It's that time again.
I am a diehard 24 fan and it's the only show that I am actually religious about watching. Tonight was the season premiere. I've always been a sucker for Keifer Sutherland. Unfortunately, during the 24 season I always end up being subjected to Fox 5 News afterwards. Rob will sit and watch it. I have to get up and leave the living room but I can still hear the stream of annoying reporters from where I sit. I don't know what it is, but I have something against television news reporters in general. Anchors, correspondents, "journalists," there's something distinctly annoying about all of them. Maybe it's their conservative style of dress or it could just be the totally fake voices that they intone especially for their reporting, the deliberate fluctuations in the voicebox to create a tone of authority with just a touch of disbelief...it drives me crazy. Actually, Chris Rock had a skit on his CD "Roll With The New" where this reporter questions OJ and Ike Turner and the answer to each question is a snippet of a raunchy rap song. Hilarious. But the voice intoned by the reporter on his CD is the perfect parody of the exact thing that I'm talking about. Guess you had to be there.
I would much prefer to listen to the news on the radio, devoid of the flashy entertainment jive or even watch PBS or the History Channel or just something less "newsy," without all the plastic personas and false emoting.
I used to think the news my parents listened to was so boring when I was a kid. I would imitate the voice of Maraliesson (spelling please! WHO names their daughter that?) on NPR. I would listen to my parents go on and on in the kitchen, listening to the radio and talking politics. I guess I remember thinking there was something interesting about it though. There was a mystery there, because I had no idea what they were talking about, but I could just tell that it was really important and felt it was kind of remarkable that they understood it all. Especially considering that my first real memory of hearing about politics was during the Iran Contra scandal and Oliver North's testimony, Savings and Loans scandal, Chernobyl, those kinds of things...just words to me then.
I wish that Fox 5 and CNN and CBS and all the other mega news affiliates would present things in a more informative manner. Wish reporters would ask more serious, hard hitting questions. It's too bad. There are plenty of programs on television where you can get a more accurate view of reality, it's just unfortunate that those big media empires are the ones that capture the attention of the American audience and it's just gradually dumbing us down into a very complacent society.
Slow conditioning. Nothing is shocking anymore. I guess it's been that way for a long time. Perry Farrell wrote a song about it in the late 80s.
Camera got them images Camera got them all Nothing's shocking... Showed me everybody Naked and disfigured Nothing's shocking... And then he came Now sister's Not a virgin anymore Her sex is violent...The T.V.'s got them images
T.V.'s got them all
It's not shocking!
Every half an hour
Someone's captured and
The cop moves them along...
It's just like the show before
The news is
Just another show
With sex and violence...Sex is violent...
Sex is violent!
Everything is dramatized to create that irritating crossbreed of 10% news, 90% bullshit, fear mongering and cheap, tawdry entertainment.
Heard just now on local news: "A wacko with a box cutter is on the run right now." Some guy running around in the Bronx slashing women in broad daylight with a box cutter. Serious injuries result.
Yikes.
Posted by Maria at January 9, 2005 10:25 PMWay to go 24! Also one of my favorite shows! 24 episodes were you never really know what is happening until the very end (and even then...). But keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way through.