The joy of watching someone suffer?
I can’t watch the news anymore. It’s disgusting me, to be honest. It’s not just because the news consist of mostly bad news about deaths, terror or pain. It’s also because of the way news are presented.
The most shocking experience was a CNN reporter who was somewhere in Africa. He was covering a story about the lack of water in Africa. He was standing in front of a pointy fence, on the other side were African women trying to get on the other side. They were trying to crawl underneath the fence, their skin was already bloody. And the reporter, I don’t remember his name, was standing there on the other side where the women wanted to get to in order to get some water. He was standing there with his microphone in his hand, not more than a meter away from this one woman, pointing at her and telling the people on their couches at home how difficult life in Africa is.
The way the reporter was pointing at the women, telling about her as if it she was the main character in an action movie while she lay there suffering, shocked me. Seeing this reporter stand there next to people who have to struggle to survive, who lay there on the ground, forgetting about their dignity and pride, seemed so unreal, unbelievable. He, in his expensive clothes, again and again pointing at them as if they were animals in a zoo and everyone enjoys watching them – that was really shocking for me.
Only yesterday I saw a news report on a car accident close to where I live. A car crashed into a motorbike killing the driver of the motorbike. During the report the camera directly pointed to the dead body of the driver lying in the grass, only covered by a small jacked on the top of his body. What’s the point in bringing the pictures of the dead body of the victim of the accident lying in the grass to the people in front of the television? I see no point.
And I started to realize that most news reports are nothing but informative entertainment bits brought to your living room from all over the world. Whenever something happens reporters followed by lots of cameras and microphones show up, pointing with their cameras at the dead or suffering bodies of the victims. They point at people crying for their friends and relatives, crying for the house they lost, the father they miss, the pain they feel or the dream they can’t reach. There is no such a thing like respect of the mourner, nothing like the respect of the dignity of people. It’s all about causing sensation and about high viewer levels. The dignity of the victims is forgotten. And it’s disgusting me, and I’m ashamed of what the human race has become. It’s perverse and sickening, disrespectful and totally wrong.
Sometimes I just don’t get this world.
The most shocking experience was a CNN reporter who was somewhere in Africa. He was covering a story about the lack of water in Africa. He was standing in front of a pointy fence, on the other side were African women trying to get on the other side. They were trying to crawl underneath the fence, their skin was already bloody. And the reporter, I don’t remember his name, was standing there on the other side where the women wanted to get to in order to get some water. He was standing there with his microphone in his hand, not more than a meter away from this one woman, pointing at her and telling the people on their couches at home how difficult life in Africa is.
The way the reporter was pointing at the women, telling about her as if it she was the main character in an action movie while she lay there suffering, shocked me. Seeing this reporter stand there next to people who have to struggle to survive, who lay there on the ground, forgetting about their dignity and pride, seemed so unreal, unbelievable. He, in his expensive clothes, again and again pointing at them as if they were animals in a zoo and everyone enjoys watching them – that was really shocking for me.
Only yesterday I saw a news report on a car accident close to where I live. A car crashed into a motorbike killing the driver of the motorbike. During the report the camera directly pointed to the dead body of the driver lying in the grass, only covered by a small jacked on the top of his body. What’s the point in bringing the pictures of the dead body of the victim of the accident lying in the grass to the people in front of the television? I see no point.
And I started to realize that most news reports are nothing but informative entertainment bits brought to your living room from all over the world. Whenever something happens reporters followed by lots of cameras and microphones show up, pointing with their cameras at the dead or suffering bodies of the victims. They point at people crying for their friends and relatives, crying for the house they lost, the father they miss, the pain they feel or the dream they can’t reach. There is no such a thing like respect of the mourner, nothing like the respect of the dignity of people. It’s all about causing sensation and about high viewer levels. The dignity of the victims is forgotten. And it’s disgusting me, and I’m ashamed of what the human race has become. It’s perverse and sickening, disrespectful and totally wrong.
Sometimes I just don’t get this world.
This world's a crazy place. It's full of terror, shock, and fear. We need to create a better place for our future generations to live. Not only healthier, but a fairer place. Something that is better than this world that we currently live in.
I can't believe those reporters/cameramen did what they did, it's unthinkable to do that. No one wants to see a dying, starving group of women plead for water or a dead, hardly covered body lying on the earth. Respect is what this world needs the most, it's what we lack.
Great Blog, everything you said caught my eye.
Barney Stinson, September 30th, 2008 at 07:40:03pm
I don't watch or read the news myself anymore. Its all crap.
Addison Dewitt, September 30th, 2008 at 01:46:12am
I never noticed until now
but you're right
Rage, September 29th, 2008 at 07:44:15pm
I agree 100%. I have to read the newspapers for news because I can't stand to see perfectly well-off people standing right next to starving people who would be saved for a year by $100. And I know, of course, that people work for their money and are perfectly entitled to buy nice things for themselves off of it- most of us here have things we don't need. But to see someone standing there and pointing at another human being with a phony sympathetic expression and talking about them as if they don't exist or are inferior beings really gets to me. This is a person, one of our own, and we are watching them with a bowl of popcorn and an extra large drink as they die.
Miley Cyrus, September 29th, 2008 at 06:51:15pm
I despise the news. My main reason is the fact that it is utterly one-sided.
A friend of mine (who I haddent seen in over a month) got arrested last week for having a suside pact that said a few angry feelings and threats towards some of the kids at his school on it. In general, he is possibly one of the nicest funiest people I know. He goes through random depressions like any other teen. Sadly, someone found out about this and he was arrested. The freakin news made him look like a monster, telling the world everything that had ever been wrong with him. For what? So the public can know? It seems more like the news wants to show the pubilc an exciting story and provide some entainment.
What you have here, what I have, and lots more are great examples of why the news is possibly one of the worst things you can watch on TV.
Blarg!, September 29th, 2008 at 04:46:15pm
This is an awesome blog, as always; you're a really talented writer. I really hope the world will become a better place, but until that happens, we all just have to hold on and hope for the best. But as you said, the fact that we watch suffering is just sick.
In My Insanity, September 29th, 2008 at 04:04:37pm
Yea i know how you feel I dont watch the news anymore too. Its sad..but really its life. This world is becoming worse and worse each day, month, year, season and second were alive. But really you cant lose hope on the world. Maybe one day it'll become good again or just perish.
*hugs*
Great blog
Rain, September 29th, 2008 at 03:02:39pm