Blogfinger photo. Confusing nomenclature? Does owning the boardwalk allow the CMA to give the inaccurate impression that Ocean Grove is a religious community?
By Paul Goldfinger, editor @Blogfinger.net. 2019.
In the Asbury Park Press article regarding the North End fire cleanup, they refer to Ocean Grove this way: “Ocean Grove, a Victorian town known as a Methodist retreat….. ”
Blogfinger has complained in the past about how the media mischaracterizes our town all the time, from National Geographic, to the NY Times, and to the APP, which should know better.
The media like to imagine that the Grove is about nothing but the religious life of the town, and that confusion often mixes up the name “Ocean Grove” with the name “Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association,” or “OGCMA.”
Such confusion stems in part from sloppy investigative reporting. These media outlets seem to be unaware that there is a secular community of residents in town, and they also rarely explain that OG is part of Neptune Township. The reporters seem to fall in love with the town’s historic origins, and they go down that road without taking the trouble to look around.
The OGCMA does nothing to counter the tendency to use “Ocean Grove” interchangeably with the “Camp Meeting Association.” In fact they seem to promote the confusion. Look at their 2019 summer program guide called “OCEAN GROVE 2019 SUMMER PROGRAM GUIDE” which is almost entirely about CMA activities.
They refused to include our Town-Wide Yard Sale in that booklet’s calendar, and there is no mention of the Jersey Shore Arts Center, Mary’s Place, or any other non-CMA related events, except for some of their advertisers.
We didn’t know what else might be going on in town because they did not solicit any other events to place in their “Ocean Grove” calendar.
In the article about the new three year pledge drive ($1.5 million) the Chair of the campaign refers to “ensuring the spiritual vision for Ocean Grove.” She then goes on to quote the New Testament in describing the “spiritual theme” of the campaign. The official name of the drive is “An American Treasure”—a euphemism for a fund raiser that is not about America or treasure.
Wouldn’t it be more accurate to call the drive, “Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association Fund Raising Drive”–or some other name that makes it perfectly clear what the fund raising is all about?
The use of language to identify this town, its activities, and even its “landmarks” such as the boardwalk should be chosen to provide meaningful, not confusing, terminology.
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DON AND JUAN