This is Not News

I very rarely watch the news. And this evening proved to me why this is. I turned it on as I was preparing dinner, with my small children wandering around. And then came the news report about the very disturbed man who kidnapped and murdered an eight year old boy. I heard in great detail about how the boy "made the mistake of asking the man for directions" when he got lost on his way home from day camp, how the man killed and dismembered the boy, and how they found parts of his body in the man's freezer.

This upset me. A lot. I don't need this sort of information in my psyche. And I was very upset that my children could have heard this (thankfully they were in another room). And then I got even more upset at the news station (ABC). This is not news. This is a horrific event that I truly do not need to hear about, and I see absolutely no good coming out of sharing it with the world via the media. (And don't even get me started on the Casey Anthony case, which was glorified in the same news cast, boasting a "minute by minute" account of every move she has made since her release.)

This is not news. This perpetuates horror and fear.

And when horror and fear need a breather, there is always Celebrity Couples! This is also not news. J Lo and Marc Anthony are breaking up! WHAT?! Stop the presses! (Oh, I mean the, uh, Google Readers??) The "news" report I saw the other night on this vital topic was supported by stopping random nobodies on the street saying intelligent things like, "Wow, uh. Wow. I thought they was, ya' know, good together." And "Well I'm NOT SURPRISED, since they are both CONTROL FREAKS and two control freaks cannot POSSIBLY make it work." I felt truly enlightened after these insights.

This is not news. Stop cluttering my life with your nonsense. I'm switching you off and going back to my soap. My life is much better for discovering whether Victoria has it in her to forgive Billy. And who IS Tucker's son, anyway?