Faux Noise

Years back I ran into a stockbroker who was the actual owner of a small securities firm. He was a pretty good fella or seemed so when I was getting to know him. The old saying "Time wounds all heels" (not a misprint - just think about it) was true in his regard. It is that clear understanding that one fine day the fog lifts and you see someone for what he/it is. The fog lifts sooner for some than for others but in the end, most folks get the idea. That is the definition of the truly bad person and there is no hiding it.

Mr. Murdoch and his fellas at News Corporation are facing clearing sky and the residual picture isn't pretty. Not a bit. We don't approve of but understand that being in the "news" business means a certain amount of sifting through someone else's trash can. We draw a moral line about reading other people's mail and only permit the practice if we permit it at all if something important is unearthed. Simply we sometimes like the results but disapprove of the methods.

Mr. Murdoch's fellas at Noise Corporation appear to be thrill seekers - you know the type - they wander up to the edge of the cliff to peer over the side and are seemingly never satisfied - moving closer and closer until, just by luck, they aren't hurtling down the slope. Well it appears that right up the edge was the operative phrase of the day and much of the Faux Noise empire appears to have gained its successes by hiring a whole lot of folks who wandered too far.

It appears that when a few of these fellas wanted to go over the edge they had no help - someone holding their belts while they peered in the abyss - and actually had to pay folks to keep them from falling. The folks they paid were the very people others were paying to keep thrill seekers from the edge of the cliff.

In old parlance, a "second story man" was a thief who usually used a ladder or climbing abilities and broke into apartments on the second floor to steal things. Mr. Murdoch's fellas hired policemen to hold the ladder and warn the beat patrolman away from the scene. This appears that this is the case and now Mr. Murdoch is visited by the lifting fog and the scene isn't pretty.

Isn't pretty at all.