Dog Eat Dog

The most interesting thing about the media today is that more often than not they will jump at any scandalous story, even if it's about their fellow journalist. There is a bit of a hubbub about how Madonna won a law suit against British press. A tabloid had run an article featuring wedding pictures that had been stolen from her home. I will not even begin to rant about how overbearingly annoying it is that someone would actually steal something from someone just because it would make for a story. Instead i would like to pause and reflect on how funny this is. The media is exploiting how Madonna has beat...the media. Granted it's American versus British but still, is there no code of honor?

Of course not. Its a competition all the way. Who can one up and who can exploit is all that maters. As long as people want to read something and it sells then go ahead and turn on the printers and mail the papers. One could say that the journalist who are spreading the word of the tabloids failure are doing good, showing the follies of paparazzi's that everyone knows are heinously annoying and immoral. This could be true, but it could also be true that the very same journalist would jump at the chance to write an article on a scandalous affair between Madonna and Josh Groban (because I mean who could see that coming? It would be crazy). 

In any case , I'm not saying that it's a terrible thing , the media turning on media, just pointing out the oddity of it.The intricacies of interest never fail to amuse me.

Wal-Mart Shoppers

I was on Thanksgiving break in Florida when I glanced at the T.V in the living room and saw the headline. WAL MART SHOPPER CRUSHED IN BLACK FRIDAY MADNESS.

I thought it was a joke.

Then realized that it was all true. A crowd of shoppers actually became so excited about prices that they trampled a man to death.

"This is ridiculous" I thought. Then I realized, THIS is america.

Perhaps its harsh to blame the media for only showing us crass stories about brittany spears shaving her head and high-school girls getting pregnant, when that really is what's happening. We truly do live in a country with strange problems and perhaps the media is a mirror image of that society. We are the people that want to slow down when looking at a car accident, we are the people who listen for gossip and indulge in learning secrets. It is the corporate side of the media industry that caters to that aspect of our society. In order to make a profit they have to give us the latest scoop on a wal mart scandal, because thats what people will buy. 

so thats what the media is, a mirror into our desires. Yes a good majority of us want to read about politics and science but another large portion of the country loves to see movie stars go to rehab.And so many papers include articles about Obama and GPS but many papers also printed a story about a wal mart disaster.