All The Views That Are Fit to Print

NYTimes should be ashamed that it stooped to the level of publishing this. Not only is it a childish, titillating story (about a proposed street name change from "Hooker Lane" to something else), but the level of bias and generalization is disgusting. Do the Times editors think that only "people of the L. L. Bean-wearing, exercise-the-dog sort" want to live on a street with a normal name? If this was in a working-class neighborhood, would it make any difference? I don't think so, but the Times goes out of its way to paint the neighborhood with a broad brush, as if only those for whom "Lacoste shirts and country club memberships are a virtual birthright" would make effort to rename their street. What malarky. In Quincy, Mass, there's a street called Lunt St. After repeated vandalism (changing 'L' to 'C'), the city issued a special street sign with a cursive "L". Lunt St. is just as working-middle-class as any street in Quincy. This may seem a small thing to complain about, but just imagine if the Times described a working-class neighborhood as a place where second-hand polo shirts and bowling-league membership were a "virtual birthright". It may be true, but unless it is backed up by real investigative reporting and has bearing on the story, it's just a way to impress a stereotype on readers. Just another reason why the Times is the world's worst good paper.