Perhaps we're all a little sick of this topic, but I have some obvservations I must vent.
We've never before had a "war" in a time when the media (and I don't just mean news) has been such a strong influence on public thought. Sure, there were TVs during WWII or Vietnam, but kids still played outside, etc -- there were other distractions.
It seems that teenagers today have developed this disgusting sense of self-importance because more and more shows cater to their travails. For instance, that show on PBS called American High -- someone actually thought it would be worthwhile to record spoiled little brats at an all-white high school in a rich suburb of Chicago bitching about their parents and their acne and the "cool kids" and how their lives basically suck. EVERY SINGLE SHOW on MTV does the same thing.
Rather than whipping these kids out of their self-pity by smacking them in the face with the $100 jeans bought by their weekly allowances, society goes on catering to them, marketing to them, etc. All this nu-metal shit talks about is how they are the children of divorce, how no one understands them, how everyone is bothering them, whine, whine, whine. None of them have REAL problems, so they create them. And the media repeats it all over and over to the point where it can't be challenged.
Which brings me to what I've observed in the wake of the terrorist incident. Since this is obviously a bigger deal than their acne, people are going waaaay overboard in expressing their supposed pain and anger (since acne was already at the top -- where do you go from there?)
New York is exempted from my wrath, because the carnage there is large enough that I'm sure everybody knows somebody who died. But even here in Washington near the Pentagon, I don't know a single person who knows a single person who knows a single person who died.
On radio stations here, they have created "war remixes," where they throw sound clips of people demanding we fight back into an Enya song, or something equally soundtrack-y. Does anyone else find this completely disgusting?
Again, on the radio last night they had a 2-hour "town hall meeting" where a bunch of snot-nosed punk kids got to "express their feelings." As you can imagine, nothing more profound than "let's nuke 'em!" came out of it. Yuck.
Now, I understand that people in New York and those who knew people killed here in Washington obviously would benefit from counseling. But the vast majority of this country was not affected in ANY WAY WHATSOEVER. Daily lives go on with no changes. People still talk to their friends on their expensive cell phones. People still look forward to the Friends season premiere. People still get drunk every weekend and hook up. Dorks like me still waste too much time on message boards.
Nothing has changed. And yet, everyone is having a big pity party because it's expected of us.
No doubt some will call me callous. Probably the same ones who yelled at me for critiquing Bush.
Anyway, do any of you have a bone to pick with the media? Lord knows there are many other issues related to it than the one I just mentioned.
We've never before had a "war" in a time when the media (and I don't just mean news) has been such a strong influence on public thought. Sure, there were TVs during WWII or Vietnam, but kids still played outside, etc -- there were other distractions.
It seems that teenagers today have developed this disgusting sense of self-importance because more and more shows cater to their travails. For instance, that show on PBS called American High -- someone actually thought it would be worthwhile to record spoiled little brats at an all-white high school in a rich suburb of Chicago bitching about their parents and their acne and the "cool kids" and how their lives basically suck. EVERY SINGLE SHOW on MTV does the same thing.
Rather than whipping these kids out of their self-pity by smacking them in the face with the $100 jeans bought by their weekly allowances, society goes on catering to them, marketing to them, etc. All this nu-metal shit talks about is how they are the children of divorce, how no one understands them, how everyone is bothering them, whine, whine, whine. None of them have REAL problems, so they create them. And the media repeats it all over and over to the point where it can't be challenged.
Which brings me to what I've observed in the wake of the terrorist incident. Since this is obviously a bigger deal than their acne, people are going waaaay overboard in expressing their supposed pain and anger (since acne was already at the top -- where do you go from there?)
New York is exempted from my wrath, because the carnage there is large enough that I'm sure everybody knows somebody who died. But even here in Washington near the Pentagon, I don't know a single person who knows a single person who knows a single person who died.
On radio stations here, they have created "war remixes," where they throw sound clips of people demanding we fight back into an Enya song, or something equally soundtrack-y. Does anyone else find this completely disgusting?
Again, on the radio last night they had a 2-hour "town hall meeting" where a bunch of snot-nosed punk kids got to "express their feelings." As you can imagine, nothing more profound than "let's nuke 'em!" came out of it. Yuck.
Now, I understand that people in New York and those who knew people killed here in Washington obviously would benefit from counseling. But the vast majority of this country was not affected in ANY WAY WHATSOEVER. Daily lives go on with no changes. People still talk to their friends on their expensive cell phones. People still look forward to the Friends season premiere. People still get drunk every weekend and hook up. Dorks like me still waste too much time on message boards.
Nothing has changed. And yet, everyone is having a big pity party because it's expected of us.No doubt some will call me callous. Probably the same ones who yelled at me for critiquing Bush.
Anyway, do any of you have a bone to pick with the media? Lord knows there are many other issues related to it than the one I just mentioned.
