My column today, filled with various items, begins with questions of government — federalism, local control, and all that — and ends with Flaco the Owl. More on that in due course. In a previous column, I had a note on the social media, or the “anti-social media,” as a friend of mine calls them. A reader writes,
I, too, say “anti-social media.” Sometimes, things are called the opposite of what they are. “Let’s produce a show that is thoroughly distorted, contrived, manipulated — and call it ‘reality.’”
Also, I agree that “social” media could be made more social if people were compelled to reveal their true identities. As we all know, some people will say things while hiding behind a screen name that they would never say in person.
Whenever humans can act anonymously, there is trouble. Think of mob violence.
On a much more benign level, have you noticed that you’ve gotten far fewer prank calls since the advent of Caller ID and cellphones, and the attendant loss of telephone anonymity?
But I have to say this, too: If you’re a person in a dictatorship, using social media, you may have to be anonymous, if you can be: It’s a matter of life and death.
A reader sent me a letter on a serious issue or two, then appended a P.S. — which is serious in its own way. Here it is:
I grew up in northeastern Ohio and have been a Buckeye fan for more than 65 years. (My father played baritone in the OSU marching band when they did the now-iconic “Script Ohio” for the first time, in the 1930s.) However, I am not sad that the Wolverines have had their number for the last two years. The Big Ten needs to be more competitive.
Okay: Flaco. Flaco the Owl. He lived in the Central Park Zoo his entire life. But a vandal ruptured his cage, and Flaco escaped, out into the park. He had never hunted or otherwise lived “naturally.” But nature kicked in, and he has survived so far. I observed him the other evening, as I relate in my column. Extraordinary. Wonderful.
A reader writes,
One of my favorite writers, the horrendously neglected Harry Crews, wrote a great essay about training hawks called “The Hawk Is Flying” for Esquire back in 1977. He mentions in an aside that owls are far too stupid for trainers to do anything interesting with.
It’s a great “dad fact” — simultaneously interesting and boring, and also perhaps incorrect. It’s got everything!
Funny. (And I remain a firm believer in the wisdom of owls.) Again, for today’s Impromptus, go here, and have a good one.