By Beauty Damned

Where's The News At

Last night I got into Rob's car and he had an issue of the Daily News on the front seat. On the cover was a photo of the latest beheading victims. Instead of a headline, there was just one word plastered across the top of the page in big black block letters (as the sensationalist NY tabloid "news" so love to do to elicit a gut reaction and hopefully, fifty cents). It said "INHUMAN." I am used to this kind of headline from them. Instead of giving you an idea of what the story is about, they just print a big blaring adjective and maybe some depressing photos across the cover to send your blood pressure up.

So I opened it up, expecting to see the story about one of the latest appalling and inhuman acts that have taken place in the middle east, only to see....

Britney Spears and her new husband taking up most of the entire first two pages, followed by a column about Martha Stewart and the latest news on the Phil Spector prosecution before reaching the real news on the following pages.

Are you serious? How could they plaster the cover with these harrowing photos of victims bound and gagged, this alarming headline, getting your gut worked in a knot about all the sadness and pain that's going on in the world, only to then have the nerve to fuck with your psyche -- instantly turning your attention from this real horror, over to this ridiculous, meaningless hoopla relating to people and lives who couldn't possibly mean any less to the average person. It's a mindfuck. Before you have a moment to digest reality, you are accosted with inanity.

Note: I turned this into a letter and emailed it to the Daily News.

Posted by Maria at September 24, 2004 01:00 PM | TrackBack