WELCOME to the debut of “The Truth Is!”, a blog of reporting and commentary that aims to be informative, thoughtful and provocative. At least initially, the blog will have a strong heartland flavor by virtue of the connection of a number of us to Cowles family journalism. I am former editor of the Des Moines Register’s opinion pages. Another contributor, Michael Gartner, is former editor of the paper; he later served as president of NBC News. Another former Register editor who has agreed to contribute, Geneva Overholser, is director of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg school of journalism. Followers of the blog will have access also to the work of Herbert Strentz of Des Moines, a close Register and other newspaper watcher who once headed Drake University’s journalism school. Bill Leonard, a longtime Register editorial writer, will add insights.

“The Truth Is!” will be supervised by my daughter, Marcia Wolff, a communications lawyer for 20 years with Arnold and Porter (Washington, D.C.). Invaluable technical assistance in assembling and maintaining the blog is provided by my grandsons Julian Cranberg, a college first-year, and Daniel Wolff, a high school senior.

If you detect a whiff of nepotism in this operation, so be it. All of it is strictly a labor of love. —Gil Cranberg

Monday, December 17, 2012

Gilbert Cranberg: NOT IDYLLIC FOR EVERYONE

The press has made Newtown, CT., the recent scene of mass murder, seem like an idyllic place where everyone is friendly, caring and treated with respect.

Missing from the word pictures is what life is like for Newtown youngsters who are “different” and, try as they might, do not fit in. “Different” people often are friendless, and, if they are young, either ignored or mistreated. Especially in school, the lives of “different” people can be a living hell, a daily form of state sanctioned torture.

By all accounts, Adam Lanza, the central figure in the Newtown massacre, was very different. Apparently, he harbored great anger. It may be significant that the main target of his anger was a place that presumably symbolized for him a source of much pain.

Diversity is highly praised nowadays. Seldom is the term applied to social misfits who, when not shunned, are mocked as oddballs. When the lessons of the Newtown tragedy are sorted out, it will be surprising if one of them isn’t the treatment of the “different” among us.

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