And the media keeps asking why the public is so jaded. Politicians wonder why less than 50% of Americans even care enough to vote.
I'll tell you why, with a quick sampling of CNN headlines. No wonder we don't trust anyone or believe any of the hype any more…
- 'Housewives' star Cross: I'm not gay – why is it even an issue? haven't we grown past this yet? Why doesn't it read "Housewives star Cross: I had a crush on a boy in the 5th grade".
- Experts urge HIV testing for almost everyone – this is probably a good idea but it's going to be hell to pay to get anyone in this administration to separate "HIV" from "Being Gay". I ask, what better way to control something than to actually know where it is? If it were passé to get an HIV test then there would be way less stigma attached to it…
- Missing radioactive Halliburton shipment found – this one raises a couple of questions: 1) Even tho it was shipped in radioactive-proof material, if it was mislabeled, then how would anyone know to decontaminate if there were an accident and 2) will Halliburton be punished? I think we know the answer to #2 already.
- Europe uses tech for border travel – if The United States of Europe, who can't even agree on a single currency can be doing this already, then why aren't we?
- Pilot investigated after alleged Wall Street threat – sleep fest. Just making threats, is that protected by one of those amendment thingies, or did that go out the window with the patriot act? how long will it be before words about killing will be considered a real threat? One eight year old to the others: "I'm gonna kill you if you eat the last cookie" and then there were only 2 children left.
- 9/11 commission: FAA had al Qaeda warnings – of course, saving the best for last. No matter what the reason, it will always look like a conspiracy that the bush administration withheld this report until AFTER the election to make sure they didn't lose any votes.
I wonder what history is going to say about this era in 50 years. Guess who's coming to dinner, and all that. Part of me is really happy to be witnessing all this stuff right here right now, seeing what's going on through my own eyes. But part of me is still completely overwhelmed by the pain of it all. Why do people have such an inherent need to control other people? Shouldn't we all be helping on another instead of running all this subterfuge?
One Comment
Tough question, but there may be an answer: Information is power. So, control the information, and you have the power. Since there's so much of it out there (thank you, Internet), then it would appear we are witnessing a kind of 'information war'. That is, the struggle of information outlets (not just the news) to capture market share.
That's why some organizations just spew anything and everything (e.g., CNN, Talon, NYT, Washington Post, Rush, O'Rielly etc.), and others keep silient on even the simplest of questions (e.g., Bush, Haliburton).
But there is another group in this war: information consumers. Why are they so fickle? They are obsessed with the Scott Petersons and JonBenets out there, but the are not outraged by the Dollars (the FL foster parents accused of brutally torturing their wards – and Florida just banned gays from adopting foster kids). We can't blame the news outlets for being sensationalists and practicing yellow journalism without also blaming information consumers for lapping it up like 15 year old discovering his first porno magazine.
What are you gonna do about it?