All the News that's Fit to Buy
In order to keep abreast of what's "happening" out there, I have to pay money for information. (That, on its own, is completely ridiculous.) I assume that the central news services charge in turn for their information supplies, having paid their reporters to gather it. Even apart from the more nebulous and nefarious forces that be and control the flow of tidings, the only information that reaches us is the information someone was willing to pay someone else to research and write down. Still, I carry a picture with me that is whole, if blurry, because it is far too exhausting to carry around a bunch of loose puzzle pieces that may or may not have proven to reflect some actual aspect of reality. I am a fool, but hopefully not a particularly dangerous one, because I'm aware of my foolishness.
posted by Jeanne at 16:47
10 Comments:
Do you work for the paper? Weekly World News, perhaps...
Poor Jeanne. Any bit of news in particular that you would like to discuss. Or is the any news that should be discussed that isn't that you'd like to blow the lid on? We could start our own paper. I'll by a typewriter. And we'll sell the real news for free. Or maybe for a short dance.
Actually, it was one particular news item that set me off. I was standing in line at the grocery store, when the headline, or rather, cover story of one of the garbagey gossip dailies caught my attention. Being a conscientious objecter, I couldn't purchase the paper, and I had no time to read the story as I waited. It was about the "Piano Man", who may or may not have made his way into your news. A mysterious, silent bloke who's spent the last too months unidentified in a mental hospital in England. All of Europe was searching for the identity of this man, described as a piano virtuoso, or close to it. Well, it turns out he only plinked on one key. Or that's what the current story is, anyway. And he was faking his mental illness, though for no particular reason. I guess he just felt like being force-fed anti-psychotics and walking around like a zombie with a dry mouth for the summer. All the while, everyone was looking for someone who didn't exist. WTF???? And no one seems to be reacting to the fact that such supposed falsehoods can be printed and remain unrefuted for months!
Was he?
Are you talking like that because you have a stuffed up nose, or are you bored again? I didn't think I was so boring this time.
"To those who think life is a comedy. To those who feel life is a tragedy." -Horace Walpole
I prefer the comic approach myself. That said, the internet is a (relatively) free medium for all sorts of information - and wading through it is probably no better or worse than trying to determine the slant on the news we read.
It's only free at the libraree.
I don't think it's either. But the fact that most people do VERY STUPID THINGS sometimes makes me laugh, and sometimes makes me cry, and sometimes just pisses me off. The more I am frustrated in my attempt to do something I feel I need correct information to do right, the madder I get.
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This librarian can write an essay on the cost of information. But then to access all the information I would need, the library would have to spend much more money to pay those individuals who have the lock and key for the required information. As for government information (U.S. government), some may be free and available to the public but you must have a very detailed map to find it. It's enough to drive you bonkers.
I can believe it. I am considering studying to become a librarian, because it's about the only thing I can be with my undergrad. education and a mere 1 1/2 years more education. It's no longer a librarian education- it's called information specialist, or something like that, and enables one to be a librarian.
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