Perspectives:Perspectives: Sam’s Perspective – Police Blotter

I’m Sam Jones.  If you are from these parts you will already know what I’m talking about.  This is actually for the folks passing through.  A business trip or a  stop over at a local hotel or motel,  maybe a family visit.  First, welcome to Oklahoma.   If you’re spending the night, I do  hope you wake up refreshed and rested.  Traveling can take a lot out of you.  If you haven’t turned on the television in your room,  there is something you need to know about the area first. Regardless of what the tv folks will try to sell you,   we don’t live in fear.   If you do choose to watch what passes for local television news you will soon discover that at first blush, it appears we live in the most dangerous, gun toten, fast- text -drunk driven, dysfunctional family, spooky lawmaker, unusual weather state in the Union.

Well,… ok.  Maybe some of our lawmakers do give the impression of being Halloween stars and their decisions can sometimes border on both the absurd and the down right strange. And yes, we do have an above average tornado rate.   But except for the twisters, the rest of the tv news is just like what you see when you get home.  Wherever you’re from, if  it bleeds, it leads.   Fear sells.  But you need to know, we do have a number of items in our world, that deserve much more attention than they get by the news deciders, George Bush forgive me.  A large percentage of it has to do with children.  Here they are referred to as kids,… I feel I must point out, parents of children are not goat  farmers. Look it up.  What  does Mr. Webster, the dictionary guy, give as the definition of a kid?   I rest my case.

There are items  that deserves ongoing tv news attention:  Our children and our schools  face a lack of support on the part of state lawmakers, in fact Oklahoma is a leading state when it comes to cuts to education.  So much so that parents and teachers alike just roll their eyes when asked about it.   How about coverage of student achievers in the face of so much pressure and a lack of support.  Hunger is also a problem here.   Not  a lot of coverage there.  Nor is there much dealing with uninsured health care, bad roads and bridges, on going tax cuts, prison overcrowding and,… And as the television pitch men say, “wait, there’s more”.

All across this great country of ours we have ignorance, intolerance and indifference yet, we continue to have outstanding teachers in the educational trenches, known to spend their own money on supplies and in some cases food,  for poor students.   Tireless mental health workers who never get a word of praise.  Cops and firefighters who lay it on the line 24-7 so the rest of us can sleep at night.  We got troops overseas where we need them  and we got veterans here at home who now need us.  So look me  in the eye and with a straight face tell me there aren’t stories to be covered.

The number of  people watching commercial television continues to drop so the tv folks are all fighting for a share of an ever shrinking pie.   Not  just here, but all across the country.  Chances are very good that what passes for tv news here, is just like what you have, where you live.   So please don’t  judge us by what you see on the tube.  We have everything , from hard working, creative people who give their all, to world class museums.  Inventors, innovators and entropanors.

Like you, we have choices of  what to watch but it seems all of the networks are now filled with  the lowest common dominator.  I’ve brought this up before but since you aren’t from these parts, it bares repeating.  In 1958,  Edward R. Murrow, a giant among reporters, gave a speech in which he took the television industry to task.  Among other things he said, “This instrument can teach, it can illuminate.  Yes and it can even inspire.   But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends.  Otherwise,   it’s nothing but wires and lights in a box.” He closed by saying, “There is a great and perhaps decisive battle to be fought against ignorance, intolerance and indifference.  This weapon of Television could be useful.” You can see how its used here.  My question is, when you get home will you sit in front of a weapon to be used to help mankind,… or will you just be facing wires and lights in a box.

That’s my perspective.