Sometimes I seem to be a little slow on the uptake. I mean it's not like this started last year or last month or last week. But the obsession du jour on the so-called cable news networks reached critical mass for me yesterday.
CNN and MSNBC (I don't count Fox, they're just pure unadulterated bullshit, 24/7) have more and more come to be the go-to places for the latest gossip be it political, show business, celebrity, or any other category. They have become the cable TV equivalent of the National Enquirer. In the beginning they were basically real news outlets. But they quickly learned from their tabloid counterparts that the winning formula for success is sex+money+violence = big time advertising dollars and viewership.
Just think back over the last couple of years and think about the "news" stories that they devoted days and days and even weeks of air time. The missing white girl was always a sure winner. When the body turned up...time to move on. Oh and "celebrities" who were arrested for DWI or spousal abuse or sex with a minor always a leader. Especially if there was a really awful mug shot they could flash on the screen every twenty minutes or so. And thank god for OJ, bless his little murderer's heart. He always seems to come through for the gossip kids when they need help. But the best...the best is when they nail a politico having sex with another male. Wow. Ratings gold.
To be fair, they do occasionally have a story on the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. Or the collapsing American economy. Or the new Obama administration. But that's just filler. Like those side bars in the dying world of print journalism. No siree, Wolf, and Mika, and Joe they're there every day to dish the dirt. So why was yesterday the last straw for me? In the midst of all the shit that's happening around the world, what was the biggest "news" story?
Obama's "Special Olympics" faux pas. But of course.