Bad News

The airwaves are always filled with news of tragedy and death. Lately, though, it seems that the news is more awful that we can bear. All week it has been the VPI shootings and the video clips of the shooter, tearful biographies of the victims, recaps of other mass killings, and on and on.

Most of us (who have time to listen during the day) were probably releived to hear the radio talk shows changing the subject, to replay celebrity asshole Alec Baldwin's child abusing rant to his 11 (or is it 12?)- year-old daughter who did not take his scheduled call. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon to condemn Baldwin's obviously poor parenting skills. A judge even issued a restraining order based on the content of the phone message.

The fact that a private phone message was leaked for the world to hear - and ridicule - is not nearly as amusing as it seems at first. The backstory is tragic and disheartening. A story of beautiful people who are rich and stupid. People who willingly create fodder for the papparazzi press and who squander the public good will by selfish and nasty acts.

I tried switching to BBC news which does not sensationalize the headlines. World war three would be reported dryly and in depth, then the news would turn to a dispute about the space width between painted lines in a Kensington car park with equal drama and thoroughness.

Even better, I've also been switching to the AM station that used to host Al Franken's Air America network. (Despite the constant assertions by political conservatives that the media is dominated by leftist commies, it was the only liberal talk station in the Boston area.

For some reason, people who listen to talk radio would rather listen to fascist neocons than to treehugging global warming alarmists. Personally, I think anyone who isn't suspicious of both parties, and who finds themselves polarized to the point where they are convinced that the (uninformed) other side is ruining the country, is totally full of shit. Air America was deeply flawed; it passed up the opportunity to argue a rational case in favor of progressive ideas, and instead devoted itself to mocking the players on the other (conservative) side. There was plenty of material, to be sure, but good, fresh and funny is hard to do, day in and day out. Stale humor is worse than watching weather forecasts for Nebraska.

Anyhow the Al Franken network is defunct - at least in Boston. Now that station plays Latino music most of the day, and the ads and news are mostly in Spanish, so I cannot understand anything they say.

Come to think of it, listening to salsa music and incomprehensible spoken word is a huge improvement over hearing the constant namecalling and snide innuendo of political talk radio.