Forget about Iraq. Forget about global warming. We have another OJ trial to look forward to!

[Bjorn Against]

Breaking News! A man who used to play football years ago and had co-starring roles in a few crappy long-forgotten movies has just been arrested again. This of course means that we don't have to spend quite as much time following the news out of Iraq, or the reports on global warming, or the recent "accidental" shipment of nuclear warheads to Louisiana, because now we have a celebrity trial to focus on.

The National Enquirer's sure to be months long obsession with the OJ case will not be enough, that is why we need CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and the other "news" outlets to provide nonstop coverage of the case. Who needs real news when we can get pure tabloid trash 24/7?

Sure there may be people getting blown up in Iraq, sure global warming may be threatening to have a catastrophic impact on our way of life, sure there may be people living in poverty, but that can all be set to the side because obviously OJ Simpson has a huge impact on the lives of ordinary Americans.

Alright so I'm being sarcastic. In reality the OJ trial is still a long ways off and I am already sick of hearing about it. There are criminal trials going on all across the country, several of which I am sure would provide stories which were interesting and relevant to our society, but the OJ trial will neither be interesting or particularly relevant. I would be much more interested in hearing the story of the man living in poverty who was arrested on trumped up drug charges and facing a draconian sentence without access to competent legal council. There are cases like that all over the nation that could bring about interesting and needed discussions about the injustices of our legal system, but no overblown celebrity trial is going to provide that type of thoughtful analysis.

We need to resist tabloid "news" coverage and focus on the issues that really matter. I am going to make a pledge that I will never comment on any of the evidence in the OJ trial, and I will never engage in any discussion on the matter other than to point out what a distraction the case is from the real issues facing the world.

I care about what is happening in Iraq, I care about global warming, I care about poverty, I care about health care, and I have a great deal of other things I need to care about as well. I absolutely do not have time to care about the outcome of the OJ case.

Please keep your focus, vow to either not watch television news all together or to turn the television off whenever OJ's name is mentioned on a show which claims to be a legitimate news broadcast. If you absolutely must know about the OJ case then go buy a copy of the National Enquirer or watch Entertainment Tonight, but don't allow the networks to get by with presenting celebrity gossip as actual news. If we don't express our frustration with the corporate media when they distract us with these non-news stories we are only going to keep being frustrated. Please turn off the television and let them know you are turning off the television.

[Junkdrawer]

1. Let's go with it: "If the Glove Doesn't Reach..You Must Impeach"....

:evilgrin:

[Kagemusha]

2. I'll say it again: Iraq would get not one iota more coverage even without OJ.

I let this brand of complaint go unchallenged before because it was over issues I didn't know about. I had no idea if such and such white woman issue was really blocking discussion of particular events. But Iraq? Global warming? Poverty?

Those things were not going to be spoken of more because media owners and editors do not want them spoken of more. Those decisions had already been made. At this point, Iraq is old news. Nothing will change. Nothing! Clearly, you want the media to make the news, not report the news. That's your right to have that opinion. The media is not obligated to bow to your desires. A lot of me wishes it would in this instance, but it won't.

OJ has nothing to do with it!!!

P.S. I get my news from the 'net. I don't watch TV; CNN became unwatchable for me over a decade ago.

[Bjorn Against]

4. I am asking them to report the news not make the news

News broadcasts are supposed to be about reporting news. Iraq is an important news story for everyone, OJ is a story that effects only a tiny number of people.

When they waste their time focusing on this crap that means LESS time for real journalism.

Things can change but not if everyone has an attitude like you and says "nothing will change". Of course it won't change if everyone has that attitude, but if people demand change then we can have real hope.

[Eagle_Eye]

3. Whenever the news media goes into "Drop everything and listen to this" mode, I get suspicious

What news is out there that we are being distracted from?

Are there six more nukes flying around unaccounted for?

Are troops massing on the Iranian border?

Is the dollar about to crash on the world markets?

I don't trust the current administration.

[Raejeanowl]

5. Not Me

I've wasted too much of my shortening life and challenged attention span on this useless piece of sociopathic baggage already.

But you're right to the extent that a thinking person has to go far out of their way to AVOID the crap the MSM is purveying nowadays as relevant news.

Remember that Occam's Razor thing? Maybe it isn't a malicious GOP conspiracy to control the flow of information. Maybe it's just stupidity-the real journalists have died, retired, or been fired, and the successors really don't know any better?