The Mann Booker Prize was announced: John Banville won for The Sea , which I have not read. In fact I have not read any Banville although I have heard good things. Interesting.. I will have to seek his works out. I was hoping for Julian Barnes because I think he writes beautifully even though I haven’t read his newest novel yet, although he has won before and so I suppose this is only fair. Of course Ishiguro has won before also.
I am terribly behind. There was a time when I would read all the proposed novels before the prize was announced. I was more devoted and far less scatter-brained then. This year I have read nothing on the list, although several novels are on my list. I did read Ian McEwan’s Saturday, which as you know, I liked very much. I was somewhat disappointed that it was not nominated, almost as disappointed as I was surprised by Zadie Smith. I haven’t read her new novel either although it too is on my list. In the past I have thought that her prose can be beautiful but her story lines weak. Beautiful prose can be a joy but it is not enough.
Meanwhile, I continue way behind on my reading as well as my blog-reading and internet forums:
This article via Rebecca’s Pocket caught my attention yesterday and is well worth reading. The way news is reported and what is reported affects us all and requires much greater consideration.
I personally was not too concerned about Frist’s insider trading charge only because I don’t tend to worry that much about insider trading. Yes people abuse the system, yes people make money, extremely large amounts on information that is not general knowledge, but that is the way people and the world work, always have worked, and always will. I suspect more people are hurt by the secrecy and sneaking around that have to be done because of insider trading legislation than would have been otherwise. Perhaps I overstate the case. Perhaps I have not considered the issues thoroughly enough. Perhaps I am overly cynical.
Decisions have to be made based on something. Someone always knows something that no one else knows. Where would our society be today if no one had ever acted on insider knowledge. Yes there are issues. Yes there are dangers. But insider trading, like war, is so deeply tied to the human psyche that I think anyone is deceiving themselves if they believe these things can be eliminated.
Still the article is important. The implications are important. The connection between Frist and HCA, his voting record on healthcare issues, the entire way the HCA fraud case was handled and settled, these are unsettling precedents for all Americans. These, combined with the insider trading issues should give us pause.
There is no malpractice for news media, for not looking up facts that are not on the surface although such is the case in medicine. We expect our doctors to do all the research. We expect them to protect us. Frist, as a physician, is aware of this, but perhaps as a politician he does not feel the standards need be the same. We do not seem to expect this from our government. We do not seem to expect this from our news sources.