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PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 16. 2010
To be informed
read real news
Recently an honest-to-goodness big city
daily newspaper showed up in our offices.
While not exactly a bona fide historical relict,
ever since the Atlanta Journal and Constitu
tion quit delivery to this area, print editions
are harder to come by.
This particular paper happened to be a reg
ular edition of the New York Times and, true
to our memory of big dailies, had lengthy sto
ries that provided considerably more than just
snippets and headlines.
You don’t realize how much you miss
something until it’s gone, as the saying goes.
But maybe this country doesn’t
yet realize the information it is
now missing with the decline
of daily print media.
While highly-partisan politi
cos are already thinking we
shouldn’t be reading the liberal
New York Times anyway, the
fact remains there is simply no
substitute daily where readers
can find so much well-pack-
aged and timely content on cur
rent issues affecting the nation.
The Internet is often seen as
the replacement for newspa
pers. True, the Net does have plenty of facts
(packaged with games, half-truths, diversions,
and diverting advertisements), but for many
reasons, it doesn’t get the job done as a daily
news source.
In the first place, study and personal expe
rience show few people will sit and read in-
depth articles in their entirety on the Internet.
Regardless of whether you have an old PC or
a new Ipad, people rarely sit down and stick
to one article very long when there are Face-
book, Youtube, celeb gossip sites, chat rooms,
and blogs to distract you. Trying to do serious
reading on the Internet is like studying a text
book in a carnival sideshow - “Ah, look at the
pretty bright lights.”
National columnist, Leonard Pitts, con
fessed in one written piece that after spending
too many days scanning headlines on his com
puter, he had trouble sitting still and reading a
book without feeling the need to check online
for breaking news. He discovered on trying to
spend a peaceful afternoon with printed pages
that he had developed a shorter, more frenetic,
attention-span, something he attributed to con
stant scanning of the never ending flow of on
line information.
There is a big difference in comprehension
when you compare scanning 20 one-para-
graph breaking stories and a single 20 para
graph story on one subject.
A second pitfall of online news is the num
ber of highly opinionated blogs that pose as
straightforward reporting. Too many people
would rather rely on what Huffington or Coul
ter thinks about a subject than to read a
straightforward account of the facts. It’s as
though the Internet leads us to seek out what
to think about something rather than simply to
know about something.
One current member of the
Senate bemoaned recently that,
since all smaller state newspa
pers for places like Montana
and Iowa have shut down their
Washington bureaus, no one is
now left to ask questions like
“Is this legislation going to help
places in your district?” Or
“Congressman Graves, what do
you think about relocation of
the Toyo tire plant to White,
Georgia?”
With that vacuum, political
blogs and national publications tend to cover
politics in horse-race style: Are Donkeys or
Elephants winning this week?
While Fox news and CNN, Headline news,
and even MSNBC have an important place
airing immediate news as it breaks (gas line
explosion type stuff), people who watch only
those short video clips never get the full story.
Television accounts do a great job of show
ing the devastation that follows a gas line ex
plosion and of telling you some people are
missing and some are dead. But for financial
stories, tax stories, school policy stories, op
tions in Afghanistan, Georgia’s water issues,
or Pickens County airport tech park delays,
you need more than you can ever get in the
daily televised news feed.
Big daily newspapers may never make a
comeback (online or anywhere else), but that
doesn’t mean there aren’t some great inde
pendent news sources still out there. Even if
it is online, take time to read the real news. It’s
better than nothing and certainly of more
value than all the flashy info-tainment passing
for truth these days.
Maybe this
country doesn’t
yet realize the
information it is
now missing
with the decline
of daily print
media.
Agree or Disagree? Tell us your thoughts on this week’s editorial either online at
the message board on the Progress Online (www.pickensprogress.com) or with a letter to the
editor that will be published next week. Letters may be e-mailed to
news@pickensprogress.com. All letters must have a valid e-mail address, full name and a
telephone number for verification. Phone numbers are not published. Letters may also be
sent regular mail to Pickens Progress - P.O. Box 67 - Jasper, GA 30143. All names are pub
lished. The Deadline for letters is each Monday at noon.
The Essential Bad Attitude
By Alan Gibson
Criticism and how to deflect it
I dislike criticism, not so
much when it’s directed at, say,
the New York Philharmonic as
when it’s directed to me. I disre
spect my critics on the principle
that they disrespected me first.
It’s petty I know, but there’s a
raw candor in telling someone
who offers constructive criti
cism, “No thanks but perhaps
you’d like to arm wrestle?”
Here are some ideas for de
flecting the annoying barbs of
everyday:
Criticism: You have a bad at
titude. (Appropriate response:
Thanks for noticing.)
Criticism: We need to talk.
(Appropriate response: No we
don’t.)
Criticism: You’re a wise guy.
(Response: I value wisdom very
highly.)
Criticism: Don’t delude your-
Dr. Robert Henry
CONCERT PIANIST
PRIVATE INSTRUCTION
Jasper, GA
KB 770-735-PIANO(7426)
EB www.RobertHenry.org
Robert@RobertHenry.org
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Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main St. P.O. Box 67 Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457 FAX (706) 253-9738
www.pickensprogress.com
JOHN R. POOL DAN POOL
Publisher Editor
WILLIAM E. POOL
Managing Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper. Pickens County. Georgia.
Entered at the Post Office at Jasper. Georgia 30143 as Mail Matter
of Second Class. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE
PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS, P. O. Box 67. Jasper. GA
30143.
One Year’s Subscription: $21.40 in Pickens County and in Gilmer.
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self. (Response: By deluding
myself that I’m a nobleman,
maybe I’ll become one.)
Criticism: You’re not open to
suggestions. (Response: At last
- someone who understands.)
Criticism: You spend too
much time sulking and brook
ing. (Response: I enjoy sulking
and brooking. The trick is to al
ternate them.)
Criticism: You take every
thing personally. (Response:
Yes I do. How does one per
ceive a thing except person
ally?)
Friends tell me I should be
more receptive to criticism; that
some of it can be valuable. True
enough, if only I knew the good
kind from the bad. Nobody ever
comes up and says, “Let me
give you some destructive criti
cism.” Resenting criticism just
seems more natural.
But I’ll work on it. Next time
I’m criticized, I’ll politely say,
“Thank you for sharing that vi
cious personal attack.” Courtesy
does count.
[ Gibson hosts Pickens
County's Friday Morning Dis
cussion Group. All attitudes are
welcome. For info: 770-893-
2578.]
Correction:
A feahire story in last week’s
Progress, with headline
“Smokey Hollow Church in
need of repair”, credited the first
husband of Rev. Mamie S.
Moss (Judge Shaw) with in
stalling church windows and
front steps of concrete block. In
truth, it was the reverend’s sec
ond husband, Louis Vernon “L.
V.” Moss, who did this work.
We apologize for the error.
Have you spotted an
error in our pages?
Let our staff hear
about it.
706-253-2457 or
dpool@pickensprogress.com
This week’s quotable quote --
"I believe in getting into hot water; it keeps you clean."
- G.K. Chesterton
...That's three straight months of rising revenues.
I think we're finally getting on top of things!
OTHER VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY -
Idea of Mosque near Ground Zero Outrageous
(in response to Progress editorial from previous edition)
By Dick Tash
Last week's Editorial, "9/11
no time for Islamaphobia" is the
most biased, hateful, misleading
and misinformed editorial yet
seen in this newspaper.
The writer could not have
knowledge of writings in Qur'an
and must have totally disre
garded statements and reported
actions of the Cordoba Initiative
and its CEO Feisal Abdul Rauf.
Nineteen days after 9/11,
Rauf accused the U.S. of being
an accessory to the attacks be
cause of U.S. policies. Rauf’s
own writings support terrorist
leaders and their organizations.
The 9/11 mosque site name, Cor
doba House, implies conquest. It
refers to the first Cordoba
mosque built upon the ruins of a
Christian church in the Spanish
city of Cordoba after the Muslim
conquest of Christian Spain in
the 8th century A.D.. The Edi
tor's naivety is blatantly shown
when he writes "....Cordoba Ini
tiative, whose mission is to pro
mote understanding between
Muslims and the West."
That Editorial foments the lib
eral form of hate when it so ca
sually labels national leaders as
“ultra-conservative fundamental
ists.”
What is the editor’s definition
of an “ultra-conservative funda
mentalist” anyway? I was sur
prised that “Christian” was not
thrown in there somewhere. My
definition of a conservative is a
person that would like to have
our Constitution followed as it
was written by our Founding Fa
thers.
Qur'an states the objective of
Jihad in Sura 9:33. Translated, it
says Jihad is considered the only
mechanism to return and restore
mankind to Allah's fold. In other
words, for a Muslim, it isn't a
proclamation like the Christian
Gospel where response is left to
the free will of the recipient, with
judgment left to the divine being
at the end. Jihad executes judg
ment here and now.
I had the horrible experience
of viewing a Muslim women
being stoned to death on the in
ternet this past weekend. Tell me
Mr. Editor that this is a peaceful
religion. The editor's reference to
Leviticus as an excuse for this
kind of violence is shameless. No
other civilized people on earth
today stone women to
death...only the Muslim Sharia
Law promotes this slaughter.
Michael Youssef, PHD, Sen
ior Pastor at The Church of The
Apostles in Atlanta grew up in
Egypt. His knowledge of the Is
lamic threat and his world wide
broadcasts directed to the middle
east Muslims reveal his true
knowledge of what is going on.
Here are recent comments from
Dr. Youssef:
"Socialists and leftists in the
media play down Muslim ideol
ogy and present Islamists and Ji-
hadists as peace lovers. This
naivety and ignorance on the part
of the Left is like Christmas in
July for Muslim leaders. The Is
lamists and Jihadists are laugh
ing in their sleeves at such
stupidity, but they will soon
laugh aloud if Muslims become
the majority in these countries."
"What most Westerners do
not understand is that Islam is not
a religion in their true under
standing of what the word
means. It is a political and social
ideology that will never submit
to a secular form of government.
Rather, Islamists will wait until
such a time as they are able to
transform societies into Sharia-
dominated ones, giving citizens
a Taliban-type government. But
ironically, guess who are the Ji
hadists first victims? The leftists,
the socialists and the godless."
Finally, the Editorial with all
its vitriol, never mentioned one
word of encouragement or com
fort to the surviving 9/11 families
left without their husbands,
wives, sons, daughters, sisters,
brothers, aunts, uncles, and
friends for the rest of their lives.
Those ill fated folks there in
the buildings and the heroic first
responders disappeared into eter
nity through no fault of their
own.
And now this Cordoba Initia
tive wants to build a mosque so
close to Ground Zero and open it
on 9/11/2011. How outrageous is
that? To them it sends a message
as Dr. Youssef said “ from the
heart of the place where they
rained death on nearly 3,000 “in
fidels.”
[See other responses in this
week s Letters to the Editor and
read original editorial at
www.pickensprogress. com.]
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Bread of Life
Counceling Center
Overcomer’s Outreach is a program designed for anyone
dealing with the ongoing process of recovery from addic
tions and/or compulsions. Overcomer’s Outreach utilizes the
tools of the truth of the Bible, mutual support and the tradi
tional 12-step recovery format. The meetings will be held at
the Bread of Life Ministry Center on Monday evenings
beginning on October 11, 2010.
Grief in the Holidays is a one-day event planned for October 30, 2010. This
special 2 Vi hour event (10:00 AM - 12:30 PM) will focus on strategies for deal
ing with grief during the holiday season. Also, a new monthly grief support
group called Getting a Hold on Grief is forming at this time. Bread of Life
Ministry Center in Pickens County is located on the property of Foothills
Community Church in Marble Hill. There is no fee for any of these opportuni
ties, donations are appreciated. For more information please leave a message
for Garry at 706-692-7960.