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I just watched the news... the reporter with headset and interview microphone in place, he assaults different people with his interview... It doesn't matter if it is a fire in Victoria Australia, or a Mardi Gras parade here in New Orleans, a crime scene with distraught family members, or a soccer match. The reporter is making his money, exuding false excitement and intensit,y on people minding their business. He uses them, gives them a moment's notariety, and then moves to the next interview or is it victim. He makes up senseless value to what they are doing.

Why do we respond? We know "blood sells" and we consume disaster: tsunami, fire, hurricane, war. Do we need to know of these things and act when appropriate - sure. Does the media need to tell us about these things, sure. But why do we give them such power to invade our lives, why do we reduce news to something consumable?

Are our lives so humdrum that we need this? Does the less community and relational construct of modern cities, be it urban or suburban, mean we live life virtually alone and need this injection of nonsense?

I watch our local news - too much happening that we should be aware of. Yet, I get more and more frustrated with the local interest spot, the local soccer-mom story that is not news at all, and the report from the wealthy suburbs to over inflate their importance though they represent such a minority of the population of the metro.

Suck. How I wish the news could do its thing, give us the important news, and not overwhelm us with consumable crap, or sell us sensationalism like a drug habit.

How I even more wish we would embrace being a people of purpose, significance, direction to build better society. Alas, without Christ as the central organizing and motivating factor in our lives, a concept foriegn to most adherants, much less the general population, we need something to entertain us and make getting up our of bed worth it. It's just too pointless without some a-muse-ment.

How I wish we had the ability to muse.