centre of the universe - the dreaming: Maybe I should read the paper more...

09/29/2005: "Maybe I should read the paper more..." We don't get the local daily newspaper. We don't subscribe because His Nibs reads it at work, and I couldn't care less for the most part. I got into a discussion once with a former boss of mine - a former boss of mine, I should add, with whom I saw eye to eye on very little, and not just because I was about a foot taller. Anyway, I got into a discussion once with a former boss of mine about the reasons why I don't subscribe to the daily newspaper.

I don't like all the schlock in the paper, to begin with. The lame, half-assed reporting is one thing, especially when coupled with horrid grammar and terrible spelling. I am one of those people who often can't get past the bad usage to the meat of the story. Not reporting facts is another reason, which we've discussed on this journal before. I want my news sources to present the most unbiased stories possible. If I want left-wing rhetoric or right-wing fanaticism, I know where to find it. Or, for that matter, left-wing fanaticism or right-wing rhetoric. Take your pick.

The last time I got the daily newspaper, I looked at the classifieds once or twice, skimmed the inner-pages stories, and usually read one or two stories in depth. I flipped past the car ads, the grocery ads, the store ads, the business ads, etc., etc., etc., with reckless abandon. And that is the crux of the matter. It's the sixteen pages of advertising in a seventeen page newspaper that puts me off. My former boss went on a tear about

"you support creating jobs and a strong economy, right? And those advertisements are paying the wages of the people who work at the newspaper, not to mention all the people who work at the businesses that are advertised. Advertising creates revenue, which creates jobs."

or something to that effect.

I work in advertising sometimes - I do marketing work sometimes. I promote books, stories, publishers, writers...you know...nerd stuff. I don't want to pay for a paper that is less meat and more advertising. Most of the marketing/promotion I do is free distribution and it goes to schools and libraries and stuff. Or on billboards. Or those little windows on the backs of the toilet stalls.

I don't want to spend one or two bucks on something full of advertising. I want substance. That's part of the reason I get a lot of my news from Internet sources (and also because Internet sources are WAY more trustworthy than any other source of media. I only wrote that last sentence to see who skims the journal and who actually reads it) and from the radio. Sometimes I watch the evening news on television, but I don't like it at all.

So that's my explanation for not paying money for the daily rag that doesn't support local business (independent bookstores, local publishers, local writers) unless local business can spend big bucks on advertising.

Anyway, the point of this entry isn't 'why cenobyte hates free enterprise-loving media'. The point of this entry is something I heard on talk radio yesterday. Or the day before. The host was asking people whether those shoes with wheels in ought to be banned in school.

I thought about it for a while.

Then I thought, 'the minute you 'ban' something in school, you've essentially given free reign to kidlets to find new and innovative ways around the 'ban'. It gives them something to do. Kids are natural protestors. They, as DK said once, have this natural sense of injustice that seems to percolate in their little proto-brains beginning around age four. That's when you start hearing "but that's not FAIR!!", as if things *should* be fair. My answer? "Damn straight it's not fair. Lots of things aren't fair. I can't afford an endless current pool - that's not fair, is it? Best get used to it."

Anyway, the shoes thing.

It's such a goofy fashion trend that if you just let the little beggars go nuts over it for a while, it'll fade from fashion in a year or so. Who but me still wears penny loafers and saddle shoes? They were big when my mum was a kid. All the rage, she said.

I've been finding myself laughing and pointing at teenagers and some of their dorky fashions - the sideways baseball cap (which is supposedly also some 'gang' thing - who the hell can take any gang member seriously, or anyone else for that matter, when they look like Gomer Pile?), the falling-down pants, the hiphugging jeans over/under a belly 'pooch'. Good God.

Then I think back to my Jr. High days. People sported day-glo shirts and fingerless gloves and mesh shirts and boat shoes and God only knows what else. So all in all, the great slide rule of fashion hasn't really changed all that much. For the record, I laughed at the people sporting the 'latest fashion' in my jr. high/ high school too. I had a mesh shirt, though. It was army green. I wore it over my ripped up black tee shirt. I owned no day-glo (except some day-glo hair colours that didn't stick).

So. The wheels in shoes thing. One of the suggestions was to force kids wearing those shoes to wear helmets. [sigh] How sad.

You know the price tag on a pair of those things? Starts at about $150. No way in hell am I spending $150 on a pair of shoes unless it comes with the rest of the uniform, and involves my son learning a proper salute. He's more than welcome to save up his own money to spend it on crap like that though. Thank God I have a few years yet before I have to deal with that.

"Another rant about breastfeeding" "Worrisome"

6 Comments

Der Kaptin , on Thursday, 29th September:

When you talk about the shoes coming with the rest of the uniform and the salute for your son, I hope the hell you are talking about the t/mesh shirt uniform and the same salute you used when you wore the uniform.

cenobyte , on Thursday, 29th September:

I have never in my life spent $150 on a pair of shoes. Even my beloved mid-calf Docs cost less than that. If any of my kids decides to join up with a military institution, I'll support him. On the other hand, if he decides to join the SHARPs like me, I'll support him. I figure the best way for my kids to rebel against me is to become a cop or a banker.

cenobyte , on Thursday, 29th September:

...nor has anyone, to my knowledge, spent $150 on a pair of shoes *for* me. What rot.

As a matter of fact, I think the most expensive piece of clothing I own (not including the wedding garb I am paying a very talented seamstress to create for me basically from scratch) to date cost me less than $150. I don't think I've spent that much money on any one clothing item.

Please don't argue that shoes come as a pair, and therefore each individual *shoe* cost only $75.

TUO , on Thursday, 29th September:

Far be it from me to interrupt cenobyte on a fashion rant, but perhaps there's a safety issue with the wheelie shoes? With our litigous society, I can see the schools not wanting something *else* the parents can sue them over. Oh for the days of a rusty sharp-edged jungle gym over a cushiony concrete slab... :)

cenobyte , on Friday, 30th September:

Oh, I'm sure there *are* safety concerns. Maybe saying 'sure, you can wear the damned wheel shoes in school as long as you wear a helmet, knee and elbow pads, and sign this waiver releasing us from all liability' would kaibosh any future desire these 'young hoodlums' (grin) have of wearing the silly things.

Smarty Pants , on Friday, 30th September:

The "Wheelie Shoe issue" = "slow news day". Cut to commercial.

About ads in papers: I'd agree with your old boss...but add the statement that the pendulum has swung too far into the realm of money-grubbing suit monkies, and needs to come back the other way toward decent coverage. I'd say with all the cash these clowns are making, they could afford real journalists who can take the time to dig and ask the right questions. But it's all too easy to hire some hacks on the cheap, and dedicate your paper space to something that generates more revenue instead of information.
Of course, this would be the major papers/news mags I'm speaking of...small town rags have always been glorified flyers, I think.

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