Ask me again at the end of July. They cut a few of us today, including I work(ed) with directly. Which is better than I expected. But they also essentially told us: more cuts coming in 7 months.
Yeah, that oughta motivate the troops, considering job performance has played very little into who's gotten the axe over the past 3 years.
Instead of talking about me, and my sad, sorry life, let's talk about the country, and its sad, sorry life. For instance, this:
So, the top story on MSN is "Who is Michelle Obama wearing?" Really? Seriously? That's what it's all about? Who she's wearing? Not even the gramatically correct "what" she's wearing?
I realize MSN, like most online sites post the story that will get the most hits, higher in the queue. So, I don't blame them, other than their expecting that will be what people will be talking about.
His great speech doesn't get top billing? (And I thought it was really good. And I have not drunk the Kool-Aid, to date.) "Restore science to its rightful place"? Fantastic! Respecting the rights of atheists? That doesn't deserve a headline? Reaction to the address? No.
Instead, we're going with the dress the First Lady is wearing and who designed it. Like that matters. (And I'm a goddamn crossdresser!)
Obama has talked about change, and talked about how the people have to affect change. Bully for him. I'm with him completely on that. But, nothing is going to change until these crappy little shallow nothing stories are buried away for only the truly stupid to read.
We're faced with unemployment hitting 10%. (That's one out of every ten people not working for those of you who are deeply interested in who designed Michelle's dress.) Stocks have lost on average nearly 40% of their value from last year. We've already thrown billions and billions of tax dollars we don't have at banks and businesses that have pissed the money down their legs.
And you want to know "who" the First Lady is wearing? Please.
I suppose I shouldn't come off so harsh. If you're reading this blog in the first place, you're not among the sheep. But then again, considering how few people actually read this, it doesn't matter. This rant made me feel a tiny bit better.
6 comments:
This evening, she was wearing a Jason Wu... :-)
(Sorry - I couldn't resist! I liked the speech, too.)
Carolyn Ann
Oops.
PS: I'm glad you didn't get laid off. I've always considered management estimates of when the next lay-offs will happen to be spurious at best, and downright misleading at worst! (I was one of the first to be laid off at my last corporate job; the people who were told they would be first were actually last! Which sort of worked out for me, but not for them - after the second round, they reduced the payouts. Drastically.)
Carolyn Ann
Still a working girl, huh!Yes the media inundates us with trivial things. I could care less who's wearing who. But who was that pretty little girl in the black 5' heals, black tights, and little skirt, struttin' her stuff behind the Bush's as they boarded A F 1? It wasn't either one of their daughters. Hot! Gawd, I'm still a pig!
I got laid off and then hired back by the new boss (same as the old boss). Of course, it's for less money and longer hours...
I guess I'm bad - or jaded. I didn't listen to any inaugural speeches, broadcasts or dress commentaries.
I'm glad your job is safe for now. Maybe things will turn around some by the next threatened layoffs.
I am glad you did not get laid off.
I watched ET inauguration night. It is obvious we have a celebrity president. It made me think back to JFK.
In regards to Journalism(which indeed I believe is what you do)I'm afraid we're seeing close to the death of it vs a vis competition from the blogosphere and from on line news in general.
This is not just bad for you but bad for everyone. It is as if, all the physicians in this country quit, leaving the public to fend for themselves at self service medical clinics.
While the lower end of the threshold of knowledge required to be a journalist is less than a physician...Journalism being a four year degree program, that nonetheless should not obscure the fact that journalism is a profession, and as such are ostensibly trained to asked the right questions...among other things.
With the rise of do it yourself reporting, the quality of information processed by people threatens to collectively sink to that of the National Enquirer.
This is the greatest threat our Democracy has yet faced since the Alien and Sedition Acts.
The founders of this country felt that an independent press was so important to individual liberty that they enshrined protection for such entities in the Bill of Rights.
Now besides the collapse of so many venerable newspapers in everyday major city in the United States,the consolidation of independent radio stations and news services under a handful of huge corporations, future readers will be left with either the option of absorbing new and information that is carefully structured and filtered or diving into "anarchy of information and rumor" that is the World Wide Web.
Post a Comment