Any nation has the press it deserves

 

We get the press we deserve just as we get the Government we deserve. In practice, people choose the paper that best reflects their personal views and tells them what they want to hear. A wit once remarked that the Times is read by those who govern the country, The Daily Telegraph by those who used to govern the country, The Guardian by those who think they should be governing the country, the Financial Times by those who own the country, the Daily Mail by the wives of those who own and govern the country, and The Sun by those who don’t care who governs the country as long as she's got big boobs.

I suppose, that readers are to blame for the low standards of the press of which they complain. The thing is that the market rules. And if we see the hallmark that the standards of our press are deteriorating, it is because the press moguls want to make money, and they do make it by giving the readers what they obviously want. We should acknowledge the harrowing fact, that nowadays there is a huge demand for low-brow press with its gossip, disclosure and defamation. And voracious readers are more likely to buy such newspapers that seem more determined to provide their readers with entertainment and not with news. To millions of people all over the world the comings and goings of Bush and Putin and the problems of Iran are boring—and utterly remote from their immediate preoccupations. If you can't affect decisions made for you on high, why worry about them? That is why economics, politics, life and death issues like nuclear disarmament are treated in these newspapers only cursorily, if treated at all.

So, we see that the reading habits in the society are absolutely besmirched. For press standards to improve, the impetus must come from us, to show the press moguls that there’s a genuine public interest in news and not in boobs. At present, though, most of us are giving them the opposite message.

 

Murder will out. (The inspiration of Mr Budd, Terrified)

A murder, as any deed, can not be committed without people noticing the indications and the tangible evidences of this deed. There are lots of traces that a criminal leaves, especially if he or she is distraught or flustered. His thoughts are tangled for he blots out a person and already understands that this deed is fatal for him. He may also be too dim to understand that any deliberate onslaught is a punishable act.

He hopes to be thriving as long as the hindrance is discarded, but no vicious man will be thriving eternally. Some day revenge will be thrust upon that criminal either in person of a smart detective, like in the text “Terrified”, or in person of a conscientious citizen, like in the text “The Inspiration of Mr.Budd”.

A conscientious citizen may appear to be a barber, who has committed the description of the criminal – William Strickland, who killed Emma Strickland - to his memory and that put him into a position of advantage. There was a reward for information leading to the arrest of that criminal and that barber – Mr.Budd had a fancy for money. When the criminal entered his saloon Mr.Budd was terrified but, in point of fact, William Strickland just wanted to dye his hair, so that the police would not recognize him. Mr.Budd was attentive enough to notice that his customer talked at fast pace, as if someone was after him. Besides, the customer matched the description of the appalling cut-throat given in the newspaper, and his hair had already been dyed. Thus, Mr.Budd decided to mix two tints – red, as the colour of his customer’s hair was red, with black and in course of time the man appeared to have lavishly midsummer green hair. Mr.Budd set his mark on the criminal, which made him insurmountably recognizable.

But in case there are no witnesses, one may only hope that that though, the downbeat crime is beyond retrieve, a smart detective may find out the truth. Paul Satin had to swerve to the right in order to avoid the collision of cars, for another car was driving along the oncoming traffic lane and there was no evidence, that its driver was going to observe the rules of traffic courtesy. Paul Satin’s car skidded and the driver himself fell out of the car through the windscreen. Soon came the drivers of the other car and they were appalled by the sight of a crippled man. But at the same time they were daunted by the possible consequences of their driving at high speed without dimming the headlights. Thus Paul turned from an innocent victim into an evidence. It was on the cards, that they would decide to discard the evidence. The young men didn’t want Paul to sprout out the truth about the accident, that’s why they carried out an onslaught and hit Paul with a boulder, so that he died. It was an irony of fate: the young men tried to escape slight punishment and all that ended in a murder. But the tangible evidence of the driver’s guilt was terror. Even a person who was not a high-flying whiz-kid in psychology cold see that the boy was distraught, he could not regain his composure. He was flustered, but he wanted everything to look like an accident, as if Paul fell out of the car and hit his head on the stone by haphazard. The boy didn’t think of the fact that there was blood on the other side of the stone. His guilt was unquestionable, as the sergeant noticed all the poignant details. The sergeant abstained from being hoodwinked into believing that it was just a measly accident. And the truth transpired.

In any case, what is done by night appears by day. Every deed leaves a trace, which leads to the doer of the action. Eternal mark is set on a murderer, on his soul. It is widely acknowledged, that eyes are the mirrors of the soul of a human being. They may brazen out and everyone will know the truth. Concealing it is senseless – the evidences howl and bellow and point at the criminal, who may escape criminal prosecution, but he will never escape the Last Judgement.