The News
So what the hell am I ranting about?
The news shits me.
This includes current affairs, news papers, ABC news, so called
independent news sources, internet publications, documentaries, Mrs. Gasbag the neighbor over the fence .. all of it.
What do I do about it?
As much as possible I avoid it .. I don’t watch it .. I don’t listen to it.
Because I avoid it so much my sensitivity to the things I hate about it has sky rocketed.
Why??
Its this simple equation that I see in 40ft high letters of flame every time im exposed to its bullshit:
Media = Money = Audience = Drama
Huh?
The biggest rating show on TV is the News - This is where the money is.
Drawing an audience is about getting an emotional response from your
entertainment . This is what drama is all about.
Getting more drama means making it more sensationalists (stretching and misrepresenting the facts)
Even in nonprofit news the journalist wants to be successful (have an audience).
There is also the fact that you are seeing a 'fact' solely through the eyes of another person ... its already been twisted, filtered and modified unconsciously by their world view.
This is often even more dangerous as we don’t separate value information from factual information ... it all gets absorbed.
Some recent examples
[at the end of a news paper story damning the actions of the police] ... The police commissioner failed to immediately return our call.
At a glance:
This reinforces the stories assertions that the police are shit, the commissioner 'failed', and is obviously running scared.
Under inspection:
He did call back .. and they didn’t include a single word of what he'd said.
He may well have called back within 5 minutes ... that’s not immediate is it?
TV news where a truck tipped over and caught fire:
<dramatic helicopter shots of police cars with lights going, plumes of black smoke, trees, power lines, very loud helicopter sounds mixed with burning and wind noises, etc..>
[at the end of the story about blocked streets, alarmed citizens, evacuated houses, etc]
Police did not comment on the contents of the truck or whether it posed a dangerous health hazard!
From what I could tell:
The only helicopter there was the media one, the sounds were all post mixed for effect.
There were 2 police cars
People watching from a very short distance away so maybe 2 or 3 houses were 'evacuated'.
The hardest thing to see was the truck itself, they never gave you a decent look at it to identify what it might have been (Toxic waste??). There wasnt any chemicals spilt .. so fucking house bricks maybe????
IMO: If they
actually asked the police if there was a health hazard:
"The police stated we were a bunch of crack baby, vulture faced, gerbil fondling fuckwits for trying to suggest such utter bullshit"
Dont get me started on current affairs .. if I had an abused kitten, gave it a lobotomy with a rusty spoon, kept it locked in a cellar on the end of a chain, raised it on a diet of petrol sniffing and the wiggles: Ray Martin would
still be too low brow for it.
Is it that bad?
Yes.
Because you end up believing it.