Morning Quiche

As usual, I won’t have enough time to make sure what I’m saying is coherent as I fumble out a morning post, so bear with me.

Problems with the press. This may as well just become an everyday item. Today’s problem is word choice, which as you can imagine I see as a rather big problem for the press. One issue is the word “slam”. If you go to Google News and search for “slams”, you’ll see the following hits, among others: “Man slams into stopped police patrol car”, and “Indians prospect slams three homers”. I have no problem with these. “Slam” should be a physical occurrence. Even “Thyphoon Nuri slams into Philippines” works just fine. What I have a problem with is “McCain slams Obama” and “Russia slams missile pact”. Definitions of “slam” on the interweb include “the noise made by the forceful impact of two objects”, “a forceful impact that makes a loud noise”, and “when a wrestler throws their opponent to the mat with unwarranted force without going to the mat themselves”. I guess they should add “a lazy, uncreative way for journalists to describe an emotional verbal response” to the list.

A NY Daily News piece that’s covering Mark Spitz’ claim that he could beat Michael Phelps informs the reader that Phelps “shattered” Spitz’ gold medal record by winning eight in Beijing. Spitz won seven. One medal is hardly a shattering. Let’s reserve the use for words with strong meanings for situations that are warranted so that they don’t lose their effectiveness. The English language thanks you.

One collection of words that I particularly enjoyed was a quote from Mike Bloomberg, who was sharing his vision of implanting windmills all over New York City: "It would be a thing of beauty if when Lady Liberty looks out on the horizon, she not only welcomes new immigrants to our shores but lights their way with a torch powered by an ocean wind farm.”

Matt J beat me to TMQ this week, but I will nonetheless predictably endorse your reading it. A convenient link for our extensive readership.

Also in the news in the past few days: the Patriots signed John Lynch, and fans react accordingly.

Peace & Justice in NYC...

Everyone is familiar with the Sean Bell / NYPD Detectives case by now.  For a refresher, about reaction to the outcome, click here.  For a review of the case itself, try clicking here.  CNN having an entire web page devoted to this story says something about the media's fixation on human tragedy, but more on that in a minute.  Finally, for Al Sharpton's response to this tragic event, try this link.

There are a myriad of tragedies flowing from this event.  A brother, future husband and son is dead.  A family has been torn apart.  Three police officers' lives (and in some ways, the entire  NYPD) are also ruined by the acrimony that has been created by this very public airing of all that is wrong in race relations in New York and the country.  Let's face it: if everyone involved in this situation was Caucasian and Harvard-educated, everyone's perceptions would be a lot different.  

Mayor Michael Bloomberg reminded New Yorkers after the verdict that there were no winners in this situation.  He is completely right.  

And yet, I can't help but think that there are many positive consequences that this could have.  First of all, there is an opportunity for community leaders to launch a constructive dialogue to find out how something like this could ever have happened.  Secondly, this can lead to a comprehensive review of NYPD procedures in a situation just like this.  And thirdly, maybe we can actually have a discussion about race in this country.  Not through the skewed prism of a presidential election that is getting more ridiculous each moment, by the way, but rather a discussion that reflects true problems: an inordinate (and unjust) amount of minorities are in jail and an inordinate amount of violent crimes are committed by minorities.  And quite frankly, if we're not willing to have painful, public discussions, then it's just a matter of time before the next Sean Bell.