Take your pick
A tale of two New Year’s Eves
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” —Charles Dickens,
A Tale of Two Cities
AS IT was in the revolutionary France of the very late 18th century, so it is with us at the dawn of this 21st century. The same roles seem to be played over and over again by a new cast of actors, but the plots and counter-plots seem scarcely to have changed. Just fill in the blanks on your program card and take your pick of which news to headline, which to delegate to the fine print, and which to ignore.
Kings and queens, dictators and wannabe tyrants may rise and fall, but in Arkansas’ Newspaper it is you, Gentle Reader, who remains sovereign, free to decide which of the news stories, obituaries, commentaries and all the rest you will follow. All the editors and reporters here at the paper could do is offer you a menu from which to choose among the dishes you might like to try, or forgo, from this past New Year’s Eve:
In New York City’s Times Square, crossroads of the country and maybe the world, the drop of a crystal ball and fireworks lit up the last hours of 2017 and the first ones of 2018. It was only 10 degrees Fahrenheit as more than a ton of confetti and myriad fireworks filled the frigid air.
For some of us, the biggest mystery of the night was why anyone would venture out on a night not fit for man or beast, but youth must be served and age set aside. For all of us are young only once, thank goodness.
In Tehran, which continues to make more news than it can safely consume, the mullahs were still trying to ignore the chaos all around them as Iranians rebelled across the country, but in vain. Iran’s beleaguered president, Hassan Rouhani, could offer only transparent lies, such as this one: “We are a free nation, and based on the constitution and citizenship rights, people are completely free to express their criticism and even their protest.” Uh-huh. And if you believe that line of malarky, to use a polite word for it, you’ll swallow anything.
At latest report, what remains of free media in Iran was being curtailed once again. “With a decision by the Supreme National Security Council, activities of [instant messaging service] Telegram and Instagram are temporarily limited,” the shaky authorities announced without further elaboration. Can there be some falsehoods so naked that even the mullahs are embarrassed to repeat them?
A more reliable statement came from Pavel Durov, CEO of the Telegram app that had been whited out by the mullahs: “Iranian authorities started blocking Telegram in Iran today after we publicly refused to shut down channels of peaceful Iranian protesters . . . We are proud that Telegram is used by thousands of massive opposition channels all over the world. We consider freedom of speech an undeniable human right, and would rather get blocked in a country by its authorities than limit peaceful expression of alternative opinions.”
Hear, hear. Mr. Durov seems to have the right attitude toward these censors: He defies them.
So let’s begin the new year by thinking not of all the threats to our lives, liberty and sacred honor, but of those hardy souls, both acclaimed and anonymous, who every day defend their freedom and ours. Let us all follow their example and do our duty. For as Robert E. Lee once said, no man can do more, and none should wish to do less. On those words, let’s wish each other a happy new year. And a brave one.