I am beginning to appreciate why my friend no longer watches the news
In 1897, Adolph S. Ochs, the owner of The New York Times, created the famous slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print," which still appears on the masthead of that newspaper today. Adolph was concerned about impartiality when he set down that dictum for his staff and even today, 126 years later, it might be something our media commentators might want to consider. Not only the impartiality but maybe a little in-depth research and a little truth would go a long way.
The problem with doing a little personal research is sorting the chaff from the grains – that would be the grains of truth that are left after the revisionists have corrected history. And it may be a little presumptive to think that the history that was written was unbiased. It will be interesting to read, in a few years, what will be writ large – if anything - about the Rota/Hunka Debacle – and compare that to the reams written even as the events unfolded.
And I say personal research because who knows where the commentators – professional and armchair – are getting their info. One cannot or ought not to believe everything one hears, reads, or even sees on the screen.
Within mere minutes, it seemed to me, the old Ukrainian was called a Nazi. Then that he fought with a German unit (all who were assuredly Nazis as we found out at the Nuremberg trials). Eventually, we and the talking heads discovered that the Galician division of Ukrainians was cleared enough to be allowed into Canada after the war. But while this was happening people, political and religious groups, associations, universities, hospitals (ours), and social media gurus were piling on. I think we called it a ‘toad pile’ when we were kids, but these toads had no warts of their own. Of course, one dare not go back too far into our histories less one finds a black sheep, and all our good deeds are wiped away.
Conveniently forgotten or glazed over in dissecting Yaroslav, was the history of the war ending in Europe, when our former ‘ally’ the Russians, were transitioning to our new enemy. General Montgomery and even some American generals wanted to push Russia back to her pre-war borders but the head honcho by the name of Eisenhower said nay. The thought was that some elements of the German army (not the SS Waffen) would support this idea, hoping to keep the old homeland free of Russians, who were more than a little ticked off with the Germans. One wonders what the present day would look like in Ukraine had that happened. We, of course, would have missed the Cold War.
While the debacle was happening in Ottawa, other news that was fit to be printed involved the Speaker of the House: why didn’t Rota step down, and resign immediately after he gave his apology? Knowing full well that the House of Commons cannot carry on business without a Speaker (or the standby speaker who must be fully briefed on the business before the House) (see the mess in the US as I type) the news writers ignored the business of the day which included our scuffle with India, the housing crisis, the Thanksgiving turkey deadline given to the food moguls, and the absence of the PM and his late apology to Ukraine and the World.
All of this was only the news that was fit to print yesterday and in days long past. Soon to be forgotten will be these small incidents such as throwing a politician and an old patriot under the bus. This weekend Hamas attacked Israel, Iran erased a few more dissidents, missiles rained down again in Ukraine, the US House of Representatives squabbled, a cyclone dumped rain in India, a homeless person in North Bay erected a tent in the wrong place, kids had to wear swimsuits under their hockey gear, and turkeys breathed a sigh of relief as the futures market for Christmas butterballs plummeted.
And, how about them Blue Jays?
I am beginning to appreciate why my friend no longer watches the news before bedtime. Tomorrow will be another day and we can read all the news that is fit to be posted. Just saying.
