The varied power of words is amazing. The good thing is their ability to inform or educate, benefiting the recipient.

Not so good is their ability to deceive or mislead, benefiting mainly the liar, usually temporarily, and confusing the recipient. Quite a difference.

With so many service sector jobs remaining unfilled I, as do others, wonder why. Among other reasons, could it be that some would-be employees are so enamored with their life-fulfilling flat screens that the prospect of having to interact with real-time people, with their attendant whimsicalities, is too uncomfortable for them?

Haven’t they got it wrong? Aren’t conspiracy theories, as they are willy-nilly thrown about, really nothing but agreed-upon group lies? Let the words conspiracy and theories be used in their proper context.

We pretty much know why it’s done, but TV’s frenzied pace of severely aborted video bites is so at odds with why most people watch: to relax or be informed. TV time is squeezed so tightly that even exciting, long NFL touchdowns, consuming all of maybe 10 seconds, are seldom shown on highlights anymore.

Networks need to tranquilize and feed into our national rhythms better. What they are transmitting to us is r _ di _ _ l _ us.

Norm Gellatly, Auburn

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