i watched coverage of the "bubble boy" and got a taste of that madness. First off, i wondered why this was news, after all, i had read that these very news channels were antagonized for making a big thing about it. What struck me was the need for this family to be on TV. It seems the father had been on one of those wife swapping shows, which is another thing altogether, and he berated his then wife for putting him that position. Suffice to say, the dude has a temper. The boy involved apparently was up to mischief and did not want to deal with the temper of this ogre. Long story short, the balloon goes up, everyone goes apeshit thinking the boy is in it when he is actually hiding from his father. Well, after the hoax is revealed , the family does the rounds all over TV, network and cable, from the Today Show to CNN...
we wonder why the world views us in such disdain. Another American family making a fool of themselves...
'uh, yeah, the boy hid under his bed so we thought he up in the balloon, probably 'cause i was going to beat him silly for sneakin' from my tin of chaw...'
so you have a hot air balloon in your backyard and your kids know how to operate it? Have you thought about locking this thing up? Has anyone thought of locking this guy up?!...
the worst thing about this story is the way CNN—guilty themselves of being a participant in this circus, covered its aftermath. They spent more time discussing the antics of the other two major cable news sources for their handling of the story. You see, as i learned from watching CNN's self-promotion, CNN is your middle of the road news channel...
There's this idea amongst, mostly conservative thinkers that there is a liberal media establishment over the air waves in this country. i think that's bullshit. In a crevasse in Cooper Square maybe, a liberal radio station i can't even find the call numbers for—barely, and don't get me started on NPR, not that it doesn't offer interesting and informed programming, but liberal it is not...
MSNBC is the network that most people would be inclined to call liberal, but that's a difficult connection. Sure, they have a former sports anchor with his heart on his sleeve and a lesbian with a snarky attitude—sounds like a sitcom, not necessarily a liberal bastion of journalism. The network is owned by General Electric, a corporation that understands how to entertain, even if they dropped the ball putting that hack Leno on at 10 pm night after night. They realize that cable news needed a left-handed voice, but just how left wing can a product be when it is owned by a magnate the size of GE. Its faux liberalism, it barely counts...
now Fox News makes no bones about it. They deliver the kool aid in 50 gallon drums spiced with facsism. i could be a little heavy handed judging the boys and girls at Fox because of my own political views, but when the gas bag of the week accuses President Obama of being Mao Tse Tung, you lose your credibility among educated people. You know, years ago, the key word was Communism. Senator Joe McCarthy used it to great effect ruining thousands upon thousands of lives after WWII. It was a dark period for this nation. Now, the word Socialism is being bandied about in the same way. There's nothing faux about Fox News, its information for the mal-informed...
this is why i choose sports. There is a beginning, a middle and end. A concrete result. There is commentary, and for the most part, even the most naive sports fan can follow and comment on any number of issues pertaining to the game at hand—see Yankee fans...
there was a time when it might have been acceptable in some circles to say that those of us who watched sports are neanderthal-esque. The McNeil-Lehrer/PBS crowd. They would have been right. But with the advent of ESPN that has changed. Sure, i have my issues with ESPN, they are self-serving, self-promoting and on occasion, much like Fox News, actually create stories, but the network has raised the level of understanding of the nuances of sports that a non-athlete wouldn't normally be privy too. And sure, athletes these days are steroid pushing, entitlement-having, gun-toting neophytes but i'll take Jose Canseco and Plaxico Burress over Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck any day of the week and twice on Sunday. To me sports allows you to think in terms of strategy and concept, cable news forces you to think in a like mind with the ideology of its station owner. And he is not concerned with your well being...
these are the voices of modern industry. Making the dumb dumber while preaching the word of truthiness (Colbert trademark). They are all but begging for your attention, not to inform you, but to use you as a soldier in their on going ratings war. Because it always comes down to the money. They followed the boy in the bubble enmass because they thought it would keep you interested, you did not disappoint. You should have been watching the baseball playoffs instead, i would have thought better of you...
these are the voices...
No comments:
Post a Comment