Commentary on society [NA - obviously]

Greebo

Greebo

N9017H - C172M (1976)
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Retired Evil Overlord
{rant on}
Random thought/venting of the day/moment:

So I'm eating lunch and surfing the news sites...and I hit MSNBC, which at the time has a BREAKING NEWS banner...that an Arrest Warrant was issued for M.J. because he was at the hospital for back trouble.

This is the big headline. This is the GRAB YOUR ATTENTION story...

Not
• Pilots grade aviation security an 'F' (gee, after 9/11 you'ld think...)
Or
• Clinton checks into N.Y. hospital (hey like 'im or hate 'im he's a former president)
Or even
• U.S. jobless claims hit two-month high (something which affects most of us more personally than M.J ever has or will)

Or any other of these "Also in the news" stories
• At least 36 killed in Shiite mosque bombing
• Letters tie suicide victim to Lefkow murders
• Baseball vows to fight steroids subpoenas
• 'Hillbilly heroin' fuels U.S. crime rate


No...what grabs our headline news is Michael Jackson got scolded by a judge.

Pardon my Belgian, but W*T*F!!! What the hell is wrong with us, as a society, when crotch grabbing pop stars on trial for pedo charges take priority over ANY of those other headlines???

Is this what matters today? I mean - at work, the people I work with anyway - we don't talk about MJ. When we talk about news we talk about Iraq, we talk about Social Security, we talk about Gun control and Education Reform - NEVER pop stars (ok, well, Janet Jackson's boob was a topic for a while, namely What the Hell was that thing on her nipple...) but hey that was at least related to the Super Bowl.

In the spirit of Mr. Rogers, "Can you say, our priorities as a society are completely fubard"?

{rant off}
 
Unfortunately Chuck, its getting to the point where gossip is replacing news. As our society sinks to please the LCD, the "news" organizations are trying to sell soap so they print crap and call it news. Sigh.
 
Don't hold back Chuck, tell us how you really feel!

:p
:princess: Carol H.
 
News is business, and that's what sells. I think we've always been fascinated with celebrity. It's just more prevalent now because of all the different outlets vying for a piece of the pie. And you have to admit, a freak like MJ is interesting in a train wreck kind of way.
 
What I really love is the 'latest news' on the local channels, all relating to television shows that happen to run on their networks. Come ON, Fox, do you REALLY think we're buying the 'hot' story about some American Idol singer as honest-to-goodness NEWS??? Or CBS affliates tossing in a CSI story? Sheesh.
 
in the Post at least they have the decency to put it in a separate section called the Style section.

I agree though - but is it society or the media? tail wagging dog, or what? is this what we really want or do we "want" it because it's what we are getting?

I can't stand reality TV or any of that other crap that passes for entertainment.
 
Greebo said:
{rant on}
Random thought/venting of the day/moment:

So I'm eating lunch and surfing the news sites...and I hit MSNBC, which at the time has a BREAKING NEWS banner...that an Arrest Warrant was issued for M.J. because he was at the hospital for back trouble.

{rant off}
Click to expand...

I went home for lunch and tuned into the same thing on the tube while trying to digest my food. Talk about white Bronco flashbacks. And not only on MSNBC..but CNN, local news, etc. Face it...news is entertainment now (and not very good entertainment at that)...nothing more, nothing less.

Greg
182RG
 
Chuck, I've been wondering the same thing for a couple weeks. But last night, it went too far. Last night, I was working on the couch (booking my travel for May) and Jessie was flipping channels. She stopped on E!, and said "Hey, the Jackson trial is on - I thought there was a gag order and no cameras were allowed in the court room?" I look up - and what is this - THEY ARE REENACTING KEY SCENES FROM THE DAY - with doubles, actors, etc. WTF? Then they have a 5 member legal team doing analysis, play by play like. Since when is going to court a sport? Did I miss a meeting?

On another note, I cannot STAND, when during a baseball game (Fox is the WORST at this), they break in with a "don't miss XXXYYYY tonight on fox", or they have some idiot actor in the booth with them, or they zoom in on some idiot actor from one of their idiot shows.... Or then they trot out that stupid scooter display to explain a pitch, while missing 2 pitches of the next at bat. The scoreboard at the top of the screen induces ADD - it's constantly switching, changing graphics, little animations, making sounds. If I want more information, I'll get my Baseball Prospectus or get my laptop and run stats online...

I really, honest to goodness, hate Fox's baseball coverage. Joe Buck? Tim McCarver? I mean, SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. They aren't sports annoucers. They are idiots with microphones.

Thankfully, I have NESN. Jerry Remy, Don Orsillo, Eckersely, Jim Rice, Sam Horn... that's baseball.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
astanley said:
snip snip

The scoreboard at the top of the screen induces ADD - it's constantly switching, changing graphics, little animations, making sounds. If I want more information, I'll get my Baseball Prospectus or get my laptop and run stats online...
Click to expand...

ADD is right. wonder if there is a higher incidence of ADD in this day and age, than there used to be?
 
woodstock said:
ADD is right. wonder if there is a higher incidence of ADD in this day and age, than there used to be?
Click to expand...
If so, how much of it is induced by the increased pace of information that is thrown at us?
 
jkaduk said:
News is business, and that's what sells. I think we've always been fascinated with celebrity. It's just more prevalent now because of all the different outlets vying for a piece of the pie. And you have to admit, a freak like MJ is interesting in a train wreck kind of way.
Click to expand...


True. They will show what people want to see.

I'll tell you what really torqued me was when CNN cut away from Steve Fossett on long final for touchdown in the GlobalFlyer and went to commercial. Sheesh! And when they did come back those nimrod "newsreaders" (as they are appropriately called in the UK) kept talking instead of letting us hear conversation between Fossett and ATC. :mad:
 
Let it out Chuck, The one I can't stand is all the rags at the grocery store
check outs with all the latest gossip on which star is dating who, who dumped who, etc, etc. I mean who gives a rip!!! I really do not know why our society has decided to put these people up on a pedastal, and have taken so much interest in their lives, booooooooring!
(rant off)
Don
 
Greebo said:
{rant on}
Random thought/venting of the day/moment:

So I'm eating lunch and surfing the news sites...and I hit MSNBC, which at the time has a BREAKING NEWS banner...that an Arrest Warrant was issued for M.J. because he was at the hospital for back trouble.

This is the big headline. This is the GRAB YOUR ATTENTION story...

Not
• Pilots grade aviation security an 'F' (gee, after 9/11 you'ld think...)
Or
• Clinton checks into N.Y. hospital (hey like 'im or hate 'im he's a former president)
Or even
• U.S. jobless claims hit two-month high (something which affects most of us more personally than M.J ever has or will)

Or any other of these "Also in the news" stories
• At least 36 killed in Shiite mosque bombing
• Letters tie suicide victim to Lefkow murders
• Baseball vows to fight steroids subpoenas
• 'Hillbilly heroin' fuels U.S. crime rate


No...what grabs our headline news is Michael Jackson got scolded by a judge.

Pardon my Belgian, but W*T*F!!! What the hell is wrong with us, as a society, when crotch grabbing pop stars on trial for pedo charges take priority over ANY of those other headlines???

Is this what matters today? I mean - at work, the people I work with anyway - we don't talk about MJ. When we talk about news we talk about Iraq, we talk about Social Security, we talk about Gun control and Education Reform - NEVER pop stars (ok, well, Janet Jackson's boob was a topic for a while, namely What the Hell was that thing on her nipple...) but hey that was at least related to the Super Bowl.

In the spirit of Mr. Rogers, "Can you say, our priorities as a society are completely fubard"?

{rant off}
Click to expand...

Two years later and nothing has changed. Anna Nichol Smith still rules the newscycle, the 2nd favorite story is about Paris Hilton. I really have not watched much TV news in the past three years. I used to be a CNN junkie but now it is all about what I can read. Online sources and news magazines. I just love Foreign Affairs Magazine.
 
woodstock said:
I agree though - but is it society or the media? tail wagging dog, or what? is this what we really want or do we "want" it because it's what we are getting?
Click to expand...

Good question! I don't know if there's a definitive answer to it though.

woodstock said:
I can't stand reality TV or any of that other crap that passes for entertainment.
Click to expand...
I don't either. I'm proud to say that I have never watched so much as a single episode of Survivor, or that Donald Trump show, whatever it's called.
Thank God we have History channel and NGEO channel! :yes:
 
So does the rejection of so-called "reality TV" in favor of fictionalized TV imply better, or worse, priorities? ;)
 
I've almost given up television entirely, as it is sinking rapidly to the lowest common denominator. The worst thing is I actually found a show I enjoyed, but it ws interrupted every 10 minutes with commercial messages. I can see why the attention span of my students is eroding so badly.

While in grad school I didn't even have a TV, and I'm rather nostalgic about those days.
 
steingar said:
I've almost given up television entirely, as it is sinking rapidly to the lowest common denominator. The worst thing is I actually found a show I enjoyed, but it ws interrupted every 10 minutes with commercial messages. I can see why the attention span of my students is eroding so badly.

While in grad school I didn't even have a TV, and I'm rather nostalgic about those days.
Click to expand...

I gave mine up fifteen weeks ago. Watch an occasional Netflix video on my computer now, that's it.

Don't miss it one darn bit.
 
steingar said:
I've almost given up television entirely, as it is sinking rapidly to the lowest common denominator. The worst thing is I actually found a show I enjoyed, but it ws interrupted every 10 minutes with commercial messages. I can see why the attention span of my students is eroding so badly.

While in grad school I didn't even have a TV, and I'm rather nostalgic about those days.
Click to expand...

TiVo saves me from those stupid commercials. I watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it, and in less time. Works out well for me.
 
[edit]: Totally just noticed this thread was two years old...whoops! :redface:

Well, it's clear that there are some of us left who do care about the important things.

The question I have is: has it always been this way throughout history? Has it always been that there are a select few who keep the human race going, who make up for the rest of our brethren who can't or won't look at anything beyond their nose?

I think what you have in your rant (which was glorious, by the way) is one of the more important factors in what will become the downfall of our society.

Stomp on the Bill of Rights? I don't care, as long as I can watch American Idol every Monday at 8.

Put a police camera in my living room? That's fine, as long as I know who knocked Anna Nicole up.

Search me every time I walk out of my house? Go ahead, as long as my iPod works.

Take away my right to vote? Dude, it's cool, as long as I can have a DVD player in my car to watch the episodes of Survivor that I missed while American Idol was on.
 
Last edited:
Obi Heed Kenobi said:
[edit]:

Well, it's clear that there are some of us left who do care about the important things.

The question I have is: has it always been this way throughout history? Has it always been that there are a select few who keep the human race going, who make up for the rest of our brethren who can't or won't look at anything beyond their nose?
.
Click to expand...

My first reaction to your Q is "yes". Although there are plenty who won't look beyond their noses... who are having tons o' kids, also vital to keeping the human race going too.

It's not a two year old thread anymore, thanks Scott! :blowingkisses:
 
Every sperm is sacred
Every sperm is great
If a sperm gets wasted
God gets quite Irate

Let the Heathens spill them
on the dusty ground
God will make them pay
for each sperm that can't be found.
 
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