It’s good to remember. It’s good to mourn. It’s even better to learn moral lessons from past transgressions. But really, isn’t all this 9/11 coverage just a little gratuitous? Or as one New York Times reader put it, an “orgy of nationalism.” Did NPR need to devote days to the anniversary, and did virtually every columnist need to weigh in with his or her own personal and, of course, “brilliant” view of this immense tragedy? Some got it right. The Salt Lake Tribune’s Joel Campbell pointed out that “9/11 brought a wave of government secrecy,” and John Florez talked in the Deseret News about the curious presidential message to “go shopping” after 9/11. Unfortunately, you can’t go back and change the response to such an event. Do we get that the event itself is not what was important? The thoughtful USA movie The Space Between asks if you even remember what happened on April 19, 1995.
We know The Salt Lake Tribune was really pissed that the Utes lost their Pac-12 opener against USC—even though USC was given an 8.5-point edge in the odds game. “Some might think the U did OK in its Pac-12 debut,” the paper said above the fold on Sunday. “But close wasn’t good enough.” Well, yeah. The game-tying kick was blocked, and they lost 23-14. Maybe it depends on what you’re looking for. They won their first game against Montana State, although it was pretty lackluster. But against USC, QB Jordan Wynn showed potential. And as a Trojan blog notes, “Utah will be a season-long litmus test for how a mid-major fares in a BCS conference.” There’s more to come.
BYU researchers may have published a no-duh, but parents ought to take heed that their teens are listening to a lot more sexualized song lyrics than ever before. First, they’re listening to more music, period. Secondly, they tend to “overestimate the sexual activity of their peers,” researchers said. Well, it’s one thing to worry about objectifying girls and glorifying sex. According to the Deseret News, “The BYU researchers wrote that ‘popular music can teach young men to be sexually aggressive and treat women as objects while often teaching young women that their value to society is to provide sexual pleasure for others. It is essential for society that sex-education providers are aware of these issues and their impact on adolescent sexual behavior.’” Oh, right—sex education. That would be what we can’t provide teens in Utah.
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