Gerard Manley Hopkins: In the Valley of the Elwy

May 23, 1877

I remember a house where all were good
   To me, God knows, deserving no such thing:
   Comforting smell breathed at very entering,
Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood.
That cordial air made those kind people a hood
   All over, as a bevy of eggs the mothering wing
   Will, or mild nights the new morsels of Spring:
Why, it seemed of course; seemed of right it should.

Lovely the woods, waters, meadows, combes, vales,
All the air things wear that build this world of Wales;
   Only the inmate does not correspond:

God, lover of souls, swaying considerate scales,
Complete thy creature dear O where it fails,
   Being mighty a master, being a father and fond.

[Poems (fourth edition) ed. W. H. Gardner and N. H. MacKenzie, 34.]

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 05/23/03 10:12:55 PM
Categorized as Literary.

More Deception From an NYT Columnist

Maureen Dowd, this time.

Brendan Nyhan tells the story at Spinsanity, yesterday:

An outrageous new falsehood is circulating about President Bush. Last week, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd misrepresented a Bush statement to imply that he said the Al Qaeda terrorist network is "not a problem anymore," and the distorted quotation has since been repeated by MSNBC "Buchanan and Press" co-host Bill Press, CNN's Miles O'Brien and others, including numerous foreign press outlets. At a time when the New York Times is under fire for its conduct in the Jayson Blair scandal, Dowd's creation of an exploding media myth is cause for serious concern....

Critics have every right to object to Bush's statement if they believe it mischaracterizes the threat from Al Qaeda. But they also have a responsibility to accurately represent what the President actually said, rather than repeating Dowd's distorted quotation. The New York Times - and the other outlets that have disseminated the myth - should let their readers know the full context of Bush's statement. The rapid spread of this myth is yet another sad commentary on the state of American political journalism.

Nyhan details how Dowd's misrepresentation has spread all through the media, both newspapers and television. This reminds me of the old epigram: A lie has no legs and cannot stand, but it has wings and can fly far and wide. This is true in the Internet age, perhaps, more than ever before.

Here is something I ponder every once in a while. Have you ever noticed how falsehoods, misunderstandings, and inaccurate rumors spread on the Internet more quickly and more persistently than any attempt to tell the truth, supply the correct understanding, or rectify the rumor? Whole websites exist just to debunk "urban legends" — a phrase which has become, effectively, a catch-all term for lies, misunderstandings, inaccurate rumors, serious hoaxes, and silly pranks. Like most people, I get e-mails all the time recounting urban legends as true. And, like most urban legends, they were debunked months ago, if not years ago.

Why are things like this? I think it is because ours is a fallen race, and we love falsehood more than truth, even if we don't know it's falsehood.

P.S. Here is what Dowd wrote about the president's speech:

Busy chasing off Saddam Hussein, the president and vice president had told us that Al Qaeda was spent. "Al Qaeda is on the run," President George W. Bush said last week. "That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated," he added. "They're not a problem anymore."

And here is what Bush actually said, May 5:

Al Qaeda is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly, but surely being decimated. Right now, about half of all the top al Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem anymore. And we'll stay on the hunt. To make sure America is a secure country, the al Qaeda terrorists have got to understand it doesn't matter how long it's going to take, they will be brought to justice.

Maybe it's Dowd who was Jayson Blair's hero. ;)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 05/23/03 08:43:51 AM
Categorized as Media.

Will the "Class of 1984" Be Graduating Again?

Interesting analysis by David Yepsen in the Des Moines Register yesterday:

The 2004 Democratic presidential campaign is taking on the trappings of the 1984 contest. There's a glut of candidates - eight then, nine now. They're starting to spend much of their time traveling from one debate to another courting different party constituencies at these political "cattle shows." ....

It all means Democrats, who are so fond of remembering 1992 when a sour economy undid the first President Bush, should also remember the history of the Class of '84 - the year they helped undo themselves. By letting a campaign become little more than a grinding cattle show, they may move too far to the left. Front-running candidates can become nothing more than the targets of the lesser candidates, who try to elevate themselves by bringing down those most likely to become the nominee. Leading candidates often can't respond in kind for fear of alienating the supporters of that minor candidate in the fall campaign. Everyone's stature is diminished and phrases like the "Seven Dwarfs" start being tossed about. It's hard for anyone to break from the pack without saying far-out things such as "I'll raise taxes" or "I'll halt weapons production" - statements that have a way of winding up in GOP attack ads....

(Thanks, Ryan.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 05/23/03 07:52:42 AM
Categorized as Political.