Thousandaire, I think, nailed one of my huge pet peeves, though perhaps not quite in the most sensitive and thoughtful way he could have done it. Why do some stories warrant large-scale national attention while so many others do not?
Jon Benet Ramsey?
Lacey Peterson?
Natalie Holloway?
Countless others from the recent past I do not know off the top of my head because the news has gotten so out of hand in the last decade that I can barely stand to watch it anymore.....
Do I care that they were all murdered? Well, yeah, in the sense that I would feel bad if anyone got murdered. But am I going to stop what I'm doing and grab the Kleenex when I hear stories such as this? No.... because if I did, my eyes would be too red to see because senseless shit like this happens all the friggin time!!! It's just that 99.9% of it never makes it out of the local scene.... and the 0.1% that do probably shouldn't either. I feel bad enough when something like this happens in my own backyard (We had Paula Sims about 20 years ago), but should I have my heartstrings tugged at by the "We all know that crap is king" media because they think they found a story that's got such great "human interest" potential that they want to make sure it makes it into every living room in America? Sorry, that's just one of the reasons I find myself watching the garbage that passes for news less and less. I can't stand to be manipulated by a beast that has only their Neilsen ratings in mind. Think about just why this is a national story for a minute.... but the redneck on the other side of town who shakes their 6 month old baby to death gets a 2 minute report on the 10:00 news and is never heard about again.....
So I care that young Caylee Anthony was murdered? Of course I do.... as I would for any such senseless tragedy....
But in the grand scheme of things, should I care more about this than any of the other horrible tragedies that unfortunately happen all the time.....?
I'm not reaching for the Kleenex....
lb13