The Rubberneck Generation

[Duckwater 0]

We have turned into a society of chronic rubberneckers, in every capacity.

Forget the car wreck on the highway, where we selfishly ignore the fact that we are driving a 2 ton, potentially lethal vehicle to gawk, instead of focusing on the only important thing (driving)....

Anything that can be reported, even with no news value, that is sensationalistic is impossible to ignore to the American people.

I like to think of the worlds ills in a logical manner. Where is the most ill and that is balanced by the ability to do anything about it. Im not trying to be insensitive to the Va Tech massacare, just more sympathetic to the mundane mahem that we ignore completely.

The VT massacare is a tradgegy for sure, but, compared to the other 45 people murdered that day, all the soldiers killed that day, car accident deaths and Darfur.....its perspective is different.

Can we or should we try and prevent this? There are millions of mentally ill, this is a very rare occurance of extereme violence. I am afraid that we will overreact, and the rights of the mentally ill are in jeopardy. Why dont we address the fact that this kid was picked on, teased for being 'Chinese' and made a leper? That prob pushed him right over the edge. Where was the administration in his High School? Cho was a victim, long before the shootings. People are donating money, which is fine but what for? Certainly there will be no huge costs associated. Could the $ be used better elsewhere?

We gave WAY too much money to 911 fund. The majority had life insurance and we give them more while the homeless stay homeless but it was the most sensational story ever. Remember, 42,000 people died that year in car accidents and we didnt pass a plate for them.

Family dirty laundry is aired globally, they released it but we listen. It is not news, it is meddling in the lives of a family in crisis. Shameful.

We have troops killed daily and all we care about is K-Fed, J-Lo or Britneys panty status. This is not news. Don Imus calling someone a name is not news. Giving airtime to Sharpton and Jackson is aiding and abeting the extorsion raquet they are carrying out, which would be impossible without a platform.

The media is not to blame, we rubberneckers are. Is it possible to focus on importance when Paula is demanding 1st Class on Southwest? Not a chance.
I could preach that we need to change our values and boycott the sensational, but I would be pissing in the wind. We will never change. Britney's shaved head will always trump the airtime that should be a story about the soldiers killed that day.

Global warming is assured. No chance we change our lifestyles one iota. Go to a Wal Mart parking lot and watch everyone drive around the entire thing, searching for a parking spot 100 ft closer so they dont have to walk.

I am implicating myself too.

[Axe_Murderer 0]

I couldn't help but look at this topic....

[Royd 0]

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Global warming is assured. No chance we change our lifestyles one iota. Go to a Wal Mart parking lot and watch everyone drive around the entire thing, searching for a parking spot 100 ft closer so they dont have to walk

Amen and amen.

[georgerussia 0]

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We have troops killed daily and all we care about is K-Fed, J-Lo or Britneys panty status. This is not news. Don Imus calling someone a name is not news. Giving airtime to Sharpton and Jackson is aiding and abeting the extorsion raquet they are carrying out, which would be impossible without a platform.

That's excellent point. I intentionally don't have a TV at home, so our children don't look on all that shit, and the only place I still see a TV is my gym. You are absolutely right, 90% of the airtime is wasted on so stupid "news" that the Weather channels looks like you need a Master's degree to watch it. And VT massacre still looks like news comparing to all that crap they discussed for months like Anne Nicole Smith death, or Imus.

It looks like the media is creating more and more TV channels to fill it with more and more useless information. That means that they need more bullshit to fill the airtime between commercials. So here is how it ends up, when modern media got a news that the mayor parked his pickup on fire hydrant (which worth might be 15 seconds of local news):

- (30 seconds) detailed shot of mayor, his pickup and fire hydrant.

- (600 seconds) interview with mayor, telling us about his childhood, lack of necessary parking space in the city, and so on. Includes 60 second inserts of crowded streets with a lot of cars trying to park.

- (300 seconds) commercials

- (600 seconds) interview with fire marshall telling us how bad is parking on fire hydrants. Includes 180 second inserts of firemen at work.

- (300 seconds) commercials

- (600 seconds) interview with Professor of Mathematics, calculating the probability of fire happening in the house mayor's pickup blocked the hydrant for. Includes 120 seconds of interview with 10 more people telling us that this professor is a smart one, and how they respect him. The professor shows that probability is close to zero.

- (300 seconds) commercials

- (600 seconds) 20 interviews with motorists who say how difficult is to find parking space at that part of city at that time.

- (300 seconds) commercials

- (600 seconds) 60 ten-second interviews with crows asking their opinion about it. Most of those opinions sounds like they called a lunatic asylum; the goal is to make a person watching TV feeling really smart comparing to all those clowns.

- (300 seconds) commercials

- (300 seconds) Final words from the narrator telling us again about all the opinions, repeating shots of pictures, 10 seconds of showing the "Toyota" logo on mayor pickup (with $25K paid by Toyota), telling the people how bad is that the time is out for today. But tomorrow there will be more, including interviews with city planning comission, mayor classmates from high school, Toyota pickup engineers and the head of firefighters union.

This is almost 90 minutes of airtime to discuss a single parking ticket. Note that we made it staying on topic all the time; if someone mentioned global warning or mayor's opinion about Iraq, you could easily triple this time.

***
Go to a Wal Mart parking lot and watch everyone drive around the entire thing, searching for a parking spot 100 ft closer so they dont have to walk.

[ErricoMalatesta 0]

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The media is not to blame

Don't carve that one in stone

[Axe_Murderer 0]

I bought a bourgeois house in the Hollywood hills
With a trunkload of hundred thousand dollar bills
Man came by to hook up my cable TV
We settled in for the night my baby and me
We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn
There was fifty-seven channels and nothin' on

Well now home entertainment was my baby's wish
So I hopped into town for a satellite dish
I tied it to the top of my Japanese car
I came home and pointed it out into the stars
A message came back from the great beyond

There's fifty-seven channels and nothin' on

[akarunway 1]

Quote

I bought a bourgeois house in the Hollywood hills
With a trunkload of hundred thousand dollar bills
Man came by to hook up my cable TV
We settled in for the night my baby and me
We switched 'round and 'round 'til half-past dawn
There was fifty-seven channels and nothin' on

Well now home entertainment was my baby's wish
So I hopped into town for a satellite dish
I tied it to the top of my Japanese car
I came home and pointed it out into the stars
A message came back from the great beyond

There's fifty-seven channels and nothin' on

57 my ass. I have a few 100. ((99% ads) Fuck a TV

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.