ACE: Uncomfortable hotel like a concentration camp
Posted
[Ed. note: The following is humour, if it wasn't obvious enough for you. -J]
In a story about ACE's European Coaster Odyssey a few months back, ACE's Rollercoaster! magazine compared an uncomfortable hotel to a concentration camp. After receiving complaints, in its most recent issue, the editor defended the comparison as a valid "journalistic metaphor."
Today's ARN&R uncovers some of the other comparisons ACE is thinking about using ("Guests Waiting For X Understand the Pain of Stalin's Labor Camps") and provides a link to let ACE know that the comparison is idiotic.
Link: Absolutely Reliable News & Rumors
- John
Homepark: CP Home-away-from-homepark: PKI
My Campusfish Blog
*** This post was edited by Michael Darling 10/20/2003 10:15:10 AM ***
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--Greg, aka Oat Boy
My page
"Friendship -- more lasting than love, more legal than stalking."
I do have to admit that during the big power outage, the media made it seem that way. How many of those people would lay on the beach for an hour and think nothing of it? Strand them on a rollercoaster for 20 minutes and it's the end of the world.
ARN&R serious??? Holy cow! The apocolypse must be nearing!!! :D
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I’m as happy as a vegetarian in a slaughter house, but not quite as happy as an Amish in Circuit City.
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- John
Homepark: CP Home-away-from-homepark: PKI
My Campusfish Blog
Read it again Mr. G-Lix, ACE never used the word concentration camp in the original article, and the editor did apologize for offending the person who sent in the letter. There are several inaccuracies in ARN&R's report.
I hope you realize that everyone who produces that magazine is a volunteer. When you wrote did you bother to thank them for an otherwise wonderful series of articles? Did you thank them for finally getting the issues caught up? Did you thank them for switching the format and switching to full color? Did you even acknowledge the incredible amount of hours they put in to to all the ACE publications? I'll bet not. But you sure were willing to write when some satirical website tells you too.
If ARN&R suggests standing on a coaster, are you going to do that too?
*** This post was edited by Jeffrey Seifert 7/14/2004 11:36:21 AM ***
The article didn't refer to a concentration camp? Come on. Here's the key sentence: "Nicknamed by ACEers as a prison camp or worse (a "Pontin-tration" camp!)...".
Was that wacky pun a reference to something *other* than a concentration camp? Something else that rhymes with that? To say that there was no reference to a concentration camp is just disingenuous.
The response from the editor did have an apology of sorts, but also said that it was unreasonable to infer any reference to any particular event. When the apology tells the writer that he was unreasonable for being offended (which is the clear implication of the response), it's not a real apology.
Importantly, there was no admission that the reference was a bad idea -- to the contrary, to quote from our story (which is a direct quote from the magazine), the editor contends that the term "concentration camp" is a "valid phrase with no restrictions on its use in either spoken or written comunication" and that "no reference to any particular historical event was made or can be reasonably implied [sic, inferred]." There is nothing in the response that gives any indication that ACE agrees that it was a stupid comparison, which it was. Such an argument renders empty the supposed apology.
Please do pass along any inaccuracies in the story; I haven't seen one yet, and you certainly don't point one out here. Nobody's written to us telling us of any inaccuracies. (There's a contact e-mail address right there on the front page.)
To the contrary, we've been copied on several articulate letters to ACE expressing agreement that the original comparison and the response were wholly inadequate. The responses from ACE's folks (that have been forwarded to us) have simply been more efforts to rationalize the unrationalizable.
Look, it's fairly simple. ACE needs to have an actual apology, not what was published.
ACE is made up of volunteers? Terrific. We largely enjoy the magazine, and I believe the letter to the editor indicated enjoyment of the article as a whole. I'm thrilled that the issues are coming out in the same year as their cover dates. That's all wonderful. Those great volunteers still need to think about what they say if they want to keep their membership.
I wrote the original letter to the editor. The response was inadequate. The story on ARN&R accurately reflects my view of it.
So: What were the inaccuracies?
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"I go out at 3 o' clock for a quart of milk and come home to my son treating his body like an amusement park!" - Estelle Costanza
I'm not going to carry on a discussion with an anonymous poster who hides behind a pseudonym and a tacky website.
*Borrows CO's scoring book*
Let's see, that looks like a... um... *flips through the pages* 180 Dodge-the-topic followed by a Left-Fake I-wanna-be-cool-too, concluding with a Reverse Double Axle Lame-excuse-for-an-insult.
Am I even close?
Seriously, though. You're missing the point. The ACE people did say "sorry" for offending somebody, but rather than leaving it at that they went on to say "we did nothing wrong." Here's a summary of what ACE said:
Sorry we offended you. We didn't do anything. We were right all the time.
Now, seriously, how is that an acceptable apology? If you ran over somebody's cat with your car would you say "I'm sorry I hit your cat, but even though I saw it and there was no traffic I sped toward it anyway. You should have kept it in the house. I didn't do anything wrong?" No, you wouldn't. That'd be an asshole thing to do.
The "apology" that the Rollercoaster! editors offered was weak, at best. Here's a little more of my rant from my weblog:
I'm pretty sure that if you were to talk to my grandmother, who lost her father and brother at Auschwitz, about this hotel and compare it to a concentration camp, she wouldn't see it in the same light as the ACE editors.
Now, walk up to my grandmother and tell her that the Rollercoaster! editors were in the right. Indirect allusions to things are still allusions.
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- John
Homepark: CP Home-away-from-homepark: PKI
My Campusfish Blog
*** This post was edited by Michael Darling 10/22/2003 4:23:43 PM ****** This post was edited by Michael Darling 10/22/2003 4:29:08 PM ***
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
Blogs, photo albums - CampusFish
What time does the water show start?
This ACE thing... I wrote in to them as AR&R suggested. I can't believe that they would be so insensitive. I am starting to realize why so many folks ridicule ACE and their membership. Mind you, I don't intend to quit over this - I enjoy the publications and the (few) events I am able to afford attending.
I completely understand Bill's point. ACE was in the wrong and it is up to our leaders to acknowledge this and let it go. ACE handled a serious incident earlier this year admirablely... this should have been a no brainer by comparison.
-Escher
Mind you, I don't intend to quit over this
For me, however, this is just another reason not to *join* in the first place. ACErs are also heavily stereotyped (although, let's face it- some ACE members fit them so well), and I don't want that label put on my forehead.
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- John
Homepark: CP Home-away-from-homepark: PKI
My Campusfish Blog
Dont we have better things to do than to look for something to get upset about? How about putting things into the perspective of the author? Granted the choice was ill conceived. I personally would not have chosen those words but it really gave me the idea that the rooms were small cramped and crappy as hell rather than the idea of Nazi's killing Jews.
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