We’ve Lost Our Minds, Again.

I’ve been unable to figure out the exact moment that our society started filtering out important details from news stories and transforming them into garbage by focusing on the most irrelevant details of each situation. It seems we have been doing this for some time now, but I have said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m sick and tired of it.

I for one don’t accept this nonsense and don’t appreciate the deranged media obsession with changing “fascinating” details from a current even into into tabloid style gossip. I don’t understand for example, how airing a two hour “special report” on the life history of Eliot Spitzers (client #9’s )prostitute makes any positive difference in the lives of the viewer, the involved parties, or anyone at all. These so called media experts act as if by concentrating on provocative photos or “juicy” rumors, that it qualifies as meaningful journalism that gives America insight into a situation.

My question for the day is, where am I? And what planet is this? Why must we make everything into a soap opera, cartoon, or some circus side show for all to enjoy? Is this the United States of Looney Tunes Press or is it the American Media? They are laughing all the way to the bank, but I laugh at them, because these stories are a joke. Only room for ratings, no more room for actual news or positive change.

Remember that these are not robots, but real people who are involved in these news stories all over the globe. They may have done bad things or had bad things done to them, but either way, why do we spend so much time investing in the gossip angle and feed our sick curiosity instead of investigating the real problems in our lives. How about finding better ways to serve our own families and communities? How about helping people solve issues in the small space that we actually CAN control? Why must we feed our ignorant curiosity with these hour long fluff stories all day about Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears and blah blah blah (the list goes on and on). It’s all a circus side show in my opinion and we feed into it quite enough each week. It’s important to learn of current events and obtain as much accurate detail as possible, but why are we fed so much coverage on the typical fluff story for hours, instead of the details that REALLY DO MATTER. Do they think we’re children or do they realize we actually want to know about important issues?

The worst of all is when an extremely tragic story breaks involving a homicide or death, and our award winning media outlets provide hours of footage (and production dollars) on the sensational sides of the story, when they could be using their time and resources to protect the family from a media frenzy or even research a solution to the problem. For example, the media loves to provide non-stop coverage about a murderers life and opinion, as if we need to know every twisted piece of poetry they wrote in order to help further “understand” their world view. This is a disgrace. Killers don’t deserve the time of day and it’s a spit in the face to victims and their families when we don’t respect their real pain that is experienced with this type of injustice.  And we don’t need another reason to turn on our televisions to see a psychopath being promoted for several hours.  Celebrating idiocy is not news worthy and I hope the media regains their conscious and destroys their juicy “just in” stories when it all comes down to boosting ratings.

Instead of focusing on a fluff story, or the life of a killer, why don’t you take a poll of how many children are starving in the world or how many people are dying in our own back yard? That would be a story with some actually weight or advocation for change.

I truly believe we should focus on how we to help victims and not patronize them by making a constant circus sideshow out of every story that we feel is marketable. Stop feeding into every last piece of media garbage and start feeding your common sense for a change. It is easier than it sounds…

(Circus Image found and altered on yahoo from: “examples of print design – from Heather McMeekan”)

Now not all hope is lost, some reporters stand up against the madness. I like this video below, because this is the type of news action I like to see….BRAVO to this anchor!

Life is Like a Box of Sales Pitches

I’ve always felt that it’s better to give away knowledge you feel is useful than to sell something you know is not. Everyone loves to moan and complain about how they’re always being “told what to do” and “preached at” by religious groups, political leaders, special interest parties, etc. (I have my share too) But the interesting thing is that so many of us are quick to point fingers at outsider ideas and agendas pushed on us, but we are equally guilty of the same behavior.

Human nature shows us that we often sell things and ideas out of instinct and as second nature. Think about it deeper. We ultimately sell ourselves every time we meet strangers or even open our mouths in a job interview. We sell our friends, lovers, and our families every time we praise their accomplishments or recommend them for work. Does this mean that we don’t have a goal or agenda of our own? It most certainly does not. Now to make things clear as I usually do, I must say that the idea of “selling” is not always a bad thing at all, but merely a part of life. We must sell things to live and that’s just the way it goes. This is also the way most should hope that it does go , or we would not own, wear, or eat anything at all. But in my opinion, we too quickly abuse the power of selling anything and fail to have the integrity to lay down solid boundaries and limitations on the many clandestine “sales pitches” we make. This meaning that we often find ourselves so obsessed with profit, success, or the thrill of manipulating others, that we lose sight of why we really sell things in the first place. As far as I’m concerned, we create, we provide, and we sell, so that we can live and survive! It’s that simple. But these days it’s not as simple when you toss a fancy car or multi-million dollar house into the equation. Quite a sales goal indeed with little chance for integrity there.

It is obviously part of life to provide each other with services, expertise, and assistance for a cost, but it seems to me that we are often over-selling not only ourselves, but everything we can sell. I challenge you to do one thing; Give away knowledge you feel is useful, and don’t sell things you know are useless. If nothing else, perhaps you will sleep better.