24-Hour News Blues

   I'm probably not the only one who has noticed that, recently, things have been less than friendly across the donkey/elephant aisle.  And though I do tend to side with most non-Republicans, I am not quick to say that all the guilt lay on their side of the political ocean.  So, who's to blame then (you may be asking yourself)? Well I can tell you, and it's simple... 24-Hour Cable News Networks!
   Now here, it's not the matter of how biased television news has become (that started with the newspapers and was bound to happen to television).  What is the matter is how big of a deal is made out of certain issues by television news and, consequentially, how much the general population is made to care about certain issues.  In other words (as mother always said), too much television will rot your brain, and that's exactly what has happened.  American television has driven America mad!  Every year people are murdered over political ideologies, and in our everyday lives we feel the need to have constant access to some form of cable news; while in line at the bank, at your favorite fast-food restaurant, at the gym, at the car-wash, even an app on your phone.  Yet when one actually observes 24-hour cable news as the science-experiment-gone-wrong it truly is, you will notice that in any given day the networks will only have a hand-full of stories, and you will also notice that they are recycled, re-worded, and exaggerated all day long by, literally, paid professional television entertainers... not true journalists! (with the exception of the obvious few).  Now I'm not saying let's go back to the 1960's, life back then was far too black & white.  But, back then it seems people were at least still capable of living side by side as Americans and neighbors, and not as Democrats or Republicans, Pro-Life or Pro-Choice, Anti-This or Tea Party That.  Things were simpler then, things moved slower.  Back then people watched their news in the morning before work, and later either right before dinner, after dinner, or at 11pm if you worked late.  You got thirty minutes of the stuff that matter, you voted, you volunteered, and you were a member of the school board.  Today, that would be considered media starvation.  Despite our recent advancements in communication technology, lately everyone just seems to be so disconnected from everyone else.
   Reflectively, it can be said that this concept of constant news has produced some positive results;  first, that it can be an asset in an emergency/crisis situation (although if there really ever were an emergency the government could exercise its right to take over the networks), and secondly the attention it has brought to issues that truly matter like the Egyptian revolution, gay rights, and sustainability.  These topics are definitely deserving of all the attention they have received.  My problem is when too much time & attention are paid to meaningless things.  And even if your flag be true, no matter what your cause, obsessing over it will make you crazy, or at least unpleasant to be around.  We need to look to our common humanity while we try to workout the issues that divide us. -