“The People Have A Right To Know”
In the movies, the justification given by our character of sleaze as to why he/she felt compelled to publish a personally harmful/embarrassing story (usually in the tabloid venue) with no societal relevance, is: “The people have a right to know.” I’ll have to take the movies’ lead on this since I have never had the opportunity to confront a gossip monger and demand to know why she/he felt compelled to print such harmful material.
But, rights are spelled out in the Constitution. Nowhere did I see an open-ended clause saying, “The People have a right to know.” It does say the People have a right to blab what they know, but, nowhere does it command that The People be informed of anything. Do I really have to know that Councilman Big Shot had a bed-wetting problem when he was a child… or NOW, for that matter? In the pursuit of my alleged “right to know,” is it right for me or anyone else to snoop around in people’s private lives looking for embarrassing anecdotes?
Would The People also have a right NOT to know? Oh… yeah! You just change the channel or don’t buy the offending publication. But, the purveyors of sleaze (a.k.a., The Press) know what The People will buy, and the popularity and profitability of their product attest to that acuity. People like to see others as less than themselves. By golly, we just need someone to pick on. It is especially satisfying to see persons from a higher moral, social, or economic plane get a little mud on their halos, evening gowns, and tax returns. And, if we join others in the ridicule of some hapless (preferably defenseless) target, we have a common bond in the cowardly persecution of another… we belong to something bigger than ourselves. It isn’t right (read “moral”), but, it is legal. And, it is an indigent part of the uglier side of human nature.
Pandering to humanity’s darker side does produce larger audiences (read “big bucks”). Going native (cheap and petty) now and then seems to bring in the customers for even the “classier” media, possibly more so for broadcast than the legitimate press. How much mileage did media of all kind get out of flaying the psyche of that young entertainer caught in the wallow of sudden fame? Paparazzi, tabloids, entertainment media, main stream news media, all joining to publicly ridicule a lone soul derailed by the suddenness and scope of celebrity status. Did you people get a real thrill out of beating up on a kid?
Her every move documented, her every misstep ridiculed. Why, you even pretended to be concerned with the “Well, she’s in rehab… again! (Wink) (Wink)” news lead-in. As a matter of speculation, how much did negative and malicious press contribute to her troubles?
But, all of you (and , this includes the morning DJs who feel compelled to deliver a good-morning laugh at someone else’s expense, have sure as hell made it to my piss ant list. Which list, under MY freedom of expression, I have the right to maintain. And, I have no legal obligation to leave you OFF the list. To restate your own mantra, “Pandering media has the right to know that they are piss ants.”
Next up: Yellow journalism is alive and well
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WORDS according to Dean 