Enough is Enough

I have always loved writing. I always knew that I wanted to write books, but I also, at one point, wanted to be a journalist…but I never could keep my own musings out of it, nor could I not turn a article into a story…my biggest problem…word-length…at least, in regards to articles. So I knew that my strength would be better served to writing books verses anything else. But, I still loved to read other journalists reports.

The problem is…and keep in mind this is my own point of view…I cannot stand to read magazines or newspapers anymore, nor can I stand to watch news. Why? Journalists and reporters (for the most part), have lost their focus. They do not report on what needs to report on and report way too much on things that should be mentioned once and dropped, or should never be reported on at all.

Case in point on overkill…Michael Jackson. Now, don’t get me wrong, I did like Michael’s early years…from when he was a kid to the 80’s…some of the 90’s, but I did not care for who he turned into (now save your boo’s. I am not dissing him, just didn’t care for him. I didn’t care much for Elvis Presley either…nor the Beatles), but it was completely overkill on how much they reported on Michael’s death, and the content of the reports…especially given the fact that Farrah Fawcett died at the same time of cancer and had been an advocate in the search of treatment for it and helping others who had it, but she was just a small blip in the reports. Or given the fact of Walter Cronkite…whom I loved…died last night, and today (and today has barely started) has been nothing but tributes and memorial’s on the media. Yeah, I know they are celebrities, but, in my opinion, the media goes overboard on reporting. And this is not the celebrity media…this is normal media.

Then, and I believe this is totally wrong…look at how they report about the wars…yes, we need to know what is going on, but we don’t need to hear about it everyday, nor in great detail about it. Ok…look at it this way, They report where the troops are, what they have been doing, how many died on either side…you don’t think the opposing sides aren’t keeping tally and developing their trends to figure out where the troops will be or what they will be doing so that they can kill more? This is on all sides…not just the “good.”

Or, the people who murder, or rob…yeah, it is nice to have the public keep an eye out for them so they are caught sooner, but also think about this…they thrive on the publicity of their actions. You know most are causing more crime of every sort because they get a kick out of hearing their names and/or their exploits in the media and on every one’s lips.

ok, how about this one. drug abuse. not illegal drugs, but prescription drugs…and I am not talking about kids either. They get their eyes caught by the different prescription drugs from all of the advertisements. I know several adults…some even elderly, that see these commercials describing the problems such and such drug will fix…ignoring or not even realizing the side-effects…and the fact that most of the drug commercials give the symptoms that can be for anything, even things no where near what the drug is supposed to be used for, and they convince themselves that they a) have this problem, or b) need this particular drug…and then the abuse continues from there.

or what about this? how sue-happy America is…it has never been too good in regards to people wanting to sue others, but thanks to the lawyer commercials, there are more and more lawsuits for stupid stuff that could have been prevented by pure common sense. I mean come on…suing because you spilled hot coffee on you and the restaurant didn’t warn you that it was hot…cutting yourself with a knife because it didn’t say “careful! I’m sharp!” or, even these court shows…yes, they are entertaining, but come on already…we started out with People’s Court way back when, then when Judge Judy came on, suddenly there is an explosion of court shows and approximately 6 hours a day is devoted strictly to them on the television.

It is very rare to hear feel-good stories on the news anymore. If you do, it is a mere blip in the 30- to 1-hour news shows full of shootings, accidents, celebrity goings-on, natural and not-so-natural disasters, etc…

come on people…regain focus of what is important…sure, everyone’s opinion is different on what is important…but do you think our society is going to get any better by continuing the down-slide into over-reporting or negative stories?

I know I won’t make a difference. the need for negativity just feeds on itself until that is all people seem to focus on, but at least I have my opinion out there. for what good it does.