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PAGE 4A-THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL. THURSDAY. JANUARY 2, 2020
Opinions
2020 and inner clock vertigo
I have inner clock vertigo today. I
blinked and 20 years of the new century
went by. My inner Rip Van Winkle has
woken to two kids, one in high school,
and gray in his hair. But I was just in col
lege, right? What is this trick on me? What
is your deal, Father Time?
Do you relate? We are now in the third
decade of the 2000s, having raced through
the “aughts” (what do you call those first
10 years?), the “2010s (twenty tens)” —
seriously, what do you call that second
decade? — and now we enter a clearly
identifiable decade, “the 20s.” We still
attach the word “roaring” to the 1920s,
those days prior to the Great Depression.
But what will the 2020s be? Roaring? Per
haps, but I hope “roaring” is not the word
we use. I fear what “roaring” would mean
now. I have some ideas.
OK, multiple refs’ whistles are blow
ing. The inner coach in my amygdala has
just raced down the sideline to signal for
a timeout in the brain. His team of typing
fingers is about to run an ill-advised play.
The fingers want to go dark on you. They
want to spell out all my trepidations about
the future and what a new decade could
bring. But the coach says, “No! Get a hold
of yourselves! Get your tails off the field!
Take a knee around me!”
He screams about positivity and tells
those fingers that this New Year’s stuff is
supposed to be about hope, about reso
lutions to be our best selves, about fresh
starts. We enter the post holiday weeks
with the weather cold and days short, but
we know the weather will warm up and
spring will arrive. “Get your spirits up.
In the
Meantime
zach@
mainstreet
news.com
By Zach Mitcham
boys!”
Maybe the players take heed and run
back out there fired up to give their best.
Or. maybe the players roll their eyes and
do their own thing once again. Isn’t this
the constant inner war in all of us. the pos
itive outlook battling with the negative?
And aren’t most of these battles cen
tered on time itself, such as why can’t I go
back and change that? Or, what will my
future look like if I do this now? Or, how
do I prepare my children for the future,
and what is that future going to look like?
Time is so powerful, so present, yet
we often ignore it, too, choosing to look
away. Still, it’s the daily companion. It’s
the first thing we hear in the morning and
the last thing we check at night. It’s the
measure of all life. It’s a work day or a
school day or a night’s sleep. It’s the ro
tation of seasons and clothes we wear. It’s
a thing we wish to preserve but never can.
It’s the possession we seem to own in mo
ments, but then realize eventually that it
owns us. not the other way around.
Time is numbers and math. Consider
death at 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100. Those
numbers present such different assump
tions about the lives lived and manner of
death. Time is simultaneously infinite and
finite. It seems linear but could even curl
in ways we can’t comprehend, which is a
beautiful mystery. That’s because it exists
out there separately from the confines of
our brains, which can’t comprehend deep
time.
Time can be the root cause of psycho
logical dysfunction. It can confound us
and make us feel completely alone with
the ticking of a clock dripping like water
torture.
Or, time can be the biggest gift we know
if we find a way to accept its limits. It can
be the thing that makes us remember to
remember in the moment — that this is
special.
I am thinking about all this with the ver
tigo of 2020 vision. I am amazed by time.
Where did it go? What will it be? Why
does it move at irregular rhythms, some
times so fast, sometimes so slow, which
mostly depends on how old you are, right?
Our relationship to its movement alters
with time, which is just another one of its
tricks.
But at least today we have a name for a
definitive decade, the ‘20s. I don’t know
what to call the previous 20 years. No de
cade name seems right. Will we simply
settle on the “turn of the century?” Sounds
about right, I guess. Only time will tell.
Happy New Year.
Zach Mitcham is editor of The Madison
County Journal. He can be reached at
zach @ mainstreetnews. com.
The media and Richard Jewell
Clint Eastwood’s latest movie initially
drew rave reviews but in the end fizzled
out of the gate at the box office after a
sparring match took place between the
film’s content and various media outlets.
It’s ironic because one of the main cul
prits the movie wanted to portray was
the media, especially The Atlanta Jour
nal-Constitution. It remains to be seen
how many, if any, Oscar and Golden
Globe nominations the movie receives
but that is not what the main issue is here.
No doubt any of us who lived in Geor
gia in 1996 know Jewell’s story. He was
working as part of a security detail when
he discovered a suspicious backpack
during the Olympic Games. Jewell re
ported the discovery and was credited
with saving several lives.
Immediately after the bombing Jewell
was hailed the hero he truly was. How
ever, the FBI began to look at Jewell
as someone who may have planted the
bomb in an attempt to seek fame and
glory and a possible prime job in law en
forcement. Federal law enforcement was
also portrayed in a negative light in East
wood’s new film for obvious reasons.
The news of Jewell suddenly being a
suspect was front page news across the
country (the world actually) and his life.
View
pchris
bridges@gmail.
com
By Chris Bridges
as well as that of his mother, became a
true living nightmare of which none of us
can truly comprehend.
A now famous headline that appeared
in our state’s largest newspaper declared
he was a suspect. Of course as it turned
out Jewell was not responsible for plant
ing the bomb.
Yet even with the real bomber Eric Ru
dolph now serving a life sentence as a re
sult of that crime (and others) it wouldn’t
take too much effort to find someone
who would tell you Jewell was the one
who was really guilty. Rudolph was an
extreme anti-abortionist who had placed
bombs at various clinics in his one-man
crusade against doctors and medical per
sonnel who performed legal abortions.
For Jewell, however, once a seed of
that nature is planted in people’s mind it
is often difficult to remove. His life was
ruined. During the time he was a “sus
pect” every detail of his life, both profes
sional and personal, became front page
news and covered on local and cable
news shows.
The spotlight was so bright that no one
can really imagine what that was like.
None of us would want that kind of scru
tiny over every detail of our lives.
Jewell sued several media outlets and
many settled. They didn’t admit guilt per
say but rather than spend more money
defending themselves they simply of
fered to settle.
The AJC was the exception as the pa
per said it did nothing to defame Jewell.
The owners, publishers and editor said
Jewell was a suspect and that is what
they reported.
In huge stories of this nature the best
defense is always the truth. However,
many contend that the media’s portray
al of Jewell was so vicious that it led to
an early death for the man who was only
in his 40s when he passed away. Jewell
also had medical issues but you cannot
deny the stress he was under from this
See Jewell, page 5A
If you thought 2019 was a year of dis
dainfulness and discernment in politics
and media reporting, then you had better
hold on to something because of what the
year 2020 is about to dump upon us.
While the United States is financially
enjoying the best of times in several de
cades right now, expect the Democrats to
give a different story. They will argue the
opposite even though we have low em
ployment, a strong economy supported
by the financial market standings and we
are spending more on updating and re
building our military.
The left continues its lean toward so
cialism and pushing the American voters
to support higher taxes, free college, free
medical care and an erosion of our rights
as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
We can expect continued attacks on the
First and Second amendments by lim
iting free speech and pushing new gun
control laws.
The left hates Donald Trump and
wants to remove him from office. The
right doesn’t always like Trump but ap
pears to be supportive of his repeat can
didacy while wanting to win the House
and keep the Senate right of center.
“The swamp” would like for everyone
to be quieter so it can return to business
as normal, stuffing pockets, calling in fa
vors and telling our government what to
do.
Here’s a list of what to expect in the
A preview of 2020
From
the Right
ejterrell65@
gmail.com
By Jimmy Terrell
New Year!
Topping the list will be final prepara
tions for the 2020 presidential elections.
Both parties will spend hundreds of mil
lions of dollars in a fight for the right
to occupy the Capitol in Washington.
Not only do the parties want the White
House, both houses in Congress have
also been targeted.
Next will be the formal impeachment
of President Donald Trump.
The House doesn’t seem to know what
to do next and many think the House will
simply sit on what it has done, hoping
that will cause Trump voters to desert the
Republican ticket at the ballot box.
The Senate hasn’t tipped its hand and
appears to be waiting for the Democrat-
ic-controlled House to make the first
move. The two articles of impeachment
could very well still be on Speaker Nan
cy Pelosi’s desk in November without
any formal action being taken by the
Senate.
We can expect nothing less from the
national news media than what we re
ceived last year. The gift box will include
fake news, he said-she said finger point
ing, accusations and political bias.
Regardless of who holds the majori
ty in Congress, both parties need to be
concerned about North Korea and China
situations.
Kim Jong-un. North Korea’s leader,
has demonstrated that he is not the most
trustworthy person holding the keys to
rockets and nuclear weapons. His people
are starving by all accounts and he con
tinues to rattle his small but significant
sword.
Jobs, cost-of-living indexes and pros
perity depend heavily of our tariffs and
trade with foreign countries. It would
benefit all Americans to see an agree
ment worked out on trade tariffs, espe
cially with China.
Russia remains an enemy and we could
very well be in the early stage stages of
another Cold War. Russian President
Vladimir Putin, a holdover from the pre
vious Cold War, does not like being in
second or third place and he is willing to
more than rattle a bigger sword.
Russia is flexing its military muscle in
places not seen before and is developing
new military arms and weapons.
See Terrell, page 5A
My
View
ron@
mainstreet
news.com
By Ron Bridgeman
Trump has been
consistent, give
him that
Donald Trump has been exactly as adver
tised, I would venture.
He has been crude, rude and concerned
only with his pleasure or satisfaction.
The recent impeachment of him by the
U.S. House was nearly foreordained when
he was elected president. Trump was so dif
ferent from other presidents his impeach
ment became a necessity if we take our
Constitution at all seriously.
(Aside: It should tell anyone paying at
tention that Trump loves the electoral col
lege, one of many compromises required to
pass the Constitution, because it made him
president and denigrates the impeachment
process, which also is a part of the Consti
tution.)
Trump always has been a blusterer and
bloviator, spouting off about subjects he
does not know but pretends he does. He al
ways has been prone to extreme language
and opinions of himself. Long before he
was a presidential candidate, he offered
contradictory and often false comments
about other political figures. After three
years as president, he still makes derogato
ry remarks about Bill and Hillary Clinton,
who attended one of his weddings. (Seri
ously, couldn’t he pick a less obvious tar
get.) He was a Democrat (largely because
everyone in New York was) for a decade or
two.
Yes, some of us have wanted him im
peached, and assumed he eventually would
be, since before he was inaugurated. Yes, it
has been completely political.
Yes, Trump made it inevitable with his
actions.
If he were not in the position he occupies,
his ranting could, and should, be ignored.
He would be the small, weak man he al
ways has been - if not for his position.
Trump has now reached the point where
few people pay much attention to what he
says.
Trump created his impeachment. We
always should remember - and say to his
supporters - he asked for a political favor
and help from a foreign country and with
held money for that country that had been
approved Congress. He was not “fighting”
corruption. He was seeking personal help.
He did that. He was not held at gunpoint
and forced to say those things. He did it.
Impeachment then became a necessity -
much as I hate to say it - and inevitable.
His contradictory comments are ample
evidence of his inability or unwillingness to
recognize reality. When he was a real estate
guy trying to make this or that deal by bul
lying and lying, we could ignore him. He
should be ignored now and he largely is by
other countries’ leaders.
See Bridgeman, page 5A
The Madison
County Journal
(Merged with The Danielsville Monitor
and The Comer News, January 2006)
P.O. Box 658
Hwy. 29 South
Danielsville, Georgia 30633
Phone: 800-795-2581
E-mail: zach@mainstreetnews.com
ZACH MITCHAM, Editor
MARGIE RICHARDS, Reporter/Office Manager
MIKE BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
SCOTT BUFFINGTON, Co-publisher
FRANK GILLISPIE (deceased), Founder of The Journal.
JERE AYERS (deceased), former owner
of The Danielsville Monitor and The Comer News
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