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One of the less great things about moving back to North Carolina from Washington is that reading the local newspaper, in particular the editorials and opinions section, is usually about as useful as poisoning one's mind by watching Faux Noise regularly. Yes, it really is that bad, usually.[1]
Usually.
Sometimes, though, there will be a column by Leonard Pitts, Jr. These columns, such as the one that ran in today's paper, are breezes of fresh air in the otherwise stale miasma that usually permeates that part of the paper.
I was going to copy/paste some choice quotes from his column for today, but when I found myself almost just copy/pasting the whole thing, I figured I'd scrap that and just say "Read the whole thing" instead. It's not all that long.
I don't always fully agree with Mr. Pitts, but in this case I do.
Oh, and speaking of Faux Noise as I mentioned them earlier, Mr. Pitts wrote a good, though somewhat depressing, column about them as well.
[1] - I do like reading fiction, though, and some of those super-religious/super-conservative people who write in letters to the editor are very good for that purpose. It's kind of like reading something horrifying like Stephen King or H.P. Lovecraft, but in bite sized paragraphs, instead of sprawling novels.[2]
[2] - Actually, I should probably take that back, as I don't want to insult Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft by comparing their fine works of horror to the typical, banal Republican/Tea Party letter to the editor. They are often just as scary, though. The only difference being that King and Lovecraft really are just fiction, whereas the horrendous things that so often appear on the editorial pages of the newspaper represent the actual beliefs of actual people. That's even scarier, truth be told. I guess it's more akin to reading Youtube comments or something than a King or Lovecraft novel. Hell, Youtube comments are often more horrifying than those novels as well. (Unless, of course, Poe's Law is coming into play here, and I'm just being duped by a bunch of satirists writing blatant overblown parody as letters to the editor, but I somehow doubt that this is the case. That thing is that there are people out there who really are that stupid, which is the scariest thing of all. [It's why we have a Republican majority in the Senate now, after all.])
Usually.
Sometimes, though, there will be a column by Leonard Pitts, Jr. These columns, such as the one that ran in today's paper, are breezes of fresh air in the otherwise stale miasma that usually permeates that part of the paper.
I was going to copy/paste some choice quotes from his column for today, but when I found myself almost just copy/pasting the whole thing, I figured I'd scrap that and just say "Read the whole thing" instead. It's not all that long.
I don't always fully agree with Mr. Pitts, but in this case I do.
Oh, and speaking of Faux Noise as I mentioned them earlier, Mr. Pitts wrote a good, though somewhat depressing, column about them as well.
[1] - I do like reading fiction, though, and some of those super-religious/super-conservative people who write in letters to the editor are very good for that purpose. It's kind of like reading something horrifying like Stephen King or H.P. Lovecraft, but in bite sized paragraphs, instead of sprawling novels.[2]
[2] - Actually, I should probably take that back, as I don't want to insult Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft by comparing their fine works of horror to the typical, banal Republican/Tea Party letter to the editor. They are often just as scary, though. The only difference being that King and Lovecraft really are just fiction, whereas the horrendous things that so often appear on the editorial pages of the newspaper represent the actual beliefs of actual people. That's even scarier, truth be told. I guess it's more akin to reading Youtube comments or something than a King or Lovecraft novel. Hell, Youtube comments are often more horrifying than those novels as well. (Unless, of course, Poe's Law is coming into play here, and I'm just being duped by a bunch of satirists writing blatant overblown parody as letters to the editor, but I somehow doubt that this is the case. That thing is that there are people out there who really are that stupid, which is the scariest thing of all. [It's why we have a Republican majority in the Senate now, after all.])
