NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Including Friday’s Feast. Have you had a go yet?

Welcome to my daily Diary post. Have you noticed how quickly the Burma Cyclone disaster has gone from the news? Of course, this was inevitable as soon as the China earthquake struck. But what does this say about the news?
Well, seeing that people are still dying in Burma, and the Junta is still pretty uncooperative, it says that the news isn’t an accurate portrayal of what’s going on. Rather, it’s a ‘snapshot’. But of what?

Of what the news corporations wants us to see.

The sociologist, Baudrillard, noted this in his view that mass media produced what he called ‘infotainment’. News is not a reality, but a form of propaganda.
News corporations, like other companies, need to make money. Hence news today is always geared as much towards entertainment as anything else. And once we begin to see news as entertainment, the news can really be manipulated.

Most news channels are mouthpieces for Big Biz.

So they are unlikely to do anything that would hinder the march of Big Biz. For this reason, celebrity culture becomes part and parcel of the news. This is because celebrities encourage us to spend in order to emulate them.
But there’s much more to this Big Biz propaganda. Alongside the rise of celebrity news has come emotional news. Rarely do we see a tragedy nowadays without a roll call of victims, crying away, baring their soul, and we feel for them every time.

Of course we do, and why shouldn’t we? We ARE human.

But this is not ‘news’. Rather, it is a process whereby our emotions overpower our rationality. You see, the world works through reason, not emotion. For it to be any different would be anarchy.
Emotion is uncontrolled. And in the news placing emotion above reason, the result is the public descend into a kind of emotion-fest, and then, sated, moves on. Hence no tragedy, no annoyance, can any longer produce the rationality in the public to want to do anything about it in the long term.
In essence, by turning the news into a form of emotional entertainment, our thoughts on issues become fleeting, and Big Biz, and the puppet-politicians they’ve put in place, get on with controlling us unimpeded.
Well, that’s enough of a rant for today. After going deep, let’s have some entertainment here, too. Here we go with my this week’s Friday’s Feast.

© Anthony North, May 2008

FRIDAY’S FEAST

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Appetizer: What is the nearest big city to your home?

York. One of the most historic and beautiful cities in the world. Initially called Eboracum by the Romans, Constantine the Great rode from there to save the Roman Empire from collapse.
Guy Fawkes, who plotted to blow up Parliament, came from York, and Britain’s most infamous villain, Dick Turpin, was hanged there. Later, it was to become the centre of the railways revolution.
New York was, of course, named after it.

Soup: On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets?

Not telling (I suppose that gives me a 10).

Salad: Describe your hair (color, texture, length).

Light brown. Short. Beginning to thin.

Main Course: What kind of driver are you? Courteous? Aggressive? Slow?

None of the above. I stopped driving in 1984, a couple of years after I came down with chronic fatigue syndrome, as I had a habit of passing out at the wheel. And once gone, I learnt very quickly that I didn’t miss driving.
Okay, I know many need a car due to their job, where they live, etc. But it really isn’t a big deal. Even if people just drove less, think what it would do for the environment. And why do people need SUVs?
They’ll be putting a gun turret on top next.

Dessert: When was the last time you had a really bad week?

The last time I felt self-indulgent.

Okay, that’s it for this week, folks. Have a good weekend. My Diary post will be back Monday. Don’t miss it!

© Anthony North, May 2008

HAPPY MEAL - inc PR on Women

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What’s on today: A post inspired by a Three Word Wednesday prompt. Have you had a go yet? - PLUS … Pappa Razzi looks at the image of woman.
YOU KNOW IT’S THE WRITE WAY

HAPPY MEAL

The music played, the waiters hushed around the room, and they stared into each other’s eyes as they ate.
He said: ‘So it has happened. At long last, our life has changed.’
She had to agree. Life had seemed nothing more than a token existence of late. But now …
He raised his glass, smiled. ‘To us.’
So long they’d waited. It seemed, at times, as if it would never come; as if they’d have to spend the rest of their lives waiting for the event that would change them so much.
They never spoke of their thoughts, but both remembered the wedding, the feeling that it will all be great from now on.

He said, finally: ‘Can I ask you a question?’

‘Of course you can,’ she said.
‘Are you happy?’
‘Yes.’
‘No, I mean, are you really happy?’
She giggled, the drink beginning to get to her. She remembered this was how it used to be when they dated; when they were the best of friends as well as lovers, and it felt good.
‘And now,’ he said, as he looked at the divorce papers on the table, ‘we can be best of friends again.’
Some people, they had realized, should never marry.

© Anthony North, March 2008

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PAPPA RAZZI

Ranting about our image of Women

Those goddam skinny super models! Have you ever really tried to photograph them without a manufactured background? How do you fill the picture? And if they turn, unexpected, they disappear!
Why do we have them? What is the point? Actually, they follow a historic pattern of how we see women in society. If we go back to the ancient Greeks, they had sensuous, fertile images of women, such as Aphrodite.
Them Greeks were immoral at times. As such, sex and fertility were combined into a kind of ethic, and the symbol told them this in no uncertain terms. Of course, Christianity placed killjoy ethics on us, and suddenly sex was a sin, and fertility a burden.
The female image changed to the Virgin Mary, who didn’t even have sex with a human. And as if to confirm her in society, the nun became the image of womanhood – either that, or the chastity belt to make sure the line was followed.
Variations on the theme continued right through Victorian times. As consumerism began, the woman had to be a consumer, so the sensible housewife appeared, empty headed to place your goods in her mind. But with liberation, the voluptuous Marilyn Monroe rebirthed Aphrodite in fur coat.
Today the ethic is totally consumer-based, so the image of woman had to change to show off the product rather than the female form. Hence, the skinny supermodel. After all, you can’t have fat clothes pegs, can you?

Copyright © Protected, March 2008

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