CAUSTIC AND OTHERWISE
It is so very easy to find fault with others.
Some people seem to make a career of just that and it seems to be pretty normal for those persons we call gossip writers, scandal mongers, muck-rakers and tellers-of-wild-tales for the lower edge of the much maligned tabloid press. To make it a daily habit even if your livlihood doesn't depend on it is a gross waste of both time and effort. Such a slight-of-mind attitude can lead only to deep trouble.
Many of us have witnessed some rather drastic changes in print media in recent decades and such modifications have often been called "reforms", They have usually been presented as being something which came about because of a change of heart within the persons engaged in the print media business. Drastic changes have come about in every phase of the newspapers, magazines, books and other such publications have art. Real reasons for modifications often come from outside sources rather than from within. Those changes made which will be made and sustained are those which will increase the frequency of dollar signs on bottom lines. And, they will be made in regard to what "others" are doing in the media field. The buying public determines much of it, as well, simply by what they choose to buy or to refrain from purchasing.
Much of TV has become a haven for this sort of half-truth and suggestion. So often a "host" or "hostess" is present to point the way to elements of a poorly produced, one sided, cheaply done without accepting any portion of blame for its less admirable qualities. With TV's inherent repetitive power it will be accepted by millions. Falseness can be presented as Truth if it is all served up with a glossy, noisy and fragmented format... featuring a name-brand "star" of any type , and voiced by a radio-TV spokesman who is a seasoned expert in commercial chicanery.
No one has a exclusive copy write on stupidity. Far too often, perhaps, we live in eras of '"darkness" when we make use of false premises and cut corners on morality, ethics and on entertainment and learning.
A.L.M. April 29, 2005 [c402wds]
