More Family Stories

Jim Capozzola of The Rittenhouse Review reports on an interesting article in the Washington Times. The article confirms that the paper is actively promoting an agenda hostile toward gay parents, not only in its news pages, but also at a "World Media Conference" that it co-sponsored with that other Moonie property, UPI. The article, titled "Conference stresses family stories," contains the following quote from Wes Pruden, editor in chief of the Times:

[Pruden] said newspapers have a particular responsibility to get the story right. "There are many pressures on the family that our grandparents and even our parents could hardly have fathomed," he said, and "in addition to reporting the news fairly, without fear and without favor, the newspaper has a responsibility to show its readers that they are not alone in a world that seems increasingly hostile to many of the values that made societies come together in the first place."

These traditional values include family, faith and community, he said.

Speaking of traditional values, here's a family story that undoubtedly wasn't stressed at the conference:

LAMB: Another one--and this is on page 225. It says, `The crowd was egged on by invective from strategically placed leaders.' Quote, `"I hope they bring out eight dead niggers," one leader shouted. The Reverend Wesley Pruden of the Citizens Council was more circumspect. He limited himself mainly to quiet words of assurance to the members of the mob, although once when the crowd rushed to the barricades, he raised his voice, "That's what we gotta fight, niggers, Communists and
cops."'

A couple questions. The Reverend Wesley Pruden--that name is familiar
in this town now--the name is. Is it any relationship to the editor of The Washington Times, Wesley Pruden?

Prof. REED: Yes. This--this man in the book is the father of--of the man who's the editor of The Washington Times.

LAMB: What role did he have to play in this whole thing, and
what--what about that language I just read? How much of that went on in those days?

....

Prof. REED: Yes. The--the Reverend Pruden was one of the top two or three leaders of the segregationist organization called the Citizens Council in--in--in the city of Little Rock. He was a--a powerful speaker. He--he ha--he had the gift of being able to move crowds. And whether you like it or not, that language was--was the language of the--of the day when you're--when a segregationist speaker was trying to move a crowd. Incidentally, tha--that language is taken directly from old files of the FBI, which did a very thorough investigation of the trouble at Little Rock.

Is Pruden responsible for the sins of his father? No. But he is responsible for his own well-established bigotry. And it's not unreasonable to expect Pruden to explain his nostalgia for the "less hostile" world of his father's generation. Or his refusal to acknowledge the far-greater pressures on many families of that generation -- not the least of which was the fear of being killed by Pruden p�re's lynch-mob cronies.

Pruden's paper is right. Some people aren't fit to be parents. But not the ones it thinks.