Before I begin, it’s necessary to confess I was not born with the App gene. Thus, it’s been something of a personal struggle to admit publicly; I still read a door-delivered, print version of a newspaper. I also must, with some embarrassment, say it is unlikely I will ever master Snapchat or summon Uber on my smartphone.
That being said, I recently rediscovered a truth I had subliminally known for years. Within the confines of the non-electronic New York Times or the Kent County News, or Wall Street Journal it’s much easier – for me – to juxtapose the content and messages from different articles, muse over them and come to some macro conclusion. I’ve been known to clip them out and place them side-by-side.
Such a synapse event occurred this past Sunday. I was concentrating on the New York Times, while caffeinating my brain at Evergrain and was struck by the dramatically different appeal of three articles and an editorial:
“Trump Values”, by Frank Bruni,
“No Hope for Syria”, by Thanassis Cambanis,
“A New Map for America”, by Parag Khanna and “Why Americans Can’t Vote”.
Contrast/Compare
The first briefly meditates on the use by the three Republican presidential candidates, of their families. And then, moves on, not surprisingly, to Donald Trump’s five children. After complimenting the four oldest (10 year-old Barron, mother is current Mrs. Trump was exempted) on their intelligence, polished demeanor, well-grounded personalities….and loyalty to Dad, the article narrowed considerably. Its larger message was the Trump offspring’s “… extraordinary dental DNA or serious cosmetic intervention..(concluding)..has any family smiled so gleamingly”? Well, OK.
The second recounts the author’s interview with the commander of a pro-Assad Syria militia who concludes that Assad will prevail in the civil war “…but even so, says the commander, we’ll spend another ten years cleaning up the thugs and warlords on our side.” The journalist’s main message: “…all of this (US and Russian peace talks) misses the central point: Syria one of the most important states in the Arab world (I don’t accept this) has cracked up and no peace settlement will put it back together.” Depressing.
The third is a very thoughtful, well-researched examination of why the 50 state structure of the United States is standing in the way of social and economic progress. Advanced Europeans and Asian countries have already recognized that allocating resources around robust urban clusters avoid leaving smaller, failing cities and suburbs behind.
He makes the case for dividing the US into six regions for the purpose of planning and investing: (1) Inland West, (2) Great Plains, (3) Gulf Coast, (4) Southeast Manufacturing Belt, (5) Great Northeast and (6) Great Lakes. The writer points out that Americans have done this already over several hundred years from the Louisiana Purchase, Pacific Railroad Act, Tennessee Valley Authority to today’s Western High-Speed Rail Alliance and the industry group, CG-LA.
Two regions are cited: The Northeastern Megalopolis contains over 50 million people and accounts for 20% of US GDP while Greater Los Angeles represents 10%. Mind-bending and challenging to deeply dug-grooves of accepted wisdom.
The fourth takes up Candidate Trump’s accusation that the elections are rigged and delves deeper into the situation. The editorial mostly avoids the confusion surrounding popular votes in primaries and selection of Republican convention delegates.
Maricopa County, Arizona slashed the number of polling places for 2016 from 200 to 60 causing multi-block lines and voter departures at the recent primaries. New York does not allow same-day registration. Wisconsin recently changed voting laws that now allow arbitrary rejection of voters and/or requires them to go through three different lines to: show acceptable identification, register and to get a ballot.
The result the editorial concludes is a “…crazy-quilt voting system variously managed and mismanaged by the 50 states and some 8000 local jurisdictions. “ Improvements are possible: on-line registration, early voting for longer periods, modern ballots, i.e. paper ballots, backed by scanners held to Federal standards. Maryland now has these or at least in Kent County.
OK, but so What?
The print and the electron readers of the 4/17/16 NYT could choose to read none, some or all of the 4 articles. Together, they covered a titillating, but not very serious take on Donald Trump’s children reflecting, sort of, on his quality as a dad and deciding the apples fell close to the tree; a biased, unhappy analysis of Syria and the wasted peace efforts of Washington and Moscow; a fascinating, challenging look at restructuring America for limited purposes; and finally a fairly old-news analysis on multiple reasons how/why different jurisdictions have made it more difficult to vote, than it should be.
What we choose to read from news and information sources says something about us. I read the titles first and concluded for me, they defined different priorities of interest and then decided to read them. I would have read the one about Trump’s kids because Bruni is usually amusing, but this time I’m not sure I would have finished it; the Syria piece, I would have read the first paragraph and skipped, because there was little new content and a clear slant without much support; the analysis and suggestion for reorganizing the US into regions (by a Singaporean!!), I would have cut out, read carefully and thrown in a box with years of interesting scribbles and the last on voting problems, I would not have read after seeing Maricopa County.
I don’t think I would have been struck by much of anything if I were simply scrolling down through electrons on my tablet.
Tom Timberman is an expert on military policy and now lives on the Eastern Shore. Among his many assignments with the US Department of State, he has headed a provincial reconstruction team, embedded within a combat brigade in Iraq. He has also helped implement a new counterterrorism strategy in South East Asia as Senior Advisor for South Asia in the Office of Coordinator for Counterterrorism.
Stephan Sonn says
Comfort in habit I gather, especially when the usual assumptions fade.