04 November 2011

On Not Caring About The Trial Of Conrad Murray

Holy smokes, people.  It's Day 4 of November and this is the first post of the month for me.  I'm slacking.  And tired.  And still looking for a job.  Okay so there is a lot going on that I haven't been prodigious with the production lately.  Too bad my first of the month is a rantlet.  Gotta get it out of my system, though.

As many of you know, I was let go from my job back in the first week of October.  While I have been very busy with job hunting (and a personal endeavor, more of which later) it is also true that I have had more time during the day to do things not job related.  Unfortunately, one of those things is watching television.

Daytime television.  Gah.

One thing that has been getting on my nerves, because it seems inescapable, is the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray.  It's so all over the media that I won't bother with a link here.  Come on, folks, its the Internet 24-hour news cycle world now.  Stuff like this trial is a fast-growing fungus.

To put it simply, I don't give a good damn about the trial.  I can't care any less about this whole mess.  I don't want to care any more, I'm fed up with the news covering it like it is some world-shattering event.  I even saw one web "news" outlet covering it like it was a sporting event, a goddamn baseball game complete with metaphors and cliches.

Really, people?  A man is accused of causing another man's death by drug overdose, and you use phrases like "It's the bottom of the ninth" now that the jury has to decide?  With all the economic uncertainty, the joblessness, the wars, unstable political situations and governments on the verge of meltdowns, this is what the media thinks is so important we need round-the-clock updates?

What's the meme say? "I don't want to live on this planet anymore!"

The only people this trial truly matters to are the families of Dr. Murray and Michael Jackson.  The trial itself, and the verdict especially, will have no material effect on the vast majority of the humans on the face of the planet.  Their families are no more and no less important than anyone else on earth.  To push this sad tale to the forefront of our collective consciousness is repugnant at worst and criminally boring at best.

Nothing in this trial would have done, nor will it ever do, anything to make my life better.  The same goes for everyone else.  It will not enhance the quality of life for all citizens.  There are overwhelming issues of vaster importance than the sad death of a talented, troubled pop star and the enablers who may have unwittingly killed him.  It is only worsened when pop culture tries to shove it down our throats, to force us to care for the sake of ratings and gossip.  I, for one, refuse to open my jaws.

Here endeth the rant.

9 comments:

  1. Good on you, Irish.

    I, myself, had to think, "Who is Dr. Murray?" and then I figured it out, reading.

    One morning, I called Steve, and said, "Oh, my God. The economy is crumbling. What are we going to do?"

    He said, "Babe. Turn off the freakin' news and quit watching it." I did. My life has been so much better. Sooo much better. I figure if I need to know it, my bloggy and FB friends will tell me soon enough - and probably more accurately. So, good on you!

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  2. Some rants are necessary. I for one, would have started ranting ... and did inside my head ... at the time of MJ's death. Too much coverage then too and I did not care. A whit. But, I never owned a single piece of MJ's music, so I cared little about anything he did.

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  3. Huh, umm...I didn't even know who that was until you said Michael Jackson. I live in TinyTown in my own personal bubble. I don't watch tv unless its HGTV, Discovery, History, or occasionally (Like on Monday nights for House) Fox.

    Other than that, I much prefer not to be up to date on current events. It's just far too depressing...

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  4. amen, brother! a couple of weeks ago (i think), i started yelling at a "news reader" on cnn! my husband IMMEDIATELY changed the channel. like you, i am physically tired of having non issues taking precedence over WHAT THE HELL IS REALLY happening here and abroad. seriously, who the hell are the kardasians and why should we care? i really do despair for us a species at times, sugar! *sigh* xoxoxox

    (i think i'll go look at more of our daughter's wedding pictures again!)

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  5. I flip it off when it comes on. No good can come of watching this circus.

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  6. You are right in that the best way to deal with things like this is to ignore them completely. Personally I think this is just another method of the mass media trying to control everyone by concentrating on things that have no relevance to 99% of people that watch, this is car crash TV if I have ever seen it.

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  7. Here's your witness! I hate that crap, and I refuse to engage in it. I had to ask myself who Conrad Murray was when I came here, before you reminded me. It's just more of the sensationalist mentality our media rolls in. So, I second your rant and raise you one on some adorable missing kid who's mom did it.

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  8. Ah I've not bothered with watching that stuff.

    Not having a television is sometimes a good thing.

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Don't suffer your crimes
Let the love in your heart take control..."


-'The Hair Song', by Black Mountain

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