The View from Betty's Head

Every day I spend the early part of the day perusing the daily paper. I am well aware that it is not a top quality paper and that many subscribers have stopped taking the paper because of its diminished content of substance. I never the less read it because it's part of my routine. I have written before about the fact that my father read select articles aloud to all of us each day and we had discussions about the articles. It was an integral part of my education.

We went from having one of the nation's leading news papers, when the Binghams owned the paper, to having one of the nation's worst papers when Gannett took over. It is just a bit above USA Today with the Mc News. I am not defending my insistence on still reading the paper, I am rather trying to explain my dereliction in not abandoning this inferior paper.

The day is not complete until I have read the Op Ed page. It gets my ire or dander or whatever, up and running. I read the letters and wonder sometimes where these people live or what they do in life. Are they hampered at all by their lack of comprehension? Do they function as responsible human beings? Do they live in caves? Where did they go to school? Notice that I did not say where did they get their education because the one's I am referring to never got an education.

Now the above comments came from my view because these letter writers do not agree with my take on things. I have noticed that many of them have found the surest way to get published by writing:" Dear Sir I know you will not print this letter because you are so...ya da ya da ya da." Sure fire way to get in print. They view things from some other realm.

About forty years ago, Doc was working in Quality Control at Standard Gravuer and I was teaching dyslexic children to read and Linda was a dental assistant. Brian remarked one day that everywhere we went Doc talked about the quality of the color in the magazines and other printed matter, I diagnosed everybody as being hyperkenetic or dyslexic and Linda diagnosed dental problems that people left untreated. Good observation from an eight year old.

I realize we all make our judgements by our own standards and our own experiences. I read constantly and base a lot of my opinions on what I have read but I mix some of the ideas with the ones' already in my head and try to come up with intelligent assessments. I must say that some of the letters that cause my blood to boil are the ones that are given by non-thinkers.

If I'd cancel the paper how would I stir my brains up and get going for the day? Ciao