Attention-Whoring

So, they'd kicked Kathy Griffin off. What else is new?

I've always been a person who's tried to keep low-key, partly because attention seems to be very energy-draining and often it's gotten me some kind of grief. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with attention, but it's how one garners it and what one does with it that makes the difference.

Being a jackass for the sake of attention is not a good thing.
Arguing with someone just because it seems like fun even though you're not really making any good points, or that you're not listening to the other side, taking in their viewpoints, and actually debating with that person constructively is not good.

Some people's attention-whoring is almost like seeing someone who can't stand silence, and so pushes over a glass just to break the silence.

Which is childish.

Attention whores are just another facet of humanity, but God bless them...

IS/Islamic State/ISIS/ISIL?

We've been hearing about them almost incessantly for the better part of the year. They'd seemingly started calling themselves the Arabic equivalent of ISIS, and then later "decided" to call themselves instead Islamic State, reasons in the news being they're exerting independence and individuality apart from Syria, the Levant, and Iraq.

Some media outfits, like Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera, and elements of the BBC, had followed suit and called them IS or "the Islamic State group", still acknowledging some still call them ISIS or ISIL. I've never quite understood concretely why some elect to call them one way or another.

American news outlets like CNN and Fox News still predominately call them ISIS, and I think it may be partly because the US government in general still calls them that as well.

Is it perhaps to deny them the "satisfaction" of hearing people address them with the name they wish people to call them? I wouldn't doubt that's a probability, but there hasn't seemed to be any discussion on that. It's also seemed there are some who had gotten so used to calling them ISIS, or ISIL, that they just continue calling them that since all of it is generally coterminous.

It reminds me of something else I'd brought up in the past about maps that showed Crimea as still part of Ukraine rather than, at the least, showing it as a disputed area that happened to have had a referendum deciding to cede themselves to Russia.

I believe they should do both, at the very least, much like Deutsche Welle has done ("the Islamic State, also called ISIS"). That seems to be the fairest thing in my view.

[accent]Stupid Americans[/accent]

Piers Morgan and CNN Plan End to His Prime-Time Show
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/24/business/media/piers-morgan-and-cnn-plan-end-to-his-prime-time-show.html

Okay, yes, I'm bi-national. I'm a British Citizen who received his US naturalization in 2006. I've grown up in the United States primarily, and being an anthropologist have observed all the little things that make United States Americans proud and whatnot, as well as what leaves others wanting more.

This, however, is an example of that. Americans don't want to accept anything that makes them think about anything other than the United States except for when it's convenient, trendy, or what "everyone else" is doing. So, when Piers Morgan confronts them obliquely, debating as he does or, apparently as this article states, doesn't cover what "Americans want to hear", shutting him down is a problem.

Accepting that shutting him down because he runs his show the way he does and that "everyone" flees to other networks because of that is a problem. Full disclosure: I've never watched Piers Morgan Tonight. I've never been one for talk shows period, so pretty much any of them I've stayed away from, daytime or primetime. I, therefore, have no idea if the show is (or was) any good. My judgment lies solely with the article's claims. I'd like to believe my knee-jerk feelings have some merit, though: Americans on a majority do not want to hear about things that make them change their minds.

This is sad. This is why this country is so messed-up, and this is why it makes me smile sometimes when other countries put this one in its place. The United States' priorities skew completely waywardly most of the time, and yet it expects the rest of the world to bend over and take it whenever it wants a piece. If Piers Morgan helped the United States in some part during his tenure to see that there are things beyond being the third-largest country (debatably) and the third most populous, that there are people dying *everywhere* while the majority of US residents were in their homes watching a bunch of people vie for twoish-pound pieces of metal medallions, then bully for him.

Yes, there are other countries, mostly European, that just about force their naturalized denizens to become French (or Italian, or German, or whatever) culturally and shun them if they don't adapt and make 100% a part of them all the trappings of Frenchness just as this article asserts CNN and the viewing public expected of Piers Morgan. If the United States is such a world leader, then shouldn't it lead with the example that some Britain-born dude on a US prime time show can be what he is, and shouldn't we "enlightened" Americans accept him for it? Yes, it's ratings. Yes, this is idealistic.

But this is why this country is filled with stupid people. 

Wedding Hands - John King

So, John King and Dana Bash have separated.

Like many of the songs that I happen on for the first time, it's a year old when I find out, but I suppose in this case CNN has done their best to keep it quiet.

I remember back in 2008 when they were talking about it. John King got his now-defunct (and I'd predicted it would be; I mean, I really couldn't take a show called John King, USA seriously at all) show, and two CNN political "power-hitting" correspondents getting hitched? That was "newsworthy" indeed.

I was even telling my mother, saying literally, "He became a Jew for her." It seemed like it would last.

So, here I am watching Erin Burnett OutFront (that, despite my hesitation with that show's name, I didn't predict similar doom as John King, USA) and they have John King up.

Being me, I look at his wedding hand, as I do for just about every male I encounter (a very weird quirk, I know!). And I don't see a ring. So I start questioning. And researching.

And behold, the Internets say anything from separated to divorced. And it surprised me.

Then I start thinking about Dana Bash and John King separately, and think about what they must be like together.

Then I'm less surprised.

The things I think about when I look at a man's wedding hand.

CNN Breaking News: 11 June 2011, 14:01

From: "CNN Breaking News"

Date: June 11, 2011 14:01:08

Subject: CNN Breaking News

‘The head of the Democratic National Committee is calling for the resignation of U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has been under fire after admitting to inappropriate communications with women online.

"It is with great disappointment that I call on Representative Anthony Weiner to resign," DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement Saturday. "The behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Representative Weiner's continued service in Congress is untenable.

This sordid affair has become an unacceptable distraction for Representative Weiner, his family, his constituents and the House -- and for the good of all, he should step aside and address those things that should be most important -- his and his family's well-being."

And House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Steve Israel have told Weiner he should resign, a Democratic source with k nowledge of the conversations told CNN. Both released statements also demanding his resignation Saturday.’

Ferchrissakes, I don't get this country most of the time. They speak of personal freedom, of individuality. They want people to be themselves and to err as humans do. I suppose I'm continuing the cycle by opining on this myself, and even forwarding this on, but people should just leave him alone on this. Whatever: he erred!

I suppose this is one of the many shreds of idealism I still have remaining, but I find it stupid that people who work in politics expect everyone "representing the people" to be perfect and to never err. I find it further stupid that people base their electoral decisions on things like this, and whether the candidate is a Christian, or was ever divorced, or even if the candidate is a he.

Do people expect that every politician/people-representative step down every time the err in their personal lives? I had in mind Japan, which has had a prime minister every year for the last five, when it's supposed to be one for at least err four. The prime ministers decided they erred in their decisions as prime minister (with two, I think, stepping down because of personal scandals) and decided they should no longer be prime minister.

Silvio Berlusconi has his teenage dancer scandal, but is he giving up his seat? No! Vladimir Putin may have been maritally infidel multiple times, but he's probably going to run for president again. These men have a separation of the "mistakes" they make in their personal lives from what they do in their offices as world leaders.

Their personal decisions - Weiner, Berlusconi, Putin - have not cost people their lives. They have not done things others have not done ever, and people shouldn't base hiring and firing of leaders based on personal mistakes that have no influence on their official capacities.

Judge them as humans on the human court. Don't judge them in official courts and question their official capacities based on personal mistakes. If they've made official errors, that's up to debate, not "oooh, he texted!"

Whatever.

Fire hits Palin's church in Alaska

CNN.com: I'm sorry, but even if some people think she's baneful or whatever, there is no excuse for this. I somewhat liked her, and she's surprised me a few times.

This, however, is wrong, and I hope the party responsible, if there is one, is caught and punished.

Bad.

Army probes five slayings linked to soldiers in Colorado brigade

CNN.com: And yet another one... Are they just lowering their standards that all these violent guys are seeping into the armed forces? Only research can tell, because it's probable the forces themselves will say nothing.

Quote of the Day

Man shoots his lawn mower, police say - CNN.com: "'I can do that, it's my lawn mower and my yard so I can shoot it if I want.'"

OMGosh, that's hilarious.