In a perfect world, people would think twice about the garbage they willingly allow into their bodies.
There are two segments* of the population that willingly ingest some of the most toxic garbage on earth:
Cigarette smokers and cable news viewers.
*Okay, there are more than two segments of the public who put crap in their bodies day in and day out – notably, an obese elephant of a third group taking in a sizable serving of sewage through GMOs, drive thru windows, and other partially hydrogenated pre-processed crap. But, let’s just say that I am in no place to criticize the dietary habits of my fellow Americans, so I’ll selfishly choose to focus on the two groups I identified My blog, my rules!
I struggle to understand why anybody born after, say 1990 (if not earlier) would start smoking. The addictive nature of nicotine and the multiple health risks associated with smoking have been widely accepted for over a generation. Besides, with all of the clean air acts in place across the country, in many states it is impossible to find an indoor* public location where one can smoke.
*Want some anecdotal evidence of how addictive cigarettes are? Check out the number of people outside smoking during the heart of winter when the wind chills are well below zero. You can give me a song and dance about how you “like smoking”, want the social interaction of a cigarette break, or anything else, but those answers are complete bull when it’s 10 below with a gusty north wind. At that point, you are an addict.
As for the cable news junkies, I can understand wanting to hear national and international news delivered by somebody who shares your world view. But I have little time for people who blindly assume what they hear on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News or others is the gospel truth. Scholars can argue over when “journalistic integrity” ceased to exist on 24 hour news channels (it probably happened during some trumped-up “scandal”), but one should no longer assume that the content (and especially the commentary) you’re receiving from a 24 hour news network is fair or balanced.
In many ways, most cable news shows remind me of ESPN’s “First Take”: two argumentative people rant and rave for an hour, passionately debating topics they probably don’t care about, all while displaying overblown emotional responses (“he’s the greatest of all time”, “she’s the worst person in the world”, feigned outrage, compassionate sadness, etc.)
In a perfect world, we would snuff out cigarettes and the windbag cable shout fests for our own good.
Also, in a perfect world, I would have the courtesy to post these A-Z updates in alphabetical order. However, I’m a) not yet done with H, b) not wanting to fall farther behind, and c) not wanting to post six things on one day. So I’m going out-of-order to keep things moving along.
My apologies if that triggers and OCD tendencies within you. As I said above: my blog, my rules. You can always use the master list on my A-Z page and read the posts in alphabetical order.
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(Author’s note: Wondering why there is a random letter in parentheses in the title of this post? Not sure how this post corresponds to the daily letter in the April A to Z Challenge? Like clicking on links? These questions are all answered here.)
Feit Can Write 