It has come to mind that the rules of reporting have changed. For a journalist to complete a news story, the answers to the questions Who?, What?, When?, Where?, Why?, and How? needed to be answered. Now, the goal, apparently, is to frame the story as bad guys and good guys, bring in lots of confrontation, contention and opposition, and to wind up the viewer/reader until his or her head explodes.
Reporting is tough. When I was on the job I had to write an incident report. My story opened at 7:05 AM, when a woman, wearing dark sunglasses and sitting low behind the wheel of a black Cadillac, roared past a stopped school bus, just as children were preparing to disembark. Near catastrophic. Close call. Dangerous driver. The suggestion of an immediate arrest was advanced.
Another witness challenged my report, by suggesting the driver was a young woman in a beige Ford station wagon, with kids, no doubt in transit to drop them off at school. The bus had slowed, but not as yet stopped, and the bus driver had waved to the station wagon driver to pass. Potaato – Tomaato.
In all fairness, it was tough to know whose report to believe. That of a ten-year-old Junior Safety Patrol assigned to the bus, or the bus’s forty-seven-year-old driver. Tomato-Potato. The report review hearing was swift and concluded with me being asked to turn in my Safety Patrol belt and arm band, arbitrarily and capriciously reducing me to a fifth grade civilian. In those days, misreporting had consequences.
Hey! Wait a minute. They’re not doing anything
Elected officials always speak at a lofty level, and only on lofty issues. War in the Middle East, war in the Ukraine, war off the coast of Venezuela, war in Chicago, war in Seattle, war on subways, war in most universities. We are winning. We are losing. Not sure whose side we are on, as consistent and universal views and opinions do not reflect human nature. Reports from the front are conflicting.
All I know is that we finally found a solution to differing perspectives driven by nationality, race, religion, snobbery, economic class division, and political party affiliation. Mankind is now classified by one of two colors, red or blue, and differences play out only on social media. Good stuff. No longer do we carry the burdens of examination of facts, situational understanding and underlying morality. We just find our designated color, and chime in, “Yeah! What they said!”.
One by one, members of Congress, members of the Administration, members of the judiciary step forward with proclamations, describing the opposition in only the most vile and vulgar terms. Action will be taken, a bill will be authored, an executive order will be written, and the judiciaries will fully support their color of choice. Brisk fist shaking and saber rattling all around. Then, as the headlines die down and no one is listening; recess, adjournment and silence follow.
And as they speak in dialects of rabid ideology, while maintaining quite normal blood pressure, results are constantly checked. Area streets are still pothole riddled, my neighbor’s kid is still not very bright, my property tax bill is up another 10%, food shopping is a lesson in supply and demand economics, and I can only pray my old Chevy truck holds up for another year because, Lord knows, I could not afford a $70,000 replacement.
Can I affect change? Can I challenge the system, find an honest politician beyond an oxymoronical phrase? Can I call my elected representative to right a wrong, or at least find a sympathetic ear… that is attached to a human and not AI? I do not have time to protest in the streets. George Soros in not hiring in my zip code. No news station is dropping by to conduct an interview regarding my hopes, dreams and desires. Nope. All I can do is vote, and I am not even sure that matters, as a dozen whining people in the street seem to count more than a thousand ballots.
The world, politics, social media would all seem quite dire… if only I gave a crap. The truth of the matter is, I’m too busy. I have tangible projects that will carry into winter. My youngest granddaughter is very excited about being in college. My kids and grandkids, other family and friends are all healthy and doing well and non criminal in nature. And a big ol’ hawk just swooped down in front of my office window and turned a feeder sitting goldfinch into an explosion of yellow feathers. Neato.
Joe, with all of the above , I concur ,especially about the hawk !!
Nature can be quite stunning.