Shoving your God down my throat

Have you heard of the American Family Association? I highly suggest you familiarize yourself with them as they are the people bringing you such worthwhile causes such as boycotts of Ford Motors for advertising in publications catering to the gay population, as well as boycotts of Target and Sears for not mentioning Christmas in their holiday advertising.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I don't think I can even articulate how I feel about this organization. Seriously. I'm at a loss for words.

What sucks even more (outside of the mere existence of these people), is that they must have some sort of clout (gotta love the church). Both Target and Sears, in order to avoid the wrath of the AFA, are complying with their demands and are including mentions of Christmas in their advertising this holiday season.

Bah humbug.

huh?

Last week, a young boy was killed when an airplane slid off the runway at Midway airport. Very sad. Anyway, I was wasting time reading news online when I came across an article on the incident. The following is an excerpt:

"The Boeing 737-700 slammed through a fence and onto a busy street, killing Joshua Woods as he rode with his family while singing a Christmas carol. Joshua, who had just gone to McDonald's, became the nation's first person to be killed in a crash involving a large airliner in more than four years..."

Knowing that I'm one of those annoying folks who analyzes media content (yes, I'm a complete cynic), can you guess what I might comment on?

Two things. First, the incident itself was very tragic without playing rhetorical games. While singing a Christmas carol? Of what value is this added detail? No seriously, I'd like to know because I'm just not getting it. Is this simply a blatently obvious attempt to evoke emotion towards the victim, or does this actually pertain to this tragedy? Seems a bit obvious to me.

Second, and this is what really got me, is the mention of McDonald's. Huh? Unless there was a direct correlation between eating at McDonald's and getting hit by airplanes (while singing Christmas carols), this tidbit of information is completely out of place and un-necessary. I'm really curious as to the author's motives. I assure you, this article is in no way about fast food, franchises, or any other sort of eateries. So, why in the world make such a reference? Has the media become so corrupt that they'd actually let companies buy mentions such as this that are so obviously and completely out of context?

and here we go

Like a true member of the media community, I'm finally trying to embrace blogging as a communicative method. Knowing myself as I do, I fully acknowledge that this may be a short-lived stint. Can't say I didn't try...

Forgive me if the first couple (or more) of posts are rough. I'm not entirely sure what goes where, and how.

I'm still trying to determine how I'll structure the content of what I post based upon the nature of blogging itself. I will write whatever it is I choose based upon the assumption that someone, someday, might read what was written, correct? If that is the case, then don't I have some sort of responsibility to at least attempt to be interesting or entertaining? That's a pretty daunting task to say the least. I'd like to say I'll take an unapologetic stand for the sake of my own creativity and write....whatever I damn well please. We'll see...we'll see.

Later.