Media & "Shiny" Distractions.... Overdoing It.

[FOsteology]

Yes, it's sad, and a shame. However, I can't believe that nearly every hour of news for the past couple days has all been about Robin Williams. Honestly, did we really need to hear the Sheriff's press conference live and then listen to commentators dissect it for three+ hours?

I guess riots in Missouri, Russia moving on Ukraine, Isreal vs. Hamas, hundreds of kids being executed in ISIS controlled territory, and a terrorist getting arrested in the Boston airport are just not as important as knowing what second the police got the call that a suicide happened, what time his wife went to bed, and if the belt he used to hang himself was leather or cloth. 

Not trying to be insensitive here, but come on, it isn't quite as important as everyone seems to be making it out to be...He was a man, like anyone else (flawed and had his own personal demons to contend with). Shouldn't the news cycle be about important events facing our country. Not the death of a celebrity. 

[JohnP]

Amen.

[Okanagan]

Yep.  Yet I suspect this thread shows how disconnected we three (so are) are from mainstream society.  I have not looked at a single Robin Williams news item beyond the first short notice of his death, no interest though felt grieved as for any difficult death of someone I don't know personally.

20,000 (?) people surrounded for annihilation in Iraq, pulling US forces into combat?  President violating the Constitution?  War in Gaza?  Russia poised to invade Ukraine?  Trade and dollar deficit with China?  Ebola?

All minor stuff, certainly not serious enough to rate informing the masses as if those things were news.  The media would lose ratings if they report on Kurds rather than Kardasians.

Or is it that our people in our nation don't want to think about hard things like war and plague, so we escape to easy emotions like an actor's suicide or who Kim Kardasian went to lunch with.

It is up to us to keep our kids and grandkids better informed and actually thinking.

[Hawks Feather]

Fos,  I think you only have to look at the last word in your post - CELEBRITY.  The world does not revolve around the sun (as many think) it revolves around celebrities.      Actually, Hollywood is the center of the galaxy. 

Celebrity:

No matter how gross the amount of money you make per year making programs, no one (at least in the press) will criticize you because you are a celebrity.

No matter how 'off the wall' you might become, no one (at least in the press) will criticize you because you are a celebrity.

No matter what you might do in your 'non-work' life, no one (at least in the press) will criticize you because you are a celebrity.

No matter which democrat you support, no one (at least in the press) will criticize you because you are a celebrity.

All the while chanting their support because they are a celebrity.

I believe that most celebrities (that includes professional sports, etc.) to be extremely over paid for what they do.  But as long as the studio or ballpark can sell tickets, they will continue to receive way more than I think they are worth. 

O.K. rant over,   

Jerry

[FOsteology]

Yeah, the media coverage on this is a result of what the viewers want to see apparently. The news has turned into nothing more than mindless entertainment because not many people really give a chit about anything serious anymore...

[KySongDog]

I've maintained for a long time now that nothing will change in this country until the average man/woman on the street starts feeling real pain.  A collapse of the dollar, hyperinflation, another terrorist attack on the homeland, an economic depression.....these things might get the people's attention.  Until something big happens, Americans will continue on in a blind stupor drinking whatever flavor of kool-aid they are serving at the moment.

[HaMeR]

If you want all guns banned while you are making shootemup movies,,, you must be a ceelebritee.

If it's OK for your bodyguard to carry weapons for your personal defense,, but want the people that made you rich to be vulnerable to those same thugs you are afraid of,, you must be a ceelebritee.

I too agree with the above.

Except I refer to the place Jerry mentioned as Whorewood. That's about all that's out there in one form or another.

I too feel for Robin Williams & his Family.

Miss Bacall died too at the age of 83 as well.

[FinsnFur]

Maybe cause he was a liberal