Tone deaf.

It must be difficult, being an identifiable NYTimes writer, to really grasp the flavor of the times. Your salary, and notoriety, and the media circles you move in, surely insulate you from a lot.

Paul Krugman's column today, I definitely agree with the conclusion:

" Yes, the worst terrorist attack in our history was perpetrated by a foreign conspiracy. But the second worst, the Oklahoma City bombing, was perpetrated by an all-American lunatic. Politicians and media organizations wind up such people at their, and our, peril. "

Isn't he really saying:
Beware in the coming days, media types starved for original content, drawing a link between Dr. Tiller's killing and the cold-blooded shooting of a Washington D.C. security guard. They'll try to convince you of their vast right-wing conspiracy theory.

That we should worry about some uprising of violence, in a 21st century pluralistic country that recently elected the son of a white Kansan and a Kenyan man who met as students and created their own new, personal reality in their son Barack. It's a beautiful story, not the least diminished by voters who liked him enough, but thought it was not wise to put an untested first-term US senator with so little experience and questionable political background in the highest executive office. During wartime, and roosting of economic results from feel-good legislative bipartisan politics of eras gone by.

Mr. Krugman is absolutely right in that closing paragraph, that without innovation, the media too -- like so many long-term workers in dying/transitioning industries -- can be expected to cling to their past ideas and ways of doing business, before learning to adjust to new, fresher challenges in the marketplace. Beware!


Thus, we'll see hype (because it's such an easy fear to create, really) -- that the actions of one (captured) 80-something-year-old man threaten us all. Or even a demographic subset of the population. (I'm going to go out on a limb and predict underlying mental issues, possibly dementia in addition to the noted physical deterioration that was crippling his mind)

That the actions of one (also captured) alleged lunatic in killing a doctor who apparently had been receiving threats for years somehow currently represents the hidden hopes of the pro-life movement, ie/church-going, conservative Catholics. Because somehow, fear of a black president translates to Johnny getting his gun, and up and killing these cultural targets.

Nevermind that such random killings go back to the days of young Nicholas Corwin and the mentally unbalanced Laurie Dann. Remember reading of them? I do. The schoolboy's death then was just as painful as the recent killings, and probably, just as unthinkable, just the same call for justice, just the same quiet weakening cries of "why?" that somehow are never satisfactorily answered... Tragedies happen.

Now, I'm no NY Times columnist. But I do know they've probably got 3, maybe 4, people analyzing this current "trend". And they'll probably have some experts to quote telling us it's all in the sociology of the times, the economy, the wars, the generational shifts, etc. all combining to created the "perfect storm" of societal division and violence.

Nonsense. With equal representation of competing voices (and I don't mean set asides, just honest acknowledgement that there's way more to American folks than the NYTimes can cover), Americans can weather these tough times. We can disagree, even on some mighty weighty issues, without resorting to conspiracy theories or linking the violence of unrelated individual acts.

As the economic security nets fall because of lack of popular financial support in coming years, I'm sure we'll have heated debate about citizens' responsibilities for the care of one another. Or maybe some will object too, even if we decide it is necessary to cover only the most vulnerable amongst us...

If Israel attacks Iran to destroy potential nuclear weapons, surely we will have honest disagreement about America's role, or non-role, in financially backing that action. As the years pass, and our troop committments in Afghanistan and Iraq stagnate and possibly grow, surely we will need to talk openly about foreign aid committments abroad -- and perhaps the need to triage our financial support, again to the most vulnerable -- and hopefully, earning us the most efficient payoff for our contributions. (When the bucks are tight, you learn to go for the most payoff in the bang for your buck. I think the last administration missed that, and this one is content to just ... carry on, in the spending department.)

To summarize, it's summertime. I like to peruse the topics of the day, spending a bit more time if there's something of substance. Then ... it's out the door and onward with the day.

Still, we all can have our lazy summertime moments, free association, what if? thoughts ... to check our own internal fears at the random happenings of the day. But let's not get carried away, and impute our own musings to any trends, conspiracies, or even detectable patterns.*

I mean, it's not like we're in WWII and we've elected Chas. Lindbergh president or anything.** :-)



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* The current murder rate in Chicago: now that's a proven pattern, sadly, often striking the most vulnerable. But few media calls to track or fear that.

** I kid, because I like.