I bought a Commodore 64 computer in the 1980s for $600 I could scarcely afford, only to see the price of computers drop and my 64 become useless. I bought an HD radio for $300, and I find I merely use its excellent speakers for listening to classical music on demand on the Internet. The stations I want to hear aren’t powerful enough to receive reliably at Chez Cubicle. (That means YOU, WAMU.)
I learned early adapters get burned. Wait two years… even three years…So I haven’t bought a DTV converter box yet. I will, but only after the local broadcasters shake out the problems they have pumping out a reliable signal. I hope this is done before football season.
“But Pookie, look at all the television you’re missing!” Such as what if we’re being over-entertained? We aren’t thinking critically. We aren’t reflecting. We are in a constant cycle of action-reaction-thrust-parry-riposte-remise-counter-remise. It happens at work. It happens in sports. It happens in politics, which is a blood sport.
The Letterman-Palin controversy is a very good example. I believe that the children of elected public figures are private citizens. It is not right to bring them into the public eye. Minor children don’t set policies, except perhaps in North Korea when Kim the Third is about to take over. Sasha and Malia Obama will never receive any chaff from me; nor will the Bush twins. If they decide to run for office, let them stand and fall on their own merits.
Governor Palin is the Barry Goldwater of her generation in her effect on the public. Conservative Republicans love her. Liberal Democrats loathe her. She, like all humans, has flaws, and the private life of one of her children is inconsistent with some of the political positions she takes. Therefore, it’s tempting to throw Bristol’s pregnancy up to accuse to accuse the Governor of being hypocritical. (This, of course, is a misrepresentation of what hypocrisy really is. Some ideals are worth pursuing even if they are not humanly possible.)
Letterman should not have made the joke. Who fact-checks jokes? Had he apologized the next day, it would have made him look better in the eyes of the public that supports Palin. This is where the polarizing effect of Palin came into play. If you don’t like her, why apologize? Thus, the delay in apology, and the more this started to become a tool for Palin’s supporters to attack CBS and Letterman.
It was Letterman’s fault he let it go on so long. He’s apologized. Now the matter should be dropped. But we don't want to let it go!
We’re being over-entertained. We’re acting as if this case of poor manners was a matter of life or death. Step back from the TVs, ladies and gentlemen, and no one gets hurt.
stupidity really is not an act of consciousness but act of choice!
Posted by: freelance writer | May 06, 2011 at 10:38 AM