Our news diet evokes echoes of ‘60s lyrics

In 1966, Simon and Garfunkel released “7 o’clock News/Silent Night.” As a TV broadcaster delivers the news, the song “Silent Night” is sung in the background. The news reflects a nation rife with anti-war tensions, discrimination and violence. Today, on the eve of Christmas, I have updated the song using events from current news stories.

Original words: The recent fight in the House of Representatives was over the open housing section of the Civil Rights Bill. President Johnson originally proposed an outright ban covering discrimination by everyone for every type of housing, but it had no chance from the start. A compromise was painfully worked out.

2005 update: Owners of apartment complexes in Texas, Florida and Alabama have been accused of discriminating against black Hurricane Katrina victims. “Blacks were less frequently told about available apartments, didn’t have phone messages returned as promptly and generally had a more difficult time getting information from agents,” the Associated Press reported.

Original words: In Los Angeles today, comedian Lenny Bruce died of what was believed to be an overdose of narcotics. Bruce was 42 years old.

2005 update: Comedian Richard Pryor died of a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital. He was 65. “Episodes of self-destructive, chaotic and violent behavior, often triggered by drug use, repeatedly jeopardized his life,” reported the New York Times.

Original words: In Chicago, Richard Speck, accused murderer of nine student nurses, was brought before a grand jury today for indictment. The nurses were found stabbed and strangled in their Chicago apartment.

2005 update: Lawyers for Joseph Edward Duncan have been given three more months to prepare a defense for the suspected murderer. Duncan has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and kidnapping for the May bludgeoning deaths of Coeur d’Alene residents Brenda Groene, her son, 13-year-old Slade Groene, and her boyfriend, Mark McKenzie.

Original words: In Washington, the atmosphere was tense today as a special subcommittee of the House Committee on Un-American Activities continued its probe into anti-Vietnam war protests.

2005 update: In Washington, the atmosphere was tense after it was revealed that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency to wiretap U.S. citizens’ phone conversations – without court approval. Defenders of the practice said it was a necessary anti-terrorist tactic.

Original words: Former Vice President Richard Nixon says that unless there is a substantial increase in the present war effort in Vietnam, the U.S. should look forward to five more years of war.

2005 update: As the war in Iraq continues into its third year, President Bush reiterated the need to stay in Iraq and get the job done. “Now there are only two options before our country – victory or defeat,” he said.

Original words: In a speech before the Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in New York, Nixon also said opposition to the war in this country is the greatest single weapon working against the U.S.

2005 update: Conservative pundits blame anti-war protesters for prolonging the Iraq war. A New York Sun columnist writes: “How much easier has it become to recruit and import insurgents to an Islamic jihad buoyed by the protests of Americans at home?”

Original words: That’s the 7 o’clock edition of the news. Goodnight.

2005 update: That’s the 24-hour-every-minute-of-the-day-edition of the news. Goodnight.

The news 40 years ago was as depressing and disheartening as the news in 2005. And eerily similar. But the song heard softly in the background heralds the unchanging good news broadcast every year at this time:

Silent night. Holy night. All is calm. All is bright. Round yon virgin mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.