You want to stay informed. You would read the paper, or more stuff on the internet, but your eyes get tired. Maybe you are waiting for your partner to get ready, or you just got out of the shower and are now standing aimlessly looking into your closet for what you will wear today, or you just got home and plop on the couch, or you fight off the sleep you need and… you switch on the News.
Instantly, you are awash in advertising disguised as content. Local news affiliates vie for your attention, teasing the “real” stories in a seemingly never-ending stream of “coming up” and “when we return”. You plow through repetitive weather bleatings demanding that you recognize the immediate danger tomorrow’s potential six millimeters of rain may entail. You dread the appearance of the pompous and over-haired jerks wearing gray jackets, each cleverly informing you of the almighty struggle between steroid-infused athletes as they seek to catch-hit-throw-block the movement of a ball.
You could handle all of that, were it not for the prattle. The constant, yammering back and forth between the male and female anchors. They jaggle and lisp, editorializing all content with shallow admonitions, mock outrage, and vainglorious chuckleheadedness. It is disheartening, and so you idle your thoughts as your eyes pass over b-roll footage shot six months ago of whatever event is being discussed. You struggle back to consciousness just as yet another lazy typo scrawls across the screen, further frightening you. If these are the people watching for trouble, this boat is screwed.
You click on the National News. It’s the same turd, polished to a bubbly and sexy shine. Story after story, you drown in the aftershave as contradictions and advertising bias force truth to take a backseat to sensationalism. You do not care about cocaine addled starlets, and yet they comprise 60% of what you are hearing reported on. You are tired of hearing the same stories from the same faces, year after year. You know their deepest secrets, you have read about their struggle to overcome cancer, and AIDS, and overeating, and mescaline, and you frankly find their haircut and bright white teeth a bit off-putting. You switch over to the 24 hour news channel.
You want to throw your remote through the television.
Stop watching the news. Stop caring about the Cult of Personality. Start reading, and better still, doing. The majority of what you consume each day in news is not absorbed. Do you remember the name of the girl Prince William may have been dating? Do you remember which political figure was last caught with his hand in the cookie jar? The world will spin on, whether you are there to count its revolutions and rotations or not. You have bigger things to do. Start.
