So ,
I understand that I have given the news only a passing glance over the last several weeks but still . . .
Last night, burned out on homework, I went around trying to catch up on the very few blogs that I still follow. That's when I found out that Occupy Wall Street was in its 12th day of existence. 12 days?
From glancing at headlines during the week, I knew:
- Obama's PR people don't know where Colorado is
- Marisa Tomei went skinny dipping at George Clooney's house
- Cantaloupe from Colorado (or is it Wyoming) is poisonous
- Ashton Kutchner blah, blah, blah, Two and a Half Men (I have no idea)
- Some guy was plotting to blow up the Pentagon (Only one? The rest are probably hiding in Colorado - hidden from government eyes)
- The US government gives pot to people and bans people from having pot (Hypocrisy? Say it isn't so!)
You would think that I would have noticed a story about a protest that has been going on for nearly 2 weeks. Looking around this morning (not at mainstream media obviously), I find that not only are the Wall Street people on day 13 but that protests have sprung up all over the country. Los Angeles is planning an "official" start for their "Occupy" protest this Saturday.
I can't say that I am shocked by the lack of media coverage but I still found myself surprised. If this was happening in Egypt or Tunisia or England, I would have known about it, probably on the first day. If not, I would have heard about it by day 5 when the police decided that enough was enough and Lt. Tony Baloney started pepper-spraying women who were committing the crime of standing on the sidewalk. Brave man, officer Bologna is, pepper-spraying helpless women. Good news though. NYPD has already said that the use of force was justified, despite the dozens of videos of the incident that show that it clearly wasn't. And since people are pepper-sprayed every day, this story apparently isn't worthy of making the news.
The first few stories that I came across were actually not about the Occupy Wall Street protest but about the media blackout of the Occupy Wall Street protest. You know that the Great and Powerful Oz has got to be thinking, "Really? Now? You have to do this right now?" as he's out campaigning for an opportunity at 4 more years of killing people (that probably need to be killed, of course - who am I to doubt the Almight Oz? Did I mention there are war protesters at the Occupy Wall Street protest too?).
Besides that bit of inconvenience, another problem the media is having is the fact that they they have Truthers and the Tea Party marching with Liberals and Communists. Who the hell do you blame this on (you know, besides Wall Street or Washington DC - but I repeat myself)? How do you quickly label and disregard the entire political spectrum? You know that CNN has organized a think-tank with unlimited caffeine resources with the specific mission of how to spin this if they ever feel forced to report on it. They did report on the fact that Michael Moore has become part of the protest. "Damn you Michael Moore! Didn't you get the blackout memo? Gimme a double-espresso and a handful of No-Doz." Can you even begin to imagine the pressure on Obama's writers? Yikes!
If the protesters end up under all-out attack, do you think the UN will set up a no-fly zone to protect them? Just a random thought.
Anyway, Occupy <insert your state or city here> is on my radar now and I'll be watching to see how it all plays out.
