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Aug. 3, 2005 Who won the 1987 World Series? Who was their first baseman? What was his batting average? How many homers did he hit? When I ask you this, you might say "who cares?" I say that I care more about this than anymore stories about some girl who disappeared in Aruba. I don't mean to sound like a jerk but why do we need to bother with this story anymore? Are we somehow all commissioned as detectives? Were we there that fateful night? Or are we still so concerned because she was a pretty white girl who is being plastered across the headlines to make us avoid real news? The fire brigade has been called upon to get the cat out of the tree in front of the burning house. That is the best way to describe how pathetic our news, and especially the bulk of UK articles have become. We have an out of control president in Washington, people dying daily in Iraq and Sudan and in floods in India but we somehow seem way more interested in talking about Natalee Halloway? I think it all started with OJ Simpson and the trial of the buffoonery. We found ourselves getting sucked into whatever story the media fed us that day and kept a vigil until the conclusion. While people go missing and end up dead everyday, we tend to focus on the one that jumps into the headlines. Why? Because the vast majority of us are not reporters or police officials or, basically, truly concerned citizens. We are the people that think everything is okay as long as we get our way. I remember when I was in college, during the Clinton years, and my professor asking me, a Republican at the time, if I really, truly felt my government was doing a bad job. When I got introspective, it occurred to me that they really were not. That is when I first began to realize that the headlines of the day were skewed to make me find fault with things or to lean a certain way as to change my feelings. I have to admit, the Monica thing got me going. However, now that I am older, I really think it was inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. Sure, it was interesting for a while but I have since stopped caring about the likes of Scott Peterson, Natalee Halloway and Robert Blake. I just don't care enough to let it get into my daily thoughts. This does not make me heartless. It just means that I have better things to do with my time and energy. I think everyone who writes about it, as if "they" had just solved it should stop writing about it and come up with more important issues. If you cannot come up with one, here you go: The new energy bill, while it allows for a tax incentive to makers of hybrid vehicles, only goes so far. You see, it only give incentives if you make 60,000 units or less. If you make more, you get zero cuts. That's right. So last year Toyota made 140,000 hybrids. They would get no incentives to make that many. However, the president allows for SUV owners to get a tax break for buying their behemoths. Oh glorious day!!! I'm fed up with the media of distraction. Be good to each other and do right by each other. ------------ About the author: Nicholas Olson is a long-time journalist who has been a columnist at his college newspaper and is currently a military journalist. Email: nicholasjolson@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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