Thursday, March 31, 2005

Doug Clark says we need truth but maybe not reconciliation. Having just written that we need reconciliation, I think he's way off the mark. His focus is too narrow. "But for most people in Greensboro, I suspect, reconciliation isn't seen as necessary simply because they don't hold themselves responsible and don't think they owe any apologies." I was 17 years old when the killings took place. I didn't shoot anyone, provoke anyone, or fail to protect anyone. I'm not responsible, and I don't feel I'm being asked to apologize. That's not the point. We know the truth, or most of it. So why not document it? It's part of Greensboro's history. Spare me the argument that the participants weren't from here. Some were. Nelson Johnson has lived here his entire adult life. The cops were from here. The witnesses were, and the prosecutors and defense lawyers. Anyway, most of the soldiers at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse weren't from here, either, and we talk about that plenty. If a plane full of strangers crashed here, we'd build a monument to those unfortunate souls. The facts won't make the marchers look good, they won't make the Klan look good, and they won't make the police look good. This we know. But setting them down in a document, and recording the overlapping beliefs and fears and misunderstandings around those truths, all of which persist to this day -- that will be a step forward. It's the healing we lack. This is a chance at reconciliation in ways that go way beyond Nov 3 1979. That's the point, Doug. 8:59:17 PM    comment []

ACC Hoops: "'Fess up, Carolina fans: How many of you were pulling for Connecticut in last year's semifinal?" When I think back to the epic 1992 Duke-Kentucky game -- Hill to Laettner at the buzzer -- I am surprised to remember mixed feelings. As a Carolina fan I loathe Kentucky, of course, so there was some lesser-of-two-evils at work, but also Duke was still a scrappy North Carolina team that was my team's arch-rival, and thus very well known to me, and hated in a loving kind of way. But well before last year, Duke had become the evil empire, and rooting against them was not just easy, it was involuntary. Although I did feel a twinge of sympathy for the players when they lost last week. A twinge. 12:55:07 PM    comment []

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence on Iraq was "dead wrong," dealing a blow to American credibility that will take years to undo, and spymasters still know disturbingly little about nuclear programs in countries like Iran and North Korea, a presidential commission reported on Thursday. 12:53:49 PM    comment []

Monkeytime on the Left Behind series: "I'm the last to judge anyone for spending time with lightweight genre crap. But..." 12:47:40 PM    comment []

Planning document for PodcasterCon. 12:42:26 PM    comment []

Jay Rosen: "Laying the Newspaper Gently Down to Die." 12:33:20 PM    comment []

Fake etymology, via Wikipedia. 11:16:51 AM    comment []

Billy the Blogging Poet wants the world to elect a Blogging Poet Laureate. 11:10:06 AM    comment []

Nashville101 is up and running. I wonder if Roch is coming to the Nashville blog conference -- he could add to Henry Copeland's making-money-on-the-web session... 11:05:46 AM    comment []