by Travis Mateer
It’s a fallacy to assume correlation means causation, so I won’t take credit for the departure of Missoulian editor Rob Chaney just days after I pointed out his glasses make him look like a pedophile. I’m sure the plan was already in place to have Steve Kiggins take over, and that plan was announced at the end of this week.
Here’s the handsome fellow with the last name that rhymes with the road that cuts through Downtown Missoula. Will he do a better job than his predecessor?
Will Steve Kiggins have some competition with The Pulp? Maybe, but so far I haven’t been all that impressed with this publication that finally emerged 5 years after the Independent was shuttered.
Here’s Montana’s poet laureate, Chris La Tray, bitching about a movie in the woke style I’ve become accustom to hearing from local artists:
Killers of the Flower Moon bills itself as based “on a true American Story.” That is right on point. Because it is a story based on murder, lies, corruption, and theft, all core elements to the founding and continuing evolution of this country. And even this story about what happened to the Osage, as important as it is that people know about it, is slanted toward the white gaze because it was made by a bunch of white people. Yes, they consulted with the Osage to “get things right” but still, is it really the story as told by the people who suffered? No. Would anyone even care about it if it weren’t based on a book by a white guy and made by a famous white filmmaker? Probably not, if only because it wouldn’t have gotten nearly the financial backing without these factors. And the white characters get the bulk of the screen time, and DiCaprio’s cowardly, despicable character in particular is held up as what … some kind of redemption story? Even the couple interviews featuring Leo and Lily I’ve endured watching focus on him with Lily as just a token beside him, which says a lot about where we still are culturally. Lily could be a white woman and she’d still be secondary to DiCaprio, even if she acted circles around him. At least she’s not barely half is age, which is the usual story.
Ah, yes, the problem of white people. Why is Chris La Tray so racist? I don’t know, I’m just some stupid white guy who has spent the last 3 years trying to get this caring, liberal community to care about some dead black men, but I guess I have the wrong skin color to be telling their story.
Despite being a despicable white person, I’ll continue doing this local journalism for a bit longer before hitting the road for less hostile locales. Here are the week’s links:
Ward 6 Shit Show Exposes The Utter Failure Of Local Media (December 4th, 2023)
Address The Queen When You Question Time And The Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Local Media! (December 5th, 2023)
Why Is Sheriff Jeremiah Petersen Not Explaining Declining Crime Numbers To Local Media? (December 6th, 2023)
Mayor Davis Attends University That Taught Ted Kaczynski To Be A People Person (December 7th, 2023)
Is Montana Making A Mistake By Trusting These Christian LifeGuards To Help Victims Of Human Trafficking? (December 8th, 2023)
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Thanks for reading!
