Don't bother to hide that agenda

It's no shock that Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Tony Norman has written a piece that would have been good, would have been informative, would have been actual reporting if not for a clumsy attempt to push a political agenda. Sure, many columnists want to believe that they're dispensing wisdom to the world no matter what they're actually disseminating, but have some integrity, people! Don't just stick things in there any which way so long as the editors will allow it. This is a piece of journalism, not a game of Jenga.


A good writer has the ability to distinguish a good opportunity to speak their mind from a situation that requires just the facts. They know the difference between opining & just plain shoving a view down the readers' throats. Over the years, Norman has shown himself to be a gifted & insightful writer, so it's disappointing to see him falling into the less facts, more opinion abyss that's become business as usual at the PG.


A recent dispute over parking a car in a space that someone else shoveled clear of snow resulted in a local man shooting at police officers. Norman astutely details why the guy was lucky to be taken down by non-lethal methods & how he should be thankful to be alive, even as he sits in jail. This is absolutely true. It's a testament to the oft-questioned professionalism of the Pittsburgh Police that this man was apprehended without incident. (He should also be grateful to be employed by the quasi-governmental entity that is the Allegheny County Port Authority, as he is on paid leave from his overpaid, taxpayer gouging job while he sits in jail, but that's another post.)



Sadly, Norman uses the poor guy's breakdown as an opportunity to tell readers that the man probably wishes that the law had made it harder for him to buy a gun. Really, Mr. Norman? Somehow the law should be designed to ensure that anyone who buys a gun will never have any type of infantile tantrum that gets out of control? What he's really saying is that the law should be designed so that nobody can actually buy a gun, as even hard-working law-abiding citizens sometimes lose it. That's too bad because it was almost real reporting there for a minute.