Friday, January 28, 2005
Grim Tales
Denis Boyles writes a fortnightly piece for the National Review Online. He covers the Euro press, and his reports of the extreme unreality of the major media in Europe would be very depressing indeed, if it weren't for Boyles' diamond sharp scalpel and rapier wit.
Today's headline is:
Grim Tales
Want to get scared? Ignore what you see. Believe only what you read.
Among the many crackling observations is this, about the disconnect, between press reports and reality, that has seemingly always existed:
This was in the '60s, when creating alternative realities was a chemical enterprise that would soon become a journalistic one. These days, disputing what any fool can plainly see is a sacred calling in the global press, but of course the Europeans do it with a special anti-American panache, fueled by the reelection of George W. Bush. The reality of another four years of Dubya has created in the media a demand for a parallel universe unlike any since a generation of shaggy noggins first nodded out to Surrealistic Pillow.
Today's headline is:
Grim Tales
Want to get scared? Ignore what you see. Believe only what you read.
Among the many crackling observations is this, about the disconnect, between press reports and reality, that has seemingly always existed:
This was in the '60s, when creating alternative realities was a chemical enterprise that would soon become a journalistic one. These days, disputing what any fool can plainly see is a sacred calling in the global press, but of course the Europeans do it with a special anti-American panache, fueled by the reelection of George W. Bush. The reality of another four years of Dubya has created in the media a demand for a parallel universe unlike any since a generation of shaggy noggins first nodded out to Surrealistic Pillow.
# posted by mds : 9:00 AM
