There’s more to say about a story in this week’s issue, and I suspect readers will want to comment on it, so here’s the place to do it.
Major Headlines
Difficult Subjects
True sometimes covers “difficult” subjects, such as this week’s Predatory Pair of Pastors, which stories appear below. This post is about why I think it’s important to cover them, but maybe not for the reasons you think.
Behind Great Men
I suddenly realized that a story I was writing this week both stood alone in its breathtaking wonderfulness, and stood out in the context of recent headlines in an unexpected way.
Front Page News
A fairly bizarre news story from the county seat of my recently-former Colorado home not only caught my eye, but quickly spread to national, and now international, headlines.
21 Years After 9/11
On 9/11/2001 This is True was just over seven years old. I had founded HeroicStories a little more than two years earlier, and we still lived in Boulder, Colorado.
Spotify Slapped by More than Neil Young
“Irresponsible Advice from a Man with No Credibility” is what podcaster Joe Rogan said would be the title of his next book, and was the slug on a story about the Spotify controversy in this week’s issue:
“Please Stop Pushing the Vaccine”
“Please stop pushing the vaccine,” wrote a 16-year Premium reader (and who knows how long on the free distribution before that). That was in response to last week’s issue. I just reviewed it: I’m not sure the link in “Other Good Reading” to an article titled Treating the Unvaccinated constitutes “pushing” the vaccine. But perhaps … Continue Reading
What’s Good for the Goose
It’s rare that I run a guest post here, but a post I spotted on Facebook this morning written by a friend is so concise and thought-provoking, I thought it deserved a wider audience. The title was suggested by the author.
087: I Got the Moderna Vaccine
My ‘Reaction’ So Far
In This Episode: Two days before Christmas, I got a phone call: “Can you be here at 2:00?” asked Rebekah, our small county’s (only) Public Health nurse. Yes, I said, and by 2:30 Rebekah had injected my wife and me with the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.
The Year of Covid
“Thought-Provoking Entertainment” isn’t just a This is True slogan, it’s an illustration of my mission in life: to promote more thinking in the world. If thinking was truly valued by society, the U.S. wouldn’t have had such a struggle with the pandemic.
086: Beating the Vaccine Scare-Mongers
In This Episode: Now that the coronavirus vaccine is rolling out, there are several important things to watch out for, which may take a little Uncommon Sense to fully get past the scare-mongers.
085: The Triple Win
In This Episode: What makes a business work? I mean in the sense of the triple win: employees being happy, the customers being happy, and the owners making a decent return, or better!, on their investment. I’m going to tell you about a guy who applied Uncommon Sense, and figured it out.
084: Why You’re So Tired
In This Episode: Even before Covid-19, a lot of us were pooped — wrung out, over capacity. And with Covid, a lot of us are even more tired. This episode doesn’t just talk about why, but how to build your resilience to the stressors of this crazy year that’s not over yet.
Covid: Think for Yourself (Dammit!)
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After seeing this morning’s Randy’s Random post about Covid-19 (reproduced below), I got this comment by email from an old friend, Terry in Colorado:
083: Coming Together
In This Episode: Whose “fault” is it that the United States is divided like never before? Wait: it’s too easy to point at Donald Trump, or even to the “right” or the “left,” because there is fault all around. By applying the Uncommon Sense of a foreign observer, and without being partisan, let’s explore what both sides can learn from this election so we can move forward.
Is It ‘Too Much’?
Long-time Premium subscriber Michelle in Ohio writes: “I realize that the … assorted obliviots provide lots of grist for your mill, but with all the news about Covid-19, seeing more of it in True adds to my depression. So if possible, could you back off from [it]? (Oh, and if you don’t accede to my request, I’ll manage to survive; you ain’t gonna get rid of me that easily. This is still the best seven bucks a month I’m spending.”)
076: Leading Yourself Down a Path
In This Episode: Having vague, preconceived, and uninformed notions and, worse, acting upon them, isn’t just the opposite of Uncommon Sense, it can actually cause harm. How do you avoid that trap?
Me and …Rodney King?!
I was a bit startled yesterday to learn that a well-known person featured in a This is True story was in fact aware that I wrote about him.
067: Counterintuitive
In This Episode: An American company that makes masks and other PPE chose NOT to ramp up production to help with the Covid pandemic. That sounds like a decision to be criticized, but it’s actually an example of Uncommon Sense. This episode explores why.
Stay Put …Still
The Scenario Discussed in my blog post Stay Put looks more and more likely: that pressure on government officials to let businesses “open back up” is growing, and it’s way too early for that.