Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
The other day, Cindy Devone-Pacheco wrote a blog post on Firefighter Nation titled “Another Noose”.
The post has sparked a lot of conversation both here and here. Mick Mayers gave his side here.
The basis of Captain Busy’s argument is that he doesn’t agree with race being used to stir the pot…
What is not right is the use of race issues, religion or sexual preference to stir the pot, make people angry and point fingers at folks who quite frankly (if they are anything like me) were surprised to read such an obvious attempt to get folks to respond.
Kali goddess of destruction started another thread that pretty much says the same thing:
The below article, written by by an editor at FireRescue, which owns FFN, paints the entire Fire Service as racist for the sole purpose of generating “buzz” or traffic to this website.
If you continue reading the discussion moves on to Cindy and her job security, the webchief and his moderation ability, Tim and his apology for Cindy, and about a ton of other analogies for those of us that didn’t think the KKK reference was bad enough.
Here are some issues though (yes I am playing both sides of the field):
1. User terms of service #14 for FFN: in a manner that is hateful or discriminatory based on race, color, sex, religion, nationality, ethnic or national origin, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or age or is otherwise objectionable, as reasonably determined by Ning;
Were there any complaints of the “white guy” reference being hateful or discriminatory towards white people or “guys”? If this fits the criteria and any other comments/blogs have been deleted because of the same infringement then the webchief needs to draw a more permanent line in the sand of what can and cannot be said.
2. What would have happened if they had just removed the entire blog post?
You guys would be sitting in a padded room clutching a teddy bear and sucking your thumbs! You guys freak out when stuff gets deleted. Oh but wait…you didn’t agree with it being up there so it is a catch 22.
3. Should she have apologized?
I think so. It was a poor choice of words. Tim can’t be but so pissed because I am sure it did great things for traffic! Some people have vowed to not read the magazine anymore….cry me a river.
I think that Captain and Kali missed the boat though. Of course it was about engaging readers. Sure the statement might have been strong, but if it weren’t to entice the readers it wouldn’t have been written at all. After all, we are all just a bunch of narcissists writing blogs, writing in forums, and responding to others.
Some of the responding users did hit the nail on the head with the real issue (comparing the fire service to the KKK).
Writers want people to read our stuff. Whether you are writing a book, a blog, an article, or a comment we want it to be read. With that being said we have to be responsible for what we write and have the balls to stand up for it. Cindy wrote it and published it…it is history now.
Here is my take. I don’t appreciate Cindy insinuating that I am part of a brotherhood that is an extension of the KKK. Me being a “white guy” as she called it and a firefighter would lead me to believe that she is indeed talking about me.
But does it really piss me off? NO. A comment like this won’t make me quit a subscription, stop using FFN, or anything else. If anything, it entices me to read more from Cindy to see what she is all about….”Expert Marketing” unless of course she gets the can in which it would become “Editorial Suicide”!
