I'm not a Biblicist, whatever that is (I'm hoping I just made up the next 'buzz' word because I'm thinking there's money in that, right?) but I'm wondering if I should be paying more attention to all of those who speak of 'end times.' "Everybody I talk to is ready to leave with the light of the morning. They've seen the end coming down long enough to believe that they've heard their last warning. Standing alone, each has his own ticket in his hand. And as the evening descends, I sit thinking 'bout Everyman."
Self-absorbed egotist that I am, it's not everyman I'm thinking about. I'm not so sure we're not actually at, at the very least, Omega Flats (nice try, Steinbeck). Instead of being the most interesting election since Kennedy-Nixon in 1960 (I think most of us agree it's one of the more vital national elections any of us will ever have the opportunity to vote in, no matter how young we are or how old we hope to grow) this fall promises to be the ugliest and nastiest since Van Buren and Harrison.
We are using all the tools of technology to create information jets in a media hot tub--'I'm not one to look behind, I know that times must change....' and I can create a news service that will feed me only what I want to read about and let the world leave me alone. But I don't think I know where to turn anymore when I seek information without an agenda.
We have a New York Times, fearful of its own future, struggling to find its place in the Brave New World it helped create, which takes my breath away and we have their Fellow Travelers in the mainstream media, print or electronic, who, instead of elevating the tone and tenor of news coverage on this orb, have, instead, become TMZ and Perez Hilton.
We read 'news' stories, usually unattributed about John McCain collecting disability or 'voting against' the Next GI Bill and Michele Obama's thesis being embargoed from public scrutiny and Barack's lapel seemingly never having an American Flag lapel. Instead of a discussion, as a country and a culture, on how we think the road ahead could and should look as we continue into our third century as the world's oldest surviving democracy, and how the presumptive nominees of the two major parties (and there are others seeking the Office of the President but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting to hear a lot about any of them. Though, there's a certain something, perhaps the Jersey Devil, in Charles Maxham's somewhat quixotic attempt that makes me smile) could shape that discussion, we have diatribes on why the other guy eats bugs (except we're not honest enough to come out and say that).
If YouTube had existed at the birth of Christ, how many hits do you think that clip with Mary Magdalene in the Upper Room behind the closed Door would have by now? Would FDR be able to survive My Left Nutmeg and how would Richard Daley (Sr.) have handled the Chicago convention if he would have needed to step over the bloggers who will be covering the 2008 DNC convention (and those kvetching that The Bilerico Project wasn't accredited--neither am I. Life is hard, wear a cup).
How can we have so many channels of communication and know less than we did yesterday? We can do the innuendo. We can dance and sing. When it's said and done, we haven't told you a thing. We all know that crap is king, give us dirty laundry.
-bill kenny
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