The Five Strands of A Sedentary Empress

News

CNN is ridiculous.

I think I might send an email to them to remind them of what their actual purpose is, since it would seem they have forgotten. They are meant to report the news, clean and simple. Why is that they seem to think they are producing some sort of entertainment? Where are the serious journalists?

Starting with the hurricane coverage, it was laughable that they seemed almost disappointed that none of them were sent flying off a roof or had a tree fall on them. Reporters deployed to different parts of Louisiana to stand outside in a windy rainstorm, tying themselves to poles so they wouldn't blow away, unrecognizable in the rainslickers and baseball caps. It bothered me because the hurricane had been downgraded early on, and the drama was unnecessary. Viewers were forced to watch hour upon hour of speculation and fruitless wishing about how severe the storm would actually be, tidying the entire day up with 'a willow tree has fallen over'. One willow tree. Jaysus.

I am happy that the hurricane wasn't a catastrophe, but I resent a news channel working hard to frighten everyone, sending its news reporters into the 'eye' of the storm and acting as though they were stuntmen rather than journalists. It takes away the credibility of every one of them and makes me switch over to the BBC.

Then you have Rick Sanchez, the night reporter who seemed to be delighted to have something to talk about the night before Gustav was meant to plow through. What was with the rolled up sleeves and the breathless commentary? Was he running back and forth from the street gathering information from the town crier? I switched the channel off as soon as he started babbling because I couldn't take it. More drama, and not even convincing.

The Democratic Convention coverage was also ridiculous, with all the commentators seated on a panel, wearing matching ties and looking so serious. Nevermind that the audience was forced to listen to their theories and thoughts about the evening which basically added up to nothing, but many of the speeches were not broadcast to accommodate face time for the panelists. Until, that is, a black person would make a speech, and then the camera was all over them. You see, CNN is way over the top with the whole 'politically correct' concept, panning the crowd and resting on the black woman who has a tear in her eye, or giving us a wide shot of the black student who was nodding as he listened to the speaker on the stage. Really? Is that necessary? Is this thing still a 'black thing'? You see, to me it isn't. This is about electing the right person and Obama is, in my opinion, that person. I don't think he should win because he's black, but rather because he's the brightest one, the fairest one and the one who makes the most sense. I have never considered minorities to be any less than I am, so I easily get bored with all this coverage that seems to focus on the skin colour of those listening to him, because it takes away from what the man is trying to do which is to lead every American citizen, and not just the ones who look like he does. The media perpetuates the prejudice by focusing on it as much as they do, and it bothers me. The ignorant ones who continue to find fault in skin colour will be incensed by the coverage and their hatred will intensify, the wrong message getting through. CNN needs to stop making this a black/white thing because that whole topic is old and stale for most of the world. I know that prejudice goes on and it's wrong but in the majority of cases you will not be able to change a rigid mind with words. It needs to be done with example, and the best way to allow that example to be set is to step back and look at the bigger picture and decide what person is going to do the better job overall. If you make it about being black, or being a woman, or being someone with ridiculously short arms (John McCain's arms are disproportionate to this body), then that's all it's going to be.

Some may criticize me and say that this IS about Obama being black, that it's high time a black man was elected, and to that I say that it's high time that good man was elected, someone the people have a hope in hell of counting on. I don't personally care what colour he is, and have never really cared what colour leaders are, always concerned about their aim and character more. To the ones who still go on about being treated unfairly because of race, creed or gender, I say look: I'm half Irish, and I'm a girl, and I identify as a Catholic. Even in lily white la la land where I grew up, I took my knocks for all of it. To go further, my 'people' were slaughtered and starved and enslaved for centuries, and I'm bothered by that, incensed actually, but it isn't going on now so it's time to move on and think about what I can do make sure it doesn't happen again. It wouldn't make much sense for me to be whining on and on about how our family castle was seized by the British and eventually taken over by the Guiness family (this is a true story), because it's over and done. It wouldn't do me any good to hate British people because a distant relative named Bartholomew was executed for fighting for and defending his people. He's probably over it by now. You see, none of that horror actually happened to me personally, and I don't act like it did. My own father, who is a staunch nationalist, even married my mother who is as blue-blooded as you can get, which I'm sure brought up some concerns in his family, but hey, you love who you love. People are going to judge me no matter what, but my skin colour and gender aren't up for debate so it is what it is. All I can do is look ahead and lead by example.

How did this get to be about race? Those CNN bastards.

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