The industrialization of Misery...

[Maury Beniowski]

I've had it up to my ears with all the misery we're surrounded with nowadays. Every time the TV is turned on, a newspaper is read, the phone is picked up or the door is answered, we're confronted with more misery, and the end is not in sight. We're better off than our ancestors ever were today, but instant communication bring us to the doorstep of someone else's plight. There always was misery before, even more. Does it even make a difference if we become indifferent to it? How can our senses not be dulled when the drone of supplications doesn't subside? What's the end result? Turning a blind eye? I find myself slamming the phone on phone solicitations for 10 crippled kids to see a Canucks game. Have Charities gone too far in assembly line phone solicitations? I will soon disconnect my house landline, and these annoyances along with it. Henry Ford and Alexander Graham Bell be damned; I'm turning off the tap.

Am I the only one who's feeling like this?

 

[Ilovethemall]

Not at all

Let's run down the first, say 20 minutes of the news last night.

Rita is gonna nuke the Gulf Coast
Still counting the dead in Louisiana from Katrina
A tornado is fucking up Minneapolis
You can watch on live TV an airliner make an emergency landing (thankfully they made it)
The scroll on CNN counts the dead marines in Iraq
There is flooding and death in India

.....now shit has always happened and will always happen, but you just become numb to it - if you don't become numb, you will drink too much or eat a bullet. So, YES, we are inundated with depressing shit non-stop and frankly we don't need to be. I am the same way, if I see another starving kid in Bangladesh etc. I will scream - turn OFF the news, watch CSI or Law and Order or Survivor to cleanse your head!

Is it any wonder sports ratings and reality shows do so well? Nobody can possibly deal with all the shit we see on TV!

 

[Avery]

I find myself slamming the phone on phone solicitations for 10 crippled kids to see a Canucks game. Have Charities gone too far in assembly line phone solicitations?

What really pisses me off is that the people calling aren't volunteers working on behalf of the charities, nor are they employees of the organizations. They're employees of call centres that are subcontractors to the charities.

One day, a few years ago, I received three calls from the same woman soliciting donations for three different charities! (I recognized her by her accent.) To show how mind-numbing that work is, she appeared to have no recollection of having spoken with me earlier that same day.

 

[HankQuinlan]

tv news is the worst

I stopped watching tv news a long time ago for my own sanity. Getting information from the radio (when the fuck is CBC coming back...bastards), web, or even the newspapers is far less disturbing. Video is a very powerful medium, and I am convinced it is more affecting psychologically.

I have also noticed that people I know who are addicted to watching Newsworld or other constant tv news channels seem to be very negative in their outlook.

 

[$ugar Momma]

bowling for columbine...ferenheit 911

the job of the media is to keep us scared.....I love these two moviews even if it is just for the sake of feeding my conspiracy mind. However, alot of things brought to light in these movies "make you go hmmmm?" True why does the media feed us constant negativity and very little positive.....point their bosses "the advertisers" make their money from us running out to buy that thing incase....point more people should have listened when katrina was rolling in...however have you ever read the story.."the boy who cried wolf"...when we are fed over and over that the worst shall happen and maybe you get ready over and over there comes a point when you no longer believe or try. IMHO if the media didn't keep everyone in such a frenzy perhaps people would be more likely to believe and help...but we are so inundated(sp?) with the worst that our enses are dulled.

 

[sirlickheralot]

Yeah the media definately revels in misery. Has anyone else noticed that when the media reports on these tragedies the death tolls they announce to begin with almost always end up being highly inflated from the actual death tolls? It's as if they take the absolute worst case senario and report it to get the strongest emotional response from the viewing audience.

 

[FuZzYknUckLeS]

This was one of the few places you could go to get away from it for a while...

...until now...

 

[thehaggler]

i think "commercializm" is better, but your point is right


the cool thingg about that word is that its kinda close to "jizm"

 

[Herb_The_Perb]

Has anyone else noticed that when the media reports on these tragedies the death tolls they announce to begin with almost always end up being highly inflated from the actual death tolls? It's as if they take the absolute worst case senario and report it to get the strongest emotional response from the viewing audience.

Not always the case.
For instance the Iraq death toll is very much understated.
The US govt. rushes out the badly wounded soldiers to military hospitals outside of Iraq, so if/when that soldier dies it doesn't have to be reported as an Iraq death.
Ditto for civilian casualties on both sides.
The mainstream press does not try to keep track of these higher numbers.