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Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods-What have you done? Word of his sordid affairs is all anyone can talk about. From coast to coast on every single local and national newscast, squeaky clean Tiger Woods cheating on his wife is the lead story. Sadly,we’ve seen this film way too many times. Whether it’s South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, basketball great Kobe Bryant, former president Bill Clinton or Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson, such sagas more often than not have me asking, ‘What are ‘they’ trying to hide from us?’
All this Tiger Woods talk has me suspicious. Something is up.
It was just two days ago, that we had a sobering conversation with Congressman and former Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich about what he anticipated President Obama would say in his speech about increasing troops to Afghanistan. A very impassioned Kucinich noted that the anti-war’s collective upset to Obama’s proposal was a few steps too late. He reminded us that key hurdles were cleared a month ago in early October around the 8th anniversary of the Afghan War. According to Kucinich, on October 8th, the House approved a bill that authorized the expenditure of $130 billion dollars for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He noted that the democratic dominated Congress had already taken a pro-War stance and many in the anti-war peace Movement were quiet.
David Letterman's extramaritial affairs were big distractions from war issues
Folks may not recall this particular bill because back in early October while our government was pouring all this money into the war effort, the rest of the nation was besieged with endless news stories and punditry analysis about another sordid extramarital affair and its accompanying baggage including attempted extortion. This of course involved late night TV host David Letterman.
Instead of hearing from an enraged Kucinich, Barbara Lee or Texas Republican Ron Paul, we were subjected to all sorts experts taking up valuable airtime debating whether or not Letterman having sex with another consenting adult was appropriate.
Adding to this distraction was Barack Obama being awarded the Noble Peace Prize the day after the October 8th date Kucinich referenced. Ron Paul took some time out and expressed his concerns about the Noble Prize sitaution. he talked about it being a waste of time and distraction and that it awarding Obama such a prestigous award would not move him toward peace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbcDk-bNoc8&feature=player_embedded
But getting back to this country’s obsession with cheating spouses. They’ve long served as perfect covers for serious discussions about issues that have far-reaching impact on our lives. Last month it was Letterman, this month its Woods. The Woods story is now eclipsing important news coverage of the dozen or so anti-war protests yesterday from around the country. Instead of seeing or hearing man-on-the-street reports soliciting the opinions of young people about the escalation, we’re hearing them weigh in on Woods. Instead of hearing from celebrities like actor Danny Glover talking about his oppposition to the war, we’re hearing basketball great Charles Barkely‘s take on Tiger.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting a conversation about Tiger Woods is an indication that one is un-intelligent or un-interested in more serious subjects. What I am cautioning us to keep in mind, that all this news coverage may be a distraction to keep our eyes off some important balls. We have to ask ourselves; ‘What are we not talking about today? Is it the President’s Job/Economic Summit being held today? Is it the debate to re-appoint Fed Chair Ben Bernacke? Is it the latest developments surrounding the Oscar Grant trial? Is it the controversy surrounding the conclusion of the mayoral election in Atlanta or the upcoming hotly contested run off mayoral election in Houston? As I’m typing this the Today Show is tripping all over itself to report how yet another woman is coming out to hold a press conference with famed lawyer Gloria Allred to possibly admit she had an affair. Her press conference comes at the heels of two other press conferences including one the other day where several law enforcement officials announced that they are not going to be further investigating Woods.
I’m thinking to myself, if such stories are being done because the American public is hungry for salacious and intriguing reports, why not bring on journalist Jeremy Scahill of RebelReports.com to talk about how the worlds largest and most notorious private army Blackwater has been waging a secret War in Pakistan where they been assassinating and kidnapping people. If you wanna get heads turning and tongues wagging make note that this is happening on the watch of a President who promised rto abandon all those disturbing George Bush-Dick Cheney type tactics that painted America in a bad light. Secret war in Pakistan vs Tiger Woods being an undercover player? You decide what’s more important.
Ron Paul Kicked up dust around the escalation of the War in Afghanistan
Another glaring omission I see missing from national news coverage is yesterday’s Senate Armed Services Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee discussion on Afghanistan It was there that Congressional Black Caucus chair Barbara Lee and Progressive Caucus co-chair Lynn Woolsey were not allowed to speak and express their staunch opposition to the Obama’s escalation. Fortunately Ron Paul got a chance to speak and really went in on the committee hitting them pretty hard, but that was barely covered. You can peep Paul weighing in on the C-Span video. He starts his round of questioning at 88.17 minutes into the hearing.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/id/216172
It’s interesting to note that it was just 3 weeks ago that Pittsburgh rapper Jasiri X hit us off with a song and video that raised similar concerns. He asked the question about whether or not we are staying up on the news. His video is a good note to end on and reflect.
written by Davey D
The media focuses on gossip and other superficial stories because that is what most people gravitate towards.
People like those “distractions” because they push emotional buttons and allow them to be judgmental.
Thinking about serious issues like foreign policy, climate change, police misconduct, and financial thuggery requires more intellectual energy than I think people want to invest. It also tends to make you consider the kinds of choices you are making in your life, instead of just being a happy consumer.
I have friends who watch C-Span and “real news” and even they say it comes to a point where they have to turn it off because it’s not entertaining.
In the US, if you have the internet like 70 percent of the population does, you have free will to choose what kind of information to follow. We’d rather be entertained than enlightened.
thanks for this davey.
in this age of tabloid journalism, we do have to wonder about the emphasis on celebrity news, and how that distracts us from serious issues.
i suggest watching BBC news instead of US networks
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There are constant distractions daily and up to the minute! Seems like no one is on point and who do we trust be on point? It is time for folk to communicate, not extinguish life, life comes from open, honest communication. The guidance has to come from this truth to our children, be peaceful and respectful begin here with every body you meet in the street on your job and everywhere else. This war can stop when we as a people get on the same page, listen and walk with one another; live and cook and eat with one another, make a move for our neighborhoods to cultivate music, art, peace, not sling, bling, or sex! The problem now is too many non-men that grew up with no father or whacked out mothers have become a force of revenue for ego maniac gangstas. Little don’t know what life is but will beat my twenty year old brother to death fools. We have to stand as men and women and teach each other again right and wrong, once we can stand on that we can affect the so called leaders, politicians and war mongers!
Music is the only natural healing source, let’s make it mean something; inspire knowledge and love, health and peace. I’m tired of looking and hearing at T&A and stupidity.
This Jasiri X video is a welcomed step in the right direction
The reason that media outlets talk about unimportant issues is to distract from the real things going on. It has nothing to do with making money. In ancient Rome, they called it “bread and circuses”. They want to distract us from the fact that they are robbing us of everything we have. When you wake up one day and dollars won’t buy, just remember who did this to you.
CLIMATEGATE is what their hiding from us
Great article man.Thanks for the truth about those who are fighting this bunch of corrupt people running our country straight into the ground.
I hope more people awaken to the BS going on in Washington.
I also think it’s really sad that most people would rather be entertained instead of educated.
BTW listening to Ron Paul NEVER gets boring.
Thanks, and again great article I found it posted at The Daily Paul.
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/117783
What I find funny about this is, 2 weeks ago TMZ was some sleezy tabloid television show. The on-air verision of the enquirer, but now the show is being refer to like it’s some sort of news outlet with a very strong standing of journalistic integrity.
You could just as easily say that trying to focus people on the “war” is just diverting them from more immediate concerns in their personal lives. The last thing any truly struggling person needs to focus on is anything that doesn’t help uplift them and their family immediately…..including some over seas “wars” that are completely outside of their control.
Their are wars everywhere. There are gang wars, drug wars, economic wars, prison wars, etc…
If you truly want to get involved in “war”….Their are plenty to choose from.
Fucken pick one.
The state run media is an arm of the government. In case ya didnt notice, the mainstream media died on 9-11.Their job is to mislead and misinform the masses.
They dont want you paying attention to the high crimes and treason the criminals in the senate and congress carry out each day.
Tiger Woods is no different than any other man. He puts his pants on one leg at a time. His affair pales in comparison to the treason and big crime carried out daily by the US Govt……
Looks like another Jedi Mind Trick is in play.
If America was really serious about her “moral authority”, she needs to ask herself why the world views her as a harlot and warmonger. She’s a thief and a junkie when it comes to its excessive extraction of natural resources from other nations without permission.
The fact that the press chooses to lead their shows with the Tiger Woods incident shows how little respect they have for the intelligence (or lack thereof) of the American public.
On point as always Davey D. Wake up people.
A very thorough comment. I think your arguments demonstrate why many people get their news from Jon Stewart or skip tv altogether. I spoke with several people, at the store, cafe, etc., on Sat after attending a small antiwar demonstration in Seattle, and they thought US was withdrawing in Afghanistan, and weren’t confusing it with Iraq. We’ve got a lot of work to do. (Like your column.)
The mature MInd has the ability to solve problems, to determine if enough information is attained to achieve an intelligent decision and that the information acquired to reach a decision has not been compromised. There are no short cuts when it comes to making decisions, data immersed in emotions, beliefs, manipulative mind sets who take the rights of others to make their decisions before they become mentally mature create the problems that exist today, then too those of us who have the matured Mind must sift through this mess and clean it up, by bringing light to wherever We find darkness. “When day comes darkness must flee”, day is upon us. Peace to all.
How is Tiger Woods in the media any more or less of a so called “distraction” than say … football or other Sports?
Is the Raiders game a “distraction” from the “war”?
DaveyD sure seems to enjoy “tweeting” about the big fun football game!
Is that a distraction??
Seems pretty hypocritical.
I doubt you will see Davey D pen an article title that says “Americas obsession with Sports is a distraction from the war”.
Why?
Because the reality is that It isn’t a distraction from anything – a large part of the public simply LIKE watching sports….and they also LIKE pointless gossip and vanity culture as well.
Why don’t you people realize this?
There’s a time and place for everything.. Davey D tweets about football and 50 other topics, most of them related to topics for discussion around key issues.. but very rarely does he spend valuable air time talking about it.. it might be a passing reference and there’s a big difference.. I’m not a network newscast that has before him millions of people who place credibility and trust that what being reported is indeed the top stories of the day.. Tiger woods vs secret wars in pakastan.. come on fam.. its a distraction to the highest degree.. Davey D tweeting vs Davey d on the newscast is not the same fam… also since many of these network outlets own multiple stations..I should be able to go to one of their cable channels to see gossip or indepth news.. Instead I’m bombarded with the gossip on all outlets..
also last I checked, rating have not gone up as a result of this.. so this theory of thats what people want doesn’t hold.. the bigger story is thast many of these outlets have conflicting interests.. They are owned or affiliated with some of the things we need to be reporting on.. ie. how much will NBC cover anti-war stories when their parent company makes billions selling weapons?
While this celebrity obsession is a waste of time, you have to cut the media SOME slack because Tiger such a huge name. However, we definitely shouldn’t cut the media ANY slack for covering up the dissent of patriots like Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich against the war and exposing Obama and the neo-lib/neo-con establishment for what they really are. The real left and the real right need to come together. Paul/Kucinich 2012!
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Thanks for this post. It is become a thing of everyday and many marriages are breaking because of relationships other than the marriage. Many people are now carrying it even when they are suppose to be at work because they know their spouses would not suspect them. Thanks for sharing with us and many people will benefit from it.