Archive: Opinions

Americans love to have things done quickly.  We seem to be in a rush for instant access to goods and services.  The faster things happen the more we hope to accomplish in the time we saved on the previous task. 

But this is certainly not a new phenomenon.  As a child growing up in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, things did happen quickly.  There was instant coffee, instant oatmeal, instant rice; okay we actually had minute rice, and instant pudding.  We had drive-up tellers at banks and a few fast food chains.

News reports, whether from television, radio, or print, were still bound by the age old constraints of time.  In Endwell, NY, our household received two daily papers-The Sun Bulletin, our morning paper, and The Evening Press, delivered in the late afternoon.  Each paper offered news that was as up to date as possible.  We received the news almost as quickly as it happened with Walter Cronkite or David Brinkley interrupting our favorite TV programs with important news updates.  I guess you could say we were on the 12 hour news cycle. 

Today’s definition of instant approaches the limits of the speed of light.  We receive news as it happens from official news sources as well as individuals’ phones, blackberries, ipods, and other hand held devices that will make my laptop obsolete before I finish this article.  Reports from the battle field are live, sent via wireless devices and often unedited.  This is a far cry from the battle field footage captured on film and then sent by air mail for audiences days or weeks after the event

Earlier this week, newsmakers focused on a story about Shirley Sherrod.  She is an African-American woman employed by the US Department of Agriculture and stationed in Georgia. During a speech she gave last March, she mentioned how she had overcome her own prejudices and helped out a white farmer many years ago.  She came to terms with her past and moved forward realizing that poverty, not race, was the real culprit for many small farmers.  

Unlike instant oatmeal or pudding, instant news does not always make for good news.  Ms Sherrod’s speech had been edited by a conservative blogger who distorted her message into one that championed a deliberate racial bias against the poor white farmer.  This was then placed on the internet with some surprising results.

Rather than check the accuracy of this internet posting or the blogger’s website, the USDA, fearing reprisals from the media and negative backlash against the Obama Administration, demanded Ms Sherrod’s resignation.  The NAACP reacted along similar lines distancing themselves from this African-American woman as well.  

Careful analysis and common sense soon revealed that Ms. Sherrod was not a racist bent on revenge.  Rather, like most public servants, she was an honest, hardworking, conscientious employee serving the needs and interests of an average American trying to make a go of it. 

Everyone involved shares the blame.  First, blame falls on the conservative blogger who cleverly manipulated certain passages and phrases from the speech to suit his political and ideological agenda.  Secondly, the press corps receives a slap on the hand for jumping onto the story without doing their homework to verify the authenticity of the story.

Add to the list the NAACP and the USDA for reacting much like children at a playground shouting match.  Finally, the finger of blame lands squarely on the White House staff and President Obama.  They seemed more concerned about their image and the November elections rather than the reputation of a conscientious government employee. 

Most of us are taught to pass judgment after careful analysis of the facts.  The media had somehow forgotten to check the facts before running with a story with the hopes of landing highest ratings for the night.   Every evening, cable news shows provide an entertaining array of political analysts and experts who spend most of the allotted time shouting at one another rather than addressing the issue at hand. 

In the early 3rd century, a noted Christian writer living in Alexandria Egypt offered these words from a work entitled, The Teacher.  “If two people are engaged in conversation they should speak in measured tones.  Yelling and shouting is what idiots do.”  How little has changed since the year 215 AD.

I often think about the two daily newspapers that used to be delivered to my parents home.  It was real news, reported by real reporters, something I would call fair and balanced.   And that is to the point. 
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