Category: general

Of journalism, objectivity and emotion

A rally on climate change was held in Bend Sunday.

For a moment, I’d like you to step back from your personal views on the topic and consider this perspective: You are the reporter, or the editor who assigned such a story.

In some cases, such a rally brings out counter-demonstrators with a different perspective.

In this case, however, there was none. Turnout was … well, we said “dozens,” so let’s say about 50 folks.

So … as reporter/editor, do you go seeking out people with other perspectives to “balance” the story? And if you do, do you include a line or two from them, or scrupulously make the story 50-5o? (On a holiday-weekend Sunday when you are unlikely to be able to reach many of the experts on the other side? Not that anyone at the rally claimed to be an expert.)

Or do you just tell of the rally, how many were there, and some of their views?

(Or say the rally was for or against … new immigration policies. For or against new gun regulations, or abortion, or any other incendiary, one side-never-will-convince-the-other-side issue.)

Or do you not cover the rally at all, because it’s inherently one-sided?

I personally think you report what happened, and it’s as high or low in your lineup of stories as the rest of the day’s news suggests. Then, when people on the other side hold their rally or gathering, you strive to give it similar treatment. Not “equal.” That’s too precise a measurement for messy humans.

We’re not robots. We don’t count words or syllables. If one side in one of these seemingly never-ending disputes is better organized, it’s not our job to help the other side organize – but it could be our job to note, factually, that lack of organization. Right? The loudest voice shouldn’t always win, but neither should the quietest, just because we consider them “right.”

Someone who’s a regular on our Website’s comments threw out the line, “Whatever happened to real journalism”?

I argued that there’s just as much of it out there as there ever was — even more so, perhaps, in the world of the Internet.

What has changed, far more, is for many, is the partisan nature of the prism through which they view journalism.

If a story doesn’t include their perspective, or their favorite caustic stat or antidote to hurl at the other side, it’s not “objective.”

Talk-show hosts get more hours per week than anyone else to rail against the “mainstream,” “lamestream” media — as if they aren’t part of it. Oh no, they are the “balance” against it.

We get complaints, like all media these days, of being on the president’s side. Others, meanwhile, claim some large corporations dictate what we cover and how, and what to ignore.

It seems there’s barely any room for civil debate and discussion any more — in a world of walking on eggshells and avoiding landmines.

Perhaps Congress and the president are so sharply split only as a reflection of a sharply divided nation, with everyone frustrated but the partisans dug deep into their foxholes, ready to fire at anything that moves. (With words, not bullets, of course.)

But I should hasten to add that our goal is to not let the relatively small number of fierce partisans on both/all sides of these tough, complex issues mislead us into thinking that the majority of our viewers and readers agree with them and disdain our work. Because thankfully, there are glorious occasional glimpses of just what the (Nixon phrase warning) silent majority think, and it’s frustration, for sure – but as much with the discussion-hijackers and the flamethrowers as the policymakers and the govt. bureaucrats who are just trying to do their jobs and help folks.

I’ve been at this gig for a long time, and I know how the blossoming of social media has given folks who used to write occasional pithy letters to the editor or complain loudly over the phone a new megaphone in which to try to take over the discussion and verbally beat the other side into submission … as everyone else walks away, frustrated and disgusted.

I just hope and pray that the signal of democracy — messy but vital — isn’t drowned out permanently by the noise of the haters. (I may do a bumper sticker one day: ‘To BLAME is to B-LAME.” That’s my Blame Society slogan of the day;-) Because if all we care about is “winning” and proving the ones on the other side of this or that incendiary issue are not just wrong or misled, but evil incarnate… we’ll all lose. Big-time.

Some would say that ship has sailed, that we’re already lost. I hope and pray they’re wrong.

Moving out, moving in, moving up

OK, what a month June was. Last day ends with a boom and a storm-induced power outage – how fitting, and proud of our weekend anchor/producer Kim Tobin for managing to get dang fine 10 and 11 shows out when it took hours after the hour-long outage to get everything back up and running (a lot of technology at a TV station, folks, and BIG behind-the-scene upgrades are happening this year.)

Ah, upgrades — in the world of tech, they are such very mixed ‘blessings.’ Or as I’ve put it: “Two steps forward, 1 1/2 steps back, 3 steps sideways — and turn out the lights.”

Deb and I are almost through with our month-long move from SE to NE Bend. Why so long? Well, the place we lived in for 10 years was discharged in bankruptcy – by mistake – and nobody told us. The good part of that is, it allowed us, unlike many others, to ‘escape’ an underwater house with too-big 1st and 2nd mortgages and move to a bigger, newer and cheaper house. Two stories, with 16 steps between the first and second floors – did I mention that before? Hmm, maybe I did;-)

Anyway, that was the first of two big moves for me in the past month, bookends to the other “fun” highlight, a combo colonoscopy-endoscopy (which I refer to as the Golden Spike procedure – they meet in the middle, shake hands, give a speech, pose for photos. OK, not really;-)

But the second move – ah, what a roller-coaster ride. A year later than first planned, KTVZ.COM’s Website provider, Internet Broadcasting, moved us from version 1 to version 2 of their CMS (content management system), ibPublish. It’s completely different. And the trick was, we made the move while I fought as hard as possible to keep the front end – what everyone sees – exactly the same. (In large part because folks who make a habit of a Website hate for it to change so much they have to hunt for stuff. We’ve really tried to keep everything simple, logical and obvious — well, out front anyway;-)

But like every big move, in real life or the land of technology, you have to pick up everything you move (well, your movers do) and put it all in the new place, hopefully without breaking, losing or tripping over too much of the stuff, realizing you have too much stuff and vowing to de-hoard and de-clutter as you go. Mighty full, heavy trashcans, and recycling bins, indeed. (I dropped a 1,500-page dumb ol’ Windows XP how-too book. On my foot. Like I mentioned in a previous post, fortunately, didn’t break anything.)

OK, the analogy isn’t perfect, but for the past week-plus, let’s just say that the new version of our Web platform keeps locking up while I’m inside, so I have to force my way out again, and then I can’t often get in (log in) again. And the real fun is that IB as we call it — which partnered with a German company, CoreMedia, for this platform – inherited not one, but two tools to run this show. And they work almost completely differently (cut-paste vs. drag-drop for example) and don’t look anything alike and… it’s the kind of reason I’ve always been an automatic transmission, not a stickshift kind of guy. And a Windows, not Mac guy. Having both would be … disconcerting. So I have been grinding my gears a lot in the ‘backup’ version of the tool, when the better version kicks me out.

The likely outcome of any big move, of course, is that you find stuff you lost, lose stuff you had and hopefully don’t break much (stuff or your feet, for example) in the process.

Was quite glad most folks couldn’t tell the difference after the big switch (the changes in view are pretty subtle). And we happy to get a visit from IB’s great trainer, Fred Olson this week (he provided 2 mighty-fine lunches as well;-) — the IB folks have been putting up with, oh, 3,423 e-mails a day as I battle for logic, simplicity and the things that software should be all about, but rarely is. There are definite pluses to the new and ‘improved’ version — boy, does it post stories fast for example — but alas, like many computer upgrades, I keep trying to move things from the ‘new chore’ category to the ‘time-saving’ category because otherwise I’ll go bonkers.

Oh, and I also rewarded myself for surviving the Month of Change with my first new album purchase in months — the new Maroon 5, Overexposed. Yeah, they are. And the album is quite over-produced in places, too. But there’s enough fun among the somewhat reptitive techno-beats that it’s a worthy addition. (Wish they’d stuck ‘Moves Like Jagger’ on it. Yeah, I know, can play it on YouTube or buy it on iTunes, but I’m not an iPod earbud kinda guy. I like to fill a room with music whenever possible;-)

I also hope that now that we finally jumped to the new mothership for our Website, and are getting more newsroom folks trained, I can take my hands off the wheel once in a while (while always going in to polish the words – hey, edititis doesn’t go away overnight). Then maybe I can blat out my blog (and maybe one day a book? Who knows) about the Blame Society (tentiative subtitle: “How Losing the Middle Ground is Costing Us the Middle Class.”) Some other books have come out of late making the same point, but that doesn’t deter me. The extremes on both sides I deal with in our Web comments drive me to exasperation. But I have to hold my tongue there. Thankfully, the blogosophere makes it possible to be in a closely watched line of business like journalism and still be able to state an opinion. As long as one is careful about it.

So here’s to a happy 4th for all of you, and that with all that rain (sheesh) the Pilot Butte fireworks don’t set the butte on fire this time:-)

The National Survey Survey — Enter to Win! (Or Lose!)

Thank you for responding to this request from the National Survey Association! (Which popped up on your computer screen and won’t go away, so what choice do you have?)

Our research has shown that the average number of surveys the average American encounters in an average month averages 1,034 — up 194.2 percent from our last survey survey, conducted a year ago.

We know you may be feeling overwhelmed with the number of restaurants, utilities, bookstores, gas stations, massage parlors and animal husbandry facilities – among others — who are asking you on a card, phone call or those receipts to please take “a few minutes” of your time to “tell us how we’re doing.” (As opposed to the old-fashioned way of, um, how much of a tip you give or saying something nice (or not so nice) to your server-person, the manager (if he or she isn’t busy reading all those surveys) or a blank-faced embroidered-shirt doofus at the local Big Box.

But you should know that America’s Businesses have become so automated that we don’t believe in face-to-face, voice-to-voice contact. Only numbers count – and the only way WE can count YOU is to amalgamate your views with that of the Public at Large, so we can decide how best to serve YOU! Whoever YOU are.

So please do fill out this very brief, 48-question survey, after providing us the same e-mail address, demographic and income info, blood type and shoe size we’ve asked of you after each of the previous 1,048 times you’ve visited our Website or answered this call, always precisely timed for when you are in the shower or otherwise indisposed.

As for this survey about surveys (which we call ‘The Mother of All Surveys,’ and you’ll soon see why), we promise cross our heart hope to expire shortly that this VERY brief survey will NOT take any longer than 4,263 minutes to complete, after which you of course will be entered in a prize drawing for the Special Gift of Your Choice (a cheap plastic pair of binoculars, gawd-ugly tote bag or compact tissue holder with built-in tweezers).

Oh yes, the questions we’re asking include:

On a scale of 1 to infinity, 1 being “I wouldn’t answer this question if it gave me the last airpack on Mars” and infninity being “I want to marry this store and bear its children!”…. how much do you agree with the following statements?

–My favorite hobby is filling out surveys.

–My sole purpose in life is to fill out as many surveys as possible.

–I enjoy surveys because I hate face-to-face interaction and prefer anonymously praising or carpet-bombing the places I shop, eat, or otherwise must make use of.

–I love love LOVE surveys because I have absolutely nothing better to do with my time. Nothing. Whatsoever. Trust me. Or ask my wife. Wait, don’t ask her.

–I believe today’s American businesses have absolutely no way to find out what I like or dislike other than these online or endless phone surveys that present such leading questions as to stack the answers in the way only masters of spin control can.

–The only thing I enjoy more than filling out an endless parade of surveys is watching Viagra or Cialis ads, with his-and-hers bathtubs and soft romantic music that also leave 4-year-olds across the country threatened with a mouth full of soap for asking, “Mommy, what’s a four-hour erection?”

Again, from the deepest recessed hearts of the National Survey Association (motto: “We haven’t a clue unless you tell us what to do!”), THANK YOU for agreeing to proceed to the following 1,093,426 questions on our survey (hey, it’s been a while) – and we promise to never, ever ask you all these questions again.

Until next week.

Hey, computers can have Attention-Deficit Disorder too!

Whoever you are, have a nice day!

Back to the Future: Loving Magazines Again

A quick note to say how much I love my Nook Tablet (when I can tear myself away from the keyboard to read on it.)

Books? A few. Web? Yep, looks fine.

But I’ve always been a magazine junkie, and had faltered and let many lapse because of my hoarding instincts, and also because of all those pesky renewal mailings, oy did I grew to despise those seemingly weekly nag-mails!

But on the Nook, not only are the magazines cheaper, but you pay by the month (feels cheaper and usually is), and it comes out of your account. No muss, no fuss. (I recently did the same thing with finally re-upping with OPB. Makes me feel good watching every Nova, Nature or Frontline again;-)

Anyway, some mags are smart and make it easy to get the Nook version of their magazines for free if you pay for the print subscription (which I’ll admit feels dumbly redundant but I understand the economics are … unsettled.)

That’s how I get Time, and Newsweek, and Wired. But I’ve also signed on for ones I’ve meant to read — The Atlantic (great long-form writing), Reader’s Digest (which keeps reinventing itself and is just plain fun), and geekfests like PC Magazine (which went digital-only years ago and is looking all tablet-spiffy in its latest redesign.)

Oh, and the last Newsweek, with Mad Men (not a fave show but hey…) on the cover, was completely done in 1966 look, right down to the ads. Mix of new info and nostalgia, so cool!

And I just read my first issue in years of U.S. News and World Report (remember that one?) and while it has a smidge of the light stuff, it’s straight-ahead Washington, D.C. news and … well, it’s a newsmagazine, not one big piece of fluff. Love it.

I told the kind folks at Barnes and Noble there’s just one thing you can’t get on it: The time away from work to enjoy it. But I’m trying!

A Pledge to Reject the ‘Blame Society’

Fear, anger, frustration, disgust — or all of the above?

All of the above is winning in our latest KTVZ.COM Poll about folks’ prime emotions regarding the awful display of partisan bickering amid the debt crisis on Capitol Hill.

How do we break the seemingly endless, for-sure vicious downward spiral of juvenile finger-pointing, breast-beating and general lack of maturity in our politics?

As usual for a reporter, I don’t have the answers. But also like any good reporter, I want to at least help make sure we’re asking the right questions. That we’re not framing the issue the way the partisans on either side of the fight want us to. To at least open the mind to some different thoughts of our own, not those the folks who trout out selected red herrings want us to react – of pure emotion rather than logic.

Some of what’s below is no doubt from the Department of Redundancy Department. And I have little doubt that some will “see through” (heh) my fervent desires and brand me as a naive Pollyanna who loves the idea of a group hug and “Kumbaya,” who doesn’t understand how politics “really” works, etc. I know all the platitudes: “Those who stand for nothing will fall for anything,” “moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue,” etc.

Amazing how we’ve allowed “compromise,” “negotiation” and “moderation” to become dirty words in the eyes, minds and even hearts of too many. That it seems many would rather see the country devolve into civil war than “give an inch” on their “principles.”

Anyway, I pounded this out the other morning after another of those chain-letter e-mails with a pledge to “save our country” made the rounds. If you agree with much of it, great. If it makes your blood boil in “he just doesn’t get it!” fashion, oh well. But it’s from my heart AND my head, and … hope it strikes a chord or two:

A Pledge to Reject the ‘Blame Society’

1. I will not re-circulate every e-mail suggestion for ‘fixing’ Congress – or anything else – knowing that simple answers are for simpletons and emotionally based, feel-good wholesale changes usually are proposals that at least have unconsidered tradeoffs and downsides — not to mention being “dead on arrival” politically.

2. I will honor the Founding Fathers and their wisdom, but not believe they were ‘literalists’ whose every word, deed and writing was to remain unchanged forever more. They did not envision our world, and while their founding principles should always be embraced, to not advance or change to reflect today’s realities would be like hewing to every element of the Old Testament, literally.

3. I will reject extremism in ALL its forms, and will be wary of anyone who claims to have a corner on “the truth you won’t hear anywhere else,” because I know they are appealing to my heart and spleen and asking those to overrule my head, and they want me to believe “our side” has all the answers and good folks, and “their side” is wrong and dumb and evil, their every idea is to be rejected without consideration, etc.

4. I will encourage our elected and appointed leaders to truly consider ALL good ideas – even those from the other side of the aisle – and in tough times to resist engaging in the “he started it!” kindergarten whines that we all should have left behind in kindergarten.

5. I will point out cognitive dissonance whenever and wherever I see it, knowing that while all of us would like to have our cake, eat it too, not get fat and have someone else pay the bill, I left the world of fairytales behind at a young age and should not return to it in my adulthood.

6. I will stop letting anecdotal awfulness — the $1,000 hammer, the wayward cop brought up on charges – color my perception of my government, which like any large enterprise with a huge customer base will never please everyone, and who really does only one thing badly in widespread fashion — getting the message out of the simple, good things it does every day. It will remain in damaging paralysis when those seeking to bring it down or get their person/party in are allowed to paint government as evil personified. Government is a reflection of us and our strengths and weaknesses, and to assign it larger blame – or credit – than it deserves just makes it harder to get anything good done.

7. I will reject extreme “throw the bums out” term limits for what they are – a bid by those driven by anger, vengeance or political opportunism to turn from career politicians to perpetually amateur politicians who can be even more manipulated by career bureaucrats who really pull the gears of government, and lobbyists who are looking out for their companies’ and causes’ self-interests. As they should.

8. I will embrace true negotiation and compromise – not on principles, but on policies – and always call on our elected and appointed leaders to be specific about what they would do and have done, rather than waste our valuable time telling us all the bad things about their foes. Tell us why you are good, not why your foe is bad, because we have a brain and can judge and choose and remember all by ourselves, and the personal attacks and negativity say more about you than it does them. I will ask our leaders to be specific, be detailed and be honest about your proposals, and don’t appeal solely to our emotions or misguided wish for simple answers to complicated problems.

9. I will not  blame every bad thing that happens in my life or the world on our president or Congress (or local elected officials for that matter) and will not give them credit for every good thing, either. Much – in fact, most – of your life is beyond their control, thankfully.

10. I will not take comfort or joy in my foes’ failures or tragedies, will reject the notion that civil war or Judgement Day are things to eagerly anticipate (because our side will be proven right and the others will “get theirs”), and will try to walk a mile in my opponents’ shoes whenever possible. Because the only way to advance as a community, nation and people is to move forward together and leave the bickering for the 5-year-olds in the back seat on a long vacation ride. And just like then, I will be the parent, and when the ‘stop touching me!’ and ‘he started it!’ whines come from the ‘children’ in our ride toward the future, we will be the parent, and say, ‘I don’t care who started it — I’m finishing it!’ And I will cling fervently to the belief, hope and prayer that such a mindset truly is our only hope of peace and progress.

My Words Are My Children

My wonderful wife (my biggest blessing for 28 years now) and I have never been blessed with children. Cats, yes, and they’re great, but… I once in a while think all the many thousands of words and stories I’ve written are my children, in a way, sent out into the world – good, bad, rushed or well-composed – to have their impact and make their way.

And much like kids, sometimes my words and articles do me proud, and other times they turn on me, when I haven’t given them the time and attention they deserve. Fortunately, with words, there can be do-overs of sorts, but on the Net, older versions can live on, so it pays to be careful;-)

I also think of the younger folks I work with – whom I see, alas, far more than my real family, living in other areas – as the people I can affect and influence into the future, bit by bit, answering their questions, editing their scripts (sometimes over-editing, for sure) and just generally showing an insane work ethic and things like that, that hopefully can rub off on them in positive ways as they make their own lives and careers happen.

So through a LinkedIn post I found this – the Tao of Journalism pledge – and it was so nice to see others in this media-blaming, government-blaming world try to find a common set of principles that are simple, not high-falutin and easy to understand. Honesty, transparency, accuracy – the things I cling to, to get by on a harried news day – all summed up nicely.

I hope things like that catch fire, and as I’ve written many a time, that we move beyond the Blame Society and the finger-pointing to find all things we do agree on.

America doesn’t stand for your side ‘winning.’ but listening to the other side, incorporating its best ideas and coming together to move forward. If that sounds like a blowhard politician, so be it. If we lived up to such a mission, rather than paying it lip service, maybe we’d get something done rather than simply know who to blame for what isn’t getting done.

Those who feed on fear, hate and divisiveness don’t deserve your time or attention.  The trolls who grab the microphone to, in essence, spit on those who provides it should be called out for what they are. Those who believe their political side, their view are the One True Way for a perfect society are misleading themselves and being used.

In My Humble Opinion.

Yep, if all of us only hated those who are filled with hate, we wouldn’t have a kumbaya Utopia – ain’t gonna happen – but at least we could have civil, rational discussions about very tough problems.

There I go again, off on the same ol’ tangent. Oh well, even if no one (or few) are listening, it feels good to state it.

Maybe one day there’ll be THAT kind of political movement, and we can get over the idea that any one politician will transform society. It’ll have to be us. And that’s a good thing.

Decisions, decisions – netbook or laptop?

I got my long-awaited new netbook on Friday at Best Buy — a Toshiba NB505. It cost me more than I’d hoped — over $400 with the memory upgrade to 2MB, the upgrade to Win7 full instead of the starter edition.

It’s quite cute. But it does take a bit getting used to the smaller screen and the half-sized shift key.

It’s under 3 lbs and sure … handy.

Then today, looking at the BB online circular (they are closed for Easter Sunday) I saw… a full-sized, HP dual-core (AMD) laptop for… $349. All five reviews so far are five-star (hey, this one was 4.7 stars on average so not bad;-)

So now I get to decide whether to go back and ask to swap or not. At least put my fingers on the other one, or … keep this? I don’t want cute, I want productive. And at max 2GB of memory here, what are the odds of bumping into that, doing what I do? I’m not sure, but typing this post here shows I can sure type fast on this lil guy I call Blue Max (for its blue lid, and in honor of Eugene Kaza, our band teacher at John Adams HS in Portland, and his electric blue violin — he played in the Oregon Symphony, no less.)

But as always, I digress. (Wow, unplug the AC and the screen is half as bright – maybe THAT’s why the power lasts longer, too.) I’ll try to be objective, weigh the pros and cons and … the feel of the choice.

I think one pro for the smaller machine is maybe I’ll take it more places – and blog more often. But my 6-year-old laptop was getting pretty wheezy, so either way, I’m blessed, thanks to my sweet wife and place I work, for being able to do this upgrade, whichever path I take. So a double thanks;-)

Of Typos and Corrections (Glass Houses, Stones, Etc.)

Karma can be a thing of wonder.

Picked up the morning Bulletin off my sidewalk and opened it up to find a P. 1 headline that reads: “How do local kids fair at COCC, Oregon universities?” (Side note: I wish our Web provider would go to downstyle headlines rather than Capping Most Words. But I digress, as usual;-)

Anyway, I chuckled a bit at the prominent typo (they meant how do those students fare not fair) – as I often do when others show they are human, or a group of humans who are not perfect in catching such things (though most of us are always better at catching other folks’ typos than our own. We don’t fall in love with our words, necessarily — but they sure look right to us!)

So I thought I’d blog a bit about the issue today – but before I could get around to doing that, wouldn’t you know but … last night, in writing up a Crime Stoppers story about a stolen painting, I said the thing was 30-by-30 feet.

Whoops.

As one of several article commenters on the screwup pointed out, “30 by 30 feet is a wall.”

Uh, yep. The TV script simply said “30-by-30.” I added the dumb error.

And the other day, in writing up President Obama’s upcoming Oregon visit, I typed “White” but left out “House.”

Heh;-/

Some point out typos kindly, others do so in slamming fashion: “Don’t you have any editors over there?” (Well, yes, but a lot of my online writing is edited by … me. Dangerous, huh?) Or “Don’t you ever use spell check?”

Why yes, but that only goes so far. Spell- or grammar-check wouldn’t catch the wrong measurement term, or the missing word “House.”

For all the technological advances of the world, there’s some things only humans can catch. Or not catch.

So I always try to politely respond, something like “Oy vey, yes, that was bad, sorry, fixed, thanks,” etc.

And many are kind enough to say that, with the volume of words I put out in a day, I do pretty darn well, typo-wise.

To the others, I quote my John Adams High School mentor Chuck Heil’s little coat-lapel button from all those years ago: PBPGINFWMY.

“Please Be Patient – God Is Not Finished With Me Yet.”

You, neither;-)

Before Facebook, There Was the Phone Book

OK, I know, comparing Facebook to the ol’ phone book is a little odd, but I’ll try.

First, a funny image – that of Steve Martin in The Jerk, running through the neighborhood, shouting, ‘The new phone books are here!”

Well, I wasn’t THAT over the moon about them, but let me tell you, few things were a reporter’s best friend as much as those always-growing (til now) collections of pulp with shiny covers. We learned to keep the old ones, because sometimes, people paid the EXTRA fee to get themselves unlisted (see some parallels there to the world of headaches of ‘opting out’ of having your name all over the Web?)

I even wrote stories, honestly, where I tracked the growth of a community – this one – by comparing the previous year’s phone book pages to the new one’s. Twenty more pages, etc. Or look for new Yellow Pages categories, like ‘Internet Service Providers.’ Sometimes they’d throw me off by changing the font size or columns, but tallying the pages was just another simple way to see how fast we are – whoops, make that – were  – growing.

I bring this up in a not-totally-random fashion. Last week, trying to help someone with a potential news story, I used Google to find a name, then someone local related to them. Twice, I thought I hit pay dirt – turning to the phone book, they were listed!

But alas, both were disconnected.

Why? Odds are, because they now live their lives on cell phones, so who needs an old ‘land line’ phone to pay for? The terms ‘boat anchor’ (or even ‘buggy whip’) come to mind.

I do understand. We switched to the cheaper cable-modem version of a land line, but I just can’t quite bring myself to cut the cord, one that’s fed me like an umbilical cord so much news over the years.

But you watch – phone books will start to shrink, unless there’s some societal revolution that tells people they want their cell number to be found in one, communal place, rather than catch as catch can in Internet phone number search sites.

This, I highly doubt will happen.

So is the rise of the cell phone a triumph of privacy, in a way? Spam and junk calls still find their way to them – usually by ‘robo-calls,’ where an automated dialer hits EVERY number. (I have to explain that to folks who call about a scam and wonder, ‘How did they get my number?’ They didn’t – they call EVERY number, in a row.)

But in a way, the future dimunition, even possible demise of the lowly phone book as a place everyone turned to as a place to find your and just about everyone’s name, address and phone number is sad, and perhaps another piece of the loss of community – as we all go our separate ways, for better and/or worse.

And that’s a shame. Not just for reporters, but for those young rascals who used to flip through it, eyes closed, randomly point at a number to call and say, ‘Pardon me, but do you have Prince Albert in a can?” (Rimshot.)

It’s not the kind of societal change many will have heartburn over (unless you work for what used to be THE Phone Co.) But it’s sad, nonetheless. To me, anyway.

I mean, not everyone in the phone book was your ‘friend,’ Facebook style. But somehow, connecting only to ‘friends’ seems a bit … insular. (Especially when people ‘friend’ you on Facebook and you have NO clue who they are, then you are stuck on that dilemma of accepting, rejecting or ignoring.)

(Another phone book plus – no profile photo required. Leaves more to the imagination, which is something we need to cultivate in these days of amazing movie special effects that can outshine our wildest dreams. Besides, if you have a ‘face for radio’ like yours truly, who needs everyone knowing what you look like?;-)

I remember reading of a reporter who used to randomly point at names in the phone book, call them and turn their lives into wonderful features. I know that’s possible, because everyone has at least one story to tell – the story of their lives, which can be as fascinating as any novel or movie.

Yes, you can probably do the same thing online. But it’s not the same – and these days, I daresay, the percentage who would agree to share some intimate details with a stranger over the phone are probably dropping even faster than those old-fogey landline phones.

No, now we share more such details of our lives than ever before – the crises, the joys, the random day-to-day thoughts (such as this!) with people who are our online “friends.” More open, in a way, than ever before, but more closed as well.

Such is the paradox of modern life, I suppose.

The blessed – and ever-shrinking – middle ground

Nowadays, compromise is out of fashion – shrillness, finger-pointing and finding who to blame for our troubles is, alas, the way to go.

I just read a great, reasoned, ‘middle ground’ posting on the still-burning timber/wildfire issue.

I hold such postings precious, because it shows a mind is at work, rather than reflexes (yes, I’d use the term knee-jerk, but calling people ‘jerks’ just goes back to the name-calling, finger-pointing that gets so very old).

President Jimmy Carter was branded as a “waffler” because he refused to take a stand and hold to it, no matter what new facts came into view. That is sad.

President Obama no doubt is getting intense heat already for backing the proposal for a mosque – an education center, really – near, not at Ground Zero.

A former, fired Bend city manager told me once – before he was fired by the council, I recall – that ‘friends come and go, but enemies attract.’ And when you’re the Leader of the Free World, that’s more true than for anyone else on the planet. Everyone can find something a president does to make them mad. Put it all together, and it’s … politics as usual.

We have too few discussions and far too many arguments these days — situations where the debate becomes so shrill, everyone is talking or waiting to talk (or interrupt) and usually so busy getting in their talking points, listening to the other side doesn’t seem to be happening.

Imagine such a discussion going much slower, calmer, the one not talking REALLY listening and even occasionally saying — gasp — “you have a good point, there — I hadn’t thought of it that way.”

I know, I know: Dream on.

Immigration is the grand example of the Blame Society at its zenith. We were the ‘good immigrants’ who followed the laws (bet there were a lot fewer of them those days, too). These are the “bad immigrants,” who are all (there’s the flaw) breaking the law, taking jobs from hard-working Americans, filling our schools and hospitals and refusing to learn English and and and….

Sigh.

Yes, put up a better wall. (How about an electric fence, machine-gun turrets and a moat with gators?) But don’t blame them for our lack of one. And don’t think the images of mass deportation, families torn asunder, etc. wouldn’t hurt our country – not just its reputation, but its belief in what we’re here for, how we’re a bright, shining beacon to the oppressed. Now some want to change the rule that says if you’re born here, you’re a citizen. Is anyone thinking through what that really means, other than that we’re, as usual, “mad as hell and we’re not going to take it any more”?)

Acting out of pure emotion is a slippery slope to … well, we just might find out one of these days, much to our regret.