REALITY TV versus REALITY LIFE

I don't know about you but I've about had it with reality. Let's start with REALITY TV. I don't watch any of it. Not even “Dancing With The Stars”. But it is impossible to not be an involuntary viewer if you watch any media. White House gate crashers...now there's a couple who should be featured on “America's Most Wanted”. Is that show still on? Tiger Woods? He makes his living being in the public eye. Didn't he realize he was being watched even when he thought he was 'off the air'?

I don't seek out these shallow, sordid stories. I'm interested in real news. Our country. The world. The economy. Someone that can explain the health care bill without lying.

But I'm asking too much. Other people's personal reality comes from a talking head as either 'Breaking News' or “Our Top Story'. We have become conditioned by the media to be voyeurs. News needs to titillate. The major news cable networks are nothing more than entertainment channels. FOX makes movies. CNN is owned by AOL/Turner whose other cable channels are exclusively entertainment...HBO, Cartoon Channel, etc. What should we expect.

I don't know about you, but I have more than enough reality of my own. I'm sorry, Tiger, but I just don't have time to worry about whether you'll keep your wife and all those multi-million dollar product endorsements. And any other actor, singer, athlete or politician that wants to come out of the closet is going to have to do it without my approval.

I've got REALITY LIFE playing on all of my channels. And Don Henley's song playing in my head!

DIRTY LAUNDRY

Released, 1982

Sung by Don Henley

Words and Music by Don Henley and Danny Kortchmar

I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something, something I can use
People love it when you lose, they love dirty laundry

Well, I could've been an actor, but I wound up here
I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear
Come and whisper in my ear, give us dirty laundry

Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em all around

We got the bubbleheaded bleach-blonde, comes on at 5
She can tell you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die, give us dirty laundry

Can we film the operation? Is the head dead yet?
You know the boys in the newsroom got a running bet
Get the widow on the set, we need dirty laundry

You don't really need to find out what's going on
You don't really want to know just how far it's gone
Just leave well enough alone, keep your dirty laundry

Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down
Kick 'em when they're stiff, kick 'em all around

Dirty little secrets, dirty little lies
We got our dirty little fingers in everybody's pie
Love to cut you down to size, we love dirty laundry

We can do the innuendo, we can dance and sing
When it's said and done, we haven't told you a thing
We all know that crap is king, give us dirty laundry

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