| I've never understood why the Detroit News gives column space to Paul W. Smith. I mean, I do because he's a radio personality in the Detroit area which is a good thing if you wish to dabble in celebrity journalism, but I don't understand what value they think he actually adds to their product beyond that. His columns specialize in going to great pains to say absolutely nothing, frequently leaving you at the end of them saying to yourself, "What in Hell was that all about?" He certainly lacks the willingness of, say, a Magic Frank to express things with uninformed certitude. This morning, however, he bemoans the lack of global warming this spring, demonstrating the kind of understanding that you might otherwise get from someone who thinks that the Holy Spirit is some kind of crusading ghost. Has anyone seen any stories about global cooling? I didn't think so. Given conditions lately, I think we could use a little global warming about now.
Or, how about slightly warmer weather locally? Probably after the savage heat wave the Australians suffered during their latest summer (which, incidentally, is our winter), they would be less than inclined to welcome warmer weather. And, while we're on the topic, let's not forget -- despite the bitching about the weather last week -- that December and January were incredibly mild cold weather months. I'm sure he was trying to be cheeky. He's just poorly informed. Here's the thing, though. He goes on to wrap up his column with two paragraphs on religious festivals that always take place around this time of year, one Christian (Easter) and one Jewish (Passover), concluding with a paragraph that essentially just shouts out, "USA! USA! USA!" So, the body of his column is to first crack a poorly informed crack about global warming, and then before anyone can get annoyed by his willingness to make jokes about things he doesn't understand, he segues right into a point that no one really has a leg arguing with. Again, the question is one of value. What value does anyone get from a columnist who is willing to write about things he hasn't taken the time to understand (of course, this question could be asked of basically all of the News' regular columnists), and what value does anyone get from a columnist who essentially just cheerleads for a position everyone agrees with? |
