thanks for the book suggestions, friends! any others, send them my way...
on my list of "things i hate about america," which is not a very long list, mind you, is trashy tv masquerading as news. we all know i like trashy tv, but when it is pretending to inform me about important things in the world around me, i draw the line. example: i'm at the gym, walking on the treadmill, and "inside edition" is on the tv in front of me. through pictures and closed captioning, i find out A NEWS STORY ON THIS PROGRAM is that michelle obama high fived a girl who nine days later went to the hospital with swine flu. YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS UP. i offer the following questions:
1. wouldn't it be helpful to your viewers to tell them (a) when a swine flu carrier is contagious and (b) if this girl even had swine flu nine days ago? no? okay, great - don't mention those details at all.
2. can one get swine flu via a high five? INTERVIEW A DOCTOR.
3. does michelle obama have swine flu? no? didn't think so. even if she does, IS THIS NEWS?
they replayed approximately five times the footage of michelle obama high fiving the swine flu victim-to-be. then they interviewed swiney and her parents in the hospital. i can only conclude that this family (a) knew this footage of the high five existed, and (b) wanted to use their sick daughter to get on tv. THIS IS WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICA.
In the case of TV, I maintain that it's virtually impossible to find anything that's not trash and that this is the case everywhere and at all times, not just in America today. When persons subject themselves to TV, they should expect precisely the kind of mindless pablum that you describe. Amen.
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