Another Tiger Woods Post…

Just two weeks later and Tiger Wood’s small car accident has turned into a story about, “Sexting in America: The Medium, the Message and the Truth About Teens” on the home page of Newsweek. Let’s first talk about this Tiger Woods business because, honestly, it baffles me. There hasn’t been this much media coverage of a cheating scandal since Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. And it’s not just the US Weeklys and the People magazines; I’ve seen some headline regarding Tiger Woods and his mistresses everywhere I’ve turned the past few weeks.

Let’s think about this for a minute… Why has the media gotten so hung up on Tiger Woods? I’ll tell you why… this story has got to be the prime example of how the media takes a story and rolls with it for weeks and weeks and weeks. I mean, how shocked were you to learn that Tiger was cheating on Elin? And how shocked were you again when you found out there were two mistresses? And how absolutely stunned were you to find out there weren’t just two, but really a plethora of other women he had on speed dial. Before this, Tiger Woods had a spotless record in terms of controversy in his personal life, and that is exactly why we were all so shocked. The media was able to take our little stunned brains and create article after article about every facet of this story, just to drag it out and make us sit with it for longer and longer. The mere fact that they can make an article about “teen sexting in in America” from this controversy is exactly why this Tiger Woods business is American media’s story of the year. At this rate, by this time next year I’ll most likely still be seeing TIGER WOODS and SEXTING everywhere I turn.

Climate Change

So, last semester I took environmental politics here at SMC. Before this class, I had no idea what was going with our environment. I mean, yea, I knew we were in the middle of a global warming epidemic, and that I needed to ‘reduse, reuse, and recycle’… but I had no idea what those things really meant until I took that class. Now, I’m not saying that it changed my life; that I’m now a freegan living in a cardboard box somewhere… but I am, now, much more conscious of my impact on our environment. I’m also much more conscious of the information on global warming and the environment that is available to the masses…. which let me tell you, generally, is not a whole lot. Unlike most other countries (most notably Germany, Sweden and Norway) I feel like America has brushed this climate change situation under the rug. Because our economy is so shitty right now, and because people are losing their jobs right and left, and because Tiger Woods crashed his car and is having an affair, American media has put global warming on the back burner. The good news is that there are more and more articles and TV spots dedicated to this topic, lately. With the UN Climate Conference coming up in December, America is starting to focus in on this mass epidemic, which is a great thing because I think that America is seriously in denial about how serious of an issue our changing climate is. I mean how many UN conferences on climate change is it going to take to get our shit together and come to an agreement on what our next step will be? In an article I read on CNN Connie Hedegaard, Danish Minister for Climate and Energy, summed it up perfectly, “If the whole world comes to Copenhagen and leaves without making the needed political agreement, then I think it’s a failure that is not just about climate. Then it’s the whole global democratic system not being able to deliver results in one of the defining challenges of our century.”

Black Frrrrriday.

Today is BLACK FRIDAY… so it only seems appropriate that I update about this holiest of days. I feel like this year Black Friday has become a holiday in and of itself. I’ve heard more about the events taking place on Black Friday, then I’ve heard about Thanksgiving- the real holiday. I remember this time last year… the economy was in even worse shape, yet Black Friday wasn’t nearly as hyped as it has been this year. I can remember last year, thinking to myself, “I can’t wait for things to get back to normal next year…” So much for that.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to read CNN.com at least once a day, just to get a feel of what’s going on in our nation and our world, because I’ve realized that usually I’m in my own world. Anyways, I wake up this morning after a night of overeating, and pull up CNN. The first thing I find is in the business section. “11 Black Friday Deals”. The second thing I find is also in the business section. “Black Friday Iphone Apps”. The third thing I find is in the nation section. “Black Friday Crowds Eager to Spend”. The list goes on…

I mean we’ve all witnessed Black Friday madness… For example, on my way home from Palm Springs this morning I thought it would be a really good idea to stop at the Cabazon Outlet Malls. BIG MISTAKE. Not only could I not find parking, but when I finally got fed up with the situation, it took my 30 mins to actually leave the parking lot!!! Now, I’m not saying Black Friday is a bad thing. Especially in the state that the economy is in right now, Black Friday Sales are actually a great thing. I just think it’s a little ridiculous and a little funny that, for some reason, when Americans see SALE SALE SALE OPENING AT 12 MIDNIGHT in bright colors, they immediately line up at the door three hours early with their lawn chairs and coffee. I would not be surprised if the top story tomorrow morning was, “63 people throughout the country get trampled in Black Friday Bonanza”.

Advertisements. Grrr.

Advertisements are taking over the world. It hit me a couple weeks ago. I was at the Laker game,  and by the end I hardly even realized I’d been watching the best team in the NBA. All I was left with was a craving for Jack in the Box and a very strong urge to open an American Express card. If you’ve ever been to a Laker game, or even watched one, you know how elaborate their opening is. There are lights, and dancers, and music…. and a gigantic sheet surrounding the court in which they project advertisements on while announcing the starting players. You couldn’t even watch the Laker girls on the big screen, without seeing transparent ads plasters over them. What is this world coming to?! When I go to a Laker game, I expect to see a basketball game- a really good fucking basketball game, yet everytime they call a timeout, a new advertisement appears on the big screen, all while tiny little ads flash across the length of the entire Staples Center. Jack in the Box, American Express, Carls Jr., Chase Bank, Netflix…

The next day I was at Century City, and I noticed it again. Ten times more disturbing this time. In the parking lot across a gigantic wall are ads for Jet Blue with television screens. TELEVISION SCREENS! Who the fuck would sit in their car and watch an ad for Jet Blue? I’ll tell you who would… me. That’s exactly what get’s me so frustrated about ads. I definitely don’t have the money to take a trip anywhere, but the lights, and the sounds, and the appeal of $100 roundtrip plane ticket to San Francisco had me sitting there staring at the wall in the underground parking lot. Even on Pandora, the radio station one listens to for the lack of commercial interuptions, has advertisements now!

I even read an article a few weeks ago about how companies are starting to advertise on sidewalks. They’re literally taking stencils or decals and plastering it on sidewalks acropss the city. How in the world are disgusting ads for Audi and McDonalds allowed to line our streets, yet street art is still illegal?

The ‘Gay Issue’

I am so proud to call Los Angeles my home. I am so proud that I was brought up in one of the most tolerant cities in the world. I am so proud to hail from west hollywood, a city where gay and lesbians emmigrate every single day, in order to escape the intolerance and brutal words and beatings of their own home towns. As proud as I am of this fact, it sometimes makes me forget about the rest of these towns. The rest of these towns that make up the majority of our country. I didn’t even realize that these small ignorant towns make up the majority of California, until a year ago, when Proposition 8 passed, and the former right that gays and lesbians had to get married was taken away.

If you couldn’t tell, gay rights is something I feel VERY strongly about. So when I logged on to CNN this morning and one of the first headlines I read was ‘Discharged Under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’, one could only assume I was outraged. I mean, I knew this dumbass policy existed, it just makes me so fucking angry to think about all of the overly qualified soldiers that are being discharged- stripped of their ranks and their honors- just because of who they happen to be attracted to in their personal lives. The statistics, the FACTS, explain why exactly this law is so stupid… Since the implementation of this policy, 13,000 men and women have been dischared, and has cost the army about $200 million to find and train their replacements. I ask, with the amount of army volunteers shrinking and shrinking, and stop loss’s becoming more and more frequent, how in the world can our government keep this policy in place???

The most ridiculous part of this particular article was that Darren Manzella actually came out to his fellow comrades a full two years before the army discharged him for, ‘exhibiting gay behavior’. What I’m wondering is if his fellow soldiers were accepting of his life outside of the army, then what say does the United States Government have?

OH NO… H1N1 FOUND IN HOUSE PET!!!!!

As I was dirving to school this morning, I couldn’t escape the latest news about the H1N1 virus… it was on every radio station I turned to. “A CAT COMES DOWN WITH H1N1!” “ARE YOUR PETS SAFE FROM THE H1N1 VIRUS?” “IF ANIMALS AREN’T SAFE FROM H1N1, HOW CAN WE BE?” It was ridiculous the amount of insane taglines I heard about this story. Basically, a 13 year old cat contracted the virus from it’s owners, was sick, and now is recovering. That’s it. End of story.

 Personally, I’m a hardcore rationalist. I don’t get scared by things like this easily. But I do know many people who don’t share my sentiments. For example, one of my coworkers made an announcement  the other day… something to the effects of, “I just heard about another case of H1N1, so I’m leaving this antibacterial hand gel at each of your desks, and I’d really appreciate all of you using it at different points throughtout the day.”  WTF?! I think it’s ridiculous the way media has to scare us all like this. This cat story is just another example of this. The radio didn’t even tell me all of the facts. I had to look it up on CNN to figure out that one, it’s  not easily spreadable through animals, and two, the cat is recovering perfectly.

For all of you out there like my coworker… Please check the facts and statistics of these completely sensationalized news stories. Thank you.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1934826,00.html?cnn=yes

Mindless Bullshit

There’s a reason I stopped reading Perezhilton and buying US Weekly. It’s addicting and I just don’t know why. I mean who gives a shit what grocery store Justin Timberlake goes to, or who Gerard Butler is dating this week?? I realized it’s mindless bullshit and yet millions of people around the world are keeping these things in circulation. It’s the reason the paparazzi exists and why they’re so fucking insesant. I just wonder what kind of psychological implications the paparazzi are going to have on the kids of Jon and Kate Plus 8. This Jon and Kate Plus 8 ordeal pisses me off the most. Who the fuck are these nobodies that suck in the paparazzi like air??! Their kids have absolutely no say in the matter and yet they’re constantly swarmed by photographers taking their pictures and screaming in their faces. This ountry really needs to sort out it’s priorities.

I get it… I’m a liberal too!

On the liberal scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the farthest left a person can be, I’d say I’m a 9.2. So, I guess it’s safe to say that my views are liberal when it comes to almost everything. It’s also safe to say that because of my views, I obviously like to read more liberal-minded news and publications. However, what I CAN NOT STAND is reading or seeing something so clearly biased (even if it is a bias that I happen to agree with) that I feel like I’m being slapped in the face with it. Take Michael Moore for example. I realize that documentaries are generally one-sided, but Michael Moore takes it to a whole new level! Now, don’t get me wrong, I agree with most of the things that he tends to point out- the healthcare crisis in Sicko, the Bush administration in Farenheit 911… However, what I do not agree with is how he goes about getting his point across. How he shows his point of view and edits out the rest. Although majorly flawed, surely there has to be something right with our healthcare system, right?

Every publication has a bias of some sort. This reason is why we choose to read the ones more intuned to the way we think.  Since I’ve already picked up their paper with the intention of reading an article about a liberal topic, why must journalists and columnists be so completely one sided about things? I ALREADY AGREE with your headline and your general point of view, I’d like to read your article so I can know specifically why I agree with you. A newspaper that I think generally does a really good job with staying neutral is LA Weekly. An article I read this week exemplifies this perfectly. ‘Potshots At Pot Shops’ is written to explain why so many cannabis clubs have popped up all over LA. The reason being that over the past few years while city council fights about dispensary regulation, club owners have a found a way to work a sentence in the original regulation plan to their advantage. I like this article because while it makes our city council look like bumbling idiots who never do their job correctly, it also makes these club owners look like sneaky gang members who open their clubs next to schools, and bring crime with them everywhere they go. Despite the publication the article is printed in, I feel like it doesn’t take sides, which makes me feel like I am capable of forming an opinion by myself.

911

I just wanted to make a quick post about the significance of today’s date. On this exact day, 8 years ago, I was just about to leave my house (it was the first day of 7th grade) when my dad called and told me to turn on the news. So I did. I turned on the news and watched as the second plane made an intentional U-turn and struck the second tower at full speed. For weeks after September 11th, 2001, newspapers, magazines, cnn, radio stations, you name it, continued to shove that fateful day in our faces, whether we wanted to be reminded or we didn’t. Obviously it was all anyone could talk about it, let alone think about. A year later, the memory was still fresh in all of our minds. The sale of American flags reached an all time high that year. Two years later, we were still just as prideful, but it seemed as though our media outlets were slowely winding down its coverage of the ‘aftermath’. It is now 8 years later, and I’ve hardly heard a word about 911. I’m not saying that the media’s lack of coverage this year is anything to look down upon, maybe it’s a good thing that we’re not constantly reminded of that horrific day. I just simply think that the progression of time is an interesting thing. Some people say that ‘time heals all wounds’, and while that may be true, I personally think that all time does is create gaps in our memories. It was only 8 years ago, but the memory of how we felt that day is starting to drift, and I think that’s why, with each passing year, media has become less and less atuned to those feelings as well.