A Few Nuggets of News From Jon Talton: "It's A Dangerous Time To Write"

They're all taken from this piece on July 20th: 
https://www.roguecolumnist.com/Climate, Click-Bait & More

"...We're in a time of hysteria and thoughtcrime, made worse by social media. 

So, a few nuggets that stay within the guardrails (I have a day job to protect).

• Click Bait News Releases fill my mailboxes every day. I don't use most because they're based on questionable premises and shoddy data. 

Unfortunately, too much struggling media do. 

Hence, the recent story ranking Phoenix as "the best city in the U.S. for working remotely." 

It was carried unquestioningly by KTAR and the Phoenix Business Journal, among other local outlets. . Phoenix was No. 1, followed by Atlanta, Kansas City, Raleigh, and Toledo... Phoenix's economy is largely divided among 1) Real estate/construction; 2) Services for the large retiree population; 3) Tourism and hospitality, and 4) Back office/call center work. It has a relatively small slice of legacy tech/advanced industries, such as Intel and Boeing Helicopters*, much smaller than peer metros.

BLOGGER NOTE: "Boeing Helicopters" is here in Mesa 

NUGGETS: So let's say the headline is misleading and the story really is about Phoenix being cheap...

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Arizona's Rugged Individualism Poses Barrier to Mask Rules 

is the headline of an Associated Press story on our state's stunning rise in Covid-19 cases (at least we're No. 1 in something, dear boosters). Resistance to masks, it asserts, "continues a visceral opposition to government mandates, a fierce individualism that has endured among some in Arizona since the days of the Wild West."

That's pretty neat were it not only crass reductionism but simply wrong.

The Anglo population of Arizona has only the most tenuous connection to pioneer days. Most are from the Midwest, including Gov. Doug Ducey (born in Toledo). Anyone who does have deep roots should know that "rugged individualism" was a myth. The government pacified native tribes, provided incentives for railroads, built massive reclamation projects and saved the state during the Great Depression. The feds stepped in again after World War II with Cold War industries, the Central Arizona Project, flood control, and subsidies for SUBURBANIZATION. . . 

What we're seeing today is not the Wild West but, for too many, the Wild Midwest — a disposable place for waves of newcomers who are there to make a quick buck or retire. 

Pay for schools? Hell, no. They "already did that back home!" (How many times I heard this refrain when working as a columnist for the Arizona Republic). 

The sprawled, car-dependent, walled-off layout further weakens civic connections. And “resort culture” — where some would do all sorts of sociopathic acting out they would never do “back home.”

As for the pandemic, Arizona rushed to reopen and is now paying the price. And Ducey, and his puppetmaster Trump, owns it.

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