Things Have Changed

I used to care, but things have changed. --Bob Dylan

That Time Magazine, in a desperate bid for relevance and popularity, has put us all on the cover has caused a great deal of concern among some media opinionators. George Will, America's moral sphincter, has, of course, taken exception. He says he's bothered by the cult of self esteem, which probably means he wants more esteem for himself and less for the rest of us. But then I didn't read his column very carefully.

In fact, I don't read much of the mainstream media at all these days, especially Time. One reason is it's more opinion than news, and I've already got plenty of opinions. As for news, you can pick that up on the CNN website: children killed horribly by their parents, campers lost in the mountains or woods, some child or woman kidnapped or abducted, celebrities spouting hatred, politicians caught with their pants down or their hands in the cookie jar, and civil wars breaking out all over. Of course, there are the sports scores to keep up with. But this obsession with keeping up is over-rated, as Thoreau and Emerson both pointed out so many years ago. On this subject my favorite refrain is from that old Paul Simon tune: "I can gather all the news I need on the weather report."

And so I return to my little epigraph from one of Dylan's more recent offerings. As usual, he says it all, and so much more. By the way, check out the music video version on YouTube (something else George Will sneers at), in which you can see scenes from the movie Wonder Boys. Good movie.