blarney104
07-23-2003, 11:03 AM
I think I’ve become numb. I was listening to the news the other day. A story was broadcast about a father who allegedly murdered his two children. Yes, it is devastatingly tragic but my first instinctive reaction was, “whatever”. Is this awful or what? I’m sure if the same story was broadcast twenty years ago I, and many, many other now numbed citizens, would have been shocked and appalled by it. What has happened to us?
Of course we can blame the media. They, to me, are blood sucking hypocritical parasites that just foam at the mouth when tragedy strikes and believe me it isn’t so we the viewers or readers will have the latest news. It’s all for money, ratings, and total self promotion. They don’t care one iota about the viewer, and even worse, they don’t care one iota about the victims of the latest tragedy fad. But isn’t this a scary question: Are they just showing and telling us what we want to see and hear? “Give the people what they want”, that’s what the Kinks used to say. The media must believe that they have an insight into the minds of Americans by way of surveys and focus groups, right? Does that insight lead them to believe we are just as bad as them? We are all foaming at the mouth while we await the next tragedy or scandal? Is this why people always have to stop to look at highway accidents? They want to see blood? They want to have a great story to tell at the dinner table?
Why are we so caught up in other people’s lives? With work, paying bills, taking care of family, and trying to get some fun out of life, don’t we have enough going on? Do you really care whether Prince Henry (or Harry?), whatever the heck his name is, do you really care if he has a girlfriend or that he graduated from college? What about JFK Jr. and his “troubled marriage”. Who cares! I’m sorry, but he’s dead and even if he wasn’t dead why the hell would anyone want to know about his life? It’s not as if he cured some awful disease or he was a decorated war veteran! Oh, and I know that my life has more meaning because now I know that Boston’s Mayor Tom Menino had some gross mole removed from his back – now I can get through the rest of the day, thank you NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and NECN.
Am I the minority?
What about Kobe Bryant? Soon after the allegations of sexual assault were made public (before charges were brought against him), on line surveys were plastered all over the Internet asking users if Bryant was innocent or guilty – again, he wasn’t even charged with a crime at this point! Now I can pretty much guarantee that not one person participating in any of the surveys knew any details about the allegations, yet in some cases, over 30% of those surveyed believed Bryant to be guilty. Yes, 30% felt they had enough evidence to make this assumption, while the authorities weren’t even sure they had enough evidence to warrant charges. Aren’t we all supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty? Now I don’t know if he is innocent or guilty, and I would never even waste my time to think about it because I don’t give a rat’s behind about Kobe Bryant’s personal or professional life. Why would anybody? Why would anyone even justify the surveys by participating?
Let's all try to re-focus on the important things in our own lives...family, friends, and all those other little things you enjoy that make you unique.
Of course we can blame the media. They, to me, are blood sucking hypocritical parasites that just foam at the mouth when tragedy strikes and believe me it isn’t so we the viewers or readers will have the latest news. It’s all for money, ratings, and total self promotion. They don’t care one iota about the viewer, and even worse, they don’t care one iota about the victims of the latest tragedy fad. But isn’t this a scary question: Are they just showing and telling us what we want to see and hear? “Give the people what they want”, that’s what the Kinks used to say. The media must believe that they have an insight into the minds of Americans by way of surveys and focus groups, right? Does that insight lead them to believe we are just as bad as them? We are all foaming at the mouth while we await the next tragedy or scandal? Is this why people always have to stop to look at highway accidents? They want to see blood? They want to have a great story to tell at the dinner table?
Why are we so caught up in other people’s lives? With work, paying bills, taking care of family, and trying to get some fun out of life, don’t we have enough going on? Do you really care whether Prince Henry (or Harry?), whatever the heck his name is, do you really care if he has a girlfriend or that he graduated from college? What about JFK Jr. and his “troubled marriage”. Who cares! I’m sorry, but he’s dead and even if he wasn’t dead why the hell would anyone want to know about his life? It’s not as if he cured some awful disease or he was a decorated war veteran! Oh, and I know that my life has more meaning because now I know that Boston’s Mayor Tom Menino had some gross mole removed from his back – now I can get through the rest of the day, thank you NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, and NECN.
Am I the minority?
What about Kobe Bryant? Soon after the allegations of sexual assault were made public (before charges were brought against him), on line surveys were plastered all over the Internet asking users if Bryant was innocent or guilty – again, he wasn’t even charged with a crime at this point! Now I can pretty much guarantee that not one person participating in any of the surveys knew any details about the allegations, yet in some cases, over 30% of those surveyed believed Bryant to be guilty. Yes, 30% felt they had enough evidence to make this assumption, while the authorities weren’t even sure they had enough evidence to warrant charges. Aren’t we all supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty? Now I don’t know if he is innocent or guilty, and I would never even waste my time to think about it because I don’t give a rat’s behind about Kobe Bryant’s personal or professional life. Why would anybody? Why would anyone even justify the surveys by participating?
Let's all try to re-focus on the important things in our own lives...family, friends, and all those other little things you enjoy that make you unique.