EDITORIAL: Good news plays well
Jan. 7—Thumbs up to all the subjects of a recent Free Press holiday season feature called "Making a Difference" that highlighted regular people who make a difference in the lives of others or for the betterment of the community.
The Free Press asked readers to nominate people, and there were plenty of options to choose from. Those nominated often helped certain nonprofits with volunteer time. Others were outstanding teachers who go the extra mile.
A pastor took training to learn immigration rules to help local refugees file the paperwork to unite them with families in a foreign land. Another profile featured a long-time military veteran who not only helped his neighbors shovel snow, but spent numerous hours helping and assisting local veterans with whatever was needed.
An Minnesota State University professor made a difference holding classes for people in prison and an attorney helped people avoid jail by getting help with their substance abuse instead.
And another business owner volunteered or led just about every civic group one could think of.
These stories were developed to offer a balanced perspective to the world we live in where headlines seems to capture one bad news event after another. The stories were a respite from bad news and an inspiration to all.
They showed that beyond every piece of bad news, someone is doing good.
Musk mess
Thumbs down to yet another bad idea at Twitter under new owner Elon Musk.
The company this week tweeted it would soon begin to allow political advertising.
Twitter banned political ads in 2019 after it, Facebook and other social media companies faced broad public criticism for allowing election misinformation to spread on its services.
Again allowing political advertising will further erode confidence in Twitter, which has already been badly damaged since Musk took over and announced a series of changes. And while Musk is scrambling to find ways to make money to salvage his ill-fated purchase of Twitter, the move will only make things worse.
Many corporate advertisers have already fled the platform so as not to be seen supporting Musk and Twitter. Allowing political ads to further poison the platform will only cause more legitimate advertisers to flee.
STDs trouble
Thumbs down on the continued uptick of STD cases in the U.S. and in Minnesota.
The Center of Disease Control and Prevention's preliminary STD surveillance report found chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases were up by 4.4% over a one-year period and 5.5% over a five-year period across the U.S.
State STD data showed Minnesota saw similar trends with rising chlamydia and syphilis rates but a decline in gonorrhea.
Some good news-bad news locally: Blue Earth County saw a decline in chlamydia, although its rate was still high enough to rank third among 87 counties in Minnesota. Unfortunately, a history of high rates has been a local trademark.
Of course, dropping STD rates has to do with providing sexual education so people are aware of how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Thorough testing is also necessary to stop the spread as well as offering medical access to detect and treat conditions as soon as possible.
The anti-vaxxers don't quit
Thumbs down to the spurt of anti-vaccine nonsense that emerged this week after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest after making a tackle in Monday night's NFL game in Cincinnati — and emphatically to Fox News and its star purveyor of lies, Tucker Carlson, for providing a popular platform for the falsehood.
The claim made this week on Carlson's show that COVID-19 vaccines are linked to more than 1,500 "cardiac events" among European athletes is readily disproven.
While Hamlin's physicians in Cincinnati said Thursday they cannot yet specifically cite a cause for his cardiac arrest, the most likely cause is commotio cordis, an accident of timing in which a blow to the chest comes at just the wrong instant and disconnects the heart's electrical trigger. Such incidents happen every few years in youth baseball.
Hamlin is fortunate that trained medical personnel were on hand Monday night. The rest of us would be fortunate if Fox News felt a shred of responsibility to keep known falsehoods off its broadcasts.
