from this week's print edition of the herald-gazette...
by walter geiger
We have just completed the annual celebration of Independence Day - a day devoted to touting our many freedoms as Americans.
Sometimes I question, however, how some choose to exercise those freedoms.
One of the basic tenets of our cultural fabric is the freedom of the press. Americans are media savvy and there is a seemingly endless number of media outlets available to us 24/7.
You would think this would make Americans the most well-informed people in the world but we are not. Sadly, much of the printers ink, airwaves and bandwidth used to inform us is cluttered with entertainment not hard news.
An audience of 3.2 million viewers tuned in to CNN’s Larry King Live recently for the first interview with the vapid Paris Hilton. Party girl Paris, heir to the Hilton Hotels fortune, was in jail for driving with a suspended license - an offense which violated an earlier probation for reckless driving.
Larry King hit the jackpot with the Hilton episode. It tripled his normal ratings.
I question why 3.2 million people are interested in anything Paris Hilton does.
She is not Indira Gandhi. She is not Mother Teresa. Why bother to interview her at all?
Sadly, many Americans pride themselves on their vast knowledge of everything Paris, the details of Tom Cruise’s wedding or being among the first to see the online photos of Tiger Woods’ newborn child.
Many of these same people probably couldn’t identify the capital of New York or pick out Iraq on globe.
In his monumental 1964 work Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, Marshall McLuhan was the first to identify the growing global village plugged into a 24-hour per day worldwide media.
McLuhan coined the phrase ‘The medium is the message’ - a passage familiar to every student since McLuhan’s day who has taken Journalism 101 in college.
If only McLuhan could see us now.
The mass medium has indeed become the message and we allow it to feed us fare aimed at the lowest common intellectual denominator. This is the process by which Paris Hilton can bump up ratings for Larry King - a once acclaimed journalist now reduced to pimping himself for an electronic audience.
Of course, you are free to watch Paris and Larry and many of you do. That is the American way.
The hope here is that you pay at least equal attention to hard news.
Islamic fundamentalists are not watching Paris and Larry. They are in their hideouts watching webcasts encouraging them to kill you in order that their religion may dominate the planet.
They would force Paris into a chador and beat her mercilessly were she to refuse to wear it.
They would take away your Budweiser and your barbecue sandwich because they are unclean.
Pay them as much attention as you do Paris or pay dearly for your inattention later.
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3 comments:
One of the major reasons that Islamic militants believe we must die is because they consider our society to be immoral because we not only condone Paris, but advertise it.
Of course, they aren't real happy about the Bud & BBQ, either.
I have never understood why the media feels that it is required to report this garbage as news.
Who is Paris Hilton? and when did Tom Cruise get married? We quit watching any type of news and we also quit watching TV for this very thing. There are more important things in life than to worry about celebrities and their infidelities. Media reports only what they like to hear and will most always forget about the other side of a story. We love reading your column.
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