Recently having taken a few moments to catch up on my news, I stumbled across a number of articles offered by both RT News and BBC that have allowed me to step back for a moment and reflect. For me, the best way to reflect is to write about what I am experiencing in the midst of all of these crisis and also to make suggestions based on what I would do in a certain situation, test out my system of values and such and also poke fun at the way that news is presented.
I understand that mainstream media is meant to attract followers. Followers increase ratings, ratings increase money earned and at the end of the day somebody’s pockets are a little heavier than when they came in in the morning. I understand how this works. What I fail to understand is the way in which news is presented and why there are so many people that choose to be lead or why opinions are formed just from the presentation and portrait of words that a writer paints.
What I found to be the most interesting was that, although there seems to be some relevance to the news that is presented, most of the news is just stating the obvious or taking something that has been viewed in a certain context for some time and placed into a different context, either to ruffle somebody’s feathers or because circumstances have genuinely changed for that which the news is being presented about.
Without any further ado, here are the items that caught my attention for today, 31 May 2011:
1.) Mobile phones may cause cancer
What I found the most humorous about this article is that (and not that I think that cancer is at all funny, which makes this story and explanation even more ironic) there are apparently many items that a person will come in contact with on a daily basis which science says MAY or MAY NOT be carcinogenic, or in laymen terms cancer-causing or possess cancer causing agents within them. In the study it was decided inconclusive whether or not the mobile phones can cause the cancer, but that the possibility still exists. So, we are left at the end of the article with about as much information with regards to the matter as when we started reading it. A side note is that there are some other items that have been deemed in the same category as mobile phones as POSSIBLY CARCINOGENIC that among them are: Car Exhausts (I can understand this one), Coffee (REALLY?), Lead (again, this seems feasible) and Dry Cleaning (WTF!). So, there you have it. Useless time spent on the uncertainty of whether or not I can get the cancer from the items which I may/may not use every day. Thanks for that article.
Next line of business:
2.) Sarah Palin is EVERYWHERE!
Ok, right off the bat, I have problems with this article. It’s not that it wasn’t well put together or presenting unbiased information. And no, if you guessed that I am a big Obama Mamma Jamma and voted for him in 2008, then wrong again. I just feel that when a person’s name becomes so much of a household known name that it becomes almost subliminal messaging and unpaid campaigning that the person is doing or that the news is doing on a person’s behalf. The reason I say this is that, YES, I understand that Palin is on a trek across the United States promoting her campaign as former Governor of the State of Alaska. What campaign? This remains to be understood, as she has not formally announced that she will be running for presidential candidacy for the upcoming 2012 elections. However, the former vice-presidential nominee is on her way to Washington D.C. and making all different types of stops in between on what seems to be a head start toward the 2012 elections. And it seems that she is going to do suprisingly ( or maybe not so surprisingly) well. It doesn’t take much to get the majority of mainstream United States on your side. Just go about the country via motorcycle and tour bus looking and acting like the good ol’ American girl and shout key words and slogans like FREEDOM and AFGHANISTAN and IRAQ and WAR and GUNS and you’ve got yourself a slew of followers. Well done, Sarah.
3.) Cease HIM! He looks Arabic!
Absolutely preposterous and hideously barbaric are the only ways that I can describe the thought train of a certain Republican Congressman who recently said that “Political correctness won’t save lives”. He goes on to say that, with regards to travel through airports, any person that fits the profile of what an ARABIC PERSON looks like (in his head) should be questioned and searched. Paul Broun is the name of the wonderful person that believes that anybody that passes through an airport that has any hint of ARABIC-NESS should be treated differently that regular civilians. WOW. I didn’t know there was an ARABIC LOOK, Broun. What is there to be said about blonde arabs, or red haired ones? What about those that are NOT ARABIC, but have similar stereotypical physical characteristics? Shall they be searched too? I have no words for this person. How are people elected into office anyway? Oh….that’s right….we ELECT them. So much for a Democracy…more like a demo-CRAZY.
So, that’s it for today. It’s by no means a synopsis of all of the happenings in news; just a little slice of the Rocco Pie and a peak at how I view current events and a couple of articles that popped for me. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.
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