As I listened to and watched various “news” shows yesterday I could not help but notice one recurring theme as they related the spiff between California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his home town of Graz, Austria. The tease for these stories was that the city of Graz was removing Schwarzenegger’s name from a stadium in addition to removing any and all references to the body-builter, turned actor, turned Governor from advertisements for the city. That’s fine as news teases go. Let’s face it, a tease it just that: it’s intended to wet your appetite for the story so it exaggerates, amplifies and titillates without providing any specific details.
The problem occurred when they actually did the story. Each story was that the city had taken the initiative to divorce itself from Schwarzenegger due to his refusal to grant clemency to the recently executed, Stanley Williams. They went on to say that many of Schwarzenegger’s fellow countrymen had been agitating for this separation for some time now. Not a single “news” story bothered to tell the truth about this incident.
The fact is that many of Schwarzenegger’s countrymen have developed rather strong feelings against him over his pro-capital punishment position. This did not begin with the execution of Stanley Williams, rather it has been a constant source of animosity for quite some time. The protests came to the fore once again in the weeks leading up to Williams’ execution, hence Schwarzenegger sent a formal legal demand that the city remove his name from the stadium, cease and desist any use of his name in the city’s advertisement and he returned the “ring of honour” that was presented to him during a ceremony in 1999 by the city of Graz. Furthermore, this action was to be completed by year’s end.
The point is that Schwarzenegger precipitated this action, not the city of Graz. In fact, the mayor attempted to quell the situation by assuring Schwarzenegger that many of the people of Graz still support him and wanted him to keep the ring. Schwarzenegger refused. Therefore, the city of Graz was required to take the aforementioned actions as a matter of law.
The problem occurred when they actually did the story. Each story was that the city had taken the initiative to divorce itself from Schwarzenegger due to his refusal to grant clemency to the recently executed, Stanley Williams. They went on to say that many of Schwarzenegger’s fellow countrymen had been agitating for this separation for some time now. Not a single “news” story bothered to tell the truth about this incident.
The fact is that many of Schwarzenegger’s countrymen have developed rather strong feelings against him over his pro-capital punishment position. This did not begin with the execution of Stanley Williams, rather it has been a constant source of animosity for quite some time. The protests came to the fore once again in the weeks leading up to Williams’ execution, hence Schwarzenegger sent a formal legal demand that the city remove his name from the stadium, cease and desist any use of his name in the city’s advertisement and he returned the “ring of honour” that was presented to him during a ceremony in 1999 by the city of Graz. Furthermore, this action was to be completed by year’s end.
The point is that Schwarzenegger precipitated this action, not the city of Graz. In fact, the mayor attempted to quell the situation by assuring Schwarzenegger that many of the people of Graz still support him and wanted him to keep the ring. Schwarzenegger refused. Therefore, the city of Graz was required to take the aforementioned actions as a matter of law.
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