The time has come to address several issues raised by Howard Singer, board member of the San Diego County Diversity and Inclusiveness Group.
\nFor a number of years, Singer has been on a crusade to expunge “Christmas” from the name of La Jolla\u2019s annual year-end parade, changing it to something more “faith-neutral” and “inclusive.”
\nWhile we respect Singer’s passion and resolve, we must point out that his unswerving quest to change the parade name reminds us of a certain literary captain in pursuit of a certain whale. There is a huge difference between commitment to a cause and obsession with one. Amid Singer’s repeated attempts to fuel press interest in the issue, we\u2019re not sure he hasn\u2019t crossed the line.
\n“What Mr. Singer fails to accept is that this issue has been exhausted,” said Julie Main, San Diego Community Newspaper Group publisher. “It has been reported and covered sufficiently to date. He seems to feel we have some obligation to him to provide him a soap box to foster this debate. His position has been made clear. There is nothing [new] to bring to the table at this time.”
\nWe acknowledge Singer\u2019s right to raise salient points in a public dialogue on whether or not a more faith-neutral parade name would benefit the community at large. It\u2019s not Singer\u2019s mission that troubles us. It\u2019s the way he\u2019s going about it.
\nWe feel that Singer is getting in his own way, as his often overtly aggressive and combative tactics may turn off people who might otherwise by sympathetic to his cause. We have heard directly from people who\u2019ve said, though they were inclined to agree with Singer\u2019s viewpoint, that they are also disinclined to support him because of his intimidating tactics, suggesting he would take action against them if they failed to agree with him.
\nWe also believe Singer\u2019s continued references to the past, when Jews and African-Americans were openly discriminated against in La Jolla, are inappropriate and irrelevant to the current discussion, even amid their veracity. By dwelling on the past, Singer is confusing and obscuring his cause in the present. We\u2019re talking about changing the name of an event. No broader moral, social or ethical issues are at play here \u2014 or should be.
\nIn our view, the press is not the place to try or decide this matter. Journalists report the news and are merely conduits through which information passes. Moreover, a print publication does not have the power to actually change the rules. The underlying question then centers on the matter of a proper venue in which to decide this issue. One suggestion comes immediately to mind: Put it up to a public vote. If the majority agrees the parade name ought to be changed, it will vote in favor of the proposition.
\nAsked recently if he would be willing to put the question on a ballot, Singer replied that he would not. We suspect he is unwilling because he realizes that his perspective might not be shared by everyone \u2014 or even most La Jollans.
\nThere\u2019s only one way to find out.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The time has come to address several issues raised by Howard Singer, board member of the San Diego County Diversity and Inclusiveness Group. For a number of years, Singer has been on a crusade to expunge “Christmas” from the name of La Jolla\u2019s annual year-end parade, changing it to something more “faith-neutral” and “inclusive.” While […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"Parade name change is a matter for the public, not the press","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11593,11552],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-no-images","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297178\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}