My friend Stu died on Wednesday. It is only Friday and already, it seems so very, very long ago. Life continues apace on planet earth . . . people shop at the store and silly as well as serious discussions carry on even among us, those who mourn.
And the news keeps spinning out.
Last night, or was it this morning? I think it was this morning . . . there was the usual US Presidential race coverage on television, only now, it was about New Hampshire instead of Iowa. Did Iowa already happen? I ask the fellow mourner sitting beside me on the couch. I don’t know and I don’t care, she replied.
I thought about that for a moment. Me neither, was my equable answer. And it was true. I really don’t care whether the Republican candidates have already been to Iowa or not. I really don’t care who won and who’s claiming they won, even though they didn’t.
When did ‘news’ become a nation’s soap opera? When did it become that you could simply fill in the blanks to never-ending and never-changing narrative? When did our news become about the unimportant, the trivial? And when did the really important things get pushed away to make room for the drivel we dub ‘news’?
I wasn’t looking that day.
I should have liked to have a vote in our collective decision to be held captive to the irrelevant by the irresponsible.
I wasn’t looking that day.
I’m sure Iowa is a lovely place to live and meaning no disrespect, I have to say . . .
Iowa, Schmiowa . . .
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