Newshounds

I don’t claim that I am in the know about a lot of things. I don’t turn on the news every night at home, I don’t check CNN or BBC religiously throughout the day, but I do try to stay aware. It’s not because I want to know the sensationalism that most news agencies go for, but because I want to know what is going on where I live. This place called the world and how these things are going to affect the kids and me.
I don’t know that this is a recent observation or one that I’m just now remembering I’ve made before. I think perhaps it’s sort of just a known that I don’t really acknowledge, but definitely behind my aversion to FOX news. They are all about these types of stories and pounding them into the ground. Anyway, I’ve recently re-noticed how many people really are drawn only to these sensationalized stories. The sensational is what they remember and talk about like it’s a soap opera and not someone’s reality. I hear them talking in excited tones both about a news story AND of the show they watched right after the news. There is no distinction in their tone or the way they talk about the two. It makes me wonder how much these people believe what they see on television is real and how much they realize is not. More and more I realize how, despite our ability to have immediate knowledge of the world, how little people actually care about anything except what stimulates them, makes them feel better about themselves or gives them something to talk about.
I am left wondering if they realize that this judge whose family was killed is hurting and grieving right now. Or if they take it to the level that right now there are children scared and missing their parents because they’ve been conscripted to fight a “war?” Or that there are parents who are forced to sell their children for sex just so that they AND their children can stay alive? These are the realities and they aren’t sensational, they suck. It's not a fun reality and it's not headline worthy because it's not pretty. I just wonder if it’s like another “reality show” to these people I overhear. What will be on the next season of "Tsunami!!" or will it be cancelled due to lack of interest. Hmmm…maybe the reason I try to forget this observation is because it’s so damned depressing.

k…done with my sensational rambling now.