TV News is the lowest of the low. It is the most sensationalized, theatrical, meaningless shit on television. You think Big Fat Loser is bad? Try 60 Minutes. Certainly national news programs are a cut above local news, but just barely. I mean the national news isnt covering the 80-year-old button collector who lives in Thousand Oaks, or Chardon, or wherever, but they do deem Michael Jackson and Martha Stewart newsworthy topics on a nightly basis
Now, it has come to the point where the people covering the news are the news. Dan Rathers retirement this week, following the forged Bush records during the election, is splashed across every newspaper and news site, as well as being broadcast on all the news stations. Tributes to a guy who did little more than write boring copy about pseudo-news and then read it from a teleprompter? Big fucking deal.
I have been hearing the word courage tossed around a lot regarding Rathers work as a reporter and anchor for 200 years or whatever it was. But come on Sure, the guy went to Afghanistan, Iraq, etc. during wartime, but he wasnt exactly out there trading fire with the enemy. Since when does it take courage to do potentially dangerous publicity stunts for money? Does that make Fear Factor contestants and the Jackass guys courageous? I think not.
And where was all this courage when the news turned into a fucking joke? Dan was supposedly the guy who was against what he called soft news. This is the same guy who, up until two days ago, anchored the news network that currently has Michael Jacksons money woes as its top story while there are troops on the ground in two foreign countries. The simple truth is that all those principles dont mean shit.
Im not saying the guy was coward. I mean, he was a Marine, and he did love to grasp telephone polls during live hurricane coverage So maybe he was courageous, he was just also a sellout. For all his principles, Dan wasnt about to give up his $2.5 million salary.
You heard me right, two-point-five-million U.S. dollars annually. That is about what Danny made. I shit you not; for all his silly hick sayings and down-home charm, Dan Rather was pulling a healthy 7-digit salary. And for what? Anchoring the lowest rated network news hour? Whoopdy-fucking-do! You could air darkness and get third; there are only three goddamn networks!
Time to hang it up.
You wonder why Letterman lost the late-night war to the sadistically unfunny Jay Leno? Chalk that up to the 2.5 million dollar man. Talk about cooling off a crowd, Rathers idea of a clever joke is: "We used to say if a frog had side pockets, he'd carry a handgun." Jesus Christ couldnt win an audience back with that lead in.
I know that there are a lot of people out there cheering this because of the scandal and Rathers perceived left-leaning political views, but those people are assholes. Anyone who uses another persons political beliefs as a litmus test by which to judge them is a terrified, ignorant child. But I dont feel bad for Dan in that arena because it was his own industry that fostered that in people.
Anyone who watches the TV news for their information gets exactly what they deserve. Why do you think that all these shaved monkeys running around pro-Bush/pro-Kerry, anti-war/pro-war, Republican/Democrat think that they have to choose one side and hate the other? Why are they so sure they are right? Its because the news media lends credence to the scumbag pundits by giving them a forum in which to lie.
The political machine figured out* long ago that most people are either too damn stupid or too fucking lazy, usually both, to actually form their own opinion about anything. So, they sensationalize everything, make a colorful world black and white, and try to scare the shit out of every living soul on the planet. Then they say, we are the only ones who can save you. The news media puppet on the other side of the desk thanks them for scaring people into buying from their sponsors and goes on to a public interest story (they want you to feel good about something so you dont just shut yourself in a bomb shelter).
So, good riddance Dan Rather, thats one more corrupt news dinosaur gone. Too bad they will just plug in another spineless honkey with an impeccable haircut.
*Im not sure if they figured it out as much as they created the system that caused it. I am not really a conspiracy theorist, but I do find it odd that the same people who set the rules that allow the public education system to woefully ignore geography and politics in high school curriculums are also the ones who then exploit that ignorance to manipulate the products of said education.
Poopgames Posted: 5/30/2005by: Rabbelrauser This is pretty much exactly how I feel about the media, but the sad truth is, Dan Rather was one of the better, more trusted newsanchors out there. He's corporate property, so of course he's a cocksucker, but still, compared to another network comprised entirely of superconservative radio talkshow hosts, CBS was an island of pure journalistic splendor, even if you did drink the water, you would get dysentary.
And I'm not just saying that because I used to be an RTV major in the Dan Rather Communication building at SHSU. What once was a very good program, started falling apart about the time this Dan Rather controversy broke. However, those events are unrelated. I'd Rather Lister to Rather Posted: 5/23/2005by: Brenda Della Casa Dan Rather is a fine journalist and quite sexy amongst the 60 and older crowd so shush it! Murtah Posted: 4/25/2005by: Murtah That old wind bag was not a Marine. He couldn't hack Boot camp and was kicked out after 4 months. F***ing goldbricker. IN THAT CASE... Posted: 4/2/2005by: Curfucious The money line on Dan Rather dying with total and utter shame for lying to the world is -600 great picture Posted: 3/22/2005by: bozer -150 that his or someone's thumb is in rather's anus at the time of that picture.
