Media Depression
Am I alone in saying that the constant media exposure, the 24/7 news channels, ESPN, the Weather Channel -- all the outlets that bombard us with a constant barrage of stories within their respective purviews -- depress the hell out of me. Good news doesn't sell like bad news and I'm sick of all the scary stuff, especially with an election year coming up. Bottom line, I'm tired of people either telling me how I should think or why I should think it.
If I watch the news about global warning, how can I not think we're screwed? Forget about eliminating pollution, we can't even agree to cut back on emissions twenty years from now. Require better gas mileage? Un-American. But do your part and change to fluorescent light bulbs; they last a lot longer and use a lot less juice.
But they're made in China, where 70% of their surface water and 90% of their underground water are polluted, and where their own government blames millions of deaths a year on poor air quality. Instead of us harming the environment with incandescent bulbs, we can use the Chinese to do it by proxy. It seems like a viable way of "going green" would be to not patronize goods from China.
And what do you do about the mercury in the fluorescent bulbs when they do finally burn out?
A news banner yesterday told me that Hilary Clinton feels the estate tax is important to the concept that Americans want a meritocracy. Huh? So the government is entitled to forty percent of what I make, even after I've paid taxes on it when I was alive, in order to protect society from my children being better off than I was? If my son and daughter can live their lives without worrying about retirement, down payments on houses, job security and health care to the degree that I do because I can leave them some loot, then down with the meritocracy. Of course if I got filthy, Hilton rich, it would be okay. Getting a little rich is not. Taxation as a means to keep me from elevating my children to a higher standard of living? Give me a break. Why comments like that do not drive her from public office of any sort I will never understand.
The Mitchell report was released today, naming names from all thirty baseball teams. Sadly, this isn't all that depressing because, um, didn't we all know these guys were guilty? When Barry Bonds used to look like me and now he looks like the Michelin Man, guess what? Those weren't milk shakes he's drinking.
There's only a weak point here, if any. Turn off the TV. Vote with your dollars, vote with your conscience, and vote the bums out. And I know this won't help a damned thing but I'm boycotting my viewership of next summer's Beijing Olympics. The world scares me and I owe it mostly to television. I know, I'll read more books...
Now that may be possible.
If I watch the news about global warning, how can I not think we're screwed? Forget about eliminating pollution, we can't even agree to cut back on emissions twenty years from now. Require better gas mileage? Un-American. But do your part and change to fluorescent light bulbs; they last a lot longer and use a lot less juice.
But they're made in China, where 70% of their surface water and 90% of their underground water are polluted, and where their own government blames millions of deaths a year on poor air quality. Instead of us harming the environment with incandescent bulbs, we can use the Chinese to do it by proxy. It seems like a viable way of "going green" would be to not patronize goods from China.
And what do you do about the mercury in the fluorescent bulbs when they do finally burn out?
A news banner yesterday told me that Hilary Clinton feels the estate tax is important to the concept that Americans want a meritocracy. Huh? So the government is entitled to forty percent of what I make, even after I've paid taxes on it when I was alive, in order to protect society from my children being better off than I was? If my son and daughter can live their lives without worrying about retirement, down payments on houses, job security and health care to the degree that I do because I can leave them some loot, then down with the meritocracy. Of course if I got filthy, Hilton rich, it would be okay. Getting a little rich is not. Taxation as a means to keep me from elevating my children to a higher standard of living? Give me a break. Why comments like that do not drive her from public office of any sort I will never understand.
The Mitchell report was released today, naming names from all thirty baseball teams. Sadly, this isn't all that depressing because, um, didn't we all know these guys were guilty? When Barry Bonds used to look like me and now he looks like the Michelin Man, guess what? Those weren't milk shakes he's drinking.
There's only a weak point here, if any. Turn off the TV. Vote with your dollars, vote with your conscience, and vote the bums out. And I know this won't help a damned thing but I'm boycotting my viewership of next summer's Beijing Olympics. The world scares me and I owe it mostly to television. I know, I'll read more books...
Now that may be possible.
posted by Rick Ollerman at 8:14 PM
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