Response to controversial anti-STL article (Kansas City, St. Louis: 2013, violent crime, coops)

[MidWestCityNative]

This was an op-ed piece that I didn't know about until just recently, so I apologize for the timing.

Last March, an editorial written by Yael T. Abouhalkah (in my local newspaper The Kansas City Star) caused a pretty great deal of outrage among St. Louis residents. It was a rather harsh, ignorant, and misleading article that got a lot of facts wrong and ended up bringing to the table some unwanted cross-state feud on the internet and social media. The article was titled "KC is rising while St. Louis keeps falling".

I'd like to apologize on behalf of my city for this uninformed drivel my local newspaper put out. As a lifelong KC resident with family that live in STL, I was every bit as outraged. It makes me sick whenever I hear a fellow KC resident trash talk STL as if they are cities worlds apart from each other. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for this hack journalist to belittle STL the way he did. Quite frankly, many of us in KC are fed up with Abouhalkah's inferiority-complex-fueled commentary that he hits us over the head with. This time, I feel he went too far in an attempt to play up KC by making STL look like a dying dystopian shell. It was a cheap shot.

In all honesty, this whole STL vs. KC quibble is completely dumb and superficial as far as I'm concerned. It's every bit as pointless as comparing "Star Trek" to "Star Wars". Both STL and KC have their share of pros and cons, their similarities and their differences, etc. We may not agree on sports (STL's strong suit is baseball and KC's is soccer), but I believe both cities should work together in helping Missouri improve its economy and national image.

We are Missourians. Both sides of the state should put this faux rivalry to bed and work towards a better future.

BTW, not that it matters, but I like both KC BBQ and Toasted Ravioli

[Old Trafford]

Originally Posted by MidWestCityNative

This was an op-ed piece that I didn't know about until just recently, so I apologize for the timing.

Last March, an editorial written by Yael T. Abouhalkah (in my local newspaper The Kansas City Star) caused a pretty great deal of outrage among St. Louis residents. It was a rather harsh, ignorant, and misleading article that got a lot of facts wrong and ended up bringing to the table some unwanted cross-state feud on the internet and social media. The article was titled "KC is rising while St. Louis keeps falling".

I'd like to apologize on behalf of my city for this uninformed drivel my local newspaper put out. As a lifelong KC resident with family that live in STL, I was every bit as outraged. It makes me sick whenever I hear a fellow KC resident trash talk STL as if they are cities worlds apart from each other. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for this hack journalist to belittle STL the way he did. Quite frankly, many of us in KC are fed up with Abouhalkah's inferiority-complex-fueled commentary that he hits us over the head with. This time, I feel he went too far in an attempt to play up KC by making STL look like a dying dystopian shell. It was a cheap shot.

In all honesty, this whole STL vs. KC quibble is completely dumb and superficial as far as I'm concerned. It's every bit as pointless as comparing "Star Trek" to "Star Wars". Both STL and KC have their share of pros and cons, their similarities and their differences, etc. We may not agree on sports (STL's strong suit is baseball and KC's is soccer), but I believe both cities should work together in helping Missouri improve its economy and national image.

We are Missourians. Both sides of the state should put this faux rivalry to bed and work towards a better future.

BTW, not that it matters, but I like both KC BBQ and Toasted Ravioli

Thanks for the post, I think most of the people who read the article realized he was playing with numbers, those who did not realize this probably were intent to believe it all anyway.

My favorite criticism of Yael came from Charles Jaco of Fox 2 StL (and the guy who was on the roof of the Al Rashide hotel for CNN in 1991 for those who remember the first televised war)

Jaco - "Your name is Lebanese, do you know what it means?"

Yael - "No"

A man who does not know where he comes from does not no where he is going

KC and STL need to stand together - on the state level there is a whole bunch of money that gets made in the urban areas that gets spent pursuing idle projects - MoDot's promise to connect all areas with more than 10,000 ppl with 4 lane divided highway

[MidWestCityNative]

Originally Posted by Old Trafford

Thanks for the post, I think most of the people who read the article realized he was playing with numbers, those who did not realize this probably were intent to believe it all anyway.

My favorite criticism of Yael came from Charles Jaco of Fox 2 StL (and the guy who was on the roof of the Al Rashide hotel for CNN in 1991 for those who remember the first televised war)

Jaco - "Your name is Lebanese, do you know what it means?"

Yael - "No"

A man who does not know where he comes from does not no where he is going

KC and STL need to stand together - on the state level there is a whole bunch of money that gets made in the urban areas that gets spent pursuing idle projects - MoDot's promise to connect all areas with more than 10,000 ppl with 4 lane divided highway

Charles Jaco's video response to the article from KPLR-TV:

Jacology: Editorial On Kansas City Rivalry Is Lazy | kplr11.com

He's a witty reporter (maybe a little snarky at times). I thought it was hilarious when he said, "I know the Pony Express was discontinued, but I didn’t think it took news that long to travel West." But what I didn't like was when he assumed KC's land annexation consisted of "mostly farms and chicken coops in every direction", as if KC's social and economic infrastructure is 100% small-town rural and less urban/diverse compared to St. Louis. I call BS on that, but it also sounded like he was deliberately exaggerating in jest, possibly to one-up Yael, I don't know.

Whatever the case, it's important to remember that both KC and STL are struggling economically right now (getting better in some areas but worse in others). Violent crime is also still a problem in both cities, and yet the Missouri government continues to pander to the interests of small towns and rural areas. This needs to change and voices from both cities need to step up.

[Old Trafford]

Originally Posted by MidWestCityNative

Charles Jaco's video response to the article from KPLR-TV:

Jacology: Editorial On Kansas City Rivalry Is Lazy | kplr11.com

He's a witty reporter (maybe a little snarky at times). I thought it was hilarious when he said, "I know the Pony Express was discontinued, but I didn’t think it took news that long to travel West." But what I didn't like was when he assumed KC's land annexation consisted of "mostly farms and chicken coops in every direction", as if KC's social and economic infrastructure is 100% small-town rural and less urban/diverse compared to St. Louis. I call BS on that, but it also sounded like he was deliberately exaggerating in jest, possibly to one-up Yael, I don't know.

Whatever the case, it's important to remember that both KC and STL are struggling economically right now (getting better in some areas but worse in others). Violent crime is also still a problem in both cities, and yet the Missouri government continues to pander to the interests of small towns and rural areas. This needs to change and voices from both cities need to step up.

Jaco was being snarky to get a laugh, that's his style, if you follow him on Twitter he comes up with some funny stuff, don't read too much into it, he realizes that KC is urban area with, as you note, similar problems to StL, I think Yael is the one out of touch with reality on the ground.

That being said I have read some of Yael's stuff in past and have seen him write some good insightful pieces and some clunkers, I always read him in my hotel complementary Star. Like Jaco said he may have just been working to increase traffic and get noticed in StL. Probably increased his click count online to a nice respectable number.

Now Kevin Kietzman has unresolved issues, whenever I was working in the KC office one of the partners would have him on occasionally - seemed like he was always on a StL rant - I always found this odd since KC and StL rarely face off against each other. He has to be one of the worst radio sports guys I have ever heard.

[MidWestCityNative]

Originally Posted by Old Trafford

Jaco was being snarky to get a laugh, that's his style, if you follow him on Twitter he comes up with some funny stuff, don't read too much into it, he realizes that KC is urban area with, as you note, similar problems to StL, I think Yael is the one out of touch with reality on the ground.

That being said I have read some of Yael's stuff in past and have seen him write some good insightful pieces and some clunkers, I always read him in my hotel complementary Star. Like Jaco said he may have just been working to increase traffic and get noticed in StL. Probably increased his click count online to a nice respectable number.

Now Kevin Kietzman has unresolved issues, whenever I was working in the KC office one of the partners would have him on occasionally - seemed like he was always on a StL rant - I always found this odd since KC and StL rarely face off against each other. He has to be one of the worst radio sports guys I have ever heard.

True, Yael can write a good editorial every once in a while, but other times he can be a smug hack. Sometimes he strikes me as that stereotypic "I'm from KC and I'm sorry our city sucks" kind of person (aka that "inferiority complex" type).

As for Kietzman, I know a few people who listen to him (they seem to enjoy that mixture of shock-jock commentary with sports). I don't ever listen to him, all I know is that he's a pervert and a jerk. He had an affair with a radio staffer and likes to pick verbal fights with other KC sports personalities, so it doesn't surprise me at all that he would smear STL. He's sort of like the Donald Trump of sports commentators; he thinks he's a big man.

[Fishtacos]

This is very common. Too common. Someone seeking a following will intentionally stir the pot to be polarizing. The goal is to get a reaction of both outrage and support. The answer to this of course is to ignore. I don't know who these people are nor have I read or watched their stuff.

Often times these things originate from insecure people in smaller metro areas. And, they go after those in larger areas, but not always. It can originate from insecure larger metros as well.

It's a cheap and lazy way to get attention. I check this forum from time to time, otherwise I wouldn't know this existed.

I would like to point out to the person that write the rebuttal. In sports rivalries, a rivalry occurs when there is competitive play over time between two teams. Other factors can come into play as well. Detroit isn't a hockey rival with St. Louis because St. Louis hasn't been competitive enough to make it one. Now, I am speaking about the 1990's until the present. Prior to that the Joe in Detroit was empty seats and bad teams for some time, as hockey people know. (For purposes of full disclosure, I am a Blues fan when it comes to hockey)

Anyway, I don't get my undies in a bunch when people do this sort of thing. I also don't listen to talk radio, nor do I listen to, read, or watch intentionally polarizing people. It isn't my thing.

[Suziannie]

Yael doesn't know when to quit. I have to agree with most everything the people above mentioned. I am so tired of his childish columns. Here's another one: | The Kansas City Star

Doesn't he have enough to write about in his own area?

[FrankMiller]

It's best not to get worked up over click-bait articles.

[MidWestCityNative]

Originally Posted by Suziannie

Yael doesn't know when to quit. I have to agree with most everything the people above mentioned. I am so tired of his childish columns. Here's another one: | The Kansas City Star

Doesn't he have enough to write about in his own area?

Couldn't he at least mention how great it was for KC to have Cardinals fans showing support for us during the World Series?

[Suziannie]

I suppose it didn't occur to him that it was possible. Unfortunately, I ran into a lot of Royals fans who didn't understand either. People, there are two major leagues. You can be for both teams.