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Jewish World Review August 10, 2005 / 5 Av, 5765 An insatiable hunger for alternative news By Jerry Large
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
What if you didn't know you were dead? No, really. I know it could
happen — because there's a book about it, by a guy who has been
investigating this stuff. In fact, my first sentence is the book's
title, or part of it.
Some people think it's scary that Americans could be getting more
and more of their information from blogs on the Internet, but is
that more frightening than having spirits attach themselves to you,
which they can do?
Blogs are often full of inaccurate information, and even the
bloggers who try to be factual can make mistakes. Everyone who
writes for public consumption needs an editor (a kind, gentle
editor, preferably).
But the thing is, there have always been lots of Americans who
choose to get information from less than reliable sources.
Some people say that Tom Cruise was mistaken in his analysis of
psychiatry and psychology. But I'm sure the Church of Scientology
has studied these matters carefully and imparted to him special
knowledge with which to make judgments about other people's
mental-health needs and about the practice of mental-health care.
They wouldn't just make stuff up, would they?
Anyway, it wouldn't do to mess with anyone's religious beliefs.
Heck, I might have to go out and buy a book on creationism. There
are lots of them.
When it comes to deciding what's true and what isn't, I guess we're
not all operating from the same script.
A whole lot of people find that conventional media just don't give
them what they want, and they have always had plenty of other places
to get real news. Supermarket tabloids, for instance, have long had
a big share of the business of offering alternative news that delves
more deeply into the stuff conventional media are too timid to
report, such as stars being impregnated by aliens.
And there are tons of good old-fashioned books that give people news
they can't get in the average newspaper. Sometimes it really is
important stuff that media self-censorship won't let through, but
sometimes it's just dreck.
I received a catalog the other day that was labeled "Feature Ideas."
It was the size of a magazine and said it was full of interview
ideas for radio and television reporters and columnists, so I took a
peek inside.
There was a guy willing to discuss his book, which reveals "the
secret about scripture that organized religion just can't tell you."
And there was a new method for relieving stress that involved saying
the word "Fred" and making rhymes with it.
I was about to toss the catalog out when I saw the headline about
people not realizing they were dead and then attaching themselves to
living people.
Fred is dead; don't let him get into your head.
What's really spooky is that I myself have often been taken over by
a dead guy. This happens sometimes when I am supposed to be writing.
The dead guy makes me wander off to get coffee and visit with people
in the hallway. It's really creepy.
Anyway, radio or TV hosts who need a lively topic can call up the
dead-people guy, or the woman whose book explains love matches
between humans and vampires. Next to her blurb is a book about fun
projects to do with kids.
There is someone who is an expert in just about everything. The
ghost guy's credentials say he is a filmmaker, so you know he knows
what he's talking about.
Bloggers don't necessarily have those kinds of credentials.
Can a blogger top Nostradamus for staying power? He lived in France
in the 1500s, and yet when 9/11 happened there were people who said
he'd predicted it. Whenever anything happens there are people who
say he predicted it.
For some reason the facts just don't cut it for lots of people. They
need something that resonates more deeply.
All you get in a daily newspaper is the unvarnished truth. Oh, and
the horoscopes.
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Jerry Large is a Seattle Times columnist. Comment by clicking here. © 2005, Seattle Times; Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
