I just think that everyone needs to shut the hell up. That’s my major issue these days. There’s simply too much chatter, too much filler, too much media, too much talk. With a 24-hour news cycle, that gets reduced, reused, and recycled, a wide open world wide web, where people can read whatever it is they want to read and people are willing to write whatever it is that will get read, and an overall overly politicized populace, where all of a sudden every other person in the population has a passionate opinion, the dumbness is deafening.
Here’s what happened. We had a big election. Like most big elections it was billed as the most important election of our times, and, because it was actually a big election and most people like to feel like our time is especially important, people bought into the grandness of it. Politics was in vogue. It was cool to be active and have an opinion.
Now add on to that how easy it was to have and express one as well. We could file iReports, we could make youtube videos, we could blog, we could click on online polls, we could call in to satellite radio shows, we could watch whatever news we wanted to watch, we could get educated by whoever we wanted teaching us. There had never been a better time to have an opinion than 2008.
But, then the big day happened. The election. And, what do you know, after all the anticipation, agitation, and babble more people had one opinion than another, the majority spoke, and somebody won. Barack Obama. It was a historic, groundbreaking election and so for a few more months there was plenty of fodder for the news media. We were all, rightfully so, still engaged.
And that’s where the problem started. What now? After an all-consuming year on the campaign trail here we were a bunch of crazy, strung-out political junkies addicted to cable news and the blogosphere wondering where we were going to get our next fix. What do you mean there’s no new news? I need some news. Come on man, please give me some news. Any thing. Just a little story to get me through the day.
And the pusher-men, the networks and the net workers, are of course happy to oblige. After all, they’ve got a lot of time and pages to fill. And a lot of money to make. They’re more than willing to feed the beast. And we, the beast, are eager to devour and regurgitate whatever we can sink our teeth into. Because by this point we’re just a bunch of fiends willing to ingest anything we’re offered. So the 24-hour network noise-boxes bring in their idiot dealers, the talking heads and the like, to talk about the “pressing news of the day.” And us, the idiot audience, drink it all down like high-grade opiates. Then the Qwerty ticklers get a hold of it, reassemble it and re-post it, and we obsessively read and watch it all over again. (If television is the opiate of the masses, then is the Internet cocaine?)
Now everyone’s still got an opinion, but the only problem is, no one has stepped back to realize that they don’t have any idea what in the hell they’re talking about. Because, here’s the thing, anyone can have an educated opinion on who the next President should be, but, few, if any can have one on budgets, stimulus plans, bail-out packages, foreign policy entanglements, cabinet appointments, bank rescue plans and all that actually being president and running a government entails. But, it’s too late of course, because that hasn’t stopped us from watching the news and reading our sites and forming them.
Which is why we all need to shut the hell up. News anch—shhh. Pundi—shhh. Guest blogge—shhh. Twit—shhh. Crazy guy on street corne—shhh. Your Uncle Joh—shhh. Everyone on cabl—shhh. Nancy Pelo—shhh. Rushhhh. Geelas—shhh. Yo—shhh. M—shhh! Everybod—shhh. Shhh it’s enough already.
We all need to just take a deep, deep breath, bite our tongues, break our fingers, and change our channels back to our soap operas or game shows. Turn off the news! Stop huffing or drudging! You don’t know what you’re talking about and neither do I! Most importantly, neither do they. There’s a beauty in that. Ignorance is bliss so let’s enjoy it. There’s nothing fun about feigning knowledge. Can’t we all just calm down? After all, politics is so passé now anyway.
Let the man we elected do his job and everyone else go back to theirs. I know the president works for the people, but we’re being a really shitty boss. We’ve become so active that we’re getting in our best employee’s way. It’s time to break our information addiction. To wean ourselves from the narcotic that is up-to-the-minute news. To quit these television turkeys cold. To forsake all political tickers or twitters. We’ve been injecting ourselves with the Internet for too long, and it’s time for withdrawal. Sure we might shake, we might sweat, we might cry out in the middle of the night for one more unique visit. But we must fight our urges. We must rehabilitate ourselves from our reliance on the issues. We must shut up.
Except, of course, for me.
This Week’s Trivia:
They Came From Queens
1) No one loves stem cells more than this Queens native and former First Lady, Nancy Reagan. Before baby embryos were her cause, however, it was drugs. What is the 3-word title of the drug awareness campaign than Nancy Reagan launched and fronted in 1982?
2) And now for the truly trivial. Born in Queens, New York in 1954 is the most beloved of beloved weathermen, that’s right, Mr. Al Roker. Roker is the cousin of Roxie Roker, an actress most famous for her role on the Jefferson’s. This also makes Al Roker a cousin of Roxie Roker’s famous rocker son. Name him.
3) Holy hell. It’s a rare day when this happens. I’m looking up famous people from Queens for this category, and I find out we got a very special birthday to celebrate as well. That’s right today is the 66th birthday of none other than Queen’s proudest son, the icon, Christopher Walken. Yes Christopher Walken was born in Astoria on this day in 1943. And now for a question. Walken has been nominated for a best supporting actor award twice in his career. One time he won it for Deer Hunter. And one time he lost it to Chris Cooper, who won for Adaptation. What was the movie Walken was in that garnered him this nomination?
4) Perhaps the greatest athlete to emerge from the storied playing fields of Queens is all-time tennis great John McEnroe. McEnroe, who grew up in Douglastown, Queens would claim seven grand slam championships in his career. One of these was the controversial 1981 Wimbledon Championship in which he defeated this Swedish great, who was attempting to win a record sixth straight Wimbledon. When McEnroe defeated him, and then subsequently defeated him again in the U.S. open, he retired from tennis and never played another Grand Slam Event. Name this tennis champion dethroned by McEnroe.
5) And we couldn’t go much further in this category without asking about the King of Queens–Long Island native, Kevin James. That’s right. Paul Blart lied to us. He’s not from Queens; he’s from its bastard, water-surrounded cousin. But, we’ll still ask a question about him. Portraying the King of Queens for 9 seasons on the sitcom with the same name, what was the full name of Kevin James’s deliveryman character on the show?
6) And now from the fake King of Queens to the real King of Queens. It doesn’t get bigger than this folks. For born in Forest Hill Queens, in 1946, is, the one, the only, The Donald. Yup, Sir Trump. Trump was in the headlines in 2008 when his billion-dollar plan to build two golf courses and a luxury hotel on The Menie Estate was challenged because it would cut through some scientifically important sand dunes. Eventually, as billionaires usually do, Trump got his way and the sand dunes did not. In what country is Trump planning to build his elaborate golfing retreat?
Answers
1) Just Say No
2) Lenny Kravitz
3) Catch Me If You Can
4) Bjorn Borg
5) Doug Heffernan
6) Scotland
