Yoo-hoo Chocolate Drink (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Steve Mensing, Editor
♦There’s truth in the cliche that “records are made to be broken”. The last three days’ record numbers of views and shares by the RFP article “Brutal Knockout Game in Salisbury a Growing Menace?” came as an incredible shock to our staff and myself. It never crossed our minds when we posted that article that IT would be read much past our county. As of yesterday afternoon this article not only roared past our interview with Kenny Lane, the former Salisbury Police Officer, the new record holder rolled up thousands upon thousands of views not only here in Salisbury and Rowan County, but in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America.
“Brutal Knockout Game in Salisbury a Growing Menace?” not only eclipsed the Kenny Lane Interview (somewhere around 450 Facebook shares) it has brought fire from the skies as far as Facebook shares go. The new record setting article no longer records numbers like 2,000 shares. The article is now recording 4k+ We’ve entered the heady Facebook share turf of USA Today and the New York Times. The viewing and sharing numbers are still piling up this morning on “Brutal Knockout Game in Salisbury a Growing Menace?” I suspect, judging from the mounting pattern of views and shares, the article will race past 4K+ to 6K+ and above. The staff is in complete awe of the sudden and immense uptick in global readership.
Should the Rowan Free Press Open London, New York, Tokyo, and Paris Bureaus?
We thank our growing legion of readers throughout Salisbury and the county. And now it includes those who globally follow the often daft “closed information society” in downtown Salisbury and its injudicious use of disinformation and spin to pitch an economic non entity Central Office at 329 S. Main. And let’s not forget its vividly weird attempt to block a major “steal” for all of Rowan County when they purchase the Salisbury Mall. Yes, they will turn the Mall into the Rowan County Government Plaza at around 1.7 million dollars. And that area of Salisbury will be gleefully economically impacted. (Yoo hoo. Downtown Salisbury, other people matter)
We’re amused that even a few attorneys were panicked by disinformation about the court system being moved to the Mall. We’re not surprised by the fear mongering on Main Street Salisbury about the area’s tiny shopping base suddenly melting away. While the fear has no real basis, it demonstrates the level of disinformation among a few downtown merchants. On Monday the misinformed will vent to their fears about the Mall during the public commentary period. Be certain this public display will anger potential county shoppers and serve to stymie any thoughts of making the drive to the Main Street area. Protesting the Mall this time of year can be quite counter-productive. County taxpayers do not like their school dollars being wasted on the myth of economically impacting a few blocks of Downtown Salisbury especially when most county residents do their shopping on the internet or they flee the area to drive to Huntersville, Afton Ridge, Concord Mills, or Winston.
Somewhere the drums are pounding out the message in the Fiji highlands and along the headwaters of the Nile: “Rowan…Free…Press…Brutal…Knockout…Game…in Salisbury…a…Growing Menace?” Salisbury is becoming world famous overnight. Yo–the KO Kapital of da world! Salisbury can thank thousands of Facebook sharers and emailers for their FREE branding. There’s an old marketing adage: “Even bad publicity is good publicity.”
The Knockout Game is just another reframe for bullying. Someone needs to explain to the latest generation of aggressive dolts that people are not merely “put to sleep” by a knockout–they get brain lesions from concussions and their skulls can be fractured by bouncing on concrete. Yes–these Knockout Game assaults kill people.
The article attracting all the attention:
http://rowanfreepress.com/2013/11/29/brutal-knockout-game-in-salisbury-a-growing-menace/
Here’s the former title holder for most views and shares ”An Interview with Ex Salisbury Policeman: Kenny Lane Speaks Out”:
http://rowanfreepress.com/2013/05/19/an-interview-ex-salisbury-policeman-kenny-lane-speaks-out/
Photograph: “3D at the SCV” by Bob Zeller, noted 3D Civil War Photographer.
