Delve!

We at the Bloody Nib household do not have cable television, so we are limited to the Los Angeles area television stations for our television news, Having occasionally seen cable television news I think I would not be too far off the mark to say that there really isn't much difference between the two beyond the fact that CNN, FOX and MSNBC are much better at beating dead horses and then trying to resurrect them.
Television news excels in shallowness. The same holds true for radio news and newspapers. Car chases and entertainment news don't deserve in-depth coverage. They are what they are. Other stories, in order to be properly understood and appreciated, require a bit of digging to get beyond the often misunderstood surface. The war in Iraq, the situations in the Sudan and the Congo, Social Security reform and any story having to do with religion are examples of stories that are deep stories that are treated with amazing shallowness on television news broadcasts.
A lot of hot air has been expelled over the war in Iraq, but what have we really learned from the news? There are people trying to kill our troops. Our troops are battling to bring a form of democracy to Iraq. Some people there like us; some don't. Some people here think we should be there; some don't. Most of the coverage is based upon pictures of things blowing up, people shooting or people protesting. There's been very little of the rebuilding and infrastructure that has taken place by the US. But it makes better footage to show a burning HumVee than a water treatment plant being built.
But this isn't a post about Iraq. Stories from the Sudan and Darfur make it appear that we're watching an episode from the novel The Four Feathers and that somehow Queen Victoria should do something about it from the grave instead of the UN kid-gloving the problem. The Congo? A sex scandal by UN troops there that makes the Catholic priest sex scandal look like amateur hour is barely covered. The coverage of the death and funeral of John Paul II, while taking up a lot of air time, was laughable. One on-site correspondent actually stated in a report that JPII was the first "non-Catholic" Pope to head the Church in over 500 years.
It's the type of thing to make one wonder if people in the television news business take the news seriously. But, of course, television news is a money making business and its main job is to get eyes to watch it and buy the products advertised. Television news basically throws out a batch of headlines with moving pictures, and in no particular order. Consider the fact that a story about an apartment fire resulting in the deaths of several people will often be immediately followed by something like: "Wow, Grandma! Cosmetic breast implants grow in popularity among senior citizens." It's enough to make one scratch one's head and mutter, "What the ...?"
I have a quote written in my notebook by Robert J. Foster. I don't know who Mr. Foster is and I don't remember where I got the quote, but I'd like to see the quote taped over the computers of news writers and news readers:
"Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people or gifted people, but for deep people."
But maybe that's a non sequitur to my point, but I don't think so.
How 'bout them Angels?