A "Which is worse?" question
Oct. 15th, 2009 09:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missroseroseFinding out that your theory regarding the origin of a popular news story was probably correct...
...or having Fox News and its ilk being the only media outlet that's even tried to pursue the question?
I mean, here I was feeling all smug for having used my cynicism and knowledge of human nature to predict that the story was probably a publicity stunt pulled by the parents, so of course when the boy lets slip something that sounds like it's confirming my theory, I feel vindicated (if disappointed that the more base elements of human nature are overcoming common sense yet again). But then I get scooped by Fox News, of all places, and suddenly I'm not so sure that making an accurate prediction was such a feat - it probably didn't take any particular amount of thought from them, after all. They're professional muckrakers; finding the seamy underside of any given story is what they do.
No, I'm not planning to suddenly become bright and happy and trusting of every human soul. But I might well benefit from some time spent thinking about what class of person I want to align myself with, intentionally or unintentionally.
(On a side note, there should be a word for that mood you find yourself in when you're gleefully careening along a particular path until you discover something that makes you slam on the brakes and rethink your assumptions about said path and whether it's the one you really want to be on. It's an odd feeling, still energetic but also slightly shameful and disappointed, sort of like having the mental bends. But since the English language doesn't seem to have such a thing, I'll just go with "thoughtful".)
...or having Fox News and its ilk being the only media outlet that's even tried to pursue the question?
I mean, here I was feeling all smug for having used my cynicism and knowledge of human nature to predict that the story was probably a publicity stunt pulled by the parents, so of course when the boy lets slip something that sounds like it's confirming my theory, I feel vindicated (if disappointed that the more base elements of human nature are overcoming common sense yet again). But then I get scooped by Fox News, of all places, and suddenly I'm not so sure that making an accurate prediction was such a feat - it probably didn't take any particular amount of thought from them, after all. They're professional muckrakers; finding the seamy underside of any given story is what they do.
No, I'm not planning to suddenly become bright and happy and trusting of every human soul. But I might well benefit from some time spent thinking about what class of person I want to align myself with, intentionally or unintentionally.
(On a side note, there should be a word for that mood you find yourself in when you're gleefully careening along a particular path until you discover something that makes you slam on the brakes and rethink your assumptions about said path and whether it's the one you really want to be on. It's an odd feeling, still energetic but also slightly shameful and disappointed, sort of like having the mental bends. But since the English language doesn't seem to have such a thing, I'll just go with "thoughtful".)
