Life as a news junkie ...

I have to admit I comb through several different sites and read the news from more than one angle because the truth of the matter is that you have to realize that news is often slated by the opinion of the person who is reporting it and lets face it most of the media is pumped full of what I would call overly liberal politically correct idiots.  Yep I said it idiots.  How many times have you tuned into the evening news and watch an interview and thought WHAT kind of question is that???  Really they shove a microphone into the face of a family member who just found out their loved one is dead and they ask "how does that make you feel to find out that your loved one was killed by a drunk driver who did not have a license?"  Really anyone with an IQ higher than a slug already knows the answer to that incredibly stupid question.  Worse yet how is it possible that we can have soldiers die half a world a way it it barely registers on any news stations or articles?  Young men and women are dying and leaving behind a huge hole in the life of their families and friends and we are more concerned with what dress Kim Kardashian wore in her wedding or what are the latest antics of Lindsey Lohan?  That is a sad state of affairs that as a country we have become so concerned with the mundane idiotic lives of so called famous people that we have forgotten what really matters.  I find myself wondering if all this is leading to the dumbing of Americans in general.

How is a person to find the truth if you can not trust most news agencies to report the real facts?  That of course is a conundrum in itself.  I usually try to find more than one article pertaining to a topic and read it from more than one angle realizing that the truth is most likely somewhere in between the lines.  People are fixated on worth less and senseless news stories because of the sensationalism of the story itself.  For instance death and gore stories are always popular and to make up for making your feel bad they will mix in the occasional piece of "feel good" fluff.  Most of the time a news station never even bothers to follow up to let it's viewers know how something turned out because they assume our attention span is not long enough to recall or care .. sigh how sad is that.  How many times have you heard a story about a murder or tragic event yet you never hear any follow up?  That 69 year old you read about that was beat up and left for dead .. you never hear if his assailants were captured, tried and convicted.  Yet you are well aware if Mel Gibson settled his case with this ex-girlfriend AKA baby's momma.  Seriously how is it that we have resorted to this level where gossip is more important?

Ah as for me I will do my best to keep my children from being a part of a giant cog that is forgetting how to think for itself.

Jennifer

The Gossip

The media has been buzzing about the issue of “bullying” for the past several weeks as national attention has been brought to students who, in a sense, have been bullied to death.. All too often I think people do not step back and think about the consequences that words can have on our fellow man. It is bad enough that name calling, derogatory comments, sly remarks, and cruel taunts are part of our schools, but the truth of the matter is that even as adults people are sometimes immature idiots when it comes to using these tactics to make someone’s life a living hell.

When I was growing up I heard my fair share of cruel things being said and can certainly say without a doubt I was bullied in school. I still can recall everything that was said about me back then, nothing was off limits. My teeth were not straight enough, my hair was too frizzy, I was too skinny, did not have the right clothes, I am sure I can keep going, but I am sure you get the idea. I hated school and used to wish that the neat little black holes that existed in cartoons could be real so you could just fling one down on the ground and disappear. What I am trying to say, is yeah I do understand why bullied kids sometimes kill themselves.

The sad thing is those days I was convinced that once I was an adult I would never have to endure such cruelty again. WRONG. It actually turns out that adults are sometimes not much better. Instead of blatant taunts and locker bumps, you have people who like to start rumors and make up stories in order to hurt their fellow man (or woman).

Recently I went to a training and was fortunate enough to be able to go with my wonderful family. It was held in a gorgeous state park and I though being fall it would be a great semi vacation. Only what I did not remember is that the group that was there has a few of these ladies that due to lack of excitement in their own lives, must attempt to talk about other people’s life’s. We all know the personality type, the one that seems to be interested in everyone else’s business only so that they can attempt to talk about them later. They love to start sentences with “now you didn’t hear this from me” or the “what I heard is”. Worse yet some of this gossipers spat out stuff that they completely fabricate cause it makes a rather good story. Which brings me to my lovely training, there is one particular lady (who for the sake of not ever sinking to her level I will not mention her name) manages to spread some kind of venom filled lies about me nearly every time I come across her sight. Now, I can speculate as to why she does this but I am honestly not sure but my favorite thought is perhaps she does it because on some level she is jealous that I have a good happy life, at least I like to think that is why. Anyways, at a particular moment in the training I saw the schedule was getting ready to be a bit off of anything I needed to hear about, so instead I slipped out the door and went to join my family for a rather long beautiful lunch. Now that seems rather innocent enough ahhhhh but the opportunity for the gossip was too much. Her brain went into overdrive and her mouth even faster. It would later be related through the training room that I was there to “hook up”. HOOK UP? hmmmm I am 39 years old and there with my family so yes in one sense I was there to hook up. Of course the hook up’ ees are darn adorable so I can see how that could be a point of contingency for the story. At first I was rather upset after hearing that somehow despite being there with my family I was being painted as, well as my grandmother would of said it, a hussy. I was hurt and angry as I dragged myself back to my room later to meet up with the family and relay the information to my husband. He of course brought the smile back out as he attempted to assure me that gossips are normally jealous and trying to bring you to their level. Might not be true but heck I like to think maybe that was the case.

The crazy point to all of this is that even as an adult people still try to attack one another and bully them. Why is it that society still allows this kind of behavior. How many people need to leap from a bridge, or tie a noose around their neck in despair before we take responsibility for our role in this. No I am not talking about tolerance, I am talking about just being plain mean to one another. Do we need to point out that someone is large, or skinny, or that their teeth are crocked, or yellow? I am quite certain if there is a flaw they already are self conscious about it. I often wonder what kind of world we would live in if we were all blind ... besides the numerous car accidents.