Juking the Stats

David Simon, who created The Wire, is on Bill Moyers tonight- Simon is cynical and truthful. A journalist without a journal. I stopped watching the series when I got to this peaceful seaside town (mid season three) because it felt like wallowing. My former coworkers love the show and identify strongly with it, and I think Simon would agree that big city libraries juke the stats and operate under all the same forces as the institutions he looked at.

“The hard work of looking at things systemically is not done. There is no incentive for it and no one is doing it.” He went on to say our society is fundamentally broken and he doesn’t see any solution and is terrified at the corruption that will occur now there is no viable press. To leaven this, he said he does have faith in individuals, but I’m not sure I believe him.

I found Baltimore on this last visit to be painfully romantic. What would it take to go into a sick situation and make a lasting change? I think the Buddhists would say don’t try so hard and work with what you got. But…

I’m so sorry I couldn’t do the job in the city. I miss those city kids a lot.