Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Sun Valley Dispatch, No. 1
It’s quite early for vacationers here in Idaho, 6:08 am. I suppose I’m still on my CST internal clock, as I’m usually awake if not up by this time.
So far I haven’t seen much in the way of news. I heard about the $67.1B local telephone merger. I’d be interested in knowing what the actual benefit to consumers was 1, 3, and 5 years after super-mergers. The pat response is to say that mergers will allow for better customer service, lower prices, and benefits to the consumer. But who has measured that? Has anyone followed up on any of these promises?
Watched a little bit of the Oscars. Glad to see “Crash” took top honors. A meaningful conversation about race is one of the top 5 on this nation’s to do list. However, as long as it is led by polarizers, apologizers, and talking heads the conversation will never occur. Instead we’ll get what we have now—inflamatory and feel good anecdotes that bolster arguments, but never lead to real progress.
The nice thing about “Crash” was in how it gave you the perspective of everyone’s feelings on race. You understood where everyone came from. How the cop came to be an abusive racist was heartbreaking as well as instructive. Changing societies for the better doesn’t always lead to 100% positive outcomes. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to continue to better ourselves. It means we need to think harder about taking care of those anecdotal occurrences where good people end up being punished for doing good things.
Today, more skiing. The snow is thick and lumpy, and we’re expecting another 1-3 inches of powder. Some people are complaining about it. Me? I say it’s better than working….
So far I haven’t seen much in the way of news. I heard about the $67.1B local telephone merger. I’d be interested in knowing what the actual benefit to consumers was 1, 3, and 5 years after super-mergers. The pat response is to say that mergers will allow for better customer service, lower prices, and benefits to the consumer. But who has measured that? Has anyone followed up on any of these promises?
Watched a little bit of the Oscars. Glad to see “Crash” took top honors. A meaningful conversation about race is one of the top 5 on this nation’s to do list. However, as long as it is led by polarizers, apologizers, and talking heads the conversation will never occur. Instead we’ll get what we have now—inflamatory and feel good anecdotes that bolster arguments, but never lead to real progress.
The nice thing about “Crash” was in how it gave you the perspective of everyone’s feelings on race. You understood where everyone came from. How the cop came to be an abusive racist was heartbreaking as well as instructive. Changing societies for the better doesn’t always lead to 100% positive outcomes. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to continue to better ourselves. It means we need to think harder about taking care of those anecdotal occurrences where good people end up being punished for doing good things.
Today, more skiing. The snow is thick and lumpy, and we’re expecting another 1-3 inches of powder. Some people are complaining about it. Me? I say it’s better than working….
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