This ranting business is contagious. Once you have done one, can another be far behind? Maybe it is an outgrowth of our 24 hour, day in day out news media, but in an effort to generate eyeballs, they get more and more wacko extreme.
My latest reason for ranting: A headline saying, "Hugh Jackman 'heartbroken' over movie leak". Excuse me, but Jackman is an Australian. Heartbroken over the recent extreme fires that have devastaed the homes and ranches of people he might know, but "heartbroken" over a movie pirating on the web? Please. The man is probably sane. Concerned about earnings of the film at its normal release, but "heartbroken" .... barf city.
For the past decade plus, things have gotten very strange. In the past there were hysterics over the deaths of major film people such as Rudolph Valentino, but not over the deaths of strangers. Now every tragic death broadcast on TV seems to generate piles of teddy bears, flowers and candles. For the life of me, I don't understand the motivation.
If someone I know has a tragedy in their life, of course I would try to comfort them and provide support. If an event happens in my town of residence, I would probably be interested enough to follow the reports and if some charitable request was involved, I would do something to contribute. But sink into some form of bathos and grieving and trekking out to the site of the event to lay offerings at a shrine ... you have got to be kidding.
Whatever happened to stiff upper lip, getting on with the business of living, and just generally dealing with a crisis as a responsible human being? Have we turned into wimps who sob at every setback? Does cable news contribute to this heightened mourning and reaction to every little thing that happens a thousand miles away? Even worse, does the reporting become an impetus to buy guns, live in a state of fear, and generally expect some attack or negative event?
People. If you are that fearful, for goodness sakes, turn off the television. Just because something is repeated every 15 minutes, doesn't mean it is part of your life.
