Friday, June 08, 2007

Media Saturation Bombing

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen! This is going to be the first in a series of what will be a Friday tradition. I will take on the big topics of the week and tear them to pieces.

This week I don't have to go very far back to find something to write on. In case you haven't heard, Paris Hilton got out of jail yesterday because of what was an undisclosed mental illness. Of course this was a story that changed almost hourly from it being a release due to overcrowding, to Paris being suicidal (oh no! no moisturizer!!!! oh the humanity), to it simply being a difficult in jail.

To all the folks in the press both in and out of the US, I really don't give a damn! This is a spoiled 20 something woman with the maturity of an infant. If the worst thing that has ever happened to her is being denied access to some beauty products then the girl has some growing up to do.

Now, let me clarify here. I do sincerely hope that she will learn something from this. Namely that the laws and rules of society do apply to her, a fact that her parents obviously had no intention of teaching her. It is my true hope that this changes her. But, I have to say that it is very unlikely. If anything all this publicity that we, the American public and new media, are feeding her. The law of "no such thing as bad publicity" applies her more than in any situation. Her doing a "leaked" sex tape didn't do anything but give her more of what she wants, attention. Even the late night talk show jokes that would embarrass the hell out of any normal person only serve to feed her narcissistic lifestyle.

For hours on end, the only thing that the news media covered was Paris Hilton. Will she go back to jail or won't she. Only briefly in the crawler at the bottom of the screen did they mention General Peter Pace being let go by Sec Def Robert Gates because Washington DC has become to divisive to confirm the right man for the job, or that FAA computers all up and down the East Coast failed, or that protests against Hugo Chavez continue in Venezuela. None of these issues mattered to the media or the bulk of the American public more than the poor, distraught, train wreck of an individual like Paris Hilton who was being treated so unjustly because she was being made to answer for breaking the law.

The msm and the liberal left continue to claim that President Bush has destroyed the US's image abroad. But take a look at what the world saw of the United States today. Controversy over someone who does nothing worth while to anyone but herself. A girl who has gained her reputation through "leaked" sex tapes and the modeling of clothing no woman with anything more than a -1 dress size could wear. Anna Nichole Smith's drug habits and custody battles, Lindsay Lohan's partying all night, and Brittney Spears shaving her head and flashing the camera. This is what the rest of the world sees as the United States of America. Publicity whores (interpret that as you wish) making complete fools of themselves are what is transmitted throughout the world as representatives of the United States.

Is it their fault. Partially, yes. But I would say that the bulk of the blame lies with the media who is willing to pay as much as seven digits for one photograph of Paris in jail. It lies with the media who overshadows major G8 events with these pictures. The media is the one responsible for the diminishing reputation of the United States around the world. True, Bush hasn't helped things. But the media showing us as a bunch of drunk, stoned, narcissistic, materialistic, sex crazed idiots is what is bringing us down. Not a war to remove the murderous, destabilizing regime of a dictator.

Thanks for reading tonight folks! Goodnight.