Follow-Up

This is the comment thread from my post regarding the Royal wedding:

My favorite is that the marriage of Tampon and Horsey breaks the same day that Kim Jong Il finally decides to admit that he's been very unsuccessfully lying to the world for the last ten years and that he does have nuclear weapons. Royal Wedding? Front page. Pot-bellied psychopathic tyrant with weapons that would incinerate millions? Page b-7. After all, we wouldn't want to have to admit TOO loudly that GWB was right when he listed N. Korea among the "Asses of Evil," hmmm?
Of course, in 1994 when the cute fuzzy communist (I'm so ronery, so ronery!) waved his nuclear weapoins at the world, Bill Clinton cut him a check to feed the people that were eating dirt and rocks in the streets on Pyon Yang. Ya think he's looking for a hand-out?
Scott

I was going to mention North Korea in the post, but decided not to. You're right. I got a twenty second blurb about N. Korea's nuclear weapons program and who knows how much about the Royal Wedding.

The news is just ridiculous these days. If you want to know ANYTHING about celebrities and their pitiful petty lives, you can find out in about two seconds, but start looking for meaningful and informative news regarding world issues, and you might have to look for the blurb on page b-7. It's pretty sad.
Luke

The reason that I stray away from the news (and television in general) these days, and just bury myself in movies and books is that I am afraid for America. The fact that the general population would prefer to hear about Brad and Jennifer's break-up or Charles and Camilla's wedding rather than North Korea and Iran's weapons programs is very troubling. I often wonder if this is the fault of the American people or the news media.

One could argue that the media is shoving the unimportant drivel down the throats of the American people, which is turn causing those issues to become the ones of the most concern to people. But you can also argue that the media is trying to make a buck, and they only report what they think the American public wants to hear. How can you blame Headline News for spending more time on the Royal wedding than the North Korean nuclear arms program when they are catering to the same audience that has made shows like Survivor, American Idol, The Biggest Loser, etc. the top rated shows in the nation. Know your audience seems to be the rationale.

Lindsey and I talk all the time about the state of America, and the path that we are all on together as a nation. Our outlook tends to be not very optimistic. I'm not saying that we are anywhere near right, but this is how we feel.

Looking at the paths of both America and Rome side by side is the most troubling part of all. This is usually the basis for our conversation. The similarities are striking and frightening. I feel like we've moved beyond a point where politicians are even to blame anymore, though they can be blamed some. There are some truly great Americans out there, scattered throughout the nation, but it seems as if the majority of people just don't care.

There was a small glimmer of hope for change after the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, but it faded even more quickly than it appeared as it was reduced to little more than bumper stickers and T-shirts bearing ersatz slogans and remembrances of the event. There was a very strong and admirable unity among Americans for a short time there. If you need proof look no further than the actions of the citizens of New York on and around the day of the attack. I still watch footage of the September 11th attack frequently and some of the most moving images I've seen are the ones that involve ordinary New Yorkers doing whatever they could to help one another out in such a horrifying time. Unfortunately, it seems that we lost it about two weeks into the war in Iraq. I know a lot of people might take that as an attack on Bush, but it isn't. I think that the politics involved and the tendency of Americans to be such strong idealogues ripped a gap between people on two opposing sides of America that will take a long time to repair, if it can ever be repaired at all.

I love America. I love living in America. I've always been proud to live in a country as great as this one. My only hope is that it regains it's greatness and licks it's wounds in time for my children to love it the way that I grew up loving it. I realize that immersing myself in books and movies as I mentioned above is not a very American attitude to take, but it's so easy to feel so powerless and small when the issues seems to have become so grand and insurmountable, and when every time one opens one's mouth these days, the dogs of hell are waiting in the wings to argue no matter what position is expressed.

And so I blog about it.