I just watched the internet sensation du jour of the 2 year old Chinese girl run over and then subsequently ignored by scores of passersby. This bit of faux news* will be beaten to a pulp and shit out 24 hours from now, or sooner if another, more spectacular video takes its place. I think the real tragedy here is that this completely overshadows a similar incident that happened only three months ago. In that mishap the run-over child was ignored by only 11 people walking by. This means no one will remember that poor kid because his record has been shattered by this new incident in which 18 people passed without giving a shit. I’m sure that flattened kid knows exactly how Hank Aaron felt when his record was stolen from him.
*It’s faux news because real news is about things that shape our lives. This is just a bit of an emotional hiccup that will pass and be replaced within a day by some other equally meaningless (meaningless to those not involved) tragedy. Our short attention spans get shorter and shorter as well as more bloodthirsty and vicious. Probably fifty times more people will watch this stupid video than will read an article on the front page of the New York Times.
No comments:
Post a Comment
If you can't say something nice, say it here.