Shame HuffPo

While I mostly blame cable news for ruining constructive debate in our country, there are definitely on-line news sources that are doing their part. I have seen Huffington Post a number of times, and it always enrages me, present a headline and even a description of someone's talking points that is incorrect and needlessly inflamatory.

In this example, HuffPo says that Juan Williams is saying unemployment benefits weaken regular work values. But in watching the video, I don't see Williams saying that at all. He says that when a person chooses to stay home instead of work, it erodes their work values. And while he might acknowledge that some people are incentivized against working by the extension of unemployment benefits, I don't see him accepting that argument at large.

I know that as Democrats we like to think that only Fox News distorts what people say. But clearly, that isn't the case.

What I Read

Atlantic has a recent feature where guest writers are describing what they read. Since most are journalists, the entries are pretty similar and focus on which news sources they read. But it seems like a fun exercise, if not a little narcissistic, so I thought I would give it a go.

I always read on my train commute to and from work - but that time is my time; I only read for pleasure and not for work. What I read then varies though. It could be one of the many books I am reading, or one of the magazines I subscribe to.

My book choices vary between non-fiction (something related to, or a mix of, history, current events and policy, including anything by Samantha Power, And the Band Played On, The Power Broker, Team of Rivals, Omnivore's Dilemma, What is the What, and Development as Freedom) and fiction (Murakami, Achebe, Paul Auster, Neil Gaiman, Frank McCourt and since I started at my current job a few children's books that are easier to read after a long day - ie Lightning Thief / Percy Jackson).

For magazines, I subscribe to National Geographic (which I love - great pictures, great animals, great politics / history!), New York Review of Books (great but I can never seem to stay on top of it), and Atlantic Monthly (which I am always debating whether to continue that subscription).

When I get to work, I spend a little bit of time throughout the day checking out local and national newspapers and blogs. I always check Liz Benjamin's blog at the Daily News as soon as I get in, along with the Observer and NY Post. I also check the main page of the NY Times, Wall Street Journal (even though most articles are subscriber only), and Washington Post. Later in the day I will probably check out Huffington Post, The New Republic, Atlantic, the Economist, Foreign Policy, and Slate. Basically, I am looking for as much objective analysis as possible, with as little liberal commentary as possible (and basically no conservative commentary - so no National Review or Weekly Standard).

Surprisingly enough, I don't read much outside of these two times (downtime at work and my subway commute). If I ever lose that commute, I'm not sure when I'll read for pleasure.

Nat Geo: An Amazing Thing

I finally realized that National Geographic is the most amazing magazine ever. So I subscribed. Here is what I have been reading about:Rural health workers in India (The article describes an amazing program that is using women in the lowest caste to improve health in the poorest areas.), King Herod as architectural genius (and brutal although its unlikely that he killed all newborn children as the Gospel according to Matthew claims), historical artifacts being looted in the power vacuum of the West Bank, right whales, bee-eaters (some of the most beautiful birds in the world, we saw them in Zambia - check the pictures and see for yourself), Neanderthals (did they exist at the same time as humans?), beautiful ancient Persian archeology in Iran, bush meat trade threatening primates, a good article about giant asteroids and earth, mountain gorillas in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and caught in the middle of the conflict as well as a profitable charcoal trade, two really good articles on the American West - one on fires the other on drying and droughts, coral reefs, black pharaohs (from Nubia) of Egypt, Hazaras the long-oppressed minority group in Afghanistan (I had never heard of them before reading Kite Runner, and so this article is great), and an article about the Sahel (border between the Sahara and the tropical areas of Africa) where the author was held prisoner by the Sudanese government and I think he will win a Pulitzer Prize for the article.

My favorites are probably the articles about the health workers in India, the Hazara people in Afghanistan, the story on the Sahel, and the gorillas in Virunga. And I am a sucker for clear pictures of whales.

You can see why I am so excited. And this list is from only seven of the year's issues. Amazing. Basically it is a perfect blend of articles on history, international affairs, and animal species and the environment. Oh yeah, there are pictures too.

Goodbye

I saw Tim Russert once at a Borders in the Maryland suburbs. He was putting out copies of his book Big Russ and Me. I didn't approach him. I didn't say hi, I didn't tell him how much I liked his show. I just stared from a short distance. I watched as an elderly woman asked where the cook books were. He laughed a bit and said he didn't work there. Then I watched as a slightly awkward man did what I wouldn't; he told Tim Russert how much he admired him. And Mr. Russert gave him a big smile and thanked him. I am resistant to talking to famous people. I generally believe that they don't want me to interrupt them while they are trying to live their private lives. I don't know if that is right or not, but I do regret not saying something to him that morning.

I was on vacation with my dad and brother when I heard the news of Tim Russert's death and I am surprised how much it affected me. I think I am saddened for two reasons, one selfish. First, I am sad because it seemed that he was such a genuinely nice and excited person. Since his death, stories abound of his love of politics, Buffalo, his Dad, his son, his wife, and his faith. To see someone so full of life and joy die at a relatively young age is heartbreaking.

But selfishly I am upset because of the void that he is leaving. Tim Russert was great at his job, and his job was extremely important to our democracy. He had the absolute perfect blend of smarts, hardwork, on camera presence (although not in the traditional sense), and geniality. He did what most other interviewers say they do - he asked the tough questions of all the big names in American politics. He did it in a way that wasn't combative, so people couldn't be excused for dodging questions and responding aggressively. And because he worked so hard and because he was so smart, he could bring up old quotes from politicians and try to catch them in their hypocrisy.

I must admit that I didn't watch the show as religiously as I wanted to. Many Sunday afternoons I would think about what I did that morning and wonder if it was worth missing Meet the Press. The bottom line though is that I didn't make it part of my routine. But at least I drew comfort knowing that the show was on and that some politicians were being grilled about their positions.

The only possible comfort I can take from this is that maybe Tim Russert's death will allow people to fully realize what we are missing when he is gone. In doing so, we might search not for one replacement, but for many replacements. Maybe we'll lose one Tim Russert but gain a dozen people just like him. I imagine that's what he would want.

Looking Back, and Forward

Today, the first blog that I wrote for officially closed down and took me off its list of members. Granted, I haven't posted there since the summer, it is still a little bit said. As I was saying goodbye to Restless Mania though, I remembered that I wanted to write about why I blog and what I think blogging is.

First, I want to talk about what I think blogging is. If you hear any journalist talking about it, you will undoubtedly hear her or him say that blogging is poor quality and miserable to read. I get the feeling that many journalists think blogging will replace traditional news media if they don't point out that it lacks the same standards. Any journalist who says this is clearly missing the point and should be ridiculed for being so out of touch.

The fact is, blogging covers a very broad range of the writing spectrum. True, there are some, like the Smoking Gun or Deadspin, that are attempting to give modern journalism a little competition. Their standards for what they print are a little below mainstream journalism, but based on their success they are serving a need in the market.

Many other blogs serve mainly as political commentary, and here is where the variation really becomes obvious. The popular blogs, like Daily Kos for example, serve as a fresh voice in politics. For whatever reason, they have attracted large audiences; maybe it is the frequency that they post, or the ability for the reader to engage the writer and other readers, or maybe it is just that their message resonates. But these blogs certainly cannot be dismissed.

At the other end of this spectrum are blogs like mine. I, like many others I assume, write not because I think I am better than the journalists that dismiss me, but because I want to engage in dialogue. By looking around the blogosphere, you will see so many people engaged in this giant conversation. It is as beautiful and real as any debate you might encounter at a cafe, around the dinner table, or in the lunchroom.

I read one criticism from a journalist that said blogging is usually people just writing down what they think right then at that moment. The argument was that the writing and thought process was too sloppy to be taken seriously (I admit that I rarely take the time anymore to review or edit my posts). I completely disagree because I don't think blogs need to be perfect. When I debate with friends and family, my arguments are not always perfect. But that is why I debate in the first place - so that someone can point out the problems in my logic while ignoring how well I am speaking.

Blogging works in the same way. By publishing what I think and feel on important issues at that very moment, I am inviting criticism and critique. I do this on purpose because I think I need it. Socrates thought of himself as a gadfly, someone to stir people up and make them really think about their beliefs. I write because I hope my ideas can do that to other people, but also because I want other people to do that to me.

I have to admit that I have been disappointed that more people don't call me out on issues. I thrived on the debates that I had on Restless Mania and wish I could have that back. I have to understand though that not everyone devotes the time to this that I do. So I will continue to write, leaving my words out there to be challenged at some later date by someone who sees flaws in the reasoning I laid out at that moment. And hopefully, someday soon, journalists will realize the beauty of all of the conversations taking place in the blogosphere and encourage others to engage instead of dismissing the unpolished nature of the writing.

Kristof and Iraq: A Follow-Up

Nicholas Kristof wrote a really good follow-up post to his column about coverage of the Iraq War (yes, Kirstof has a blog). That column has forced me to do a lot of thinking about how I interpreted news from Iraq after the invasion.

My original position was that reporters tend to report more about violence than they do stability and that this gives an overly negative view of the war. Kristof does recognize this, but here is what he says:

But that said, the basic narrative from reporters in Iraq in the last few years has been that security and sectarian violence is worsening, while the basic narrative from the administration has been that things are getter steadily better and that the reporters are exaggerating. To me, it sure looks as if the reporters got it right.

At the time I didn't trust that reporters were being unbiased. What I realize now is that maybe I should have had a little more faith that those covering the situation in Iraq would have reported that there was stability had it existed. Good journalists want to report accurately about the overall situation they are reporting on, and if they are talking about increased violence, I should probably be quicker to believe it.


Note: I replied to a comment on Kristof's post. I couldn't resist.

For Macie and LEM

Kristof has done it again ($). This time though, it isn’t about genocide. His column is about early reporting of the Iraq War that described the violence and the potential for Civil War. I must be honest that I was also one of the people that ignored the early reports of escalating violence. I was desperate for Iraq to succeed because I wanted to see a relatively stable democracy develop in the Middle East. I hated the argument that Iraq was incapable of being a democracy and thought success here would prove that it could exist anywhere.

I need to give some credit where it is due, mostly to my friends that had said for a long time that this war was a mistake and that this would happen (Macie and LEM to name two). As soon as reports came out that Iraq was wrapped in violence, they brought this to my attention. And when they did, I told them they were ignoring the good reports and I said that things would settle down.

While I do admit that I was hesitant to hear the bad news even as it got worse, I still maintain that there were points when good management of the war could have made this more successful. I think if there had been more troops and we were able to maintain stability early on, we might have avoided the civil war that appears imminent. I must also recognize that part of the reason I cling to that belief is that I am an optimist, and I don’t want to admit that democracies cannot be helped along by foreign involvement. I believe that everyone wants some level of freedom and no one really wants (or needs) an oppressive regime like Saddam’s.

With that said, we do need to learn something from this example. Creating a new democracy is obviously a difficult mission and can end up with us leaving the country worse that when we found it. We must be prepared to use significant troop presence over long periods of time if we are to be successful. Since we are probably not prepared to do this, we should avoid nation-building scenerios like this one in the future.

What I am afraid of though is that this (similar to Mogadishu) becomes proof of why we should not ever get involved in other country’s affairs. Iraq was clearly a mistake, but there are other situations that could use international intervention and will not require long term troop commitment (Darfur, Somalia, Lebanon / Palestine). The Middle East (and Africa) has a violent past and present, but there is good we can do to protect defenseless victims and help the region move forward.