Author: TheGentlemanAtLarge

You Need To Pay For News

~ TheGentlemanAtLarge ~ Leave a comment

Well, friends, the midterms are coming. You know the midterms. It’s the thing we on the left have been shrilling about for damn near two years. It’s time to get our shit together, now, and actually go do the thing. You know, vote.

That means we need to register, and make sure we haven’t been purged from voter rolls by right wing incumbents, and turn out in numbers so vast that we can cut against the lean of decades of gerrymandered congressional districts. It means that we need to know the ballot, the whole ballot, and not simply the well-financed names at the top. It means that we need to be informed on a breadth of issues and topics and initiatives and referendums, and for that we need a source.

A news source.

Unfortunately, “reading the news” isn’t as easy as it sounds, even if we wanted it. Generally, news content has shifted from print to online, and advertising revenue has cratered – the economics of reporting the news has grown increasingly dire.

Nationwide, we have watched as the news industry simultaneously consolidates and democratizes, and a few (incidentally conservative) conglomerates have spent the last decade acquiring local and regional newspapers and channels under names like Lee and Sinclair. At the same time, local alt-weeklies have seen a nearly 40% decline in circulation in the last five years alone. This explains why so many have shuttered in recent years, leaving a void of the kind of in-depth, long form reporting that is essential for understanding the complexity of issues facing voters today.

And while consolidation and profitability are not inherently wrong (in fact that’s pretty much the publisher’s entire job), there is a clear and present threat to our democracy when shareholder interests bleed onto editorial cue cards. I mean, remember this shit?:

This comes at a time when the President of the United States is literally taking pages out of 1984 as he tells us to reject the evidence of our eyes and ears:

There is no question that the constant, pernicious assault on the legitimacy of the news media is the greatest threat our county faces today. But what is most troubling about this is the way that an authoritarian leader has appropriated critiques of the industry that aren’t entirely invalid.

It used to be that it took significant resources to produce the news. It required a means of broadcast or physical distribution, operations of a huge scale that carried their own kind of legitimacy. Reporters and anchors were professionals, trusted by the public to unflinchingly report on current events. This implicit legitimacy that comes alongside the fact of broadcast has lingered in the public subconscious for much longer than it has necessarily been true.

It used to be that in order to get a byline or give an interview on television, you were vetted by checks and balances. Now, as the news model that has served our democracy for hundreds of years unravels, it takes only a blog and free time to pose as legitimate news. This goes for propaganda outlets on the left and the right, DemocracyNow! and InfoWars are indistinguishable, The Huffington Post is as Fair and Balanced as Fox News.

We have forgotten that what makes news trustworthy and reliable is not the resources to broadcast it, but an ironclad code of journalistic ethics, bestowed in an environment in which journalists are professionals. We are losing, laying off, buying out the professionals, and we are suffering as a result.

Without professional journalism every other possible disagreement that we may have is moot, because without legitimate, professional journalism we cannot possibly agree on even a common set of basic facts. Without real journalism the conditions for conversation are not met, and democracy cannot function without a conversation. This is a big deal, and the central threat to whatever American greatness ever existed.

The solution, of course, is that we need to pay for journalism. Not through advertising dollars that fluctuate at a whim and pander to a low common denominator, but through public funding and a commitment to independence. A free press is guaranteed by the constitution and needs to be funded publicly, for public benefit. Our very survival depends on it.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail


 

 

The Interrobang Is The Punctuation (and the lifestyle) You Need

~ TheGentlemanAtLarge ~ Leave a comment

It’s been years, now, since a good friend and colleague characterized most of the things that we think of problems as really just caused by comfortable white people refusing to talk to each other. (Since then, to be fair, a lot of the issues that he was concerned about: race and class aggression, mostly, have crested through the public umwelt.)

This was never as clear as a month or two ago, when I had the opportunity to participate on a panel to discuss land management policy in the west. The event was billed as a round table conversation, with time at the end for questions and answers. Instead we were treated to ninety minutes of glassy-eyed gray hairs reading from prepared statements and retreating to their seats to scoff and stew. Conversation? Discussion? Hardly.

It’s just that we’re always yelling, really. We’re always so certain. And if we were honest I think that we might find that we are not even necessarily 100% certain of our own convictions, and that ignores whether those convictions are logical, or just, or based in any kind of fact. And so what if when we yell at each other, we could simply leave room for the shadow of a doubt. For a runnel of humility that might grow into a trickle of understanding, or a loop of wool that could unravel a shaky premise.

Enter, the interrobang:

It has it all, really. It is at once an exclamation point and a question mark. It says, “I am enthusiastic, but unsure.” And doesn’t enthusiastic but unsure really sum up so much of what we take for granted? It allows you to feel a way and not be sure exactly why. It leaves space amid opposites where conversation can take root.

Even in its etymology, combining Latin roots and base, boorish, fun onomatopoeia into a single word signifies to our best and worst that someplace in the middle is something like what’s right.

So heck, give it a try. Next time you’ve got a letter to the editor about Kids These Days or how Baby Boomers Ruined Everything, throw an interrobang in there. And when you’re using your anonymous Facebook to spew vitriol into the universe, maybe incorporate just a breath of reason. You may need to experiment with a few different hot keys or get at Zuckerberg on Twitter to get the character supported, but if we all work on it together we might be surprised at what we can achieve.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail


 

Roundabouts Are Not That F’ing Hard

~ TheGentlemanAtLarge ~ 2 Comments

Not that long ago, not that far from where I live, our community was presented with the opportunity to fix an inconvenient and dangerous intersection. It had been rural, once, and in those days the knot of roads where an interstate off-ramp, two frontage roads and a truck stop parking lot convene could simply be left uncontrolled. The people just kind of sorted it out. It was nice.

But the as these things go more folks showed up and started living and driving around. We turned the lumber mill into a bitcoin mine and built a concert venue next to the elementary school, and eventually that inconvenient tangle turned into a deadly mess. It was time to fix this thing.

So the egghead engineers showed up with their graph paper and their slide rules and their pocket protectors and pretty soon were like, “Yep! The best, safest, most efficient thing here is a roundabout. No doubt about it. Let’s get to work.” And that was all well and good until it was time to spend a few public bucks on on a public infrastructure project and we had to listen to the public. Ugh. The Public. They’re the worst. Seriously.

Roundabouts: not that fucking hard.

Because what came next can probably fairly be described as a shitstorm. In coffee shops, public scoping meetings, and comments sections all around western Montana la gente was incensed. Roundabouts are just the kind of vaguely European improvement that comes on the leading edge of the Agenda 21 death camps and deportations, remember. Roundabouts are European. Mussolini was European. Do you really need me to connect the dots? It turns out that the only thing rural America hates more than a roundabout is Hillary Clinton, and anymore I’m not even sure about that.

And so sure enough the traffic circle was torpedoed in the face of overwhelming scientific consensus on the basis of what amounts to “I might have to learn something new and that makes me uncomfortable.”

Because the evidence is ironclad. Roundabouts are safer than traffic lights. Roundabouts are more efficient than traffic lights. Roundabouts are cheaper than traffic lights. Roundabouts can easily be built to easily accommodate large trucks. And to their credit, in my experience even the most virulent of haters will concede, when presented with the overwhelming body of evidence, that fine, sure, maybe roundabouts would be ok if only everyone else had any idea how to use them. It seems there is a problem of widespread ignorance in America today.

And so I’d like to take this moment, in preparation for the nearly completed compound roundabout [clutches pearls] in town here, to point out that roundabouts are not that fucking hard. Here are a few pointers on how they work.

How To Use A Roundabout

(It’s Not That Fucking Hard)

  1. Slow the Fuck Down – Yes, traffic circles are way more efficient than traffic lights. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to tap the brakes. You will see the damn thing coming, just, like, chill for one goddamn second and slow your roll as you approach.
  2. Look to Your Fucking Left* – Think of it this way: a roundabout is not an intersection – it’s a very tiny, circular, one-way street. So unlike an intersection, you do not yield to the person on your right. This is indicated by the triangle signs that say “YIELD” as you approach the circle. So look to your left. If no one’s there, do your thing. If someone is there, please don’t hit them.
  3. Don’t Fucking Stop – But let’s reiterate that that sign says “YIELD.” It does not say “STOP.” So really, if no one is there just slide on into the circle. If you slam on the brakes for no reason you’ll probably get rear ended by someone who knows how this works. And once you’re in there, that’s it, no more stopping. You’ve taken the circle, it’s yours. Move along.
  4. Get the Fuck Out – That traffic circle isn’t yours forever, though, so when you’re done just get the fuck out of there. Don’t let anyone else in. If they’re not in the middle part, they yield to you.
  5. Use Your Fucking Turn Signal – No one is keeping track of where you entered the circle, and where you’re headed, except for you. So you need to let people know what your intentions are. You know, like any time you turn, or change lanes, right? RIGHT**? But here’s the thing, remember how it’s not really an intersection? It’s a tiny, cute, little one-way? There is no way to turn left out of a traffic circle (unless you’ve really fucked up). Once you are in the intersection the use of your left turn signal will serve no purpose but to confuse people and make them hate (and possibly run into) you. As you’re approaching your exit from the circle, throw your right blinker on and get the fuck out.
  6. That’s It – That’s it. You’re done. It’s not that fucking hard.

* Well, yeah, this all goes backwards in the UK, Australia, probably Singapore or something, but let’s face it: if you’re really that worried about roundabouts you probably don’t get abroad that often.

**I digress.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail


 

You Need to Buy a Hunting License

~ TheGentlemanAtLarge ~ Leave a comment

I understand that hunting isn’t your thing. I understand that maybe you don’t get jittery every April, June, September, and October as successive seasons open. I understand that getting out of bed well before dawn to go outside and shiver in the dark is not everyone’s idea of fun. I understand that there’s not a scrap of camouflage in your closet, and that bloody photos of elk make your stomach turn. I understand that you want to repeal the 2nd Amendment, and that you live in a large city, and that you’ve never hunted a day in your life. I understand that you’re a vegan.

You still need to buy a hunting license this year.

Because hunting doesn’t really have anything to do with guns and killing and meat. And, you know, sure: nominally that’s the goal. But in reality it’s much, much bigger than that. At the end of the day, hunting lives at the center of conservation.

Each fall I head out to the woods as much as a single time, to take my rifle for a hike. I don’t even call it hunting anymore, just rifle hiking, really, because I so rarely pull the trigger. Fishing bores me to tears, but I buy a license every year.

Because hunting and fishing contribute $800 Million each year to conservation and management in licensing alone; Federal excise tax on guns and ammunition contribute another $250 Million or so directly to habitat conservation, management, and law enforcement. This is in addition to the hundreds of millions of dollars that sportsmen contribute to private conservation organizations to protect and improve the landscapes that allow hunting and fishing, and comes at a time when public land and management agencies are under constant attack through slashed budgets and threats of privatization.

90% of duck stamp fees go directly to habitat conservation by acquisition or easement, and has protected more than 6 million acres. Since hunting equipment taxes began to support conservation, the US elk population has grown from 41,000 to more than a million. And while conserving a species with the intention of going out to shoot that species may raise an eyebrow, we can’t forget what’s threatening these animals in the first place.

Take, for instance, the regal sage grouse, which today teeters on the brink of the endangered species list. As the US Fish and Wildlife Service scrambles to study stint the bird’s decline, hunting is allowed and encouraged. Of 1,300 collared sage grouse in a recent study by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, only nine were killed by hunters. The threats to game species are no longer the over hunting that killed the passenger pigeon and the dodo, but fragmented and paved habitat as we make room for pipelines, parking lots, and Verizon Stores.

Sure, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is fired up about huntable elk, the same way that Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever belie their true intentions in name alone. But in order to protect these charismatic game species, we need large scale habitat continuity and resiliency against a changing climate. In essence, game animals need the same thing we all do, and efforts to improve game habitat are efforts to improve global habitat. We need to build broad based coalitions to protect broad landscapes, and this begins with joining those guys who unironically wear camouflage and blaze orange at the same time.

So go get a license. It’s twenty bucks, and that directly funds conservation and wildlife professionals. It’s sort of like if you could pay your taxes with a note to please not use that money to bomb civilians – it’s great! And once you get a license you might as well pencil in one morning this fall to get out for a rifle hike.

When you do, you may find that the coffee tastes better when the road out of town is quiet, and that you enjoy the sound of your feet crunching a frozen dew. You may find that sitting perfectly still, perfectly silently is just the thing you’ve missed. You may find yourself standing in a place that you would not ever have visited for any other reason than that perhaps an animal would be standing there as well, and that it just happens to be a perfect place to watch a frozen sunrise.

You may even find your crosshairs drawn to the heaving ribs of an ungulate, at which time you may choose to pull the trigger or not, and that whatever you do you may find that it is the very least important moment of the hunt.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail