Posted on 07/09/2011 7:30:37 AM PDT by Kaslin
What is the fascination with Casey Anthony? One 96-year-old grandmother in Alabama was so fixated; she knew the names of Casey’s entire family, the defense team, the witnesses and prosecutors. The Nielsen ratings demonstrated clearly that millions of Americans spent hour upon hour of their own precious lives watching this tragic scenario unfold. But why?
Some say it’s because Caylee Anthony was a pretty little girl…her mom somewhat pretty…and white. A less attractive mother or child or a minority would not get the same attention, they argue. Maybe so. It probably did contribute to media coverage. Visual appeal is an important criteria for television. Storms are perfect as are accidents and people moving about in all sorts of ways. Thinking doesn’t play well on TV. Neither does nobility or thoughtfulness. Rash, erratic behavior…boorish rudeness…aggression….overt sexuality. These look good on camera.
It certainly was the common denominator with the media obsession over Natalee Holloway, La Crosse beauty Yeardley Love…Nicole Smith and Scott & Laci Peterson. It might explain why they got media attention, but it doesn’t explain why we watched it. Why did we watch it? Why did we devote hours of our own lives…hours we can never reclaim on the OJ trial?
Is it uplifting to the soul? Does it make us smile? Do we come back into our own reality feeling better? Does it challenge the intellect? Does it make us grateful? Does it encourage us to achieve? Does it energize or motivate?
It does none of these. Watching the Casey Anthony saga or any other tabloid tail is a squandering of your life. It is a misdirection of your mental energies. Gambling drains precious financial resources causing you to neglect paying your bills. Inordinate amounts of time spent watching this kind of coverage drains other precious resources; your time and your attention. The amount you have of that is finite. It can never be reclaimed. While children or spouses or friends or needy neighbors or responsible citizenship or just plain hard work clamor for us, we blithely turn to the screen, seemingly paying no price, or at least, none we can feel in the moment.
One has only to visit the homes of America’s Founding Fathers to be amazed at their accomplishments. Thomas Jefferson was an inventor….Benjamin Franklin, the Ambassador to France, developed a printing press, founded the U.S. Post Office, invented electricity, the kite, and the Franklin Stove. In his spare time he helped write the Constitution and found the United States of America. George Washington was a surveyor and horticulturalist. Many wrote books, learned astronomy, French, Latin, and Greek while they were already busy adults.
What will future generations say of us? Will they remember all we accomplished or the hours we spent motionless, living vicariously thru the tawdry lives of others?
Did the great men of our past write noble things and think noble thoughts by accident? No. It is undeniable that we become what we surround and saturate our minds with. Advertising executives know this well. So do Leftist educators who have given us a generation of people who reflect the propaganda of their textbooks. Long time hostages can come to think and act like their captors. Imbibing pornographic images can cause men to act upon and think thoughts they would not otherwise have entertained. Romance novels find their power in stirring up female fantasies, destroying marriages that in other generations might have been saved. It matters what we read and see and listen to.
We are not forced to absorb such banality. We choose to absorb it. And we can choose not to. Americans are obsessed with diet. They understand that processed foods, carbohydrates and sugars make them fat. They don’t seem to understand that taking things into the mind without discipline produces fat, sluggish minds. Bad content produces bad results. And we can change both. We know how to discipline our bodies so how about our minds?
Ben Franklin actually formed a “Young Men’s Society” for the purpose of achieving character. Members worked toward obtaining one attribute at a time; honesty…generosity…humility. You can imagine it was an uphill battle, but it was, at least, up hill.
Casey Anthony’s story is tragic, but it is not important to all of us who are strangers. Turn the television off realizing that each moment that remains is precious.
I didn’t mean the people were the same, I mean the appeal is the same.
I counted well over a hundred Casey Anthony articles posted recently on FR, with one having near 3000 replies.
Does that affect your opinion of FR?
Excellent observation.
I first really noticed this with the Chandra Levy case. The only thing that took that off the airwaves was 9/11/01.
How many threads about Libya and do any reach nearly 3000 replies?
Do you have a point?
Some people are fascinated with sports, they have to have every sports channel and watch as many games as they can find. So what. Not my cup of tea, but then I am not forced to watch it myself, so let them enjoy it.
Some people like reality shows. I hate them and think they are a waste, but they fascinate some people.
Some people are totally 24/7 involved in all politics. Fine, if you can stand the misery.
I suppose we could sit down and write an article about how people who watch sports all the time are miserable little people who have no lives and we need to make sure they know it, but then is it really our business what fascinates different people?
If a person isn’t interested in the Anthony case there are many other things to be interested in. I am sick of Obama. I turn off the TV when he shows his mug.
A bigger waste of time I can not imagine.
Actually, it has more to do with the incredible stupidity of people who are on juries today. They watch CSI Miami or CSI Idaho or CSI wherever and they demand DNA evidence. Or some kind of scientific expert to pop up and offer irrefutable proof the mother did it. We have jurors weaned on TV to the point, they expect real life to mirror the television shows they watch.
What is the facination?
For the Media: they don’t have to do stories on Gun Runner, and the ATF head going states evidence, or the bad jobless numbers.
For the Sheeple: They can pretend that everything is normal and go back to dancing in the Ballroom of the Titanic.
The Peoploe have to Freep...
You know which issue I consider to be more important.
Crazy people who have more time for this than to pay attention to how Obama is destroying this country.
Amazingly to the point and sadly so true.
This intellectual giant wrote a hit piece on the granny who watches the Casey Anthony trial and belittles her......and she writes tail for tale? TOO FUNNY! If you cannot appreciate it, I can. This author is chasing her own tail to be sure. That one misspelling made me laugh at her and her pompous stance. There has been very little to laugh about since this trial ended as we awaited the hoopla that will surely surround the release of this shallow young woman. Let me enjoy what humor I can find.
awaited=await....I KNEW that was coming. LOL
In early 2009, Rios married Bruce Rather, a Chicago-based lawyer.
Mind your own business, Sandy.
******
Ms. Sandy Rios, former President of Concerned Women for America, and a leading self-appointed protector of the sanctity of all marriages everywhere.
(Well, except for her own. As Tammy Wynette might have discretely intone, Sandy is D I V O R C E D.)
Apparently for some of us who FOLLOWED, we didn’t see every minute, the trial, we are kooks who aren’t able to multi-task well enough to also see that Obama is ruining the country. LOL
The fact we don’t spend 24/7 every day on Obama makes us bad Americans.
The outcome of this trial is relevant because the decision was made by Obama voters.
I guess some of the higher and mightier can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.
I think this highlights our legal system....which is indeed worth studying. Only a superficial wannabee intellect would chastise granny for following this trial. I am an unashamed viewer.......granted, I only logged in for the final weekend....but I have been busy getting up to speed since.
If I spent 24/7 on Obama and Washington, I would be so depressed I couldn’t get out of bed. SO, I look elsewhere for news and a world view.
Your points about understanding the Obama voter were dead on.
Marty, you said it all. Those of us who watched were mesmerized by the collapse of our society as shown by a small, crazy nuclear family, a vulgar lawyer and the disgusting viewers in the gallery.
You can read a hundred articles in the National Review and the Weekly Standard about the collapse of American values - but nothing brings it home like a live trial.
There was one totally unsung hero in this story: Ms. Drane-Burdock. Her professional demeanor and hard work was an inspiration.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.