S. Wis. shooting kills 6, wounds toddler

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 9:46am

and this IS exactly what is wrong with this country.....his comment....

One of the spectators was next-door neighbor Jesus Valadez, 27, who said he was outside in spite of police telling him to stay indoors and keep his doors locked.

"It's kind of scary," Valadez said. "Exciting, don't get me wrong. Better than watching TV."


full story

[Glebb]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 9:49am

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 10:30am

I'm not sure if you boiled down all of the myriad problems this country faces, you'd be left with "this IS exactly what is wrong with this country."

[Elphaba]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 10:35am

"It's kind of scary," Valadez said. "Exciting, don't get me wrong. Better than watching TV."


says it all Namo.....this is exactly how the vast majority of people in the hinterlands feel.
Every LA police chase is on TV for sometimes over an hour. This is America today. Add the crap that was on TV constantly with that Hilton bitch, and you have it

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 10:48am

"this is exactly how the vast majority of people in the hinterlands feel."

I'm just not sure how you can extrapolate that kind of broad brushstroke generalization from the comments of one man in Southern Wisconsin. That quote isn't in the article you linked, by the way, unless my morning coffee hasn't kicked in yet and I missed it.

Even if you add LA police chases and Paris Hilton coverage, I still don't think you arrive at EXACTLY what is wrong with America today. But I do think all of the topics are connected to really interesting root causes that we never hear discussions of in the media.

For instance, the central issues brought up by the Hilton situation are those of class (which can NEVER be talked about in this country because people don't believe economic and social classes exist here) and race. The very very privleged life of a very very few people who just so happen to be white and rich.

LA police chases on TV are about the tools of anesthetization that are used on the populace from coast to coast (really, were you actually including LA in the somewhat snooty phrase "the hinterlands?"), which turns real life situations into entertainment. TV IS the most universal form of entertainment in this country because most people, rich and poor, have access to it.

I'm not sure it's any more or less anesthetizing than seeing Wicked 450 times or spending time on a Broadwayworld message board clucking our tongues and saying what other people do is EXACTLY what's wrong with the country.