ginny t. 11/7

You may or may not have noticed that I have been MIA from the bloggosphere for the last couple of posts, and the explanation is simple: I cannot think. Seriously. I don't know what's happened, but some kind of integral PoMo switch has shut off in my brain. I read the texts, I come to class, I participate, I take notes, and yet, when I sit down to write my blogs, nothing happens. [<--- is this a grammatically correct sentence??]

This class has seriously affected the way I think. I'm sure that's the point, but let me tell you, it's a real mindf*@k. I don't know, maybe I'm "minding the gap" more, but everything that happens (mostly in the media and news) seems totally predictable. Democats win the majority in the House and Senate, Rummsfeld steps down the next day. Gee, that's a real shocker. Britney Spears and Kevin Federline are getting divorced (!!); who woulda thunk? Everything just seems so transparent and expected. It makes me question if the things (news) I hear on TV and read online are even real. I just get the sensation that the news media is dictating reality, rather than reporting it. It's a very spooky, 1984-ish feeling.

Ok, so maybe I'm not a soothsayer. Maybe the real problem is the way the media packages their information and disseminates the "news." There are very few outlets that report the news for news sake; most media outlets are only interested in covering spectacles in order to sell the most papers, or get the highest ratings. "The News" gets filtered and diluted until it comes out sweet and tasty and easy for the masses to gulp down. It's not about keeping the public informed; it's about keeping us entertained and absentmindedly pumping our money back into the "culture machine" that generates the news.

I am aware of this fact, and I'm fed up with it, but yet, I cannot disengage myself from the Propaganda Model. And I've tried. Sorta. You see, I'm one of those people who check CNN.com constantly, just to get an update on current events and to make sure we haven't been bombed or invaded or otherwise threatened (and, truth be told, I'm checking People.com just about as often, so I can get my fill of vapid celebrity news) So, I gave BBC.com a try for a while, and while it kept me up to date and provided slightly more objective information, it just didn't satisfy my craving for "news candy" quite like CNN can.