OPINION: A willing, thoughtful, and somewhat reluctant return

I have tried, to some degree, in my writing to refrain from belaboring the obvious. In particular, the somewhat prevalent-in-these-parts habit of beginning an opine with the declarative “As a journalist, I…” (fill in the blank).

But upon returning from an unannounced and admittedly unplanned summer hiatus, it seems appropriate to address the matter briefly.

I am returning to The Independent as opinion editor and joining what I will tell you is an enthusiastic and dynamic editorial staff and corps of writers who collectively and individually take seriously the notion of raising the journalistic bar in St. George.

It could be reasonably asserted that in the years preceding publications such as St. George News and the evolving model of the Indy, conflictual journalism was not the norm. Writers like Kevin Jones and Ed Kociela notwithstanding, there were few and far between those who would take on the task of driving home the hard questions to our elected and appointed officials. The byproduct, of course, being a severe lack of public accountability for said officials from the public at large.

Do not take me wrong here: I do not in any way mean to assert that it is solely the responsibility of the press to inform the citizenry. An engaged public is a collective and personal ethic that falls directly upon them, and while St. George is no different per se than any other small town in America, it does in fact have its own flavor of benign apathy.

This apathy has led to the current state of things in the area, which I would aptly call a “collective unrest” with our leaders. The tangible proof of such unrest can be found in things such as the upset in the last mayoral election where a seemingly innocuous issue, the animal shelter scandal, cost Dan McArthur the election. It is said in some circles that Jon Pike did not win that one as much as McArthur lost it. Some people seemed to be saying, “enough.”

Another example, dovetailing on the first, is the now-in-motion lawsuit against the city for an alleged decade or more of Fourth and 14th Amendment abuses by the code enforcement division, and by default, the city itself.

These issues are not only quite serious and real, they are also on the forefront as an example of the unrest to which I often refer is growing on a national level. A dissatisfaction, if you will, with the disparagement between citizen and elect, whereby what was once understood to be a relationship whereby the latter served the former, now seems to be one where the former is subjugated by the latter. And frankly, people are pissed.

For myself, it is things like this that drive me to press forward in my role as an observer, reporter, and documentarian.

I am under no utopian notion that all problems can or will ever be solved, but I detest the idea of not trying. An earnest attempt to find common ground over divisive and entrenched ideologies necessitates first getting after the sometimes unpleasant truth. Then, and only then, can real solutions come forth.

And there is the rub, right? Because, after all, the identification of a problem absent a solution is really nothing more than a complaint. And simply complaining solves very little.

But again, inaction is rarely a wise course, and in the spirit of Martin Luther, who said that to go against conscience is neither right nor safe, I encourage us to move forward in having some difficult and necessary conversations.

For my part, trying involves the courage of conviction to incite the rigorous dialogue necessary to facilitate change as it were. That is what a good opinion piece does, and that is what I, as your opinion editor here at the Indy, along with a group of writers and your input as well, will work towards doing.

It’s good to be back.

See you out there.