* The Valley Scrooge's Succulent Obituary Page

We judge a civilization by how it treats its dead.

Unattributed

It was disheartening to find that my local newspaper, The Valley News, had surrendered to the vulgarity of the New York Times' website, by creating its own website with an obituary page full of advertisements, in color, some winking, popping, and scrolling for the mourners to enjoy.

We would expect this crass materialism in a newspaper representing the citadel of capitalism, New York City, but to find it in our own little Vermont / New Hampshire Upper Valley newspaper is appalling.  

When I went to read the obituary of the grandmother of one of my students yesterday I found it next to a bright colorful display of yummy baked goods from Lou’s Restaurant, a famous Hanover breakfast destination.

At the obituary site for a longtime athletic director at our high school one can find a photo of delicious pieces of chicken available in Hanover restaurants.  

I’m sure mourners' appetites have been whetted and their wallets loosened.

At another obituary I found a baby dress advertised by Zulily “Daily Deals for Moms, Babies and Kids”.  This ad appeared only eight days after the Newtown murders of 20 first graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut by a deranged gunman,  murders which have thrown the nation into grief and introspection.

The sour irony of advertising delightful gifts for children on an obituary page is almost savage in its insensitivity at this moment  in our national mourning.

My last shot  in a volley of emails to The Valley News (including its publisher and chief financial officer) on this matter has not received the courtesy of a response (see below).

I am reminded of Ebenezer Scrooge’s desperate rationalization to the terrifying ghost of his business partner, Jacob Marley, who was lamenting his own condemnation to walk the world in torment for his cupidity: “But you were always a good man of business, Jacob."

Marley's haunting answer, shouted out amidst the rattle of his clanking chains, echoes down our materialistic century : atter, has not received the courtesy of a reply.  (see below)

"Business?  Mankind was my business. The general good of humanity was my business!”

                         

The Valley News’ financial officer (and the  New York Time’s  obit editors for that matter) might remember Jacob Marley's guilt ridden words as The Valley News' obituary page entreats mourners to munch on sweet confections and golden chicken pieces while they read about their departed loved ones.

Mankind --not money ---is your business.

Paul D.Keane

M.A., M.Div., M.Ed.

 __________________________________________________________

Email exchange:

Paul Keane	1:44 PM (0 minutes ago)		Reply
to Dan, Maggie, mfrank, John, Jim

Dear Mr. McClory:

Thank you for interrupting your holiday today, Sunday 12/23,  to reply to my email and blog post of 12/21 and 12/22

I am gratified and heartily reassured as an American  to know  that you entitle me to my opinion. 

As a graduate of Yale Divinity School (M. Div. '80) I am also entitled to make informed judgments about both the sacred and the profane aspects of our culture. 

Even if you desired to remove the color slideshow advertisements for succulent chicken and delicious confections from the  obituary page of The Valley News (and, by the way, the bloodless tone of your email leads me to infer that you have no such desire), I doubt that the platform you purchased for your digital edition would permit you to do so. 

You, like the rest of our culture (as Instagram users recently discovered and revolted against), are hostage to the whims of our culture's false god, Data, the idolatry of which we are busy perpetuating with fingering, not of prayer beads but of  touch screens, trillions of times an hour  across the globe.

I wish you the best for the holidays and hope you enjoyed the YouTube clip of Jacob Marley calling  Scrooge to account on my  post "The Valley Scrooge's Succulent Obituary Page" at http://theantiyale.blogspot.com

Sincerely,

Paul D. Keane

M.A., M.Div., M.Ed.

On Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 10:23 AM, Dan McClory <dmcclory@nnenews.com>wrote:

Mr. Keane,
I assume you have received my auto reply that I am out of the office.

We will take your comments into consideration. You are entitled to your opinion, but there will not be any changes made at this time.

Sincerely,

Dan McClory
--
Daniel D. McClory
Publisher, Valley News
Chief Financial Officer-Newspapers of New England Inc.
Lebanon Office (603)727-3203
Concord Office (603)369-3262

Best wishes for the holiday Mr. McClory

Hope you will remove advertising from the obit page. It is disrespectful to the dead and crass  materialism at its worst.

I am appalled.

Paul D. Keane

Master of Divinity

Yale University

M.A., .M. Ed.

On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 12:31 PM, Dan McClory <dmcclory@nnenews.com>wrote:

Mr. Keane,
Thank you for your comments regarding our new web site. I see that Maggie Cassidy responded to some of your questions.

As you pointed out most newspapers are still working out the details on how to present their content on-line. I do feel this is a major step in the right direction. We will continue to refine the process as we learn more.

My hope is that the on-line version will meet the needs of those people who prefer to receive this information electronically. As I mentioned in the article our new system is costing us more and we still have the cost of producing the content. It is my belief that the print edition will continue to be the primary source of news and advertising in the Upper Valley, the on-line version is  intended to be a compliment to that.

Thank you for your interest, happy holidays.
--
Daniel D. McClory
Publisher, Valley News
Chief Financial Officer-Newspapers of New England Inc.
Lebanon Office (603)727-3203
Concord Office (603)369-3262