Why I Stopped Watching the News on TV
Today was a perfect example of why I inadvertently stopped watching the news on TV, even Fox News (I have had my fill of O'Reilly, he is no longer authentic - it is because of ratings, methinks). It's the economy, stupid! The media is an industry, and the buck, not ingerity, is the driving force. We are better off getting our news from independent sources, like Drudge and WND (though they are no exemption to the universal human characteristic of innate bias). The media giants feed pseudo-news to the herd of sheep-people (sheepeople, that ought be a new word!) eager to believe every word that is, er, Rather well-said (pun partly intended). If you have a maverick streak like I do, then you are the master of your destiny. Check out Elisa's blog for more on destiny (as opposed to fate). You get to pick the "flavor" of the reality show running 24/7 now, the show called Real Live History. Corgito ergo sum.
Now, to the perfect example, the original reason why I started writing this post. All day, on all the news channels, there has been continuous coverage of that court shooting in Atlanta. Of course I totally sympathize with the judge, court reporter and deputy killed by this deranged guy, who had just stole the deputy's gun. But, that does not mean it is "breaking news." I consider the 3/11 Madrid train bombings as news worthy of "breaking news." Or the resurrection and ascension of Yasser Arafat from atop Mt. Arafat. Not some murder of a white judge by a black guy. I find it ironic because the judge for Saddam's trial was just assassinated, something much more significant, and it received not even a few seconds' worth of coverage by the big media.
Obviously the media is hungry for some big news. Based on my experience as Speaker of the Student Congress at Gallaudet University, it is quite easy to make news. Simply throw a monkey wrench into the cogs of the machinery. What did I do? I pissed off the Chief Justice off enough to initiate impeachment proceedings against me. The Chief Justice, August Berg, though no Rehnquist, was no little guy. He was a late-deafened adult armed with a law degree from an unaccredited school. To make a long story short, I successfully won my defense, and I nearly got him impeached in the process, even though that actually was a violation of the constitution - Chief Justices' decisions are final, and they have immunity from impeachment.
What happened was a coup: In a time of crisis, I was able to overrule a ruling that in itself had immunity from being overruled, and had, by popular support, the powers of an absolute ruler - er - judge, effectively tempered. A good example of people power! Sometimes actions are illegal, but even much more illegal is the deprivation of the spirit of human freedom, which caused me to act in the first place. August Berg rendered an entire meeting, with all its productivity null and void, based on what he thought had happened - a simple parliamentary procedure error made by one senator during committee reports - which never happened. Imagine Chief Justice Rehnquist ruling that, because of a typo in the 3,000-page $187 billion proposal to support a grassroots revolution in Iran, (hypothetical situation here of course) the members of Congress has to come back from vacation to Washington to simply revote on the bill. However, what he thinks is a typo is actually a consequence of his suppressed dyslexia. I know what President Bush would do. He would revert to the neutralize-and-neuter approach.
If you simply drink in what CNNCBSFOXPBSESPNABC gives you on a daily basis without a second thought about what is actually happening in the world, then you are a sheeperson, a member of the herd of sheepeople, blindly idling along, letting the cowboys do the dirty work. But, I assure you, it is very simple to jump fence. It may just be me, but I like to get my hands dirty once in a while.
Vive la revolucion!
Now, to the perfect example, the original reason why I started writing this post. All day, on all the news channels, there has been continuous coverage of that court shooting in Atlanta. Of course I totally sympathize with the judge, court reporter and deputy killed by this deranged guy, who had just stole the deputy's gun. But, that does not mean it is "breaking news." I consider the 3/11 Madrid train bombings as news worthy of "breaking news." Or the resurrection and ascension of Yasser Arafat from atop Mt. Arafat. Not some murder of a white judge by a black guy. I find it ironic because the judge for Saddam's trial was just assassinated, something much more significant, and it received not even a few seconds' worth of coverage by the big media.
Obviously the media is hungry for some big news. Based on my experience as Speaker of the Student Congress at Gallaudet University, it is quite easy to make news. Simply throw a monkey wrench into the cogs of the machinery. What did I do? I pissed off the Chief Justice off enough to initiate impeachment proceedings against me. The Chief Justice, August Berg, though no Rehnquist, was no little guy. He was a late-deafened adult armed with a law degree from an unaccredited school. To make a long story short, I successfully won my defense, and I nearly got him impeached in the process, even though that actually was a violation of the constitution - Chief Justices' decisions are final, and they have immunity from impeachment.
What happened was a coup: In a time of crisis, I was able to overrule a ruling that in itself had immunity from being overruled, and had, by popular support, the powers of an absolute ruler - er - judge, effectively tempered. A good example of people power! Sometimes actions are illegal, but even much more illegal is the deprivation of the spirit of human freedom, which caused me to act in the first place. August Berg rendered an entire meeting, with all its productivity null and void, based on what he thought had happened - a simple parliamentary procedure error made by one senator during committee reports - which never happened. Imagine Chief Justice Rehnquist ruling that, because of a typo in the 3,000-page $187 billion proposal to support a grassroots revolution in Iran, (hypothetical situation here of course) the members of Congress has to come back from vacation to Washington to simply revote on the bill. However, what he thinks is a typo is actually a consequence of his suppressed dyslexia. I know what President Bush would do. He would revert to the neutralize-and-neuter approach.
If you simply drink in what CNNCBSFOXPBSESPNABC gives you on a daily basis without a second thought about what is actually happening in the world, then you are a sheeperson, a member of the herd of sheepeople, blindly idling along, letting the cowboys do the dirty work. But, I assure you, it is very simple to jump fence. It may just be me, but I like to get my hands dirty once in a while.
Vive la revolucion!
2 Comments:
So, where are you going to get your news sources from? blogs? :-)
Not from the TV. From the Internet, our favorite emerging global brain :)
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