This is a good Saturday morning story:
Like any other golden retriever seeking a treat, Tuesday nudged his owner’s hand with his snout one recent morning and waited expectantly.
Luis Carlos Montalvan got up from a chair in his small Brooklyn apartment and walked to the kitchen. Tuesday followed close behind, eyes fixed on a white cabinet. The retriever sat alertly as Mr. Montalvan, an Iraq war veteran with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, reached for a vial of pills, lined a half-dozen on the table and took them one by one.
The dog had gotten what he wanted: When the last pill was swallowed, he got up and followed his master out of the kitchen, tail wagging.
Tuesday is a so-called psychiatric-service dog, a new generation of animals trained to help people whose suffering is not physical, but emotional. They are, effectively, Seeing Eye dogs for the mind.
Once again, I marvel at the overall quality of the WSJ’s reporting, and then look at the sewer that is the WSJ Op-Ed page and wonder what could have been.
Ash Can
When I think of the WSJ, I envision two separate office areas. The first is a busy, efficient newsroom with reporters talking on phones and hurrying in and out, on their way to or from meetings and newsworthy events. The second is some board room somewhere, probably not even in the same building and possibly not even in the same city, with a big table littered with martini glasses and crack pipes, and a dozen or so glassy-eyed people sitting around babbling incoherently with their hands on each other’s thighs.
linda
another really nice element to this story, is that the dogs are trained by prisoners through a program called puppies behind bars. seems like a win win all around.
but, damn, that line-up of pills in his cabinet. thoughts to montalvan and hopes for some peace of mind.
geg6
First, I gotta say I agree with linda that my first thought when reading this is that it is a major crime what we’ve done to these poor troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. My heart aches for them. My second thought is that this just solidifies my view that dogs are head and shoulders above any other type of pet, no contest at all and I don’t care what the cat lovers have to say about that. ;-). And my third thought is that the WSJ’s weird dual personality is much like the weird duality of today’s GOP. Much as it pains a lifelong Dem like me to admit it, there are very smart, very clear thinking, very reality based Republicans out there even now who can’t seem to break through the craziness of their brethren in the party because the insanity always overshadows and out-shouts them. The Journal’s excellence in reporting simply cannot overcome the louder and more fascinating (in a very creepy way) psych ward that is the op-ed page. As a Dem of a certain age, I’ve seen the same sort of dynamic happen in my party when our crazies eclipsed the sane people during the collapse brought about over Vietnam and the search to find out how to move forward from a massive disaster. It’s as entertaining now as it was agonizing then. But much as I’m enjoying it, I also hope that the GOP eventually comes to their senses and recover as we need two viable parties for a healthy polity. Of course, I also hope it takes a generation or two before that happens.
A Mom Anon
@geg6:
I don’t know about our crazies having that much power,even during or after Vietnam. The hippies and yippies and space cadets were loud and obnoxious alot of the time,but they never really had the keys to the party. They marched and made lots of noise and freaked out the straightlaced,but they never had the real power. The suits have always been in control of things,even our “Liberals” aren’t that liberal,not the ones who win anything anyway. Wellstone and Kucinich are the closest to being radical lefties in recent history,and while they made into the halls of power,they were/are by no means considered big power brokers.
The fringe took over the GOP and the sensible people never said anything until it looked like that was a losing strategy. How many GOP presidential nominees raised their hands when asked if they thought evolution was a farce? Lefties have our fringes,quite colorful and nutty fringes,but we don’t let them run the big things. Wingnuts seem to have no problem with letting their freak flag fly AND run things,and that’s why the sensible and thoughtful conservatives have lost power.
Yellowdog
I once read a Native American(?) legend that at one time humans and all animals lived together in harmony. But the gods determined that animals and people should be separated. A great fissure opened up, with the animals on one side and people on the other. At the last minute the dogs jumped over the divide to join with the humans.
Maybe it’s just millennia of domestication or maybe there is something else going on between humans and dogs. I’m am not a spiritual person but I do think there is something like Jung’s collective unconscious and that, maybe, in some fashion dogs share it with us.
A Mom Anon
That’s one of the sweetest things ever. But so sad at the same time. I wonder if this is the only group training dogs like this. I love my cat,but there is something special about doggies that no other animal can match.
Demo Woman
The video was great. I had not heard about Puppies behind Bars before reading the article and their website was very informative.
@geg6: It will take a generation or two to correct the imbalances that the repubs have caused.
HRA
It’s an emotional tug to read this story. I am very glad to see a new process being used to save a life. I hope more will be saved by it being spread through our country by the media.
Saddened to know it will be too late for my nephew who had the same illness and took his life.
Napoleon
The WSJ’s editorial page got so bad by the end of the Clinton admin that even though its reporting is excellent I just could not bring myself to renew.
Violet
Oh, that dog is just gorgeous. What a great program this is. I think I’ve heard about it before – using dogs to help returning military who are suffering with mental illnesses. If nothing else, the unconditional love of the dog has to be helpful. Dogs are so great at making you feel loved.
I just wish there were something besides all those pills that could help him. What a pharmacy he’s got to take. My heart hurts knowing that we as a country chose to do this to our brave men and women. Okay, okay, our Republican government lied and sent people to war under false pretenses and a lot of us (me) were against it even at the beginning. But still, when the government acts, they represent all of us. My heart aches.
KLG
Word, A Mom Anon.
An important difference between them and us is that we NEVER gave the keys to our lunatic fringe. Their lunatic fringe has been in the driver’s seat since January 1981 and they have driven us into a ditch so deep we’ll probably never get out, but just drown when it fills up with water as the Greenland Ice Sheet melts.
geg6
A Mom Anon: I’m not saying that the post-Vietnam Dems are exactly analogous to today’s GOP in that the crazies took over. But they were certainly the “face” of the party, whether their actual power equalled the image or not. And I suspect that the crazies of the GOP aren’t quite as pwoerful in reality as they seem right now (though their power is certainly more than the DFHs were for Dems, mainly because the establishment had cynically embraced them in a way the DFHs never were). But the dynamics are similar in ways that I, as an old poli-sci major, find fascinating. And I’m not sure that it really was the DFHs that were the crazies back then (though they seemed like it sometimes). We had our own version of the neocons, remember. And, in my view, the neocons are a bigger danger to the GOP than the Christianists, much like the Yippies weren’t ever dangerous in the way that the JFK/McNamara militarists were to us.
Napoleon
@Yellowdog:
That is exactly what it is, nothing else. There are plenty more animals that are significantly smarter and more social then dogs (apes, monkeys, dolphins, elephants, etc.) they just don’t spend their days hanging out with humans.
geg6
Napoleon: then how do you explain the fact that cats, which have been domesticated as long if not longer than dogs, are not suitable for these sorts of things? The pack mentality os certainly also a factor, don’t you think?
Napoleon
@geg6:
I think the basically underlying “personality” (for lack of a better term) of the dog makes them suitable for a household pet.
BTW this subject comes close to one discussed in length by Jared Diamond in his book Guns, Germs and Steel where he discusses the reasons that some ethnic groups/races have seemingly done better economically then others, and his conclusion is geography, including the plants and animals occurring naturally in an area. He discusses at length the domestication of animals for use as food supply and work animal, and one potential shortfall some animals large enough to serve as work animals in some areas of the work is there personalities are such that they are not suitable.
Heck even Chimps and Bonobos, which I have read are the most closely related species currently on earth are like ying and yang personality wise.
A Mom Anon
@geg6:
Yeah,but our goofballs became the face of the party because the conservatives made that their enemy. Hell,they still think we’re hippies of the Haight-Ashbury. They’ve got nothing else,so they think the stuff that used to work still does. The world changed and they are baffled that the hippies weren’t totally wrong(as far as all that peace stuff and wars being about profiteering goes). Confused and angry lowers the IQ and lets the dipshits and nitwits in.
The power the crazies have on the right is about money. They whip up fear to get people to send money. This is what all those dog whistles and the crap with god,gays and guns is about. Without that alot of the money they need would dry up. They’ve marginalized sanity and now they’re reaping what they’ve sown.
I suspect that the vast majority of Americans are socially liberal and want fiscal conservatism without it being mean and stingy. Hell,if the GOP could lose the nuts and figure out how to incorporate those two things into a truly compassionate platform,I might consider backing them at some point. I consider myself to be pretty far left,but those two things are what matter to me most,and Dems are closer to that than the GOP,but I’m less than thrilled.
But now I’m WAY OT,so,DOGGIES!!!YAY!
John Cole
There was a great article a few years back about dogs being the world’s biggest con artists. It was a really good read, and I believed it.
I just got back from an hour and a half walk with Lily, and now she is sitting on my lap while I write this. I’m cool with the long con if this is what it is all about.
John Cole
Here is that story- the Atlantic.
Fulcanelli
Awesome story. Dawgs rawk, as I sit here typing and my boy Max is nudging my elbow to go outside and play on this nice summer morning…
Just for comparison since the thread spun off into war and politics, I’d like to see what would transpire in the comments if this same politically neutral post (with the video) was posted over at Red State, LGF or Town Hall. I can only imagine.
Within the first 5 posts somebody would be bitching about either: Is the government paying for the program, the fact that the man in the video is Hispanic or claiming PTSD is bogus, it doesn’t exist and he’s a pussy liberal. WTF do you do with that?
Modern day “conservatism” is a personality disorder and should be dealt with accordingly.
Fulcanelli
Moderation cleanup at post 19 please, 9:53AM. FTW. Who programs the filter for this stupid thing? C’mon Cole.
Phoenix Woman
@John Cole:
A-yep. The writer tries to make it sound shocking, but it really isn’t. Anyone who’s lived with dogs knows or should know all of this.
Hammy
Tuesday was trained well and provides a valuable service to the veteran but this is clearly a mutually beneficial relationship. Instead of “I scratch your back, you scratch mine”, Tuesday and Luis have an understanding of “I got your back, you scratch my belly”. Tuesday’s face at the very end of the clip shows you what dog bliss looks like.
geg6
Good article, John. I was less aware of the historical/evolutionary stuff, which was really interesting and a bit surprising to me, than the genetic, which has been pretty well covered. And of course dogs are the masters of the long con. This is why we humans admire them so much. We wish we were half as good at it. That said, it is also why I find dogs so lovable. I like a charming con as long as it’s not a destructive one. And mutts truly are the bestest of dogs, my complete adoration of Henry aside. Otis is way smarter and way better behaved, even though he has issues due to the abuse he obviously suffered before my John rescued him. Doggies…I love them to death.
kommrade reproductive vigor
You know I really like cats and all, and I’ll never have time to give a dog the training and attention it needs, but I read stories like this and I wonder: What the fuck would we do without dogs?
Temple Grandin may well be right when she says we evolved because we hung out with wolves.
Ella in NM
Uh, yeah, if you want to sit hunched over in your computer chair, blindly gripping your coffee cup due to the tears streaming down over your face, and finding yourself overwhelmed by how excruciating tragedy is so often paired with exquisite beauty in life. Then go back to bed.
If you want to actually get something done today, however, it might be better to have read this read this later. ;-)
No, I’m joking. Once again, John gifts us a story that proves life has blessed us with the love of animals to make our existence here just a little bit softer. I plan to share it with my kiddos today, who are total suckers for sweet dog stories.
maya
@geg6:
There are therapy cats .They just work much shorter hours.
maya
Cats are being used for therapy . My mother was in a nursing home that had a resident orange cat who used to travel around visiting each room every day like clock work. Everybody, including mom, who never really liked cats before, enjoyed his visits.
Then there’s this cat . I’d like to see a dog that can do that.
Ella in NM
Can I just say that the “Cats vs. Dogs” debate is not unlike the “Futbol vs. Football” Debate.
There are no right answers. Only those who do not appreciate the perfection of the alternative side.
steve s
I’m not very quick to say that this was because of some sort of intelligent group thinking on the dems’ part. Fact is, it’s never been in the dems’ best interest to loudly appeal to the dem wackos. It was in the GOP interest to appeal to their wackos. When Nixon implemented the Southern Strategy, he won the presidency with 60 percent of the vote. Reagan got 58. Appealing to their nuts really paid off for them, for a time. I suspect if appealing to moon children and anti-vaccers would get the democrats those kinds of numbers, nancy pelosi’d have a peace crystal around her neck and the Presidential Limo would have a Green Our Vaccines bumper sticker.
Just Some Fuckhead
@maya:
Is that cat predicting their deaths or causing them by stealing their breath while they sleep?
Svensker
@HRA:
I am so sorry. That’s a terrible thing.
trollhattan
Wow, a stunning video on several levels.
I’m gratified that Captain Montalvan is getting this care but my god, will he ever get his life back? How long does he have to take all of those meds? How many thousands of Captain Montalvans are there, back from Iraq and Afghanistan? Are we providing them proper care as well?
That big ol’ trieve lying on his lap getting a tummy scratch was one of the sweetest things I’ve seen. My best to them both.
Comrade Mary
I thought the video was great, and I started reading the story as dry-eyed as I was when I saw the video.
This is the paragraph that finally got got me:
We’ve heard before about these prison programs where dogs are trained, but just reading about a guy that old, who had been in prison so long, then learned how to do something beautiful and useful in prison and now has a chance at a great life outside: that killed me.
D0n Camillo
I just wish there was some way I pay for the WSJ’s good journalism without rewarding their vile editorial section, but I don’t know a way to do that. A few years ago, my mother got me a subscription to the Wall Street Journal, but I had to let it lapse because I couldn’t stomach the thought of subsidizing the creeps in their editorial department.
JD Rhoades
This is where I lost it:
My Golden used to do the same thing. Damn, I miss him.
The next-to-last samurai
John, the article you read in the Atlantic was excerpted from The Truth About Dogs, now out of print and available at fine libraries everywhere. Mark Derr’s Dog’s Best Friend, in print, is mostly about the many wonderful things working dogs do. I recommend both books.
William
A friend of mine is a WSJ reporter, and I asked about the difference.
I was told that the opinion people are on a separate floor, and I got the impression opinion has no relationship to or impact on the rest of the operation. My pal, who is a fiercely dedicated get-the-story reporter, loves working there. I was also told that the reporters are of all political stripes.
Personally, I trust their reporting as much as the NYT, the Economist, and the BBC.
asiangrrlMN
@HRA: I’m really sorry about your nephew. It is a crying shame that we don’t do more for our returning soldiers.
This story is beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. Thank you for sharing it, John.
@Ella in NM: Yes, I agree with you about the ongoing debate about Cats v. Dogs. Why does one have to be better than the other?
Bob In Pacifica
The cartoon “The Far Side” used to compare what humans think animals are thinking versus what they are really thinking.
I look at that picture of that happy dog sitting in that guy’s lap and I think of how great pets are for the human heart.
There have been a number of stories about the evolution of the relationship between humans and dogs. It goes back to some campfire in the distant prehistoric past when Grog, feeling a little lonely, noticed that that wolf that was hanging around was smiling at him. So he threw him a piece of meat, the wolf nuzzled him, he petted it, and the deal was sealed. Humankind and dogdom, forever linked.
Bob In Pacifica
Of course, I cried watching “Old Yeller” too.
Jackie
I’m not sure it was this prision or another ,but I saw a story about this that was more about the effect training the dogs has on the prisioners. Many of them had never had a deep connection to another being that was based on trust. It was as if an emotional lightbulb went off for some of them. They never knew what love was. I keep kleenex in the family room for stories like this.
There aren’t many sources of unconditonal love in the world. Thankfully there are plenty of doggies.
Brachiator
@maya:
This is because they have better union representation.
Bob in Pacifica — It goes back to some campfire in the distant prehistoric past when Grog, feeling a little lonely, noticed that that wolf that was hanging around was smiling at him.
The human misinterpreted the wolf’s facial expression as a smile. Dogs have been exploiting this human tendency to impute human motivations to them ever since. It has been mutually beneficial.
The first human-wolf interactions may have been additionally serendipitous. Instead of attempting to kill the wolf, or to chase it away, the human fed it (or simply allowed it to eat from a trash dump). The wolf was able to expand its territory into a safe zone which included the possibility of protection and food provided by humans. And both animals, humans and wolves, were social in ways that were similar and compatible.
Anyhoo, the video and story about psychiatric-service dogs is absolutely heart-warming.
shelley matheis
Great book. Turns around the idea that dogs are they way they are cause we chose them to be domesticated. Truth is, they chose us as much, even more than we did.
Desert Rat
@geg6:
My second thought is that this just solidifies my view that dogs are head and shoulders above any other type of pet, no contest at all and I don’t care what the cat lovers have to say about that. ;-).
You’re entitled to your opinion, no matter how wrong-headed it may be. :)
I have several cats that are as affectionate, and loyal as any dog. They just aren’t dumb enough to come when you call. They treat you as an equal, rather than slavishly hanging on your every word and action, like a dog (or a seriously beaten down spouse or s/o) does.
That said, the rest of your sentiment spot on.
I was a WSJ.com subscriber for several years from the late 1990’s until 2002. Finally, in the run up to the Iraq war, I decided I couldn’t stand the wave of stupid that was the Dolphin Lady, creepy John Fund, and Paul Gigot any more. Even though their business reporting was second to none, I couldn’t stand the thought that my $80 a year might be going into the pocket of Peggy Noonan, et al, so I canceled my subscription.
And now that they’re owned by Murdoch, they’re f*cking dead to me.
And if you think the WSJ Op-Ed is batshit insane, you should check out Investors Business Daily. It’s like WSJ, but with much shittier reporting, and guys who make Nooners, Fund, Gigot, et al. sound like friggin’ Paul Krugman by comparison.
Brachiator
@Desert Rat:
Hah! Cat’s got you fooled. Equal? Equal? Hahahahahhahaha.
A friend who raised a cat from a kitten moved to a new neighborhood miles away. One day a guy in the old residence area called my friend and noted that the cat was roaming around there. My friend went back and retrieved the cat, who promptly ran back to the old digs. Finally, my friend relented and the cat was taken in, more or less, by others in the old digs.
Message from the cat: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, you took care of me all those years, love and affection, blah, blah, blah. But just because you moved doesn’t mean that I want to. I’ve got roots in the community here.”
Meanwhile, another striking example of human/dog co-operation. Sly children fool exercise study
Interrobang
I don’t know what’s wrong with yours, but my cat comes when he’s called. Cats do work — there are a lot of therapy cats, and I know of at least one case where a cat was trained to be a “hearing ear” cat who would alert its owner when the phone or doorbell rang, and I’ve met someone with a “seizure cat.” Cats are trainable (most people think otherwise so don’t try) and domesticated themselves.
Mnemosyne
@geg6:
Actually, they are, and cats are used for these kinds of things all of the time. You can’t use a cat as a guide animal because they’re too small, but it’s pretty common for them to be used for seizure alerts and suchlike.
Oh, and cats have been domesticated for a much shorter time than dogs have. Dogs were probably domesticated around 15,000 BC, but cats weren’t domesticated until about 7,500 BC, when humans began being able to have surpluses of things like wheat.
HRA
Thank you for your kind thoughts Svensker and Asiangrrl MN.
Poicephalus
Schizophrenia is probably not the correct diagnosis of the WSJ. Probably more like Kilmeade’s inter-species marriage.
L. Ron Obama
Such a cynical article in the Atlantic. All right, so dogs robotically exploit the human tendency to impute human motives to dogs. Can one not then say other humans con us in the same way? After all, we are just the sum of pre-programmed responses derived from millions of years of primate evolution, aren’t we. I think that I think, but when you say you think too, are you just trying to mooch off me?
It seems like the article is arguing that humans are different from dogs, because we have a soul. But perhaps instead it’s implicitly arguing that humans are mere robots too. And that’s why it’s cynical.
Brachiator
@asiangrrlMN:
It gets worse. Even scientists are getting in on the cat calumny. The New York Times has an interesting science piece, In Scorn (and Praise) of Cats.
Another part of the story claims
By the way, I think the scientists are barking up the wrong tree here, but that’s a horse of a different color, and definitely neither the bee’s knees nor the cat’s meow.
Just Some Fuckhead
Blah blah blah cats. A friend told me once that dogs want your love, cats want your food.
Cats suck.
maya
@Brachiator:
Maybe the reason the cat kept returning to the old place was because the new place sucked.
I’ve had numerous cats and dogs, some smart,(a yellow lab and a male tux) and some not very bright but good hearted,(a pit bull cross and another female tux). I even had one gray cat who would sing along with one song that I played on the guitar and that song only – and some say cats and dogs don’t fathom music.
I originally was a dog person but where I live.(rural) you need a cat to keep the rodent population under control and so cats came into my life and I couldn’t imagine not having one now. If nothing else, they are pretty funny creatures. I believe it was on this very blog awhile back that one commenter said:
If you want a friend, get a dog. If you want to laugh, get a cat.
That sums it up very well.
Anne Laurie
Stephen Budiansky, the author of that article, also wrote a more generalized book about “domestication” — or, rather, the long delicate dance where certain animal & even plant species adopted/adapted to each other: The Covenant of the Wild . It’s a great read, full of wonderful little stories, and an excellent antidote to the plague of mindless ‘animal rights’ activism that equates any form of pet ownership with sadistic pathology while pretending that (vile) humans are separable from the (clean, pure, innocent) “real” animal world.
bob h
My nephew has epilepsy, and has a dog trained to detect precursors to attacks. Works well.
Brachiator
@maya:
I don’t know. The other pets (2 dogs and a few cats) seemed to like it fine. It was bigger inside and out (more yard) than the old house. They got more cats, who seemed to prefer staying inside and who claimed various areas of rooms as their primary territory.
But another question comes to mind: how in the world could anyone know what would suck to a cat? Should they have taken the cat with them when they looked for a new house? Should there be room for a cat paw print on the escrow papers?
Very true.
Calamity Jean
@Mnemosyne:
An aquaintance of mine who worked for the IRS once told me that there had been at least one person with a seeing-eye cat who was allowed to deduct the cat’s maintenance expenses on his/her tax return in the same way that people with guide dogs can.
.
I wouldn’t think cats would have the stamina to be guide animals. Wolves and dogs hunt by running down their prey, so they have more endurance than felines, who normally hunt by stalking and pouncing. I used to have a cat that was trained to walk on a leash, and by the time she got down to the other end of the block (1/8th mile), she was tired and wanted to be carried home.
maya
@Brachiator:
I couldn’t say exactly, but I do know that when a cat is pissed off at you for some reason – you brought a puppy home; you’re not paying enough attention to her, whatever, they’ll shit under your bed. Happened with my singing gray cat who was very sociable but when the dog had puppies she really did not appreciate the intrusion on her territory by a pack of yapping pups. It took me a few days before I figured out what the hell the smell was in the bedroom. She had always gone outside to do her thing.
Same thing happened to friends of mine who, because of their work hours, left their older female cat at home by herself too much. They found presents under their bed also.
When you think about it it’s the only way a cat has of really expressing their disapproval or anger. A dog will chew your house apart.
Amy D.
I have trained therapy dogs for a number of years (a long time). Some dogs respond to training easily, others do not.
Cats are a different story – they either show the ability to respond to some training and they are tranquil animals, or they don’t respond, period!
Currently, I am too old to continue training, but have a fabulously intelligent dog (Australian herding dog) who has only basic obedience training. However, she has an internal clock that has the entire day’s routine programmed and she acts as though it were her duty to make sure that I adhere to the hourly routine. This includes the days of the week where tasks vary from one day to another. Obviously, she is a true “working” dog with a vocation devoted to herding me in the proper direction. She is very protective unless she has smelled a stranger thoroughly. Then, she permits interaction but still guards. Dogs such as she is are superb therapy animals, totally trustworthy, loving, and unfortunately, rare. That said, certain breeds perform better than others; Dobermans, hunting hounds, spaniels and standard poodles seem to enjoy training and working. Labs have a quirky sense of humor and can be stubborn. Herding dogs are bred and trained to a routine and can think outside the box, but the herding instinct can become overpowering because the dog insists on follow through.
Brachiator
@maya:
Great stories. Still, this kinda underscores the notion that a cat’s affections can be overcome by the cat’s own sense of … independence, territoriality, whatever mysterious thing that is part of a cat’s being. And maybe this is as it should be.
I’ve seen a few cats go Old School. You know, clawing, biting, and scratching.
Phoebe
I love puppies behind bars! http://www.puppiesbehindbars.com/
And I don’t love praising dogs at the expense of cats, or praising the Rolling Stones at the expense of The Beatles, or praising The Wire at the expense of The Sopranos – they’re all fabulous, and the more the merrier. Dang.
Porlock Junior
There is sound reasoning behind the WSJ’s seemingly weird split personality. The explanation came to me some years ago in a stroke of insight. More recently I learned, in Brad DeLong’s blog, that it has been common knowledge for a long time. Then I learned that my father (investment analyst) explained it to my brother some 40 years ago at a time when I wasn’t around. Oh, well. Anyway, here it is:
The WSJ claims to give you the news you need to know if you’re to make money in industry and finance. What’s more, it has been pretty good at it. For instance, you know that manufactured phony energy crisis In California at the start of the decade? The one that the Economist knew was the free market working and confounding us NIMBY paranoids who thought it was some kind of conspiracy? (Not admitting there had been any corrupt practices in the matter till about a year after the conclusive evidence was out.) I read about it in the WSJ 6 months before it happened. No, not an inside leak from Enron, but a front-page story on the manipulation of the glorious free market in energy in other states, along with the fact that the regulators had no power to stop the stuff and we could expect more. (No, they weren’t gloating over it; this was the news section.)
So, like, they have been providing the news, even when it’s stuff that business people don’t especially like to be told, like an elegant Smith-Greenspan-Rand free-market setup that turns out to be largely fraudulent.
And, at the back of the section, they have the un-news you want to read if you belong to the class that they serve. Smart way to sell more papers.
Years ago I learned not to make the mistake of letting the paper fall open to the end of section 1. All it will do is tempt you to waste time by getting mad and mentally refuting criminal idiots. And my resistance is too low.
What pisses me off is that they’ve expanded the op-ed section to the page before the editorials. I start a news story on page 1, go to the jump page, and there on the facing page is goddam Debbie Whatzit, or any number of other Goebbels wannabees. But pretty soon the news pages will wither away under Fox, and my problem will be solved.
Nick
Thanks for the link, Phoebe. Boy that made an old man cry. I donated a little money. What a wonderful program.