Thoughts from an Outsider

I truly hope I didn’t anger people as much as television news writers are angering me now.

I don’t really watch the news anymore because usually I just end up screaming at the television – critiquing the newscast story by story – also cartoons are pretty much all I get to see during the day now and night time is reserved for our sacred shows.  The only time I ever watch the news is try to see what Atlanta traffic will be like for Andrew on his way home from work but even then it drives me nuts.

The latest incident that’s causing me to vent involves that peanut butter recall.  I like to think when I wrote a story or approved a reporter’s script – I made sure we didn’t b.s. the viewer and just told them what they needed to know without dramatics or treating them like they were idiotic freaks.  I like to think I did the opposite of what so many news people do – – – – “Now for a story that is sending fear into the hearts of mothers everywhere…”

WHAT?!?! Oh right – they’re absolutely right – as soon as I heard the report I ran to the pantry and threw cans of food out of the way searching for my peanut butter – when I discovered it had the dreaded “2111” code on it I ran screaming from the kitchen, grabbed the children, tossed them into the cars (without putting them in their child safety seats you know because there’s no time to buckle up for safety when that peanut butter is lurking inside them) and sped to the emergency room.

What makes me sick is that they generalize and try to scare people into watching – JUST TELL PEOPLE WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW!

Since that really doesn’t happen anymore – I’m now not even trying to watch tv news.  Instead I look online for what I want to know – but even then I can’t escape the sensationalism – it “sends fear into my heart” every time I click on a story.