This week’s Monday Mission.
- The North Carolina Press Photographers Association (NCPPA) recently took back a photographer’s three awards when it was learned that he had digitally altered some photos. I use PhotoShop or other digital editing tools all the time on my photographs. I never thought that was wrong. Do you think it is “unethical” for newspaper photographers to use PhotoShop to alter the images they capture? Should journalists be held to a higher standard?
Wow, that’s tricky. I guess it kind of depends on how it’s used. Personally, I think photos should be left alone when published in a newspaper. I guess as long as you’re not altering the meaning of the photo (like, say, photoshopping in a different person, or changing an expression or something) it’s okay. It’s definitely dodgy. I looked at the photos the guy submitted and while I think it’s weird that he decided to edit them I don’t see why everyone’s so upset about it. - On the flip-side of journalistic integrity, several newspapers are choosing not to run the Sept. 7 edition of “Doonesbury” because it mentions masturbation. I just don’t care for Doonesbury anymore, but it made me wonder how much progress we’ve really made as a society. Is masturbation a bad thing? Even in the times in which we live, is it something that can’t be spoken of still? And just for grins, do you really believe people who say they’ve never done that?
Good grief. Masturbation is natural. Hello, people. Grow up. I usually lump folks who are anti-masturbation in with those who are anti-homosexual rights. Religious nutcases, imho. I do believe people who say they’ve never done it. I’ve known people in my time who were not at all sexual. - If you had the power to be the Webmaster Almighty, what one thing would you eliminate entirely from the World Wide Web?
Hm… that’s hard to say. I don’t think I’d eliminate anything. I’m very anti-censorship. - Did you grow up in the same town when you were young, or did your parents move around a lot? How do you think that impacted your life? Has it had any affects on your adult life?
Nope, I’ve lived in the same house since I was 3, with the exception of the 5 years I spent away at college. - Who deserves to be called a Liar to their face? What would you say to them to publicly humiliate them? (“Liar, liar, pants on fire…”)
Lots of people. Mostly politicians. I’d love to confront ’em with concrete evidence of their lies, but I know they’d slither out of it somehow. Bastards. I hate politicians. - How do you picture Heaven?
I don’t, really. I kind of like the image of the Summerland – wide open fields and forests populated with animals and people, where you can hang out with folks you love while you wait to be reincarnated. - Who do you hope to meet in the afterlife?
Oh, gosh, loads of people. Off the top of my head: Oscar Wilde, the Earl of Rochester, Edward Gorey, John Donne, Mae West, and my Grandpa.
