Have we Completely Lost our Minds?

Have we completely lost our minds?

The American public shrugs off Presidential debates (regardless of the faults in the system, which few would deny), yet plan viewing parties for the funeral of a pop singer with a checkered history (to be generous)?

Newsmagazines struggle for readers, but any two-bit tabloid with a pathetic narcissist like “Jon and/or Kate” on the cover flies off the shelves.

People devote their entire lives to serving humanity—be they teachers, police and firefighters, military members, scientists looking to unlock the mysteries of our most horrid diseases, relief and mission workers, those who help the poor and destitute or so many others—and yet the media chooses to devote the better part of two solid weeks to alleged ‘reporting’ about someone’s will and custody arrangements?

Our Congress is debating what could be the most significant change to the American lifestyle in generations, and the network that once defined “all news” sends a reporter to find a chimpanzee?

Children are starving, lack healthcare and are sent to unsafe schools with inadequate supplies, and we focus on whether Britney Spears will have visitation or custody of her kids?

People won’t watch the President (regardless of party) deliver policy addresses in significant numbers, but millions upon millions will tune in to watch celebrities pat each other on the back and consider that somehow meaningful and significant? 

I’m completely in favor of diversions from the serious issues of the day, but we’ve become far too obsessed with the celebrity culture to the point that we pay no attention to what really does impact our lives.  Forget Nero fiddling while Rome burns, it’s the Romans themselves who are too busy listening to the fiddles and swooning over the fiddlers to notice they’re ablaze themselves.

Entertainment Tonight and E! have their place, but when the network news operations become indistinguishable from them, we’ve lost something important and may never get it back.   Shows like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report are wonderfully insightful, but when the public begins to substitute them for actual news, the viewers are missing the point entirely.   It’s not just about taking jabs at public figures’ gaffes, it’s about understanding the underlying issues.  (And despite what an alarming number of people seem to believe, what happens overseas does matter, and does have an impact on our lives beyond the thankfully rare tragedy like 9/11.)

Don’t think our priorities are out of sync?  ABC has devoted more than twice as much airtime in just one day to the Michael Jackson nonsense than they did to their conversations on healthcare a couple of weeks ago.  That’s beyond pathetic, and is a shameful, shameful commentary on the media and on the public for rewarding their irresponsible behavior.