Wednesday, June 8, 2011

24 hour media BS

Video: Nats Phenom Harper Gets All Smoochy After Homer: DCist

I don't know Bryce Harper either. Never met him probably never will.

So let's just take random moments from this kids life and create a psychological profile that fits some predetermined narrative we like.

The reaction this this "kiss" incident is almost laughable. Men and women WITH JOBS WHO ARE BEING PAID are writing articles about it.

These same "journalists" are assigning blame, demanding the Nationals take "action" to stamp out this awful behavior before its too late and Western Civilization as we know it collapses.

I like the internet. But its times like this I can see the problems it creates. Clearly, these stories are written with one aim: eyeballs. These writers think calling an 18 year old kid a jerk for fooling around on a baseball diamond will get them readers. They figure if they are outrageous enough or if they can drum up some controversy it will burnish their credentials as tough no-nonsense sports writers holding these overpaid arrogant athletes accountable to the standards of decent society.

Or, as Occam's razor would posit, they are just lazy bastards who figure this is the easiest way to create content to be fed into the 24 hour a day media machine.

How many electrons died over this absolute non-story? How long do you suppose it will be brought up in Harper related stories? How often will a-hole "yodlers" rant about it on radio and TV? Once is too many and I am not looking forward to the thousands of mentions I will be forced to endure if I choose to follow Nationals baseball coverage.

Not that anyone should be surprised. The media spent a week wasting my time as I try to read current events with some old guy who "predicts" the end of the world. You do realize the only difference between that guy and the guy in the park with a cardboard sign is the medium don't you? They are both nuttier than squirrel crap but one is ignored (rightfully) and the other becomes inescapable.

Final initial draft note: I don't have a problem with the Nats mid round strategy of taking tall signable college pitchers. There is probably a John Lannan in there somewhere. which would be great. It would be so nice however, if they could just get one of those high school tough signs too.

1 comment:

  1. Heck the kid's 18; the whole point of going through the minors is to learn how to handle himself on the field. Sounds like that writer's got a bit of a grudge.

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