Reply #17: Well, he's right.

[mcscajun]

I gave up reading local newspapers several years ago because every day there was some horrific tale about some toddler being maimed by his mother, brutal rapes, child molesters, some mentally disturbed person smashing a stranger in the head with a brick, people being pushed off the subway platform, you name it. That we know the world is full of evil, depravity, horror does not mean we need to see it or hear it every single day to care, or do want to do something about it. Most tabloids are just sensationalistic reporting at its finest to titillate the subway rider. My peace of mind improved when I wasn't sickened every single morning by the slice of humanity the newspaper was choosing to present to me every day. Side by side with this look at horror and abuse every day were cheap advertisements and celebrity gossip. Buried in there somewhere was the occasional hard news story.

Television news got the boot a few years ago for similar reasons, plus the vacuous coiffed heads that had replaced real journalists.

I still read the occasional news magazine. And I'm not pulling a Barbara Bush "my beautiful mind" or a Bruce Willis "youthful glow", but there are many benefits to tuning out "traditional" news reporting. I stay informed, certainly: I get my news from a variety of hand-picked news sites of my own choosing, plus the excellent coverage here at DU. :)

Willis may be a lousy actor, he may even be a lousy human being, but he's right on the money about slamming the media.