Yes, yes, I have heard about the “live tweeting” of an abortion. Even on holidays I heard. I mostly escaped the past few days, spending time blissfully unplugged and unaware, feeling white sand between my toes and hanging out with my adorable nieces as dolphins swam by. Unfortunately, I got ill one day and off the family went for lunch and I stayed home, just me and the TV.

I don’t have cable back in Canada, and I find I don’t have time to watch TV in any case. So sitting there, flipping through the channels on a Sunday left me kind of sick to my stomach, and not because I was, er, sick to my stomach.

Every single program was garish and loud. Abrasive and offensive. Even the weather channel had some sort of “reality show” take on storms. WHAT WILL THIS FAMILY DO? booms the announcement voice, WHEN THE HURRICANE STRIKES!?!? Never fear!  The weather channel will be there to film various forlorn Americans, drawling sadly about how “they never expected things to be this bad.”  

Where is the stoicism? Where is the self-responsibility? Why aren’t people off doing real work instead of filming themselves, or live tweeting? (Blogs are bad enough, and trust me, I get the irony here. Must. Do. Daily. Blogging.) As a side note, and most unfortunately, I did also see the Tiger Woods confessional. Apparently all it takes in America these days to move right on is a fake sad look and a declaration that you’re off for (more) therapy. Would that we could re-introduce the stocks. No hugs from your Mamma, here. Just hard, wooden stocks. Take some time, Tiger, to think about what you’ve done.   

But I’ve digressed, yet again. In my disgruntled frame of mind, I say, yes, I have heard that there is some sad, attention-seeking woman somewhere who is live tweating the death of her child. I feel bad about that but not as bad as I feel for the rest of the normal folk left across the continent (and we are still a majority). Crazed pseudo-celebrities (Who is Angie Jackson and why should I care?) are becoming so commonplace in our media, I’m afraid we simply can’t escape to decency anymore.