Editor's Note on Best of Atlanta
Reader's Pick for Best Thing to Hide from Out-of-Town Guests
We’re pleased that our 30th anniversary issue of the Best of Atlanta is on the streets, with over 700 choices for both Readers’ picks and Critics’ picks. One category in particular has generated a lot of controversy on social media. In the “Best Thing to Hide from Out-of-Town Guests” category, our readers voted “the homeless.” Our critics picked the “‘Autoeater’ sculpture at Peachtree and Tenth Streets.” We take our responsibility as a newspaper and a publication of record seriously. As an alternative newspaper we occasionally include voting categories that convey a provocative tone to balance out the overwhelming boosterish spirit of the issue.
We often disagree with our readers and their picks for Best Of winners, but we feel it is our responsibility to accurately reflect their choices. Did we agree with the readers in this particular instance? No. Did we think it was a funny response? No. But we also thought censoring or changing the readers’ choice because we didn’t agree with it was an even more dangerous move.
For 30 years we have printed entries from readers, many that we considered to be a poor choice, but we have respect for those who take the time to share their perspectives with CL and the broader community. This is a give and take and we are proud to be a part of such an on-going dialogue.
We are also aware that we printed all of the readers’ entries without context. In the past, we have included two or three sentences from our critics to describe the critics’ choices. Yet, in 30 years, we have never attempted to get inside the minds of our readers and explain their choices. Each ballot and choice by a reader has its own rationale.
We want to take the opportunity to thank our readers for allowing us to be an authentic voice in the community. We’ve fought many battles over the years to keep free speech alive in Atlanta. To our knowledge we have never taken down a Reader’s pick or any Critic’s pick post-publication. This year, however, we have in fact removed the readers’ pick for the “Best Thing to Hide from Out-of-Town Guests.” Not because we are trying to censor readers, but because, taken out of context many people perceive this to be the choice of Creative Loafing critics. It most certainly is not. We have removed it as it has become a distraction to those fighting day and night to end homelessness in Atlanta. We don’t take this decision lightly. Our free speech libertarian readers will say we have caved to the crowd. Our progressive readers will say we didn’t go far enough. Hopefully those who know and trust us accept that we are serving a key role in the community to provide a platform for informed people to meet one another and interact.
-- Best of Atlanta Editors
Please feel free to leave a thoughtful reaction below. We moderate our comments and only display comments from people who exercise basic civility.
Comments
I am not going to pretend like I understand your reasoning for why you decided to share such a foul and outrageous opinion about our cities most vulnerable community. I am not your editorial staff, so I can't assume reasoning. That wouldn't be fair to you. The best I, like anyone else can do, is take your word for it. With that said, I would like to open up this conversation by pointing out this: What you printed and posted in regards to homelessness in Atlanta lacks the basic civility you stated would not be allowed in the comments of this editorial update regarding it. If non-civil opinions are not allowed in this comment section, why are they allowed in print and in your paper? Why are they allowed to be in a CL "Best Of". Can the homeless be insulted, but not you?
If the overall response to the "Best Thing to Hide" had been African Americans, would you have still ran it? What if it was the LGBTQ community? Would you have still ran it? Targeting Atlanta's homeless community is not any different than those. It is targeting a group of people based on situations they cannot control. Believe it or not, even homeless people read Creative Loafing and I am sure many of them picked up your paper within the last week and were disheartened that they were targeted and not protected by such a rude opinion of your readers. By running, then not adding context to that opinion, you empowered that opinion of hate.
Just like many others, I was upset when I first saw Atlanta's homeless targeted as the "best thing to hide". Yes, many of us reacted out of anger, and it was justifiable. Atlanta is a city that was built on the blood, sweat and tears of the civil rights movement. This city has strived to be a pillar of equality across a country continuously encouraged to hate others that don't fit directly into the mold of an "American". We have a legacy to uphold as the "city too busy to hate". That legacy was completely dropped when it comes to how that opinion from your readers was presented. I, just like you, support the 1st amendment. The 1st amendment is the only thing that has protected me in certain situations where I would have otherwise ended up in jail for my work. It also important to understand the difference between FREE Speech, and HATE speech, and although some forms of hate speech are protected by the 1st amendment, NOT ALL. What you shared from your readers rides the ever blurry line of that paradox.
For example: In 1942, the Supreme Court said that the First Amendment doesn't protect "fighting words", or statements that "by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of peace". Do you know who hides homeless? Our city does. We lock people up for being homeless. We degrade them to the point they feel alienated from our community. We shut down their shelters and then joke about how we need to hide them. That opinion by your readers was a verbal assault on a community which has continuously been assaulted by this cities leadership and the community itself. The opinion of your readers only solidified that. People that read that opinion and agreed with it will now feel MORE empowered to verbally insult homeless in Atlanta. Know why? Because their opinion is now the "opinion of Atlanta's readers" and they know it because Creative Loafing said so.
Atlanta is an every evolving city and where we sit right now is on the verge of a complete cultural shift. Old Atlanta is being pushed out by New Atlanta, but one thing will remain the same. We will always have homelessness and the majority of them will continue to be African Americans. Now, Suburban Susan who decided to invest in a new home in Bankhead will feel empowered to insult the community she helped displace, because she saw that people agree with that lack of compassion via Creative Loafings "Best of" 2019.
Actions Matter.
-RV