Day: February 25, 2018

Jake Tapper is trying to build a career off of being confrontational. The problem with being confrontational is that it can create the impression that you are entering the ‘interview’ with a position contrary to gaining information. You are, in fact, looking for a gotcha moment. You are looking to expose someone in some way on national TV. Scott Israel went on TV this morning to explain to the public what happened during the Broward County School Shooting. Tapper was, in a sense, following the age old tradition of going for the most visible leader and trying to take them out in order to get fame and show that it is the responsibility of the top guy always when anything goes wrong in the organization. Jake Tapper wanted this guy to lose his job. Jake Tapper didn’t care whatsoever that the people directly responsible for the failures were immediately suspended. He wanted the head of the king.

“Of course I won’t resign” said the Sheriff. I nearly applauded. The Sheriff answered every question evenly and to the best of his ability. He was openly assaulted and questioned on every aspect of his job and made to seem like he was highly incompetent. In fact his responses and explanations show that he was anything but incompetent. He moved to address anyone and everyone directly involved who screwed up. Moreover he started an after action report to further analyze how we got here.

It has become political trade to attack the highest leader/official of any group who has something go wrong. CNN lives in that world and it honestly makes them hard to identify with. I cannot watch them and feel I’m getting a straight answer. Meanwhile, I cannot watch Fox News because they’re spinning a singular point of view with no regard to truth or reality. So, where do I turn to get information that is not distorted to one ideal?

Nowhere.

The problem now is that if you want to be informed you have to work at it and the majority of us are too disinterested, too busy, or just too lazy to put in that effort. As a result we get a version of the truth that conforms to what others with a clear agenda want us to believe. That only sows divisiveness and creates conflict designed to further the profit of those creating the conflict.

I’m fat on bbq potato chips and cups of water as I sit here in my office on a Saturday afternoon. Usually I’m coming or going at this time–drawn fly-like to a sporting event my kids are competing in. No such situation this weekend, and the temporary lull has me feeling that we need more such lulls. I love sports. I love watching my kids compete and excel. The running around is less loved. The buying food out every weekend eats at my wallet like a tapeworm. Still, there are far less chips on the road.

Fact: I haven’t left the house but once all day.

I used the brief excursion to get those chips. Later I’ll pour some wine, drink it, and probably have more chips. Its a problem that feels a little like the moment before hibernation are said to feel. I am fattening up not for the winter but for the week. I ought to be grading and writing and being absurdly productive, but the desire in my heart extends so far as a cup of coffee and maybe filling up the fountain in my room.

This is not healthy. On Monday I expect I’ll swing by the new gym and sign up–some post new years effort to try to get fit that will meet the slow death that also awaits me should I continue to consume at this pace. Things can go better. They can turn around and I can eat healthy. I enjoy the healthy eating. However, it is far easier and more accessible to junk out. So, that is what I do. I suppose that means lazy remains a key part of the problem.