TV Diva
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Gossip is more entertaining than a truthful presentation of complex current events. It is easier to say, “oh my, oh my, how awful!” than “what should we do to make things better for all.”

Watching the Soaps
A friend recently mentioned that she has a difficult time staying away from the news. She admits to being addicted to minute by minute accountings of the latest outrages emanating from Washington and Wall Street. Her husband tells her that she is wasting her time. Even acknowledging that he may be right, that she does not need an hourly accounting to be informed, she can’t stay away from clicking on the news app.

“May you live in interesting times,” says the old Chinese curse. It took me many years before I understood why this was a negative comment rather than a wish for fun and adventure. Each day reports arrive with surprise horrors more shocking than those told the day before. How can anyone not want to follow the saga? It is the ultimate soap box story.

Media in its many forms, fill electronic highways with exciting programs never heard before. Up to date real time events mixed with talking head pundits and internet bloggers offer opinions that run the gamut from pending disasters to future elation. There are enough news outlets to accommodate everyone’s mood and preconceived biases.

To insure that their programs are entertaining and emotional, reporters focus on personalities more than they do issues, knowing that viewers rarely investigate what they are told. Unfortunately, the facts are difficult  to uncover and even when correctly presented, new information is often labeled as “false or alternative”  when it does not support previous understandings.

Because so many newscasters try to shock their audience rather than present difficult issues with proposed solutions, we remain utterly confused. The advice I was always given was to follow the money when seeking the truth. This search starts with the media itself.  High ratings are needed to satisfy advertisers who support networks and so newscasters entertain rather than present trustworthy news. The public  does not receive understandable information that promotes debate and consensus. Instead, we are set up with double talk that makes us spin in circles. It is difficult to know who and what to believe.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have all news sources present an accurate cost/benefit accounting comparing single payer, private insurance companies, and pay as you go health systems? In addition,  lets hear the truth about costs incurred and profits received by pharmaceutical companies so we can find out why drugs are so much more expensive in the U.S. than abroad. Armed with trustworthy information, a debate could occur that embraces economic and humanistic philosophies. A solution based on compromise might move successfully  forward. 

I was once a public appointee to the board of Michigan’s State Health Coordinating Council and I saw up close how vested interests work effectively against the common good. The financial interests of pharmaceutical companies, insurers, medical workers, hospitals, unions, and advertisers kept the common person in the dark and the group struggling to make rational decisions. I remember a union representative who did not want insurance premiums to include alcohol and drug addiction services even though they were known to reduce medical costs because his union wanted these services io be negotiated items in labor contracts. 

Each time a cost cutting decision was suggested, the losing organization, found ways of going against the group’s decision . For example, since expensive imaging devices in hospitals were not utilized at 100 percent capacity our committee recommended sharing equipment between facilities. When we turned down a hospital’s request for a new CAT machine, the hospital went around us and found a political decision to their liking.

There are vested interests on every side of every issue that need to be brought to the forefront. It is our right to know what they are.

The constant stream of chatter about political personalities would be laughable if serious consequences were not attached. When watching the soaps, if a sponge is left inside a body by an inebriated surgeon, it doesn’t really matter. The patient will rise once to walk away the scene is complete. Unfortunately, what happens in Washington does make a difference. I don’t enjoy feeling like a pawn caught in their drama.

Many news junkies tell me that there is little to be done but sit back in horror watching politicians lie, freedoms erode, the world become poisoned, our country lose respect, and the underclass of homeless, unemployable people expand. Foreign countries view us as a laughable, unpredictable, untrustworthy, manipulative nation that no longer travels the high road. The moral ground we used to dwell on has eroded.

“NOT SO!” say I. Many of us have strong ethical values and we do have a voice that can be heard. Let’s use the freedom our country offers to make things better.


1. Use your time wisely. Instead of being addicted to up to the minute happenings, do a bit of in depth research on the subject you are interested in. Get many points of view, not just those that reinforce your preconceived ideas and fears. Double check sources and find out who benefits by the way news is presented.

2. Call your legislators. They do response to their constituents. Many voices can change the way they vote.

3. News addicts can not afford to sit back and do nothing. The addiction is not healthy. It leads to fear, paralysis , and feelings of helplessness. It causes complaining and whining which does little more than make friends unhappy . I noticed that news addicts, tend to be wonderfully sensitive individuals. News addicts seem to be more agitated than those who put time and effort into their cause.

4. Select an issue and get more deeply involved. Are you concerned about the homeless, as I am? about the economy? the environment,? women’s issues,? wildlife? security? education? the unemployed and underemployed? Whatever your interest, join with others and work for your cause?