No doubt her death was a horrible tragedy for her family and loved ones. No doubt the media's focus on her death, while they completely ignore important issues (like, say the tragically high death rate among Iraqi children -- or the ACTUAL SUBSTANTIVE DIFFERENCES between presidential candidates) is almost beyond parody.
Our country and planet are in serious danger. There is important stuff going on in the world. Our media's ability to ignore reality focus on the trivial is so-1984 that it's not even funny. As George Orwell wrote, you can get the masses to ignore a failed government by:
keep[ing] them in the dark and feed[ing] them shit.
Here is the latest dose of shit:
Whatthefuck, here is the EXACT SAME STORY in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Pretty white girl dies on vacation; be afraid of Aruba.
2005:
2006:
2007:
Since the traditional media can't move on, I'll just quote some more Orwell.
We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.
We are in serious trouble here. The income gap is widening; life is hard for ordinary Americans. The environment is at-risk; global warming is a danger that requires responsible governments, and our government is as irresponsible as it has ever been. 2 years later, New Orleans is still a disaster-area, and no one cares (actually that's not true; people care. John Edwards launched his presidential campaign there and tried to make it a campaign centerpiece. But the very people who brought us Natalie Hollaway have decided that Edwards' hair is much more interesting than what he would do to fix New Orleans. Or for that matter, the rest of the country). Well, odds are that the traditional media is going to continue to unapologetically embarass itself. So I guess it's partially up to us. Keep blogging.
I'm done with my rant, but I'll leave a few more Orwell lines that are particularly relevant:
All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.
The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.