I really should know better, because tricking myself into thinking that things cannot possibly get any worse is almost always a bad idea. But yesterday’s stupidity was so offensive to me that I thought I’d better go buy a crash helmet. Certainly, I thought, we are close, very close, to hitting bottom.
I wish I could say that’s it’s just the morning news shows doing their best to confuse people. Good Morning America spent the first 17 minutes of this morning’s broadcast replaying footage of the balloon. Over and over the screen filled with the image of the balloon leaving the family’s yard, flying through a beautiful Colorado sky and, finally, coming down for a landing. The airport in Denver diverted traffic, helicopters were recruited into the rescue effort. Diane Sawyer interviewed the family and at one point the boy who was believed to be in the balloon – whose name is Falcon – said, “We did this for the show.” That’s not what he meant, the father said. Oh wait, the ‘for the show’ comment was made during a Larry King interview. Everyone’s tired, exhausted from their ride on the emotional rollercoaster. Falcon had to be taken to the bathroom to throw up – you could hear it during the interview – because he has asthma and sometimes it upsets his stomach. The family was on some spouse swapping reality show, and it can get exhausting. Diane Sawyer put on her best shocked voice and asked: Could this have been a hoax? For a brief, hopeful moment I thought she was referring to her career.
It’s offensive enough that this crap poisons the morning air waves, but it’s inexcusable that it was the lead story on the CBS Evening News (that was Walter Cronkite’s program once upon a time, not that terribly long ago, relatively speaking). This morning, the death of four U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan was mentioned for about 10 seconds after the 17-minute analysis of the balloon family. And last night, after Katie Couric and her crew were finished with their lead story, they let us know that people who depend on Social Security for their survival will not be receiving a cost of living adjustment this year.
The whole thing reminded me of one of my favorite news stories. Years ago, an elderly man in Missouri – not one of my relatives – was sentenced to jail because he used his unregistered rifle to destroy his television set. I apologize for switching gears from the riveting story about the balloon family to something as mundane as the economy, but if anyone in Oregon is considering taking the television out with a rifle today, please, if your weapon is unregistered, sit back and take a few deep breaths. The state offices that issue permits for firearms are closed today due to mandatory furloughs. That’s because we’re broke.
I wish I could say that’s it’s just the morning news shows doing their best to confuse people. Good Morning America spent the first 17 minutes of this morning’s broadcast replaying footage of the balloon. Over and over the screen filled with the image of the balloon leaving the family’s yard, flying through a beautiful Colorado sky and, finally, coming down for a landing. The airport in Denver diverted traffic, helicopters were recruited into the rescue effort. Diane Sawyer interviewed the family and at one point the boy who was believed to be in the balloon – whose name is Falcon – said, “We did this for the show.” That’s not what he meant, the father said. Oh wait, the ‘for the show’ comment was made during a Larry King interview. Everyone’s tired, exhausted from their ride on the emotional rollercoaster. Falcon had to be taken to the bathroom to throw up – you could hear it during the interview – because he has asthma and sometimes it upsets his stomach. The family was on some spouse swapping reality show, and it can get exhausting. Diane Sawyer put on her best shocked voice and asked: Could this have been a hoax? For a brief, hopeful moment I thought she was referring to her career.
It’s offensive enough that this crap poisons the morning air waves, but it’s inexcusable that it was the lead story on the CBS Evening News (that was Walter Cronkite’s program once upon a time, not that terribly long ago, relatively speaking). This morning, the death of four U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan was mentioned for about 10 seconds after the 17-minute analysis of the balloon family. And last night, after Katie Couric and her crew were finished with their lead story, they let us know that people who depend on Social Security for their survival will not be receiving a cost of living adjustment this year.
The whole thing reminded me of one of my favorite news stories. Years ago, an elderly man in Missouri – not one of my relatives – was sentenced to jail because he used his unregistered rifle to destroy his television set. I apologize for switching gears from the riveting story about the balloon family to something as mundane as the economy, but if anyone in Oregon is considering taking the television out with a rifle today, please, if your weapon is unregistered, sit back and take a few deep breaths. The state offices that issue permits for firearms are closed today due to mandatory furloughs. That’s because we’re broke.
