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August 22, 2005:
ABC:
I do not envy the person who has to replace Peter. He has some
gigantic shoes to fill. Whoever you are I will wish you well.
I will hope just a few things for you. First, respect your viewers
and their thoughtfulness. That respect is what got ABC most of
the thoughtful viewers in the world. To keep them, you must continue
that tradition. Second, respect the English language. Do not
use words carelessly and hurt the language as so many of the
local second rate media people do. Third, respect the news. Do
not report twaddle and BS as though it were newsworthy. Fourth,
develop and try to maintain the same sense of humor Peter had.
Fifth, keep a sense of wonder about all of it. Good luck!
An Example:
An example of carelessness with language happened on our local
news just a day ago. In a tease, they reported that New York
was going to force restaurants to stop serving foods with trans-fats
or some such thing. In the actual report, it turned out that
New York is going to urge restaurants to stop serving food with
trans-fats. There is a bit of a difference between the idea of
force and thee idea of urging. Perhaps they lost their dictionary.
Do Not Call:
Again, the media tells us the list is working. This in the face
of my personal experience which tells me it is not working. I
still get soliciting phone calls on a regular basis. While insisting
that it does work, the media showed us another reason why it
does not work. Even when there is a violation, the law is usually
not enforced. Out of 900,000 complaints only 11 fines were imposed.
The others got away free. Bizarre!
A Distressed Woman:
There is what began as a one woman protest against the Iraq debacle
near the president's home in Texas. The woman wants to talk with
King George about the war and her son's death. Protesting is
in the American tradition and must be accepted. Demanding a one
on one confrontation with the President is simply irrational.
We can understand her distress, but we should not agree with
her demands. It would be silly of George to agree to that. There
are simply too many people who could demand equal time. It would
open a Pandora's Box for the government and do absolutely no
good for anyone, including the woman and her son.
Middle School:
I hear from the media that there are some fools who want to eliminate
middle school from the K12 mess. They say it is too traumatic
for the kids or some such nonsense. They call it the Bermuda
Triangle of education. How stupid! It is inflammatory rhetoric
like that wherein the educational bureaucracy loses all of its
credibility.
Middle school is a tough jungle, for sure. Beyond the few
early grades where I learned to read and write, middle school
was the only place I learned anything else at all. I did not
learn from the teachers. I learned from my peers about how to
survive. I learned how to identify the good people and the bad
and how to deal with both. I learned about lying, stealing, cheating,
and betrayal. It was rough, but also necessary to a kid's full
development. It is all of the things a teacher cannot teach,
even in a good school. It happens between the cracks and the
teachers, whenever they interfere, always get it wrong. That
is because they are suck-up oriented. That is an age period wherein
even the worst of the kids have a better sense of justice, truth,
and reality than the best of the teachers.
Making a Difference:
Most of the rabble believe they cannot make a difference so they
don't bother to do anything. I am just one person and I also
think I cannot make a difference, but I keep trying. Crap! It's
just the right thing to do. Just imagine what might happen if
all of the rabble actually tried to make a difference? If everyone
who thought they could not make a difference would try, the world
would change, perhaps for the better. How could it get worse?
My point is, I'm going to keep on. The rabble, I am sure, will
continue to do whatever is easiest. There is nothing I can do
about that.
People who realize something is wrong and also want to do
something about it probably do not number more that a thousand
people in the whole country. We are essentially powerless. There
are probably a lot of folks who notice something is wrong. There
are only a few who care enough to want to make an effort at change.
In spite of my website, there are none who have contacted me
with ideas, offers, organization, or anything at all, except
to bitch. I get a fair share of bitchers. When I suggest that
they try to make a difference, I never hear from them again.
It is difficult to be polite about people like that. I am really
quite sick of the rabble. Meanwhile the Bush's, the Gingrich's,
the Starr's, the Rove's, and the Kennedy's continue to have their
way everyday. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall
be, crap without end, amen, amen. Damn the rabble!
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