June 24, 2005

Suspension story draws readers’ ire

Editor’s note: The staff of the Daily Tidings has heard from dozens of readers regarding Tuesday’s front-page article, “Surreal Suspensions.” Many phoned the editors, others e-mailed their thoughts, a few came into the office,
and some spoke with the circulation department to express their displeasure.
These are the letters we have received on the topic as of 2 p.m. Thursday.

The Daily Tidings’ front page (on Tuesday), both the photos and the content, are totally disgusting! I was not aware that the people who choose to write and print such trash are as dysfunctional as the crazies who practice such nonsense. “Surreal,” or “idiotic”? The cigar-smoking graduates were bad enough, but this stuff is insane! One more time, and the publisher and editor will need to seek employment elsewhere!

Tom O’Rourke
Ashland

What the #^%@* were you people thinking?!

Ewwww! Now that we all know how to do the Superman, the Suicide, the Chest, and the Coma, down to the details of how many hooks to use, what’s next, Tidings? Maybe next week, instead of body hanging, you’ll be featuring the pleasures of female genital mutilation or give us all instructions on the art of arm and chest slicing and burning.

Your front-page “news” article on body suspensions, replete with graphic photos, instructions, and supply lists, has brought your paper down to the lowest depths of journalism. You are worse than any supermarket tabloid because people don’t expect to see such trashy reporting from the Daily Tidings — at least not until now.

If some people believe that hanging from hooks is “art” and spiritually awakening, that’s their problem, but you did not have to give them a wide audience. You could have reported on “extreme body modification” as investigative news, instead of promoting it.

How far down the New Age sewer hole do you want to take our town newspaper?

Lorie Anderson
Ashland

After 20-some years of readership, I really think your paper has gone over the edge by giving front-page recognition to regressive behavior. I am not surprised at the practice; there are many such taboos practiced in the world, be they more generally confined to the Third World or primitive societies, but I am surprised the Tidings thinks this to be worthy of front-page interest to Ashland!

I am unsettled by this article for three reasons: First, the photos are viewed by our children, who may either abhor the graphic display or in some cases think this behavior is in some respect normal, as with the little girl quoted at the end of the article. Secondly, the article proliferates a flawed impression that this regression to primitive behavior is somehow an acceptable means of becoming an adult, or a path to spiritual enlightenment. Last, I am not as disturbed at the photos as I am at the fact this is given front-page attention and a foot or two of column space; I guess the Tidings news crew is desperate for real news!

I think in conclusion it goes to show that all of the loonies are not locked up; rather, they are allowed to practice their depravity in certain liberal cities-of-refuge, for which Ashland seems to qualify; and furthermore, given some level of respect for what is nothing more than a regression to the primitive state of physical self-abuse.

L. Glinkman
Ashland

Considering there is nothing new under the sun, anthropologically speaking, I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked to see the vivid exposures of piercings gracing your front page, demonstrating that such rites of passage continue to this day. While beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder, to consider this as an “art event” seems somehow more exploitive than enlightening. We are living in a world of reality media where nothing is considered too shocking or abhorrent, bringing out thousands reaching for their 15 minutes of fame. I can only hope that no children will be hurt in their attempt to mimic these actions. Whatever happened to style and mystery?

J. Kaplan
Ashland

Your single front-page story on June 21 concerning surreal suspensions so crossed the line that I still can hardly believe what I saw and read! I thought that a community newspaper printed “news.” This kind of masochistic behavior certainly gave the participants the attention they craved as they tried to pass this off as “art.” I recall that the Nuwandart Gallery indicated that this display would not be suitable for children, and yet a young girl was allowed in, not to mention all the young children who would see this on the front and inside of their local newspaper. (WARNING! Do Not Try This At Home.)

Certainly this couldn’t have been such a slow news day. What did Martin Luther King III and other featured speakers have to say at World Wellness Weekend? What happened at the hearing about the proposed gravel operation on Dead Indian Memorial Road? Etc., etc. Please get back to printing the “news.”

Doris Lundahl
Ashland

Unless you’re going to start delivering the Daily Tidings wrapped in brown paper, please keep the inappropriate photos off the front page. The fact that a photo of a man suspended by eight hooks through his back was above the fold is inexcusable, as it was “on display” in your clear-front paper boxes all over town. I appreciate that this is considered an art form and was part of a gallery installment, but this was obviously placed on the front page in the spirit of sensationalism. After all, when was the last time any other gallery installment was featured on the front page? Gallery shots are usually buried in Revels at best.

This kind of image is not one I wanted my 4-year old to see, but as we walked by three of your paper boxes today it was out of my control. Please use your common sense — or perhaps your new “Readers’ Board” — to exert some self-control. Wasn't it was just a week or so ago that you ran the headline “Readers’ Board Set to Begin Experiment of Building Newspaper Credibility”?

I beg you, board, begin now!

Christy Raedeke
Ashland

As one who enjoyed Ashland’s libertine period in the 1970s, I am not easily shocked. But your cover story featuring extreme piercing left me feeling troubled, and not just for my child.

Maybe we baby boomers don’t get it, but having spent a lot of time abroad I have had a chance to learn about parallels in other countries. The most devout practicioners of Islam and Buddhism have special holy days featuring bloody mutilations on parade. Christianity, of course, had the flagellants in the Dark Ages, who entered towns chanting as they lashed themselves with nailed whips, and the Catholic Church continues a tradition of mortification of the flesh in some circles.

The common thread is a public circus atmosphere, which requires an audience, even though it is supposed to be a spiritual exercise. Nobody seems interested in tearing away at his body in private, although spiritual journeys are traditionally quiet and personal. And the truths revealed by the various attacks on the body tend to be inarticulately expressed, if they have much substance at all.

Calling it “perfomance art” legitimizes acts that have little to do with art, something to do with repressive and antiquated religions, and a lot to do with inner guilt and torment. Helping to solve these issues on the Tidings front page does a disservice to the community and the paper.

We were guilty of excesses in the old days of Ashland when it came to what we did with our bodies. But at least it was in a spirit of joy and discovery. The macabre goings on these days look like the opposite to this geezer.

Michael Roddy
Joshua Tree, Calif.
(Ashland 1975-1990)

I try to reserve judgment regarding other individuals’ quest for spiritual enlightenment. The varied paths of seekers is interesting, often amusing, and in the case of Jennifer Squires’ story on Alex Vazquez’s technique of Surreal Suspensions, newsworthy. I declare neutrality on the wisdom of consenting adults engaging in such “rites of passage,” as ridiculous and aberrant as they might seem to me.

However, to give this a full front-page spread is the most garish example of tacky tabloidism I have yet seen in the Tidings in the 25 years I have lived here. Was this in fact the most important story of the day? And the lengthy reporting on this spectacle omitted a couple of key questions that might have occurred to some of your readers. How much does Vazquez charge for this form of “spiritual guidance,” and do his devotees enhance the experience with mind-altering drugs?

William Southworth
Ashland

Whew! Our dinner preparation was nearly ruined last night when we opened the Daily Tidings (June 21) and saw the larger-than-life front-page photos of surreal suspensions. It reminded me of photos I have seen of slaughter-house meat hangings. Perhaps we have sensitive stomachs, and I hope that we were not the only ones to have found these photos to be offensive.

In my opinion, this form of “art” is more appropriate to be viewed in person by those who chose to observe this venue. Full-page photos on the front page was a real “tummy turner.”

Gail Zaro
Ashland

Cancel my subscription!

I have never seen such a gross front page on any newspaper.

Do you really think that the majority of families in Ashland want to get slapped in the face with pictures of such disgusting deviant behavior? If that is how Ashland wants to portray itself I shall leave my home here quickly and happily.

Maybe you do not have any young paper carriers anymore. If you do, you certainly added to their likely perception that anything goes in today’s world, that there are no longer any standards of good, clean behavior.

I feel insulted and am certainly repelled.

Peggy George
Ashland

At least Nuwandart had the consideration to hang a curtain in their gallery during the body suspension event so that one could choose how much they would like to see, but you did not give your readers that same consideration on Tuesday with your huge photos on the front page.

This error in judgment by your staff is very disappointing. With today’s technology, you could have run the human interest story and made those images a Web-site-optional link for those that really wanted to learn and see more.

I am just thankful that my 4-year-old son did not happen get the paper off the front porch for me on Tuesday. Perhaps if you feel the need to shock us again in the future you could wrap the paper with a warning to parents!

So how many subscribers did you lose with this editorial stunt? Do you feel that shocking and angering your readership is a good strategy for preserving our community paper?

John Spillman
Ashland