The World is Flat

<rant>
Forgive me if my words seem callous, but who in their right mind cares about what passes for news on the 24 hour cable networks these days? The latest absurdity is this woman who ran away from her wedding in Georgia. She got nervous and fled to New Mexico, along the way inventing a story to tell upon her eventual discovery of a kidnapping. Curiously, her family had already magically determined that she was kidnapped before there was even a peep from her. I watched some CNN yesterday and they spent every minute covering this "breaking story." WHY IS THIS NEWS?

Why do we as a society seem to care more about the mundane and embarrassing details of people's personal lives over the events that actually change our world? We've got a rapidly decaying economy, a twisted dependence on the finite resource of oil, an untenable war in a country we shouldn't be in to begin with, a serious crisis in the education of our children, and a 2-1 NBA playoff series here. But the average American seems to care more about Terry Schiavo, what's going on on The Apprentice, and where they can find those hot rims for their Hummer. Maybe I'm starting to sound a little too much like Bill Maher but has it always been like this? Have we always refused to face the ugly truthful side of ourselves? Has it always been far easier to address the vapid and immediately apparent surface issues then the truly important ones? What dippy Paris Hilton is doing this week is NOT more important then the leader of the free world addressing the nation. It seems that all those who are responsible for guiding our society, from the President and Congress, to the media, to our teachers and parents have abrogated their responsibilities in favor of worrying over Janet Jackson's nipple and dudes kissing. I am a proud American, but I am increasingly despondent about our future as a nation and a civilization.
</rant>

Geek Aside - I installed OS X 10.4 on my Powerbook last night and it sure is fun. A little slow in the first 10.4 version but both Spotlight and Dashboard seem pretty impressive. It's enough to make me want to make OS X my every day work environment.