I had a ticket to the Orioles game on Saturday. The weather forecasters made it sound like the rain would stop mid-morning, allowing me to drive there in time for a rain-free day in Baltimore. In reality (something the forecasters are oblivious to) it rained until 3 in the afternoon, so I stayed home and watched the game on my $40 MLB cable package. In between, I switched over to the Masters tournament coverage on CBS.
I've never seen network broadcasters openly rooting for someone like I saw them rooting for Tiger Woods at this week's Masters golf tournament. Every shot he makes or misses is a major event with these guys. I'm guessing (correctly) that Kenny Perry and Chad Johnson don't make for big viewer ratings on Sunday, so Tiger being part of the event is a big deal to them. But, don't make it so obvious, OK guys? We know the TV ratings are nice, but you don't have to be cheerleaders. If they rooted for Jim Fuyrk so intensely, I'd have to think about it, but I'm guessing that Tiger's ratings numbers would make a case for Sunday viewers.
Meanwhile, the people at Yahoo (and Microsoft) have somehow come up with what they call Internet Explorer 8 that is supposed to be "optimized for Yahoo." In the three days since I've downloaded it, I've been kicked out of Blogger and Yahoo ten times. I'm thinking that maybe the programmers have taken some time off, or don't know what optimized means.
Then, I stayed tuned for 60 Minutes, which was supposed to ground me. Instead, it irritated me further, which is the opposite of grounding. First, there was the story of the gun nuts (sorry, but I can't think of a more flattering portrayal) who are locked in that 16th Century thinking that the second amendment somehow guarantees their freedom as Americans.
We are treated to a lot of thinking that immortalizes our forefathers as forward thinkers who had our best interests at heart. In the case of the second amendment, they were rather short-sighted. They thought that the right to bear arms was as timely as their life, but in reality it was not. We no longer require militia to guard our homes, so the right to bear arms is as outdated as the amendment. Gun nuts (there's that term again) however, see it as their birthright, and they think that arming citizens would prevent gun-related catastrophes like the Virginia Tech shootings because students would have guns. That's the sort of thinking that makes my head hurt. There was an entire 20-minute segment of the program devoted to that nonsense.
My head still hurts.
2 comments:
I watched that as well. To think there is an actual ammunition shortage due to people 'stocking up', I find somewhat uncomfortable.
The way the gun lovers talk, one might come to the conclusion that they would like to see civilization degrade so they could really have a chance to use their guns.
I guess one hasn't lived till you've killed someone.
I got the same feeling from listening to the gun lovers. They seemed to relish the idea of getting the opportunity to use the gun. After all, a gun isn't a gun unless you're shooting it, right?
It's just so senseless to me, I can't explain.
Post a Comment