10:37 p.m. | 2003-05-28


In my opinion, which carries no clout whatsoever, the NYT times should be ashamed of themselves for accepting Rick Bragg's resignation. Moreover, they should point the guilty finger within for encouraging an atmosphere where the young are so desperate to achieve that they feel compelled to lie in order to get ahead and where managers are so desperate for a young media star, they they overlook sloppy and erronous reporting.

Rick Bragg did nothing that other big name journalists haven't been doing for years. Reporting takes work and sometimes, it requires a team of reporters to investigate, report on and file a story. It takes a team of researchers to write a bill for a congressman. It takes a team of lawyers to fight a big case and you never hear about many of the young ones who sweated over it. Many jobs are a combined effort and there will always be people behind the scenes paying their dues and doing the grunt work.

Asking an intern who conducted a source interview to report on that and then shaping it into a story, that is not unethical. Conducting a witchhunt out of organizational fear and cowardice to avoid addressing the bigger problem that faces this society and has found a home in the media - that is wrong.

The media, and the New York Times in particular, are in the unfortunate position of being faced with employees who are victims of our society just as much as employees at ENRON, Wall Street and the check scandals of the congress a few years ago. Americans are desperate for success. Unlike Europeans who live to enjoy, we scramble to win. Somehow along the way, we were taught that nothing is ever enough but that professional and financial success are the only gatekeepers to happiness to this life. We've learned that success comes through perfection and that success means money and that money comes from power positions, including that of celebrity.

And so we scramble. We scramble for money and success by eating bugs or competing for sex on reality TV. We love quick fixes becuse we need our success and happiness to come when we have that other prize - Youth. We cherish our Youth above all else. Our Youth, we believe, can lead to fame, fortune, success and winning. The magic formula.

And then we spend our lives and our fortune on buying that prize, Youth. We flush money away on neutraceuticals and diet miracles and age defying procedures on a wild goose chase for Youth.

And among all of this mess are the hero's. They are those who refuse to participate in the wild goose chase. The ones who step out of the Stepford community and say that they don't want to shop at the only grocery store in town and then step out of the circle.

Those hero's are out there, but you have to pay attention. You have to ask questions. You have to think for yourself to recognize them among the mud that the circle flings to obscure them.

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