‘Peace House Community Journal’ Archives
Journalist, Heal Thyself
from the series Peace House Community By MARTI MALTBY Marti Maltby I know several people who are trying to avoid the news these days for various reasons. I myself pay less attention to current events than I should, partly from laziness, but also because so much of the “news” coverage focuses on the wrong things. Despite how easy it is to get information, one has to work quite hard these days to get to the actual news. Staying informed, it turns out, is vastly different from staying aware. The news coverage of the tariffs that were recently announced and then paused provides an excellent example. While journalists talked quite a bit about the stock market’s reactions to the changes, they also focused on the penguins of Heard and McDonald Islands. Many news outlets pointed out the absurdity of placing tariffs on islands inhabited only by animals. I understand that such a blunder is amusing, but in this case amusing and important stand miles apart. Many of the same [...]
Efficiency Be Damned
from the series Peace House Community Journal Marti Maltby By Marti Maltby Like many people, I have watched Elon Musk’s dismantling of the federal government with everything from bemusement to unspeakable foreboding. The bemusement comes from Musk’s own claims that he is making the government more efficient. If that was the real intent of the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk would be the equivalent of the kid whose dad throws him into a deep lake to teach him to swim. He flails around a lot but doesn’t accomplish much, and eventually he sinks out of sight. Musk has made many claims about how much he is saving the government, but the claims are not believable in the slightest. Compare Musk’s approach to the investigation into Feeding Our Future, an organization that fraudulently billed the government for $250 million. The investigation required numerous investigators, working for years, to bring charges against hundreds of individuals. By contrast, Musk [...]
It’s All About Your Point of View
from the series Peace House Community Journal... By MARTI MALTBY Marti Maltby My daughter and I enjoy watching the British murder mystery comedy series Death In Paradise. In many ways, it is mindless fun, and as with most mysteries, there is a plot twist somewhere along the way that leads to the unmasking of the murderer. Of course, the plot twist is always in the mind of the viewer; the writers knew what was going to happen all along, and if they had written the story from the murderer’s point of view, there would be no mystery to solve. All the suspects’ lies, the lines of investigation that go nowhere, the clues that end up mislead the investigation … all of it falls into place and seems quite reasonable once you know the solution (if the mystery is well-written, that is). I know the same thing happens in real life, but despite that, it can be difficult to escape my own point of view. I know some things, but I think I know other things that later on turn out to be [...]
