CSotD: Juxtaposition of the Era
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Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal puts a spin on a tired observation and voila, everything old is, well, still pretty old but newly commented upon.
Now, certainly, the fact that we have Shakespeare doesn't mean we can't relax and enjoy some lowbrow entertainment once in awhile. As the Dad here says, he's earned the right to sit in a cardboard box from time to time.
Though I'm not sure that simply becoming old is how you do that, and, for that matter, the saying "There's no fool like an old fool" argues against it. It's not only possible to spend your entire life sitting in the box, but I'm not convinced you'd be unusual for it.
One part of the Juxtaposition being that CBS This Morning has hired Liza Donnelly as a contributor, which is a good thing for her. As I said yesterday, it's a good thing when any cartoonist makes some money.
And Donnelly is one of the more thoughtful cartoonists around, so it's a good thing to expose her work to a wider audience.
I guess my hesitation is based on my reluctance to equate a wider audience with one that has more depth.
Morning news shows have been sliding the news further and further into the background for some time now, and it's pretty clear they'd rather bring out the Pickle Queen for some delicious new recipes than sit down with Antonio Guterres for an in-depth discussion of the refugee crisis.
In fact, that cardboard box wasn't big enough, such that NBC has turned the Today program into the All Day program without any appreciable increase in actual information being provided.
Personal Disclaimer: Back in 1972, CBS Morning News sought some entertaining diversity by adding a five-minute segment in which Marya McLaughlin discussed some aspect of the news with a puppet. Or maybe there were two puppets, it hardly matters.
It was about as awful as it sounds, particularly given her stature, but the memorable part was that it came on at the time when the alarm on our TV went off, so that the segment was the first thing my then-pregnant wife heard each morning at the very depths of her morning sickness. This did not make the repartee any easier to take and McLaughlin's voice wound up on that random list of permanent nausea triggers some women compile at such times.
This may have prejudiced me against attempts to, as the quote in the above linked story puts it, bring "a visual component to stories that doesn’t exist in our space."
In any case, I'm glad CBS is adding Liza Donnelly but let's see how it plays out, because sometimes they tell you they're bringing in Jane Goodall when they're really hoping for J. Fred Muggs.
(And the fact that the Today Show posted — rather than attempting to suppress — this link ought to give one pause.)
Further juxtaposition of the cardboard box …
Our willingness to accept less than rigorous scientific reporting is the topic of a lengthy but worthwhile graphic piece at the Nib by Maki Naro.
In my work with kids, I've tried to report interesting science stories with a bit of perspective, differentiating between small studies and definitive findings. As it happens, I've recently stumbled across an interesting resource in that pursuit, which is Britain's National Health Service, which offers intelligent, readable breakdowns on health topics.
How I came across it was in seeking sources for a recent, widely reported study that showed the dangers of cuddling a kitten, and which the NHS site not only refuted but ridiculed.
We could use more of that, and it's important to note that the NHS didn't object to the study but to the incompetent, irresponsible reporting of what it means. God knows we're capable of being stupid enough without the active aid of major news outlets.
Scientific journals have their own credibility issues, and Naro only touches on a small aspect of it. But as news outlets cut staff and, in particular, cut senior reporters in favor of less expensive rookies, the combination of incompetence and click-hunger does not bode well for our ability to tell when we are reading Shakespeare and when we are just sitting in a cardboard box.
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