I've decided to take a look at the latest issue of 'WORLD' today, and wouldn't you know it, you and I are in luck, because this issue happens to be a special issue. (I know this for sure because it says, right across the top where I can't miss it, 'Special Issue'. I'm assuming this is for the readers of WORLD who are liberals and need everything spelled out for them--I knew as soon as I picked it up, because they make all the special issues noticeably thicker).
The potholes in the road to political knowledge are many, as I am just discovering. For the first thing, I have to choose between some two dozen articles, beginning with the cover story called "A Warmer Chile: Compassionate conservatism takes root in South America's most hopeful nation". (Aha! You didn't know there was such a thing as a compassionate conservative, did you? You thought all conservatives were narrow-minded bigots. That's because you haven't kept up with WORLD recently. If you had, you'd know both that compassionate conservatives exist, and also why Chile is South America's "most hopeful nation", which is what I'm just about to find out.)
...And here we are, page 14. A page and a half into the article, and I've discovered some important reasons why Chile is called the "Great South American Hope", one of which is that Chileans are economically superior to their counterparts in most other major South American countries, Argentina and Brazil being mentioned in particular. Apparently the one is "living through financial chaos", while the other faces the prospect of increased poverty if the policies of newly elected Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (how's that for a name?) are implemented. Chile, on the other hand, is enjoying reduced taxes and economic progress, with poverty cut drastically from 45 to 21 percent. Another reason that Chile is considered to be a hopeful nation is the strong likelihood that it will become the newest beneficiary of the Bush administration's attempted expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Last but not least, (I skipped a few reasons here to get to the most important), Chile is considered hopeful because of its willingness to pursue both religious and class reconciliation, something that the journalist feels is vital to the cultural health of a nation. With September 11, 2001 as a backdrop, Chile is portrayed as finally healing from its wounds of three decades before, when "economic and cultural tension" resulted in the deaths of thousands of Chileans. Today one of Santiago's main streets is called "Av. 11 de Septiembre", in remembrance of that day in 1973.
I have just discovered something else about this article. It isn't. It's actually a collection of articles grouped together under one name, which I think is pretty underhanded of WORLD. The reader is clearly being misled here--and just wait until he reaches page three, where he will suddenly discover that those sneaky journalists have slipped not one, not two, not even three, but nine more articles in on him. At this point he will, if at all like me, give up in disgust and look for something shorter; which means that either most of WORLD's readers are not as un-politically minded as I am, or WORLD is in need of a new strategy.
The article I would have read, had I discovered WORLD's duplicity earlier, is the one about Dana Gioia, the president's nominee for head of the National Endowment for the Arts. This one is titled "A Poet who Rhymes", and is already more interesting than the article about Chile, besides being shorter. Up until a short time ago I was one of those innocents under the happy delusion that all poets rhyme, and so perhaps this title would have seemed axiomatic; but I have since discovered that 'free verse' is now in fashion, leaving those of us who feel the allure of rhyme out in the cold. You know, I've made up my mind--I am going to read that article. There is something very attractive about a person who can be titled "He who rhymes". Mr. Gioia has also written an article for the Atlantic Monthly entitled "Can Poetry Matter?", and that is another article I'm going to search out. You may keep your issues of political importance--today at least. I'm casting my vote with poetry!
The potholes in the road to political knowledge are many, as I am just discovering. For the first thing, I have to choose between some two dozen articles, beginning with the cover story called "A Warmer Chile: Compassionate conservatism takes root in South America's most hopeful nation". (Aha! You didn't know there was such a thing as a compassionate conservative, did you? You thought all conservatives were narrow-minded bigots. That's because you haven't kept up with WORLD recently. If you had, you'd know both that compassionate conservatives exist, and also why Chile is South America's "most hopeful nation", which is what I'm just about to find out.)
...And here we are, page 14. A page and a half into the article, and I've discovered some important reasons why Chile is called the "Great South American Hope", one of which is that Chileans are economically superior to their counterparts in most other major South American countries, Argentina and Brazil being mentioned in particular. Apparently the one is "living through financial chaos", while the other faces the prospect of increased poverty if the policies of newly elected Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (how's that for a name?) are implemented. Chile, on the other hand, is enjoying reduced taxes and economic progress, with poverty cut drastically from 45 to 21 percent. Another reason that Chile is considered to be a hopeful nation is the strong likelihood that it will become the newest beneficiary of the Bush administration's attempted expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Last but not least, (I skipped a few reasons here to get to the most important), Chile is considered hopeful because of its willingness to pursue both religious and class reconciliation, something that the journalist feels is vital to the cultural health of a nation. With September 11, 2001 as a backdrop, Chile is portrayed as finally healing from its wounds of three decades before, when "economic and cultural tension" resulted in the deaths of thousands of Chileans. Today one of Santiago's main streets is called "Av. 11 de Septiembre", in remembrance of that day in 1973.
I have just discovered something else about this article. It isn't. It's actually a collection of articles grouped together under one name, which I think is pretty underhanded of WORLD. The reader is clearly being misled here--and just wait until he reaches page three, where he will suddenly discover that those sneaky journalists have slipped not one, not two, not even three, but nine more articles in on him. At this point he will, if at all like me, give up in disgust and look for something shorter; which means that either most of WORLD's readers are not as un-politically minded as I am, or WORLD is in need of a new strategy.
The article I would have read, had I discovered WORLD's duplicity earlier, is the one about Dana Gioia, the president's nominee for head of the National Endowment for the Arts. This one is titled "A Poet who Rhymes", and is already more interesting than the article about Chile, besides being shorter. Up until a short time ago I was one of those innocents under the happy delusion that all poets rhyme, and so perhaps this title would have seemed axiomatic; but I have since discovered that 'free verse' is now in fashion, leaving those of us who feel the allure of rhyme out in the cold. You know, I've made up my mind--I am going to read that article. There is something very attractive about a person who can be titled "He who rhymes". Mr. Gioia has also written an article for the Atlantic Monthly entitled "Can Poetry Matter?", and that is another article I'm going to search out. You may keep your issues of political importance--today at least. I'm casting my vote with poetry!
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