Idiots and the thin layer of civilization
If you’ve lived as long as I have, you’ve made your share of mistakes, both stupid and smart. Because I have a little introspection, I now recognize why others make mistakes as well. Each night when I go to bed, I am thankful that I have never made a mistake that killed or physically harmed anyone. I also pray I die with that record. I’m sure cops, political leaders, those in the military, health-care professionals and many others have the same prayer.
However, I do see a class of people everyday who would be overjoyed at causing physical harm or death. I see them in the “media” as bloggers and journalists, but most of all I see them as consumers of the carnage or near carnage reported by bloggers and other journalist want-to-be’s.
The most recent incident of the type is the story of Prince Harry in Afghanistan. There is a story, by itself, that could easily get someone killed. I’m sure the idiot blogger that broke it has all the conventional self-serving excuses: It’s news. Someone else would have broken it if I didn’t. If Harry hadn’t gone, it wouldn’t be news. We can’t afford any dead air. I’m just immature and selfish.
Another example is the New York Times non-story on John McCain and the woman lobbyist. Having watched news departments operate, I sure the people who pulled the story together would have been embarrassed to kill it. Justly, you are now more embarrassed for running it.
Finally and most egregiously, there is the feeding frenzy over the troubled Brittany Spears. Pictures of the paparazzi chasing her around LA at high speeds just shows the craziness of grocery store journalism. Of course, if the magazines didn’t pay for the pictures, the photographers would disappear. The real culprits in these situations are the women who buy “People”, “US Weekly” and the like. The editors of these publications, mostly women, know the numbers. When a woman in trouble, like Brittany, is on the cover the magazines fly off the shelves. And, who buys their magazines? Women purchase over 80% of those magazines. There’s civilization at its best.
Everyone who thinks of themselves, in the remotest sense, as a journalist or blogger needs to watch a movie titled “Absence of Malice.” It is a great movie on its own, but it tells a great lesson to those who report the news or offer advice. Sleep well.
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POSTED IN: Boomer Talk
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