Good News, Bad News

The good news is that I think I have finally beat my ludicrous addiction to cable news, a terrible illness that had me clicking angrily through the so-called news channels almost every night, wasting my time, and making my wife miserable with all of my yelling.

The bad news is that my addiction was broken by the fact that the "news" has become such a bad joke, such a ridiculous parade of "info-tainment," that I see no need to even bother anymore.

I mean, we all know how propagandized the corporate media is, but it is now just a complete sham. It's gotten waaaay worse even over the past week or two. Everything begins and ends with the Kobe Bryant case. Disgusting. I'm done.

my wife won't watch the news with me in the same room anymore.

too much yelling and screaming ...

Anymore I just watch it for something to laugh over, albeit cynically.

I've got this great home theater system with a projector.

Could you stand to see Bush 8 feet tall on your wall? Yuck!

I get my news on the web.

Olberman is not too bad.

And Brown VERY occaissionally on CNN reporst some news.

But that is IT--there is literally nothing else.

Last Night's "Hardball" was the last straw for me--hearing Tweety discoursing earnestly on semen on panties re-the Kobe case.

It was too terrible to stand!!!

I totally understand where you're coming from. I gave up cable news, and television news for that matter, all together and have never regretted it, nor felt out of touch.

how solid was Phil a year ago? Donahue's being cancelled was a warning sign of things to come.

Unless I need/want pictures, newsprint and the Internet are all I use for information. I'm far more in touch with reality than I was ten years ago when I relied primarily on the news (and that's when CNN and News Hour were still respectable).

I will still watch cable news (albeit infrequently) for two reasons 1) It's important to know how tragically off-course our press corp is, and 2) you don't want to lose touch with the "average Joe." We're all in this country together, and if you know what spin they're hearing, your better able to counter it.

I advise you to not yell at the screen. :) It only causes you pain. Better to take notes and write a book or blog. I'll even give you a nice working title: "Bullshit! The Stench of Cable News".

When Bush does something idiotic, it's more soothing to see the tape for the first time as a "Moment of Zen." It's the only way I can handle any TV news at all.