He's in my prayers.
Let him pull the trigger!
To those who lack any compassion . . .
Our world has become obsessed with instant, knee-jerk public reaction. We thrive on having the ability to pump our own opinions into news and events as they unroll before our eyes. I suppose the dawn of this came when television news began devoting as much time to slack-jawed neighbor footage ("All I heard was a noise.") as they did to actual crimes and incidents. Add in the internet, and the world, as they say, became the public's oyster. Now places like CNN have "I-Reporters" to do their work for them. Let's hear about that great story from East Nowhere one more time!
But why do we matter when it comes to news? Why should we be allowed to express our opinions so bluntly and anonymously on these news websites? Shouldn't there be some kind of separation here? Isn't that what the opinion page in the newspaper is for? Isn't that what Twitter and obnoxious blogs like the one you're reading right now are for? When did the news decide to hand over the reigns to public opinion? Is this how news outlets think they'll get us to care about our world?
I don't know. Maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion. Maybe we DO want to read the opinions of someone named "SoxFan69" when it comes to a desperate man holding a gun to his head on the highway.
All I know is, I'd better not see anyone call "firsties" on a story so sad.
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1 comment:
Does it defeat the purpose to comment on your writing about this topic?
I agree, however. It is entirely, journalistically (like that word?) irrelevant what Joe Nobody thinks about a news story. What matters is actual fact, but people always want to inject their two cents. Like I am doing right now. But at least blogs are more conducive to that type of dialogue.
And why are people so callous? You may not like something someone does, but why should you get to call for their injury or death over it? I think the world is far too embroiled in the voyeuristic turn the news has taken. I mean, why does CNN report on crap like Britney Spears?
Bah. I'm kind of disgusted with the media.
(Weird note--the word verification was samican.)
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