HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-01-11, Page 5International Scene
THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1995. PAGE 5.
`How come you
never print
any good news?'
If you ever want to bug my boss, which is
to say the presiding geniuses and esteemed
wordsmiths responsible for the peerless
periodical you presently hold in your hands
— you ever want to really get their goat, I'll
tell you how to do it.
Invite him/her to a party, give them a
drink or two, encourage them to mingle, then
just when they're starting to relax, cut them
out of the herd browsing around the chip dip,
back them into a corner and ask:
"How come you never print any good
news?"
Newspaper editors hate that question. It's
the equivalent of asking Conrad Black to be
more like Mother Theresa — or asking Hulk
Hogan if pro wrestling is fixed.
Any newspaper editor will tell you, in a
salvo of unprintable words, why newspapers
don't print good news. Because nobody
would read the @#**+! things, that's why.
People, the editor will tell you, are not
going to shell out good money to read
headlines like NO ONE MURDERED AT
THE BUS STATION THIS MORNING
or, SUN RISES IN EAST; EXPERTS
PREDICT WESTERN SUNSET
TONIGHT.
Let's take a look
at 1995
The fall of Russian communism after
decades of cold war rhetoric and the defeat
of Saddam Hussein's forces in the Gulf War
were, if our politicians were to be believed,
guaranteed to usher in a new era of peace
and stability; our century would end on a
high note. Countries would now be able to
concern themselves with the things that
really mattered at home.
The vast stuns of money that had for years
been earmarked for the military could now
be channeled into the peaceful avenues.
Camelot, to take a word current in the
Kennedy era in the United States, could
finally be allowed to materialize.
Somehow that script that was prepared for
us has not been realized to any degree. To
many this will be a grave disappointment; to
the more realistic it will not come as much
of a surprise.
Perhaps we set our sights too high since
we wanted to believe what the politicians
were prepared to tell us. I recall, as a young
student, hearing somewhat the same thing at
the end of the second World War. The
gathering at the formation of the United
Nations was convinced that this organization
was destined to be instrumental in ushering
in an era of peace. Yet only a few years later
the Iron Curtain had become a reality and
the cold war was underway.
My first job after completing my
education was to take part in a vast training
program for aircrew for the various
European members of NATO, the defensive
alliance formed to counter the Russian
threat.
It is true that we do not have a major war
in the offing. However, we have learned that
Readers like to think that they would
enjoy reading an All Good News paper, but
in fact, as all cynical journalists know,
people really want to read about blood,
mayhem, graft, corruption, scandal, sex and
anything else we can find in the saddlebags
of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
That's what newspaper editors believe.
That's what I always believed too. Until I
read about the Dubuque Experiment. Now,
I'm not so sure.
Dubuque, Iowa is a city about the size of
Guelph, Ontario. It sits on the border with
Wisconsin on one side, the rest of Iowa at its
back and Illinois to the south. Like most
American cities, it has had its share of racial
violence, including a series of cross bumings
by those thugs in bedsheets who call
themselves the Ku Klux Klan.
Naturally, such activity translated into a
field day for Iowa newspapers. Lots of stark,
bold, scary headlines. Plenty of Bad News.
But then an Iowa artist by the name of
Tilly Woodward decided to do something,
well, artistic about the situation.
First, she distributed more than 3,000
nomination forms to citizens across the state,
asking them to nominate people they knew
"for acts of kindness and goodness." Three
hundred and 38 people filled out the forms.
Woodward then interviewed and
photographed the people who were
nominated, went back to her studio and
turned the photographs into a series of 90
pastel portraits. Those portraits have been
displayed on billboards, in churches and in
there is such a thing as "ethnic cleansing", a
concept that has already started to spread to
such places as Rwanda or perhaps it has
sprung up in each place independently. It is
an idea whose time, unfortunately, has come.
I do not wish to leave the impression that
the world is a bad place and not getting any
better. Rather it is not a place, that has
thrown off evil ways and is bound to get
better. You can go through a history book of
a thousand years and find that at the
beginning of this period there are complaints
about the same things as there are at the end.
Each generation is more indolent than the
last, morals are going to hell in a hand-
basket and corruption is rampant, and so on.
What it does show is that human nature
changes with glacial speed and the media,
with a penchant for the negative spectacular,
tends to concentrate too much on this and
overlook the positive.
If you look and listen carefully you will
find that there are any number of activities
that contribute to a positive picture. You
could write a book about the good deeds of
the Salvation Army, the Red Cross or the
fearless group of French medical workers.
"Medecins sans Frontieres," all of whom do
countless acts of kindness and courage
without making use of a press agent.
You could talk much more about the
children of Chernobyl who have come to
Canada for some badly needed rest and
relaxation.
You could also dwell at length at the work
of Jimmy Carter who, in spite of much
public opprobrium, has demonstrated that
there is life after the White House.
1995 will see such deeds continue; the
year will also see advances in medicine. It
will surely see countless examples of
personal achievements over all kinds of
impediments. It may be the year that you
hear about the United Nations' successes in
prodding governments into carrying out the
schools around Dubuque.
What sort of heroes did Iowans choose to
honour? Nobody glamorous. As the artist
Woodward explains in an essay that
accompanies the drawings, she "wanted the
project to recognize the daily acts of
neighbourliness on which communities are
built, but that often go unacknowledged...It
was my goal that Portraits of Dubuque
would help people recognize one another as
individuals, and better enable people to
recognize human goodness."
Which is why there are no spectacular
sagas of drowning rescues or people rushing
into flaming buildings. Instead, it honours
people like Florence O'Brien. A
grandmotherly figure with a cap of white
hair and a face like a walnut. "Sends cards"
it says beneath her portrait.
There is also Marcus Kelly, a pleasant-
looking pre-pubescent with a shy smile.
"Sacked leaves" reads his citation.
Pat Scott, a warm looking matronly black
woman, got into Portraits of Dubuque
because she "Gives food to the needy".
Bill Hesse made it because he "took scouts
to Pizza Hut."
You get the idea. No Hollywood heroes
here. Just ordinary, everyday people like you
and me, except that once in a while they're
inclined to do those small, unheralded things
that tilt Life ever so slightly towards the sun.
Doesn't have to be much. Me, for instance,
I think I'll buy my editor a coffee. Double-
double, just the way he likes it.
And you?
relatively simple changes that keep children
in poor countries alive.
You may hear about the success of Jim
Grant, the director of UNICEF, who is
attempting to reduce the incidence of brain
damage in children by giving them iodize
salt. When he gets invited to lunch by the
president of a country, he takes some of the
salt on the table, pulls some testing
equipment out of his pocket and, if the
resulting test is negative, berates the host.
That has a higher rate of success than any
number of speeches.
In short, 1995, or any other year before the
end of the century, will see its share of
achievements and it will also see its share of
disappointments. Perhaps the politicians
should concentrate on these seemingly
mundane things instead of flooding us with
lofty platitudes.
Looking back
Continued from page 4
Thompson singing a solo, and Miss Bessie
Moses reading a chapter from the
Remembrance book.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Brewer of Brussels
narrowly escaped injury when the Nassau
Beach Hotel they were staying at burst into
flames.
At the Listowel Arena the Canadian
Figure Skating Association held dance tests.
Michael Kernaghan and Karen Mutter
showed their expertise in The Dutch Waltz,
Canasta and the Swing Dance.
The inaugural meeting of the village
council was held in the Brussels municipal
office. Reverend Braby addressed the
council.
The official opening of the $737,423
addition to the Huronview home for the aged
was delayed five months because of a
shortage of electrical supplies.
A 1962 Chevrolet Sedan could be
purchased at McCutcheon Motors for
$1,495.
The
Short
of it
By Bonnie Gropp
Will there be justice
for their pain?
I'm sure we all remember A5lam.
It was many years ago, now, that we first
heard of the little boy who had been
kidnapped from a mall in Florida, only to
learn shortly after that he had been found,
decapitated, in a ditch.
As a young parent I could imagine the
terror that Adam's parents experienced at the
time of his disappearance and the days
following. The agony of first wondering if
he was in pain or frightened, what he was
enduring, then dealing with the hideous
outcome. When the reality of his last
nightmarish minutes were unearthed it was a
horror I didn't believe anyone could survive.
Adam's parents, however, found, the
strength to go on and an even greater
strength in telling Adam's story, bringing
increased public awareness to the problem of
child abduction, molestation and murder.
They sought information, details and
knowledge then made their private agony
even more public in a television movie.
Reliving the horrendous ordeal this way,
may have seemed an unnecessary hell to
some, but to them the need to tell it was not
only necessary, but therapeutic.
That the story of Adam got our attention is
not disputed, but how much does anyone
need to know?
There have unfortunately, in the years
since Adam's murder, still been too many
times when I have wondered how people can
go on, after learning so much about a loved
one's untimely and unseemly end.
This spring, the trial of Paul Bernardo
begins. The change of venue announced last
week takes it to Toronto, an issue that is a bit
contentious to the parents of at least one of
his victims. The mother of Kristine French is
disappointed that the trial will be held so far
from their home as it will make it difficult
for them to attend.
I admit to feeling a bit surprised by this.
Many stories exist, some real, some
exaggerated I suppose, of the fate of Miss
French and Leslie Mahaffey, another of
Bemardo's alleged victims. There has been
innuendo of heinous acts and unspeakable
depravity committed against these two
young girls prior to their death which, as
someone not appointed to discover the
murderer's guilt, I would as soon leave
hidden.
That they were the victims of a monster is
obvious enough; the specifics of what he
inflicted on them is not something I relish
knowing.
Yet, in this instance as in others, the
people closest to the victim seem to feel
differently. Another example is a family
member of one of serial killer Jeffrey
Dahmer's victims who actually asked him
details about how her brother died.
Perhaps it is a part of the grieving process,
to learn every aspect of the animal who
robbed them, even to the point of reliving
their loved ones' last minutes and to
ultimately follow the course of justice, at
least that's the hope.
Perhaps it is a tactical move; I would
presume that the staunch presence of the
grieving throughout the trial would help
ensure the defendent has little sympathy
from the jurors; but from where the fortitude
to do this comes I can only imagine.
Either way, many are offering what they
can to help the victims' families attend the
trial if they choose. If they do, I pray that.
they find some peace and that there is justice
for the pain they have and will endure.
Arthur Black