Itchin' For a Fight

An article in the Courier-Journal (and please don't forget to read the accompanying comments, because they will really restore your faith in humanity) really stuck in my craw (I love that expression) this morning, so I thought I'd stick it in yours, too.

Craw, that is.

I never, ever, in my childhood career dreams, had any interest in journalism. Creative writing, yes -- journalism, no. But lately -- I tell you what -- the crap that spews onto the pages of my local paper everyday is making me rethink that.

Because I think I could do better. And I KNOW I could do better on the courtroom beat.

The number of interesting stories floating around this building (The Hall of Justice, in case you're reading this and don't actually know me) is astounding. (Hell, the number of interesting stories floating around the periphery of today's stupid article is astounding. ASTOUNDING, I tell you.) Throw in the Judicial Center across the street, along with a few government offices and some private attorney's offices? They wouldn't be able to print enough papers to go around, it'd be THAT interesting.

And I know that it's not just the criminal justice system. I'm convinced that everybody, out there working their daily jobs and living their lives, knows some story that would blow us all away.

In the interest of keeping my current, non-journalism job, I guess I can't expound upon any of those stories. Use your imagination, and you might just reach some conclusions that are halfway to the bizarre reality of this place.

But the local media? They never even get close.

I wonder sometimes if it's because they really don't know where to look for the big stories, or if they're just not publishing them.

Are journalists and publishers too "litigation-shy" to put the real dirt out there? Whatever happened to those old-style reporters, who lurked around the dark corners of life while smoking their big stogeys and wearing trench coats? And the femme fatales who would give up the dirt in exchange for safe passage out of town?

Maybe it's time for the gloves to come off.

Maybe, if we're really interested in cleaning up politics and courtrooms and heck, the world we live in, we should forget about libel and slander (and who can remember the difference between those, anyway?) and tell it like it is.

Maybe the real crooks out there don't deserve to be coddled and bowed-to and tiptoed-around anymore. And I don't mean that homeless guy who makes you nervous when you walk to your car at night. I mean the real crooks -- the ones who wear suits and sometimes even black robes and sometimes have offices that might be considered oval-shaped.

I mean the ones who ruin lives every day just because they feel entitled. The ones who sleep like babies every night while the rest of us try to do the right things and still survive. The ones who haven't seen their own bootstraps in generations, much less know how to pull themselves up by them.

Maybe THOSE people should wake up one morning and see the truth about themselves splattered across the front page. The REAL truth.

Maybe we should all get rid of those blinders that make life so easy.

And YES, now that you mention it, I AM on my high horse today!

Harumph.