My fellow Americans and other citizens of Earth. What is wrong with us? Aside from the fact that we are destroying the planet and letting chemical companies make our food. Why do we fall for these shenanigans on a seemingly annual basis? When will we learn? Finally, how is the media allowed to get away with this sort of thing time and time again with no consequences? The short answer is, because we are stupid and deserve it, the long answer is, it makes money and who doesn't love money?
I'm closing in on 42 years old. I remember as a child being told that killer bees were coming from Mexico and that we were all in danger. Still waiting. Now I worry that there are not enough bees, to pollinate the things we eat and we are going to face global food shortages in the not so distant future...Then Jaws came out and I spent the next 20 years terrified of any body of water that didn't have a slide attached to it. Sadly AIDS came next and it was an actual problem that our government chose to ignore for 7 years hoping it would wipe the gays out. When regular, good old fashioned 'Mericans got it, then by god, steps were taken! It's still around, but actual facts and education helped lead to minimizing it's deadly affects.
I think the next big scare that we were all going to die from was Y2K. I remember having to go through a check list at work and scenarios for how I was going to get my garage door to open on January 1st. People were acting like fools because some nerds forgot to make the computer code 4 digits instead of two and at the stroke of midnight we were all going to be instantly teleported back to the middle ages. If it wasn't for the fact that people were really worried about losing their illegally downloaded music from Napster and porn, this would have never been that big of a story.
Other killers have threatened the shores of America, SARS, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Bieber Fever, and yet none of them have taken us out like the media insists is the case? Why? Because thankfully the scientist and some of the people in charge don't subscribe to the hysteria and bullshit spewing out of the mouths of the entertainers we chose to get our news from. They rely on facts, data, intelligence, and other fancy words that have slipped from the vocabulary of most adults.
Ebola is real, it can be scary, and the global response to it in Africa was pathetic. However, as bad as Obama is at everything (according to the news) it wasn't going to happen here. One guy came over here, to Texas and they screwed it up and he died. Sad. Sad because he died and sad because the way these morons down in Texas handled it and then unleashed a media frenzy, that for 2 weeks everyone bought into hook, line, and sinker. Ebola is really difficult to contract, in fact, if you aren't in the medical profession, working with these type of issues, you might want to adjust your social calender, because you shouldn't be anywhere near it. If you are accidentally exposed, do the right thing and seek help immediately, and be honest! You can survive, as long as you aren't being a selfish ass.
Now, back to growing up here in America. We had 3 channels. The news was on everyday and most of the time it was painfully boring to watch. Nobody was excited to come home from work to watch the news. They did it as an obligation to furthering their own education. Their weren't viewing parties or people live tweeting from the streets. Then came CNN & 24 hour news, which was cool at the time, but like most things, it started to get boring on a daily basis. People needed their fix, whether it was OJ, Clinton, random bank robbery, or a celebrity nip slip at (name your event). This type of shit sells, and once it started selling, news began selling it. Play with the facts? Sure, we're not exactly lying. Stalk people at their homes, follow them all over town, why not, even if it kills them! Report stories without fact checking, sure, we can always apologize later or not... Sadly, it worked, and the more salacious the scenario, the more the viewer was hooked, which generated more money for the "News" corporations.
It has now reached a point on American television that the line between news and entertainment doesn't exist. Facts are often optional. Opinions are presented as facts. TV shows are disappearing & "reality" TV is taking it's place. It's cheaper, the rules are looser, and we eat it up whether it is true or not. It's led us into everything to war and to making a multimillionaire out of a girl that was pissed on in a sex tape & now dominates E!'s television line up with her entire annoying family.
Talk about Ebola being infectious, the way corporations package our news is an outbreak of the worst kind. It has tainted our political scene, ruined the careers of everyday citizens to well respected public officials, led to people killing themselves or others. It's escalated hate towards our fellow man to an all time high. Want proof? Watch Twitter the next time somebody misses a field goal-on any level of football. These same corporations that are shaping our news are also shaping the rules in which we live by and protecting their colleagues in other fields. Everything from who makes our food to who is making our next generation of weapons and what they going to be used for and on whom.
In conclusion, with all this wolf crying, just to garner ratings and make money, real things like climate change is being ignored or cheapened. It's too slow and not as sexy as zombies or whether or not (insert name here) has got new titties or secretly been married off of the island of who gives a shit. The "news" will continue to protect it's buddies, like, coal and oil (there's no such F-ing thing as "clean coal" just saying it makes you sound stupid). Sunlight, on the other hand is free and happens daily, so F**k that noise. We will continue to be packaged the news we need to know, according to them and their market research departments....instead of the news we should be getting in order to more perfect this union and be better stewards of this planet. However, in a few months, the threat of Donkey-Balls-atosis will be invading the shores of this great land and everyone will race to Wal-Mart for duct tape, the I-phone 7, People Magazine, pop tarts, and a home enema kit...
