Spike Lee is a genius. I watched this last night, maybe that’s why I’m on edge.
The news has a funny way of ruining your day before it even starts. They’ll give you one story full of hope that will make you feel all warm and fuzzy and then completely crush you with the insanity that is human nature. Sometimes I refuse to turn the television on in the morning. Other times I just watch cartoons that make absolutely no sense on the Disney Channel or Nick Toons.
Many news stories of the moment have me scratching my head, wondering what it all means to be part of this crazy world we live in. Then there are stories like the one about D’Zhana Simmons who lived without a heart for 4 months and because of the medical mind that was not wasted but used to benefit someone survived until a heart was available for her transplant.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081119/ap_on_he_me/med_artificial_heart
Only to be overshadowed by the continuing tales of an eight year old who murdered his father and his father’s friend. He’ll be charged as a juvenile and allowed to come home to spend Thanksgiving with his mother. Still, eight and he’s murdered two people. What did he endure to push him to that limit or was he just overcome by the bad that exists in us all.
Or maybe the story that heard yesterday of a 15 year old in NC, who raped an 86 year old woman. I still cannot wrap my mind around that one. He came to her door to use the phone and once inside he attacked her. What’s happening to our world? What’s happening to our children? You almost feel hopeless. As a parent you look at your children searching for signs in their eyes. Could they ever be so cold – blooded? So evil? What’s the difference between your children and the ones accused of these crimes. Is it nature vs. nurture? Is it genetic?
Bankrupt Detroit and the automakers begging for bailout help from Congress.
Middle finger to the three giants. The ones who have driven the price of cars up. Creating more expensive vehicles, with less efficiency. That guzzle more gas and destroy larger segments of our environment. Who refuse to work with those who can’t afford to pay cash for a car and then have to finance a vehicle for seven years at a double digit interest rate and pay twice as much than the car is worth. By the end of the financing their in the same position looking for another vehicle and cutting off the life in their bank accounts yet again.
Middle finger to the auto industry yet again for the work conditions that you put your employees in. Hours on the line. Written warnings for having to use the bathroom. Cold heartedness towards work related injuries and basically telling them to suck it up. All while cutting pay, benefits, and jobs. Yet increasing the work load. Then you want those very people who work through blood, sweat, and tears for you to bail you out. I don’t think so. Bail us out. Help us out. If not suffer like the rest of us. Through lean pocket days and robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Finally the pirates. I don’t know why. This is my favorite yet most disturbing news tale. When I hear pirates. I think Johnny Deep in Pirates of the Carribean or Kristy McNichol and that guy from Endless Love in the Pirates of Penzance movie. Still the situation is WRONG and SAD but very amusing. The Somali pirates hijacked a Saudi oil tanker and want $25 million dollars. That’s gangsta. That’s badder than anything done by someone with Lil’ before their name or just initials as their name. And now warships are destroying pirate ships on site. This is some historic old world happenings occurring right before our eyes.
So any news stories got you down? Are you considering giving up your daily news intake because you just can’t take the negativity a moment longer?
November 20, 2008 at 9:41 am
I think being a Pirate sounds like a pretty good gig
November 20, 2008 at 9:46 am
I know especially if we’re getting 25 million for oil tankers
November 20, 2008 at 9:49 am
I thought the pirate story was pretty bizarre. Real pirates? In 2008? I agree Ki, that’s gangsta for real!
November 20, 2008 at 10:16 am
I know right…real pirates in 2008. African pirates. That’s gangsta on a whole notha level…
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/11/19/somalia.pirates.boomtown.ap/index.html?section=cnn_latest
November 20, 2008 at 10:20 am
Honestly…call it what you will – rose-colored glasses or blinders…but if I see a headline about a murder, rape or kidnapping, no matter how intriguingly heinous it is, I move on. I am quite aware that lunacy and violence exists, thanks. I got the point, message received, crystal clear.
Being made aware of national or world issues is a necessary evil, but the media paints a morbid and frightening picture of everyday American life. All for ratings, too. The more sensational, the better. They take no responsibility and claim they don’t make the news, they just have an obligation to report it. That’s total bullshit. They report what they want us to see. The GOOD NEWS is…we don’t HAVE to watch or read it!
November 20, 2008 at 10:54 am
I don’t watch the news. Yeah, there are things that I don’t know about because of it, but I’d rather hear about some things after the fact than to ingest all the sad, woeful stories. I find radio to be a better source of the news. I get a tidbit and if I want more, then I’ll go on the internet and look for more, otherwise, I don’t need everything dumped on me
November 20, 2008 at 10:56 am
Snazzy, that’s exactly how I feel about it
November 20, 2008 at 10:58 am
I had to stop watching it for my daughter’s sake. She’d see a story and weeks later ask me questions about it like she had been internalizing and analyzing it.
November 20, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I’m a news junkie. Mostly politics though.