Dave Barry: Historian for a new millennium
Humorist Dave Barry discontinued his column writing in 2004, but still examines current events in his popular Year in Review pieces. The one's he wrote between 2000 and 2006 are collected in "Dave Barry's History of the Millennium (So Far)." Read an excerpt:
Foreword
As Abraham Lincoln once said, “Journalism is the first rough draft of history.”
Or possibly it was Thomas Edison who said that. I’m pretty sure somebody said it, because you often hear journalists quote it in an effort to explain how come they get everything wrong.
We see this all the time. Journalists, rushing to get a story out under deadline pressure, will report— based on preliminary information— that a ship sank, and 127 people, many of them elderly, perished. Then, upon further investigation, it turns out that nobody, in fact, perished, although one elderly person was slightly injured by a set of dentures hurled by another el derly person in an effort to get the first elderly person to stop talking so loud. Then it turns out that this happened at a nursing home, as opposed to a ship, although the elderly people were watching a video of Titanic at the time, and although there were only four of them, as opposed to 127, the nursing home is located on Route 124, which is only three less than 127, which is not that much of an error when you consider the deadline pressure that journalists operate under.
That’s what we journalists mean when we talk about “the first rough draft of history.”...
The book you hold in your hands contains my reviews of all the years of the Second Millennium so far. As a bonus, this book also includes my review of the First Millennium, covering the years 1000 through 1999.5 These two millenniums have not been picnics for the human race. But as you read this book and review the many tragedies that have befallen humanity over the years, I suspect that you’ll come to the same surprising conclusion that I did: No matter what challenges we face as a species— no matter what hurdles are placed in our way— somehow we always find a way, even in the darkest hour, to make things worse. It’s a miracle, really. You read about the events of one year and you think, “There is no possible way that human beings can get any stupider than that.” Then you read what we did the next year and darned if we didn’t pull it off!...
Read entire article at MSNBC
Foreword
As Abraham Lincoln once said, “Journalism is the first rough draft of history.”
Or possibly it was Thomas Edison who said that. I’m pretty sure somebody said it, because you often hear journalists quote it in an effort to explain how come they get everything wrong.
We see this all the time. Journalists, rushing to get a story out under deadline pressure, will report— based on preliminary information— that a ship sank, and 127 people, many of them elderly, perished. Then, upon further investigation, it turns out that nobody, in fact, perished, although one elderly person was slightly injured by a set of dentures hurled by another el derly person in an effort to get the first elderly person to stop talking so loud. Then it turns out that this happened at a nursing home, as opposed to a ship, although the elderly people were watching a video of Titanic at the time, and although there were only four of them, as opposed to 127, the nursing home is located on Route 124, which is only three less than 127, which is not that much of an error when you consider the deadline pressure that journalists operate under.
That’s what we journalists mean when we talk about “the first rough draft of history.”...
The book you hold in your hands contains my reviews of all the years of the Second Millennium so far. As a bonus, this book also includes my review of the First Millennium, covering the years 1000 through 1999.5 These two millenniums have not been picnics for the human race. But as you read this book and review the many tragedies that have befallen humanity over the years, I suspect that you’ll come to the same surprising conclusion that I did: No matter what challenges we face as a species— no matter what hurdles are placed in our way— somehow we always find a way, even in the darkest hour, to make things worse. It’s a miracle, really. You read about the events of one year and you think, “There is no possible way that human beings can get any stupider than that.” Then you read what we did the next year and darned if we didn’t pull it off!...