenda. Though Pitts was clearing attacking the white supremacists, many people could interpret it as an attack on the victims and their families.

 

I understand the point Pitts was trying to make, but to not take into account how the column (and its ending tone) might come off to the aforementioned loved ones was a huge oversight, IMO, for a writer of his stature.