"Mell's" New Protest

LB Note: We asked "Mell" if he'd sent this to The Coast News and if he'd rather us wait to see if they publish this submission. That was two days ago. No response from "Mell". Most papers check your identity prior to publication. Here is the is the abstract; TCN & Audet suck because they didn't publish the phone numbers of charity groups.

When I moved to Encinitas 25 years ago, I was impressed by the beauty of the place and the intelligence of the general populace. I was not born in this country, but like those who were born and raised here, I am proud to call Encinitas my hometown.

For 25 years, I have been far too busy with my work to pause here and there in order to add my voice to those in this community who would cherish the spotlight. In the country of my birth, my name is a common one, so even though I will sign this and future missives with my true name, I will reveal no other details about my education or my profession. After a long career in a field which I choose not to divulge, I will no longer be silent. While my retirement represents the end of one stage of my life, I hope this article will stand as the beginning of another stage.

First, I will share the following facts.

I adhere to no political dogma. I stand for no organized religion.  I am not obligated to anyone as a result of financial support.  I speak for myself.  I am beholden to no one.

In other words, as egotistical as it may sound, I stand on the other side of a line in the sand that separates me from The Coast News and The Rancho Santa Fe News.

The adolescent bickering between the publishers of these two throw-away excuses for news is appalling. Like a playground squabble between two insecure bullies, this bickering has included no issue of substance.  In fact, the finger-pointing by both parties seems to be an attempt to distract the public from at least one pertinent detail that would be easy to overlook.

Look at the July 22, 2011 issue of The Coast News. Think about the general tenor of its writers and the ways in which the paper caters to a relatively small number of vocal pessimists.

LB Note: Here is where Mell provides a lot of substance.

Most recently, editorials by Andrew Audet betray an obvious bias—Audet pretends to stand for the common man. Audet consistently makes the intellectual mistake of adopting a superior attitude. He would rather be “right” than to propose workable solutions. If the squeaky wheel gets the grease, Audet  should be suffocating in grease.  

As a columnist in a paper which purports itself to be the Voice of the People, Audet wants to be regarded as a champion of the downtrodden and abused. Unfortunately, because he offers no viable solution for the problems he attempts to summarize, the overall impression he communicates is nothing more than multisyllabic whining.

An editorial comment should advocate a justifiable point of view and its writer should be working to motivate readers to act. Audet’s final sentence from the July 22 article—“Please look them up”—is the weakest, most pathetic advocacy of any public action I have ever seen.

Just as there is “no crying in baseball,” there should be no simpering plea to do the absolute minimum amount of work possible.

“Please look them up.”

Audet presents no compelling reason to do anything of the sort. And because he won’t even make the effort to do a little footwork on his own and provide phone numbers or addresses for officials he wants his readers to contact, he exposes himself as someone who is willing to take a stand for a point of view that has no authentic value. After all, if he won’t bother to look up the contact information, why should we?

Mell Estiphanos

LB Note: Audet's columns have changed the future of Encinitas by spurring career ending retorts from Deputy Mayor Stocks, like this.  That is a little upsetting to a handful of people. Burning question, does Mell even vote?