The ‘Venom’ Is Directed Against ‘Us’ but It Is Not Spiked!

This week I plan to ‘behave’ so I can have the honor of being published between the green covers.

Last week, as you might have noticed, I was spiked. Don’t ask me why, as many did, but feel free to address those who make the decision. I am putting it out like this to see if they dare publish this article.

I don’t go out of my way to say what they don’t like. That is if I really know what they like or not.

The only thing that seems certain is that if I write about ‘us’, the precious words are gone. If the venom is directed against ‘them,’ then I get billed in high relief — if at all possible.

These days it is fashionable to trash America, with or without reason. I don’t go for that. I will say what I believe regardless. In addition, I am a firm believer that journalism is about us and not the other.

If I wanted to know about the latest tidal waves, I’d watch television, where everything is live and fresh like a coy shoot of spring asparagus. In comparison, printed press is like a stinkhorn. People read papers to find analysis and knowledge, which is not exactly information. They read opinion, wait for a story to be broken, and at times gloss the classifieds.

There is another function: To blow one’s horn and to trash one’s adversaries. That, to be sure, has its people and masters.

We have a big problem around here: We want to be part of the world, but on our own terms. That is not possible. We are not the world, and the world is not us.

However, there are basics that people adhere to and accept. It is called the lowest common denominator. If we want to have newspapers, we should stick to the basics of journalism. You’d think that is a given. Not around here.

Here’s an example from real life. An applicant who was sitting for a test went to the headman and complained that the questions were changed. The official asked him how he knew what the questions on the previous test were. The young man refused to say. What was obvious is that he had bought them from some charlatan and now has the audacity to come complain.

In a nutshell, that is the malaise of this place. Everyone is above the law, everyone is special, everyone is right, and everyone makes the rules to suit him or herself. We have reached a point where the lowest common denominator shared by the citizens is that we all actually breathe. That is not good enough if we really want to engage the world and each other. Our logic is warped, our discussions are shouting matches, our excuses are whimsical if not unreal, and our newspapers are predictable.

One more word about this censorship business: If you think I get to know about it before others do, you are wrong. Like any other reader, I have to wait for Thursday’s edition to find out.

You see, we have even lost our inherent Bedouin courtesy which, at one time, included an advance crier sent by the invading party telling the next tribe they are about to be invaded.