Headlines… Is this news?

I’m skimming through the headlines today (5/8) on the news sites that I hit (CNN, MSNBC, Reuters, CBS News, International Herald Tribune, to name a few). What has amazed me over the past few years is how the 24-hour news day has coupled with the instant access of the Internet and spawned a need for “news” all day every day. The result is that you know that Britney played a show in San Diego last week. You know that Paris is going to jail (Note to Paris: Shut up and do your time now; you’ll be back out by mid-summer).

Infotainment runs rampant. I DON’T CARE that an heiress got caught driving on a suspended license and was treated like a common citizen (*GASP*!). I DON’T CARE that Hasselhoff is a lush. I DON’T CARE the Chloe Sevigny doesn’t consider herself like Britney.These “headlines‿ were all above the cut on today’s Internet newspapers. I’m ashamed for the news services that put them there. You all should be ashamed of yourself. Entertainers who do selfish, inappropriate, or stupid things are not new. Another one will come along tomorrow.

The Associated Press conducted an experiment earlier this year and boycotted Paris Hilton for a week. Guess what? No one noticed. That’s a sign. Put Entertainment News back where it belongs.

Are out lives so mind-numbingly dull that we need to watch emotionally stunted “stars” do anything to bring attention to themselves? Have any of you read a book recently? Seen a movie? Had a discussion of the Iraq war that isn’t the knee-jerk “Bush is wrong” discussion (Note: I’m not particularly a fan of W, just trying to make a point)? Paid attention to the fact that France has just elected a conservative President, or more interestingly, that a Socialist was the only other option in that election?

Try looking beyond your own navel, just for a minute. It’s a vast, interesting world out there. Try taking a look around, applying your own considerable skill for independent thought and coming up with your own conclusions about what’s happening in the world instead of unquestioningly accepting the pre-packaged pabulum that’s being spoon fed to you. Read about your world and get mad. Make up your mind to make a difference. Ignore the crap being offered up as news.The news services and television networks give you what they *THINK* you want. Try telling the news services that what you really want is information, not event reporting. It seems that for news to be news, there has to be a camera nearby.

Read, ingest, digest, percolate, discuss. If that’s too much, try having a discussion without the word “like” in it. As in, “Like, I was taking to my friend the other day…”

Now I’m all worked up. I need a cup of coffee.

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