Don’t trust the media.
Question everything. Be a little skeptical of accepting information exactly as a media outlet, individual or organization presents it to you. Really, corroborate what you read in the Pulse if you’d like. Compare it to other sources. Our proud but modest publication is but a single voice and perspective in our complex world.
The free press has held a revered and important place in the establishment and functioning of the American democracy, and I intend to do what I can to defend free speech and the rights of the press and individual expression.
“The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state,” said William Blackstone—a Brit, but a defender of freedom.
Thomas Jefferson wrote that “were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” (He also said that he desired a public “capable of reading them.”)
Our current president calls the media the “enemy of the people.”
Doesn’t that upset you, Mr. Newspaperman?
Well, thanks for asking, but I tend to agree with him there. I am pretty confident that he is not addressing me personally with his comment, and strongly agree that the mainstream cable “news” outlets and media conglomerates, overall, are not doing quality work as far as reporting and journalistic integrity are concerned. The focus of those large mainstream media outlets can be very, very narrow, and I have long believed that the cable news outlets and many prominent media operations have very little relation to capturing and presenting an accurate depiction of life in Middle Tennessee.
Please, look at a variety of information sources. If you pay too much attention to any one media source, however large and slick and “professional” it may appear, and only that source, I have deep concerns you’re not getting a full picture of what’s going on around you. Read it all. Especially publications and online outlets that may not serve simply to reinforce your pre-existing beliefs. Check out Mother Jones and InfoWars, The Atlantic, New York Times, Breitbart and Huffington Post; be aware of what’s in the Gannett products and the Tennessee Star, pay attention to Vanity Fair, Daily Kos, ProPublica and WikiLeaks.
A very happy birthday to Bracken Jr.! My boy turned 10 last month, and in July we celebrate Sarah’s birthday. We had some fun activities in June—the Mayos did a little exploration of Mammoth Cave and took in a couple of great Nashville Symphony performances at the Ascend Amphitheater, including the Cirque Music show, which mixed some impressive acrobatics with beautiful symphonic music, as well as an appearance by musical funnyman “Weird Al” Yankovic.
Al sings of “Word Crimes” in one of his humorous parodies, inspired by sloppy social media comments and addressed to those who can’t write in the proper way, who don’t know how to conjugate.
I think it’s a good time, To learn some grammar . . . I hate these word crimes, Yankovic sings, encouraging those who continually disregard the basic rules of English to go back to pre-school, get out of the gene pool.
Sure, some possess strong speaking skills and a well-rounded education without equally strong written communication skills, but in general there is good reason to believe that if someone doesn’t make the effort to properly spell simple English words in their writing, they are probably fairly loose with the truth in other regards and haven’t made much of an effort to thoroughly research whatever topic they are so passionate about that they take a few seconds away from dinner to slap out a misspelled and confusing comment on.
Late in his life Jefferson went on to write: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
So, Weird Al, Thomas Jefferson and I request and expect those who would like their written communication to be publicly available to show some respect to the English language and to the truth.
