Curious Incidents of a Flailing Mermaid

Writing about not writing about news

September 30 DBC. Day Six: This week, a county clerk in Kentucky was jailed for not issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Because her position is that of an elected official, she can't be fired from her job. She believes that same-sex marriage is against her religion. What do you think? Should she be required to issue these licenses? Can she legally be held accountable for this?

Oohhh damn it!! Now I'm frustrated! You've gone and changed Sunday News again! *shakes fist*

If you've done the 30DBC with me before, you'll know that I don't really DO news! Last time I did this, Sunday News was something like, "pick a news story & talk about it"... yeahhhh, no! I struggled a lot with this.
Anyway, as I'm trying to catch up on all my entries (nearly there, woop), I realised earlier that Sunday News wasn't too far away. Yet, instead of my usual despair I thought, "no, its cool. I've just got back from the US, where I watched a lot of news - I've got this! Plus, I'll talk about US news, which lots of people here will know about."

I had something. I actually had something.

But NO!

Ch-ch-ch-changeeeeeeesss

Seriously, why must you forsake meeee? I mean, yes I know about this story, I was in the US last week, duh! So, yes, I could write about this news story... if I wanted to. I don't. In fact, even if this was the story I was going to write about anyway, I would no longer write about it. It's the principle of the thing!

So, where do we go from here?

US news is odd, I have to say. So detailed and dramatic! A single news story can be discussed for hours it seems.
Also, why is everything "breaking news"? One night, I was awake quite a lot in the night (shock), so I was drifting in and out of CNN. There was a lot of attention on the manhunt for the guys that killed that cop (what happened with that?). I woke up after a hour snooze and heard, "we have some breaking news on the manhunt," - Ok, I thought, they've found something... I listened.... It was the SAME stuff they'd been saying for the last six hours. That isn't breaking news! That is just news!

Also, something happened that would have made British TV viewers go mad. Chris and I had the TV on while were were getting ready to go out one day, when we heard "we interrupt this program to bring you a special news report." ... In Britain, this only happens when something BIG happens, like the Queen dying (she's never died). Mind you, I think the last time it happened was when Michael Jackson died... although I guess it was kinda a big deal.
So, naturally, Chris and I stopped in our tracks and thought, "shit, what's happened? A major insident or something... has the Queen died?"
Oh, no, no, no...

"The Pope has had an audience with the media..."

Whaaaaat? That's it? Seriously? Now, I know the Pope is kinda a big deal. But, come on, the fact that he has talked to the media is NOT news. Well, by that I mean it isn't news enough to stop TV programs across the entire country. He didn't die, he just had a bloody chat! As I said, if British TV had been stopped for that, pitchforks would have been dragged out of cupboards within a matter of seconds.

There you go, I'm refusing to talk about the news any further. Yet, this rant was inspired by the prompt. Therefore, I should not be penalised! Elle - on hiatus would be proud!

Quote of the day: Sometimes negative news does come out, but it is often exaggerated and manipulated to spread scandal. Journalists sometimes risk becoming ill from coprophilia and thus fomenting coprophagia: which is a sin that taints all men and women, that is, the tendency to focus on the negative rather than the positive aspects. ~~ Pope Francis