Turn it off

Re "Why is Pat Buchanan in my living room?" (Felice Belman, Sunday Monitor Viewpoints, May 11)

Felice, there's an easy solution to your problem with blathering news commentators: Shut off the TV. Get your news from the newspaper! (One of the perks of your job must be that you get a free copy of your own paper.)

Several years ago I sailed down the coast from Maine to Palm Beach and across to the Bahamas. I sailed alone almost the whole voyage. The only news I gathered was a glimpse of the headlines when I stopped for groceries along the way. The trip to Florida took 59 days and I spent two months each spring for three years in the Bahamas, during which I heard not one news commentator, not even the news itself.

When I returned, the news was almost exactly the same as it was before I left! The Jews were fighting the Arabs, the Democrats were fighting the Republicans, the New Hampshire Legislature still hadn't voted money for education, the Red Sox still hadn't captured the pennant, gays were still trying to get married, the abortion wars carried on, all of which was being discussed on the news. The "sounds" of news were identical to those before I left three years before!

So turn the TV off, read the newspaper and enjoy the peace and quiet of complete indifference to the rest of the world! In fact, make it even more enjoyable; learn to sail.



Steve Leavenworth
Concord

YOU read this week by host Arnie Arnesen