When did the abnormal become normal?

2/6/2013

As I perused Google News today I was in awe of the "news" articles that I can't fathom anyone would consider actual news. Maybe I have a little more faith in the good people of this country, but I would like to believe that even the most gossip addicted among us would find a story about a college football player with a make believe girlfriend fleetingly awkward at best. But when the person who put the prank in motion is interviewed in a 2 part episode on Dr. Phil and then THAT interview prompts news outlets to run clips of said interview as lead stories, something is terribly wrong folks. I get the whole "can't look away from the train crash" scenario, but what about after the fire has gone out, the debris has been cleared, and grass has regrown over the site of the crash? I turned on my TV the other night and it was on NBC, access Hollywood I think. Mario Lopez was stoked, to say the least, for his interview with Dina Lohan. WTF?!!! Are you kidding me? Who is green lighting this stuff? Worse yet, who is WATCHING it? I couldn't dive for the remote fast enough. But it gets me thinking, which came first, the "not news" news or the "I want to see average people destroy their lives so I can feel good about myself" desire for "not news" news. It makes my head spin. Look, I'm a late 60's-early 70's kid. I remember the news being boring, monotone, and best of all NOTHING I was interested in. Now we disguise our checkout line trash rags as "you-need-to-know-this-stuff-to-be-popular" TV shows and internet headlines. Jodi Arias would have been considered pulp fact in my youth. tawdry senseless killing in and out of the court faster than you can say boo. But now it's a spectacle. And you know she'll have her 15 years of fame, with books, a Lifetime movie, and prison cell interviews because "people want to know." Nevermind that there was a pile of solid evidence against her so damning that you couldn't believe it was taking months and months to try her. It was news today that she admitted to the murder....FOR THE SECOND TIME!!! I don't know, maybe it's me, okay yes, it is me. I have a hard time accepting the people who laugh at the intelligence insulting commercials, the people who believe the spam emails they get, the people who think the government really cares about us. But this is so much bigger. They are lemmings following each other off the cliff and drooling over the opportunity to win the food challenge judged by the Kardashians and Honey Boo Boo while handing a rose to some women who are "just looking for the right man for once." I think I'll see whats on PBS....oh wait, whats Elmo doing to that kid??