The insane mainstream media will stop at nothing to make a tragic event seem even more tragic. A classic method: connecting the tragedy to a celebrity.
Case in point: On FoxNews.com today, I learned that one of the victims of a recent shooting rampage in Georgia was the daughter of a Rapper named “Juvenile.”
…who?
Who is this guy? And am I supposed to be even more sad over this tragedy now that I know an obscure rapper’s family member was one of the victims? A life is a life. No matter who they are connected to, it is unfortunate when someone so young loses their life.
I don’t listen to much rap or hip hop, but I am a 22 year old college student. If I have never heard of him, I doubt Fox News’ 25+ demographic has. I’ll venture a guess that less than 1% of Fox News’ viewer-ship knows who Mr. Juvenile is.
So why would Fox News even try to connect the shooting to some obscure celebrity? Because violence and blood sells. And any bit of information that makes a tragedy seem a little bloodier or a little more horrible will be passed on to us. No matter how irrelevant it is. They like to twist the proverbial knife in the wounds of America, because when we hurt, we turn to them for comfort. And then we salivate to their mind numbing infotainment like Pavlov’s dogs.
We’ve become so desensitized to violence that we need articles like this to make us care.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,334211,00.html
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I’ve found the same thing at work on nearly every front. Think about this: when a black woman and her unborn child were killed by the father in Philly about 2-3 years ago, it barely made a blip on anyone’s radar…(LaToyia Figueroa was the women’s name)
Meanwhile, Natalee Holloway, Laci Peterson got oodles and oodles of media coverage…this is labeled as “Missing white woman syndrome.”
Now, I am white, but I have seen this for too long. If a person is successful, pretty, of the white persuasion, or connected to money, Boom!, they get press nationwide.
A life does not equal a life. It should, but it doesn’t.
I’m 35 and I know who Juvenile is.
But I get your point. It doesn’t matter that one of the victims was the daughter (or whatever) of a celebrity.
We live in a tabloid society. If it doesn’t happen to a celebrity, it doesn’t matter.
No one cared (or knew) about Darfur or blood diamonds until celebrities started championing those causes.
If it weren’t for Brad Pitt & other celebrities, we’d have forgotten all about Katrina & what happened to New Orleans.
The media perpetrates this. Not to mention that it seems like everything is geared towards people with the attention span of a gnat…
Way too true, Tony. Violence fascinates us, somehow it activates our reptilian hind-brain. Attach it to a celebrity of some kind and so much the more interesting. Or the reverse can be true, where someone becomes a celebrity due to shooting or being shot.
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