More Cultural Absurdity

A few months ago I saw Jon Stewart on Oprah. I watch Stewart’s Daily Show almost daily, and I enjoy his social commentaries (if that’s what you can call them). While a guest on Oprah, Stewart described something he had seen on CNN as being symptomatic of the craziness of today’s world: during a segment which showed the bullet-riddled bodies of the sons of Saddam Hussein, the news ticker merrily scrolled that Beyonce no longer likes to say “booty-licious.”

This morning, while reading my daily news from the BCC (and RSS news feeds are definitely the best way to get news), I scanned the list of headlines and saw these, one after another:

• US urged to be patient over China
• N Korea kidnap families protest
• Paris store apologizes to Oprah
• Sudan planes bomb rebel forces
• Africa rejects action on Zimbabwe

Four articles on serious and pressing international issues, one (of equal news merit, apparently) on the serious and pressing personal life of Oprah. A perfect miniature replica of the world.