Friday, November 25, 2005

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

So, I'm reading today's paper - The Sacramento Bee - and I'm all prepared to write about the good, bad, and ugly. Only, I can't find much good out there.

I suppose it's good that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has come clean, he actually wasn't a pro baseball draftee. But wait, that bad. It means he has been lying for four decades about this. And it's just plain ugly; why would anyone lie about something so easily fact checked.

Then there's the Ice Study. Apparently greenhouse gases are the highest they have been in 650,000 years. Now that's bad and ugly. But then again, it's good we know it now. Maybe this sort of really bad news will spur us into action to make changes for the better.

Finally, there is Romania which is denying that Mihail Kogalniceanu base has ever held U.S. al-Qaida captives. Now, that sounds a little like good news. But then again, it's pretty bad when we are talking in any capacity about secret detainee bases under U.S control isn't it? And, ugly doesn't begin to describe the mere thought that our government would be doing very bad things to other humans, regardless of what they are accused of.

I guess the point here, and there is a point, is that all news can be looked at from a variety of perspectives. Even obviously bad or ugly news can spur us into actions to improve a situation.

I am a daily newspaper reader, in spite of the fact that I spend lots of time online. The paper gives me the luxury of mulling over the story with my partner. We take time to discuss the issue, and I find I'm more likely to followup in some way. Reading the news online seems like such a solitary event.

What are your thoughts?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't really see much good out there anywhere these days.