Haters Gonna Hate

We got our first piece of fan mail in the comment section of our posting of "An Example of Bad Journalism."  As much as we really weren't in the mood to comment on comments, we couldn't let this one escape without comment.  A bit of background first: In a very small and passing sentence, we stated that we were told that Jean Quan's daughter went to Hayward High and had no friends.  Not a big deal from our point-of-view. And so we get the following comment [Notice how the first statement that the commentator makes is to defend Quan's daughter, Lailan Huen.  We're starting to suspect that this comment was written by Lailan, or one of her very close friends]:

"if you're interested in good journalism, get your facts straight.

lailan, jean's daughter, went to skyline high school in oakland, and was elected vice president of the school, with quite a few friends."

No need to get your panties in a bunch, it was some stoner that told us Jean Quan's daughter went to Hayward High.  But when we checked again with him about her name, he thought Quan's daughter was named Monica Quan, so clearly he was thinking of someone else [he also told us that Monica wrecked the curve for everyone].  Anyway, we made our correction by striking that section out.

The commenter goes on:

"jean consistently asked the hard questions about OUSD's budget while on the school board, but the administrators didn't listen."

What the hell does asking hard questions have to do with anything?  The role of  OUSD Board members is to not ask questions, but to create and form a strategic vision for the district that the Superintend must execute: "[T]he Superintendent shall implement all Board decisions and manage the schools in accordance with law and Board policies."  Quan was on the finance commitee for OUSD and she absolutely helped to engineer its financial ruin.  A reinterpretation of history by the above comment about Jean Quan's role on the OUSD Board only makes Jean look more like an idiot and absolutely not ready for prime-time.

And finally, the commenter concludes with:

"rumors, lies and haters don't build anything; while you hate and spread lies, most of us oaklanders are creating positive change."

First, we don't hate, we don't lie, and we do spread rumors.  Second, in your defense of Quan you are doing exactly what you accuse us of doing: Hating us for writing about the real Jean Quan; lying to us about her role on destroying Oakland Unified; spreading rumors that Jean Quan actually asked a question.  Third, the only positive change Oaklanders are doing is killing one-another off: Now that is change we can believe in!