{"id":4029,"date":"2012-12-14T13:55:36","date_gmt":"2012-12-14T19:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=4029"},"modified":"2012-12-14T13:55:36","modified_gmt":"2012-12-14T19:55:36","slug":"nothing-to-see-lets-move-along","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2012\/12\/nothing-to-see-lets-move-along\/","title":{"rendered":"Nothing to See Here, Folks. Let’s Move Along"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the sake of our own sanity, let’s turn off the televisions and Internet news, unless viewing them is part of your job or you have a vital direct interest. Check back when facts are firmed up. May I suggest, this being early afternoon, checking the smartphone, tablet or TV set about 4 p.m.<\/p>\n

\"Newtown,
Newtown, Conn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you can’t hold yourself back that far, then just check the news updates once an hour.<\/p>\n

We’re gawking. That’s tacky, and it’s low of us. Also, we’re not doing anyone any good, least of all ourselves. We are not helping those in the middle of today’s crisis, either, by standing on the street corner with the crowd, behind the crime scene tape, watching the ambulances come and go.<\/p>\n

Today’s remarks are about the horrific mass shooting by an armed loony of a grade school in Connecticut. Link here to see the latest<\/a> — but hourly, at the most frequent, right? We need sanity, clear-headedness, calm.<\/p>\n

There’s another reason: All of the facts aren’t in yet, I bet not even 20 percent of the verifiable information. All we are doing is filling our heads with junk. And junk like this — partial sets of facts, conjectures, assumptions and hate — is hard to dislodge, even after solid data comes in. That is human nature.<\/p>\n

Continuing coverage news operations are filling the gaps with conjecture. This is how CNN and the others operate. The media are using experts, quoting them. But what do they know? They can’t know much. All this is exploiting we gawkers. If this was a nationwide emergency, there’d be no commercials. Seeing commercials today? Yup.<\/p>\n

When officials who have been briefed or who have been on the scene come on the air, sure listen to them as they’ll have hard facts. But they likely may hide pertinent details as investigations are continuing. That is their obligation. So there we are nearly where we started, an incomplete summary of facts that may be confusing and allow wrong conclusions by their vagueness. Besides being upsetting. Lots of grown-ups across the country are plenty worried today.<\/p>\n

I’m heading out for errands, and I expect to be hearing about this from strangers and friends. Tragedies like this bring us together. That’s good, it’s necessary. We are community.<\/p>\n

I’ll listen to folks, commiserate but won’t share my own thoughts. Empathy counts. Yet what do I really know? Surely no more than you, outside of knowing to be patient at times like this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the sake of our own sanity, let’s turn off the televisions and Internet news, unless viewing them is part of your job or you have a vital direct interest. Check back when facts are firmed up. May I suggest, this being early afternoon, checking the smartphone, tablet or TV set about 4 p.m. If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-spin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":178,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/03\/systematic-panic\/","url_meta":{"origin":4029,"position":0},"title":"Systematic Panic","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"March 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an emergency broadcast of the Emergency Broadcast System. There is about to be a terrific storm in your area. Terrific meaning biblically terrible to you, your roof and your car. Terrific for us back in the studio, well, means terrific. We sit back and watch cool video shot\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5173,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2015\/08\/got-my-back-background\/","url_meta":{"origin":4029,"position":1},"title":"Got My Back, Background?","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Although it's only been a year, I'm back in the job market. Heck, some people resume sending out resumes in weeks. New in 2015, with the positions for which I qualify, are third-party background checks. Fortunately, I am an angel. Earlier this summer, R--- S--- (hereinafter known as \"Auld Acquaintance\")\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The first four paragraphis of the authorization.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/HireRight-authorization-0815-screenshot-1000x1000-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1636,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2009\/09\/a-horse-is-a-horse\/","url_meta":{"origin":4029,"position":2},"title":"A Horse Is a Horse","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"September 12, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2009 Ben S. Pollock Identity is a flummox. Sometimes it feels like you spend a lifetime -- or the lifetime thus far -- pursuing an identity, but your identity may not be you. I've heard of two senior or retired professors who said they chose their doctoral fields rather\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":675,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/09\/giving-puppies\/","url_meta":{"origin":4029,"position":3},"title":"Giving Puppies","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"September 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2008 Ben S. Pollock How do anyone know how much to give, to what to give to? Let's label this, charity. Non-profit, that could be lots of things besides charities. My professional organization, can you call that a charity? A wing of it is a card-carrying (tax ID) non-profit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":102,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/11\/the-g-rated-spot\/","url_meta":{"origin":4029,"position":4},"title":"The G (rated) spot","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Not tonight, dear, this is a G-rated spot Friday, November. 11, 2005. Michael Scherer, Salon.com's Washington correspondent, reported today on a hearing conducted Thursday by the Senate's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights. A writer named Pamela Paul testified, quoted as having\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3701,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2012\/05\/describing-a-rectangle\/","url_meta":{"origin":4029,"position":5},"title":"Describing a Rectangle","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"When I'm driving somewhere with My Beloved, when (not if) she corrects my navigation, I recall the junior high geometry class phrase \"describing the sides of a rectangle.\" The distance and time are roughly the same: My over then down, or her under then up, and there you are, thptpth.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Course of Words"","block_context":{"text":"The Course of Words","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/course-of-words\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Content Retangle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Content-Retangle-267x300.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4029"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4033,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4029\/revisions\/4033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}