Sunday, May 6, 2007

You Report, We Decide - To Lose Interest

Compiled from the Associated Press -- Former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey claims his wife knew he was gay before they married. "On the offhand chance she wasn't paying attention, I AM A GAY AMERICAN," McGreevey wrote, using capital letters and referencing the term he used to describe himself when he announced his resignation in August 2004. McGreevey says a snipe by his estranged wife about [his alleged lover's] appointment [to the position of state homeland security adviser] is "evidence of a bitter vengeful woman."

Dina Matos McGreevey, who is seeking custody of their young daughter, claimed that the ex-governor exposed the child to erotic artwork. McGreevey countered that his wife "HAS NEVER SEEN THE PHOTOGRAPH" of the nude male model, again using capital letters for emphasis, and that she "tries to remain on a pedestal while hawking her tell-all book." [His own tell-all book was published last summer.]

As vitriolic as their divorce proceedings have been (and no doubt will continue to be), anyone who's been involved with, or even a close observer to, a divorce involving child custody recognizes this behavior as typical. The only difference here is that this one involves a former NJ governor who resigned with the revelation that he is a "Gay American."

This labeling is unfortunate. As a society, we should be well past looking at McGreevey and saying, "I see a gay man." We should simply be saying, "I see a man. A corrupt man, forced to resign from public office in disgrace under the weight of more scandals than there are stars in the sky, but a man nonetheless."

I really don't need wall-to-wall news coverage of the McGreevey's child custody arguments, or the Baldwins', or anyone else's. Two people announce they're getting divorced, and suddenly we're a step away from CNN giving the story its own theme music. There aren't many rules governing my life, but one of them is this: there are more reliable sources of information about a person than their estranged or ex-spouse.

None of this, of course, is new. Years ago a television program I was watching was broken into. I don't know about you, but "We interrupt this broadcast to bring you this special news bulletin" shoots a chill through my back. It means the president's been shot, or we've started bombing somewhere, or that something else has just happened, something big, and you must know about before 6:00. So what was the emergency? Woody Allen was holding a press conference to respond to Mia Farrow's allegations of improper conduct regarding the children. It was surreal, like something you'd see in, well, a Woody Allen movie.

Let's all make an effort to focus on real news, shall we? The things that matter. Things like videos of David Hasselhoff rolling around on the floor. Now there's a story.

An unrelated item...

You've probably seen the news items about a limited edition gold coin issued by The Royal Canadian Mint. Equal to $1 million Canadian paper currency (familiar to non-Canadians as Monopoly money), it weighs 220 pounds and is the size of a pizza.

Combining money and pizza - be still my heart! Now if the coin just had a picture of naked woman drinking a cup of coffee, everything important to me would be contained in a single place.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's called sensationalism and I have long since decided to ignore any and all reference to any of it. Underneath it all there is always a human being, with the same emotions and grievances as we ourselves have. With the exception of illusions of grandeur these people feel they're more important on the ladder of life than us peons. So in my ignorance I'm letting them know , guess what your not. I yearn for the days when news was just that news. The media has gotten to the point that anything goes. An example of this would be the exploitation of the gunmans video in the VT killings. Not once did any of them stop and think of the horror they continued to expose these kids parents to. I guess what it comes down to is,I prefer these days to keep my tv off and I'm involved in my own life in reality.

On another note I'm still chuckling over what you would consider bliss. (Hug) Stay safe and loved dear one! Indigo

Anonymous said...

Just yesterday I was reading an column by the editor of the local paper here in which he said that according to a recent survey, there are many Americans who can't name the vice president of the United States, their own state's governor and the president of Russia.  I WISH I couldn't name the VP, but unfortunately, I can.  I also suspect that New Jersey is an exception to the governor thing, given the recent activities of your immediate-ex and current govs -- I guess the real question is:  do New Jerseyites (is that right?) know the governor's stand on the issues or just his current medical status?  I heard that Oprah once did a show asking audience members questions about various general knowledge topics, such as whether the earth revolved around the sun or vice versa.  One woman (who answered the question incorrectly) stated that "she never felt anything moving."  Sometimes (to quote the snooty maitre 'd in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"), I weep for the future.