2015-01-08 – I was planning on writing about the nasty weather today. It is really nasty out there and, what’s more, I knew it was coming yesterday. I should have written this post then, when I usually do.

But then I read my friend Chris’ Facebook post about the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris. It talked about how the attackers are more sophisticated than what we are apt to think and about their intention to arouse western anger. I thought it was a topic worthy of a think. A serious think.

I normally do my serious thinking when I walk. Until the latest weather, I’ve been doing six to 10 miles a day. Most of it is with my dog Lefty. He’s not much of a conversationalist. I might tell him to poop before we go home, but he doesn’t really answer back. There’s plenty of time to think. In the last few days, the snow and cold has cut back the walks. Lefty’s feet begin to hurt and he tries to walk on three legs. When he gets like that, I try to get home fast . . . before I have to carry him.

When I was planning on writing about the nasty weather, it was going to be a slam on media reporting of the weather. Stuff like “240 million suffer from arctic blast.” Since when is winter a hostage event?

But it’s not just weather. The media is very selective about its coverage. It’s all things to make us afraid.

I remember when militants took hostages in Iran at the end of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. According to the media, it wasn’t just the folks in Tehran who were held hostage. Day after day we were told: Day 121 of America Held Hostage, Day 122 of America Held Hostage, Day 123 of America Held Hostage. Day after Day. You know, I wouldn’t mind being held hostage like that. I went to work every day. I went to the show. I took vacations. I went to the beach.

The folks in Tehran couldn’t do that. They were held by Iranian militants. I was held hostage by the American news media. I could turn it off. (And I’m not talking about the liberal media because that doesn’t exist.)

So yesterday, before the Paris attack, America was being attacked by a polar vortex. Today, as a result of an attack in Paris, freedom is under attack everywhere.

I don’t want to minimize the seriousness of the attack. But you know, there are a lot of serious things going on everywhere and we don’t hear about it. We just hear about things that the media thinks will make us afraid.

It’s almost as if they are partners with the jihadists.

Of course Charlie Hebdo is part of the media. It’s all so confusing.

What’s not confusing is that most people want to just stay out of the cold and shovel the walks when it snows.