The Cincinnati Beacon - It’s February at the Enquirer! Time to pimp the handicapped boy!

Friday, February 15, 2008

It’s February at the Enquirer! Time to pimp the handicapped boy!

Photo courtesy of here.

Last year, when I wrote this story, for whatever reason I didn’t actually think they would do it again. But it’s February, and The Enquirer can’t help but tap into their annual fluff story for helping people feel better about the Winter. Like they do almost every February, they have published another piece about Dustin Carter, the armless and legless wrestler from Hillsboro.

My earlier piece has links to Newsbank archives of Enquirer stories featuring Dustin Carter from 2004 - 2006. (The Dustin Carter blog was, indeed, short lived, and now a different blog takes that former address.)

And here is last year’s February story about Dustin Carter.

By now, the story’s formula is so predictable, it’s disgusting how they use this kid each year, not only to make people feel better about themselves despite the long nights and cold Winter temperatures, but also as a way to sell more advertisements.

If The Enquirer were honest, hoping to inspire us by showing that people can overcome great odds, they wouldn’t return year after year to the Dustin Carter well. He is not the only person working despite adversities, handicaps, and so forth. But his situation is so alarming, and the pictures of him are so eye-catching, the paper can’t help but make its annual pilgrimage. He is a great strategy for delivering advertisements to consumers, and that is why they are acting like a pimp.

Somewhere in the article, be sure to notice how they mention that Dustin is “just a regular kid.” That’s the angle. Sure, he has no arms and no legs, but by calling him a “regular kid” they help their depressed readers feel a little better about themselves.

Do a Google search for the most depressing month of the year. You’ll find all sorts of articles about how upset people feel in January, and psychologists claiming that days near the end of January tend to be the most depressing days. So following up in February with feel-good stories is a great way to ride the average person’s annual mood swing. In February, we have things like Groundhog’s Day and Valentine’s Day to serve as pick-me-ups from the Winter blues. And in Cincinnati, we have Dustin Carter, who reminds all of us with full use of our limbs that things could always be worse.

So happy Dustin Carter Day, Cincinnati. You have much for which you should be thankful. Stop feeling so sorry about yourselves. If an armless and legless boy can be the wrestling team captain, you can make it just a few more weeks till Spring.

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cincysuz says:
15 Feb 2008 at 06:34 am | #

I trust that you’ll give equal, cynical treatment to each and every predictable feel good tale. And it’s not just February that they appear. I expect they’ll soon spin another of the usual overcoming-the-odds yarn about a former dope fiend, single mom, entreprenuer who got a GED and is now working on her bachelor’s. Or the high school kid raised in foster care but now he’s the star athlete and the school valedictorian and got into college. And reporting on that Choir that competed for Cincinnati and won. Will that sappy, ridiculous non-story ever die?

I didn’t read the articles but I’ve seen the young man speak. HE says he’s a regular kid and HE speaks to groups about overcoming the odds. This young man IS an inspiration. People SHOULD be reminded that it could be worse. It helps. Your story and especially your headline is disrespectful. For some reason, of all the feel good stories, you pick out this guy to ridicule and demean his incredible experience and accomplishments. I don’t wonder why. Do you?

says:
15 Feb 2008 at 07:05 am | #

Are these other stories of which you speak about the same people year after year?

You know, I haven’t seen the article about his public speaking. I haven’t seen the story about the effect he had on other students who heard his story.

What I see is The Enquirer writing the same story every February for three years in a row. The same story, about the same kid, with similar pictures.

I guess you trust the Enquirer more than I do. The headline is disrespectful, which is a reflection of the paper’s misuse of this kid for personal profit.

Evildoer says:
15 Feb 2008 at 07:29 am | #

I lived in Portland Oregon for over a decade and their daily, The Oregonian, was legendary for these kinds of stories. I remember gasping at the full color photos of burn victims with no faces which regularly turned up on the front of the metro section.

That kind of \"gimp reporting\” paid off for them, too. They ran an endless series about a mildly retarded door to door salesman. Horrible writing with clipped, one-sentence paragraphs, etc. The paper couldn\’t get enough out of this guy\’s story which they endlessly milked. Astoundingly, the reporter won the Pulitzer and hit a mini-jackpot when his articles got turned into a made-for-TV flick. I think that says more about the diminished quality of a Pulitzer than a testament to the quality of his work.

But then, like the Dean, I\’m disrespectful. In fact, I have such a bad attitude that I even find someone as caring and warm-hearted as cincysuz to be ridiculous.

Who Cares? says:
15 Feb 2008 at 07:59 am | #

Only you Dean, would have the cynical viewpoint that this kid’s story is a motive to shill newspapers. I can see the braintrust at the Enquirer now…

Lackey: Sir, we’re just not selling enough newspapers....

Executive: By gawd, just do another piece on that kid with no arms and no legs...that’ll move this rag.

Did it ever occur to you that each year this kid is making his way through wrestling tournaments in February trying to win a State title? I may bite at your little conspriacy theory if they were running the stories every July when the kid was not in school or otherwise not engaged in anything. However, running these stories while he is in pursuit of his goals seems fine to me, even if they don’t place the article in the sports page.

I’m sure Dustin Carter or his family have no concerns about this issue at all or he and his story wouldn’t appear at all. As usual you are sticking your nose into business that is irrelevent looking for any angle you can to boost readership of your own blog. Let’s be controversial as possible. Let’s say Obama isn’t black! Let’s attack local grocers because they won’t endorse my ideas for refrigeration units! Let’s say that Dustin Carter is being pimped by a newspaper conglomerate!

For shame, Dean! Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

says:
15 Feb 2008 at 04:33 pm | #

For shame, Dean! Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

When you take your own advice, I’ll be more likely to listen to anything you say.

Did it ever occur to you that each year this kid is making his way through wrestling tournaments in February trying to win a State title?

Yes. Did it occur to you that a it’s not that big of a deal?

cincysuz says:
15 Feb 2008 at 06:09 pm | #

Evildoer - it sounds like jealousy. Let me guess. You’ve written a screenplay that’s been rejected over and over, right?

And Dean is the rub that the Enquirer does the same story too often? Can you say m-a-l-i-o-t-h-e-r-a-p-y? If only there’d be a year, or even a month, moratorium on that one! You drone on about the same half dozen or so themes that wait in the turnstile and each time make their debut as if is a grand, new discovery. Not that I don’t find comfort and obvious enjoyment in the predictability and sameness of the Beacon’s themes.

What would it take for you to give this young man his props, a “way to overcome the odds, dude”? He’s got no arms and legs already. Maybe if he was also in an iron lung, became a homeless crack addict with Turette’s and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Would that be enough?

Who Cares? says:
15 Feb 2008 at 08:29 pm | #

What should the Enquirer be doing stories on Dean? Teach us well and tell us how it should be! BTW, didn’t the Beacon do like a ton of stories, like every other day, on Phil Heimlich last year?

David Shuster says:
15 Feb 2008 at 09:59 pm | #

Jason,

I’m very offended by your use of the word “pimp.” This is just another example of a long line of misogynistic comments from you and your website.

JFD says:
16 Feb 2008 at 01:04 am | #

It’s A Day Of The Week At The Beacon! Time To Pimp Smitherman’s Racially Divisive Agenda.

says:
16 Feb 2008 at 07:31 am | #

Jason,

I’m very offended by your use of the word “pimp.” This is just another example of a long line of misogynistic comments from you and your website.

There is nothing misogynistic about its use in that context. If I’m wrong, explain yourself.

It’s A Day Of The Week At The Beacon! Time To Pimp Smitherman’s Racially Divisive Agenda.

Smitherman was not president of the NAACP when I wrote last year’s item.

BTW, didn’t the Beacon do like a ton of stories, like every other day, on Phil Heimlich last year?

Is Dustin Carter a powerful politician whose decisions affect the lives of everyone in Hamilton County?

And Dean is the rub that the Enquirer does the same story too often? Can you say m-a-l-i-o-t-h-e-r-a-p-y?

My “rub” is not that any story is done too often, just this particular one of no consequence.

And it’s called “malariotherapy.” They have been called human atrocity experiments and the lives of poor people in third world countries have been put at risk. But I guess that’s not important to you.

Who Cares? says:
16 Feb 2008 at 08:42 am | #

If by your own admission that this story is of no consequence....why do you make such a big deal over it? Answer this question: Do you honestly think that somewhere in the Enquirer organization, they are saying, we need to sell more newspapers, so let’s feature that handicapped boy again?

says:
16 Feb 2008 at 08:49 am | #

Do you honestly think that somewhere in the Enquirer organization, they are saying, we need to sell more newspapers, so let’s feature that handicapped boy again?

Yes. Why else would it be front page above-the-fold news? His image is striking, like you’d see on a tabloid, and it makes people look.

cincysuz says:
16 Feb 2008 at 09:35 am | #

You use the words “pimp” and “handicapped” in a headline, and stop just short of Evildoer’s nasty “gimp reporting” reference. (You must both have gotten a good laugh at the video going around of the Florida cop that dumped a parapalegic man out of his wheelchair because he wouldn’t stand to be searched. They announced this morning at at least that PIG is going to be indicted.) You’re obviously an enemy of the disabled. Your arrogance is astounding.

And you could care less about malariotherapy. It’s only the Heimlich/Wulsin connection that interests you. Remember, you advocate shopping at WalMart that uses slave and child labor throughout the world as well as prison labor in China. Those very malariatherapy victims might be silk screening “God Bless America” t’s for WalMart as we speak.

says:
16 Feb 2008 at 09:39 am | #

As usual, you are a liar.

1. I am not an enemy of the disabled. I do not believe in exploiting the disabled for profit, which is what I think the Enquirer does every year with Dustin Carter.

2. I do not advocate shopping at Wal-Mart.

Why do you think I’m interested in the Heimlich/Wulsin connection? Why do you think I’m even interested in the Heimlich medical stories? It’s because I’m concerned at the risk to life that Cincinnati media does not wish to expose because of its weird apparent devotion to Henry Heimlich’s medical theories, which continue to be refuted by credible medical agencies everywhere.

It’s funny: people are mad that I used the word “pimp” to criticize the Enquirer, but those same people are not mad that the Enquirer has pimped this kid for profit.

cincysuz says:
16 Feb 2008 at 11:18 am | #

And I told you before, this “kid” is a motivational speaker and has appeared on many national shows. In doing that he has a simple and admirable mission. To inspire other kids that have a hard way to go and still show that he’s a regular kid, or as regular as he can manage to be. Why do you have a problem with that? Don’t people share stories of overcoming adversity all the time? Maybe it’s corny, but I can see a person going through a hard time saying, “Well at least I’m not that bad off. Maybe I can be successful.” Or is it just that certain people’s stories move you to sarcasm. Yep. Certain people.

reading83 says:
16 Feb 2008 at 11:31 am | #

I don’t subscribe to the paper but how big is the story? is it even 1% of the total paper that day? i highly doubt it.

Once a year they do a story on the kid at this time because it is tournament time and people are inspired by dustins work plus if you had followed the story you would know that it is a changing story as Dustin has improved as a wrestler. You may have no interest in sports but I cant believe you would be amazed to know that other people do.

It is not the most important news story of the year but it is a story that people are inspired by and take interest in. So a story that is less than 1% of one paper that is published 365 times a year is not a big deal to anyone but you.

How much do you think a one day run of the enquirer sells at the newstand? How much of a difference do you think that it makes to have a story about dustin on the cover? I would be floored if it sells an extra 5,000 papers.

Of course a journalist might have dug up that information first. too bad this is by a “media activist”

says:
16 Feb 2008 at 11:36 am | #

I don’t subscribe to the paper but how big is the story?

Front page above the fold is big enough.

says:
16 Feb 2008 at 11:37 am | #

I have no problem with Carter, cincysuz—just with how the Enquirer uses him.

They even had another story today.

men53 says:
16 Feb 2008 at 03:24 pm | #

Front page above the fold is big enough.

still doesn’t tell me the percentage of the paper that was dedicated to this story. What is it .5%, 1%. a pretty small number to be sure.

says:
16 Feb 2008 at 03:40 pm | #

If it is front page and above the fold, it is the most visible and significant story of the day.

cincysuz says:
16 Feb 2008 at 06:48 pm | #

How about this headline? It’s February at the Enquirer. Time to pimp the civil rights icon. There have been a half dozen articles on the Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth just in the last couple of weeks. And over the years, they appear not monthly, but several times, at least each year, year after year. Talk about returning to the well. They’ve never left the Shuttlesworth well. And rightfully so. He’s an inspiration to many, many people. We want to know what he’s doing. We want to be reminded of his struggles. His adversities. His triumphs. Same thing with an occasional article on Dustin Carter.

You’re dead wrong here but you’d take a session on the waterboard before you’d ever admit it.

Evildoer says:
16 Feb 2008 at 09:34 pm | #

Dean - Instead of engaging here with the usual gang of idiots with their predictable arguments, why don’t you move the story forward by contacting John Erardi, the Enquirer reporter who did the story? Ask him which editor assigned him the article? Then you can contact that editor and ask if she/he keeps pulling out the wrestling kid story every year.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I feel a pang of religious ecstasy coming on. I must go finger my rosary while fantasizing about cincysue’s mouse. (Her keyboard, too.)

property21 says:
17 Feb 2008 at 12:01 am | #

If it is front page and above the fold, it is the most visible and significant story of the day.

So the most significant story for one day. that is .3% of the year.

I am sure you are right and it is nothing but an attempt to pay for the shortfall the other 99.997% of the year when they don’t have stories about dustin.

Uncle Fester says:
17 Feb 2008 at 09:14 am | #

The Enquirer ran this item today: http://tinyurl.com/276fq3

The question: Did Victoria Wulsin cover up unethical medical experiments? That’s a charge made by Steve Black, who is running against Wulsin in the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District, in a campaign mailer. He says the National Council Against Health Fraud has asked the State Medical Board of Ohio to investigate Wulsin on the charges.

The facts: A request for an investigation of Wulsin’s work for the Heimlich Institute was filed on Nov. 3, 2006 by Robert S. Baratz, a Massachusetts doctor who, under the NCAHF banner, has been a harsh critic of Dr. Henry Heimlich, founder of the institute. The letter accused Wulsin of “participation in unsupervised, unapproved, and dangerous experiments”

Wulsin worked for the institute in 2004 while it was conducting controversial experiments based on the idea that infecting AIDS patients with malaria might restore their immune systems. Wulsin said her only role was to review records and analyze data. She said she wrote a report criticizing the study and concluding that the therapy was ineffective, and was fired immediately by Heimlich.

The Ohio Medical Board will not confirm or comment on any investigation, other than to report that as of Feb. 14, it has taken no action against Wulsin. The case apparently remains open, as Black’s campaign says. Neither Baratz nor Wulsin has received the customary letter the board issues when it closes a case.

says:
17 Feb 2008 at 09:47 am | #

Evildoer:

Thanks.

Just sent to

Dear Mr. Erardi:

Can you please tell me which editor assigned you the recent story about Dustin Carter?

Thanks,

[The Dean]

says:
17 Feb 2008 at 09:52 am | #

I am sure you are right and it is nothing but an attempt to pay for the shortfall the other 99.997% of the year when they don’t have stories about dustin.

Each and every day of the year, decisions are made about what to put in the paper, and where to place it. These, I believe, are business decisions designed to maximize the scope of the audience to whom advertisements are delivered.

Dustin Carter is an attention-getting money-maker.

cincysuz says:
17 Feb 2008 at 01:10 pm | #

Dean, what about Shuttlesworth? Is he getting pimped? Who’s pulling the strings at the Enquirer to keep these stories on multiple pages--front to back?

And Evildoer, please son, don’t sully my mouse and keyboard with your dirty little thoughts. I’m sure there’s another female (I guess) poster that could provide you a more stimulating and receptive, outlet for your perversion.

Evildoer says:
17 Feb 2008 at 03:31 pm | #

cincysue, I am saddened by your rejection and by your assumptions:

1) That I am a man.
2) That being attracted to you is a sign of perversion.

This reflects a sexist mentality which is beneath you. For my part, I have never, ever assumed you were a woman!

As for my needs, why deny me? I can only be fulfilled by reading your posts! Every time you upload a comment, I want you to think of me at my keyboard, being supportive in my own special way.

So don’t stop. PLEASE don’t stop!

cincysuz says:
21 Feb 2008 at 05:43 pm | #

Uh-oh. It’s really a ‘spiracy now. Inside Edition must have collaborated with the Enquirer to run a double pimp on him. The young man is featured on that national show tonight.

NtotheC says:
29 Feb 2008 at 09:07 am | #

Disgusting! I can’t believe the New York Times is pimping this kid, too!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/sports/othersports/29wrestler.html?ref=sports

Shame on you, New York Times...shame on you!

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