Ironies & Contradictions

Last Sunday's Washington Post was filled with what I quickly labeled, Ironies & Contradictions. Among the stories that qualified:

An artist making a legitimate point about poverty being "the elephant in the room" that no one talks about honored one compassionate instinct while compromising another. He set up a room, complete with gold-flocked red wallpaper, in a Los Angeles warehouse and then not only posed a live Indian elephant in the center of it for the exhibit's three-day run, but covered the creature in red and gold paint to match the room's decor. Animal advocates spoke up on behalf of Tai, the 38-year-old elephant, and the paint was washed off for the final day. But I look forward to the day when we stop using animals as clever props and entertainment altogether.

And speaking of animal welfare and otherwise well-intentioned human beings, another article on the same page was about a man who came up with an idea for providing homes for people without them. The inspiration struck while he was out hunting.

Finally, what's wrong with this headline?: "Mother, Fetus Killed; Friend Is Charged." There was no simultaneous good to that one.