Re: The Once and Furture Chron

03/04/09 - posted by jb

Hi Sid,

Let me say “welcome to the hood,” as I have not had the pleasure of reading any of your prior posts. For a young man, you seem passionate, yet a bit calloused and harsh. We all may be eating gopher come next Winter and, using a movie as your factual historic point of reference regarding the Zodiac killer investigation, may be tantamount to calling Oliver Stone or Michael Moore the paragons of truth, justice and the American way.

You are right about the physical and hierarchical restraints of newspapers. Clearly, the backpack and laptop are ‘de rigueur’ for most folks under 35 and I respect your disdain for our relics of the past along with your willingness to express and share them: As Bowie writes "all the young dudes, carry the news," and it is sobering to hear the news that some of you 'young dudes' are packing around. I marvel at how young people today are masters at manipulating machines; frenetic, cybernetic pinball wizards slinging iPods, Macs and PCs, constantly connected electronically to the entire world, uttering the subconscious mantra that "knowledge is power."

So I ask that you do me one small favor: read George Orwell's "1984." Cover to cover. No cliff notes or blogs on this one, Brother. Hold the paper pages in your hands and read every word. You may come away with another view of the printed newspaper. For many of us, its eradication is our own "Room 101."