|
N *E *W * S
NMB, Florida December 26, 2001 A.H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.
N * E * W * S
If my elementary school education hasn't failed me, the word NEWS is
composed of the compass directions North, East, West and South. Information
from these Four Corners of the world brings us news of what is happening
there. When it just happens it is new - when we learn about it, it is NEWS.
The news is not all bad in these days after Christmas 2000. Of course we
have to be careful about the fighting that is about to erupt between
Pakistan and India. Indonesia is unstable. We have to be wary of news of
other nations "getting it on". Nothing seems very serious but you can't
really tell. The news is just that - something is happening on the other
side of the world and it is reported to you in the NEWSpaper.
Now, the self- destructive Israelis and the Palestinians have not been
reported daily for a while now so we do not know what is new there. The news
will certainly be reported if there is a Palestinian killed or maimed
because reporters and photographers are always on the spot to pass the NEWS
on to us instantly. The Israelis have not caught on to the trick of making
the most of this kind of publicity. They do not revel in death and
destruction quite so openly. With a minimum of fuss they clean up the mess
(according to strict laws) and quickly bury the victims. Equally quick is
their retaliation. We have great NEWS pictures of masses of angry
Palestinians carrying aloft bodies to the place of burial with much noise
and threats.
The NEWS out of Afghanistan is all about mopping up mines, the attempts of
a new government to get started and WHERE IS OSAMA? It is not NEWS when we
speculate that he got away clean some time ago. The NEWSmakers are still
trying to put him in one of the caves that have been bombed into oblivion.
What would be NEWS would be to have the Muslim nations, in the spirit of
Ramadan, declare that Israel has the right to be a nation. Further, that
they will stop training guerillas to send into Israel and stop the Intifada
and stop referring to the US as the "Great Satan" and sending terrorists to
sneak attack us. That would be N * E * W * S.
Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.
|
 |
|