{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"30063859","dateCreated":"1289522377","smartDate":"Nov 11, 2010","userCreated":{"username":"iandjohnson","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/iandjohnson","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1288788677\/iandjohnson-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/willysroom.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/30063859"},"dateDigested":1532173498,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Hell Froze Over and My Pigs are Flying!","description":"Back in the days of yonder and yore, or maybe its yore and yonder I\u2019m not really sure, any way back in the days of old when cowboys were common place and you couldn\u2019t go ten steps without seeing a stovepipe hat, America made stuff, and not just stuff, we made the best stuff. From woodwork that could bring tears to the eyes of the masters in Sorrento, to machines and inventions that put the British to shame, we even produced thinkers and scholars and philosophers that could think the ancient Greeks under the table. Back in those days meals were home cooked, people could pop round to that nice little butchers down 5th avenue (are you listening America?), and news came at the speed of the grapevine in the local watering hole (that means bar), unless of course you could afford a newspaper.
\n Since the birth of the news paper in the murky history of late 1700\u2019s Boston a few things have always been true: News organizations print worst case scenarios, its how they make their money, Papers ending in Inquirer are pointless baseless claims pieces almost strictly devoid of fact \u2013cough- Tony Frost \u2013cough- (sorry I had some idiot caught in my throat), and lastly that since the first publication of Publick Occurrences in 1690 newspapers have been telling people how to live, and think, and breathe, walk, talk, speak, sit and stand until all that\u2019s left is a race of cattle who managed to figure out speech, and deodorant. As the late and brilliant Henry David Thoreau once said \u201cMan is tame and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say \u201cI think\u201d I \u201dI am\u201d but quotes some saint or sage.
\nThe worst thing is though, he\u2019s right, I mean look, I\u2019m doing it right now, I\u2019m quoting Henry David Thoreau just to make a point! At least he\u2019s is on of the most respected minds of the 1800\u2019s, now a day\u2019s the only people I hear quoted are Robin Robinson and Lou Canellis. Expert Fox News teleprompter readers aside, we seem to have stumbled over an issue here, those who excessively quote the inarticulate anchors of their favorite news channel, but I think we need a name for those hopefully-deoderised-cud-chewign-masses, and I shall call them\u2026. News Leaches! Since the beginning of organized news reporting media whores have been taking information gleaned from newspapers, town criers, and in more recent days from TV and Internet news organizations, and using it to support their everyday statements and arguments, just like everyone else.
\nBut, that is where the similarity stops, News Leaches, are the people who blindly follow what they hear, what those they believe to be knowledgeable say, no matter if theese \u201cexperts\u201d got their doctorate from the back of a cereal box. These wonderful people stand on park benches and spout nonsense that the end of the world is nigh because some Mayan scribe got bored of writing thirteen long calendars and decided to go outside for a change, maybe go watch some shrunken head ball. As a result america is plagued with citizens who just plain have no idea what they are talking about.
\nThe real issue here is something our good moldering friend Mr. Thoreau noticed in his time and I notice in ours, what if it spreads? What happens when we stop saying things like \u201cI think\u201d and \u201cI Know\u201d and \u201cI looked it up\u201d? We will have a brain washed society completely at the whim of organizations such as Fox, CNN, MSN, and Disney (owners of ABC) no more able to control our lives than your average bovine. Don\u2019t believe me? I have two words for you: Swine Flu.
\nMost of us who didn\u2019t spend 2009 in a coma, or dead, remember the H1N1 outbreak of the same also known as: The Swine Flu Outbreak That Will Kill Us All!!!! For 6 monthes from early spring to september 2009 the major U.S. news orginizations spent day after day reporting to us how every man, woman, and child, young or old was about to catch a disease we had no immunity to. As a result news vewer numbers skyrocketed, and when the H1N1 Pandemic A vaccine was released, they litterly could not be manufactured fast enough. What they failed to report however, was:
\n\u2022 Only 18,000 people were killed, 7.2% of the annual 250,000 to 500,000 annual deaths from influenza country wide.
\n\u2022 The only difference between H1N1 (common influenza) and H1N1 Pandemic A (2009 \u201cswine flu\u201d) was that bird flu, a far more dangerous disease was added into the mix.
\n\u2022 The United Court System ordered a Cease And Dissist on the united press corps. For fear mongering and falseifying numbers (fox news reported 23,000 deats from swine flu in september 2009, 5000 more than the final total)
\nWhen these things finnaly came to light viewership once again plumited, pigs ceased to fly, hell re-thawed, and all of the cows inexplicably dissapeared again.
\n My solution is simple, it works for me, and who knows it may even work for you, Don\u2019t watch Fox, CNN, ABC, MSNBC, QRSTUV, or any other pokey news show. Don\u2019t read, The Daily Hearld, The Sun, The Times, The Tribune, and most crtainly don\u2019t read the National Enquirer. Just keep your eyes and ears open, have a conversation, talk at the local watering hole (unless your not 21 that is) and if you find that you just can\u2019t live without some joyless cud chewer telling you whats going on in the world, try BBC, they\u2019re the the worlds oldest and most respect news organization for a reason. Then if Matt Fry tells you that we\u2019re all to be blown up by a giant meteor the size of will farrel\u2019s ego, do some research and look on the bright side of life, rocks don\u2019t get that big.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]}],"more":false},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}