Shut Up And Listen 204

Oh, Fuck Off And Give Me The Real News, You Assholes!

Dateline: Thursday February 10, 2005. Place: Nevett living room. People: Chad Nevett and Sandy Nevett. What was pissing Chad the fuck off this time: news coverage of fucking Prince Charles and what's her name getting married being the top story on Global news at 5:30, followed--keyword of the sentence--by a story about the police arresting a serial rapist in Toronto.

I bet you can see where I'm going with this, can't you? Oh, I was ranting and raving on Thursday night, much to the annoyance of my mom who actually wanted to hear the story about Prince Charles and Camilla. Me, I really, really, really, really don't give a fuck about the royal family (and yes, once again, I must recognise that by bitching about something I am continuing in the conversation about that which I'm bitching about, but I've come to terms with it and so must you) and I don't see the big attraction. I can almost understand regular celebrity worship as at least with actors and singers and shit, they've done something. They have some level of talent that got them to where they are--even the shitty ones we all make fun of. Not so with the motherfucking royals.

They have done nothing.

Nothing.

Absolutely, positively, not one damn thing to deserve any recognition. They were born. That's it. That is all they've done. And you know what? Being born isn't enough for me. The only thing that separates them from the other six billion people on the planet is that a few hundred years ago, their ancestors fought some war with some other group of people, won and took over. That's where their precious bloodline and nobility and all of that comes from. It's nothing inherent or deserved.

So, as you might imagine, when they make the top news story over something that matters like catching a serial rapist, I tend to get a little ranty and upset. At least the local news had it right by putting Paul Martin's testimony before the sponsorship enquiry commission as the first story, bumping Chuck and his bride-to-be back to number two. But, of course, number two is still too high on the list for me.

Celebrity (and I'm loathe to use that term in this case) marriage is not news. Despite what our current culture might tell you, it's not news. It has no place within the first ten minutes of a newscast. At least. This sort of story is something you stick in at the thirty-five minute mark because you need to fill space. It's worthless. It appeals to a certain section of society, but it's not why people tune into the news--or at least it shouldn't be. I tune into the news to learn about things that actually matter. World politics, the events of the day, shit that matters. And considering the state of TV news today, I don't think it's too much to ask that I actually get some news. I mean, the news coverage is fucking shit anyways. Is it too much to ask that I at least get my shitty news coverage of actual news?

One thing that annoyed me greatly was that Global did an online survey and asked whether or not Charles should get remarried and they only gave the yes or no options. Where is the "I don't give a fuck, why don't you ask me something important for once?" option? And when they asked people on the street, they didn't show any of those people either. That annoys me. I hate that two-sided portrayal when a lot of the time, there's that third angry apathetic side. The side they don't show that just looks at the person asking the question like they just asked the stupidest fucking question ever.

You know, people pissed off because we don't get real news anymore.